You sir...thank you for this; I'm calling it a Joy Manifesto. You've identified, articulated, and compiled a list of all my thoughts/beliefs on the subject (but have been too busy? to write about) + some new stuff. Hail, hail--I will continue spreading the Good News seeds that grow the field of JOY!
Naysayers shall nay say. Neither shall you cease your perfect pleasure parade that actually makes this world, my world, a much better place. You are so appreciated, Rob. Also, you are consistently there for us, giving, giving, giving. After I lost my husband, then my son, waking up on Tuesdays and knowing you were going to bring that strong message that could really drill through my grief was one of the things that got me through. Thank you.
My oh my! You have outdone yourself this morning.. Well DONE... Joy on the menu.. full moon beckons and illuminates. Here are my fave quotes.. landing a space for gratitude and a not so gentle reminder. Thank you.."In both my extensive mythic explorations of dreamy truth and scientific investigations of hard-core reality, I have gathered incontrovertible evidence that pleasure is a central necessity for any spiritual quest that actually works."
"I mean the rich, ennobling euphoria and exhilaration that arise during encounters with smart fun: inspiring us to love ourselves more, expanding our capacity to love others, leading us in the direction of our shining dreams, and helping us solve our knotty problems."
"Self-denial doesn’t reliably produce saints. Often it just churns out people who are very good at pretending they don’t want what they want.
Those who know how to nurture themselves with good feelings often have a super-capacity to give without keeping score. Their generosity leaks out sideways. There’s surplus."
"Follow your joy, not blindly, not compulsively, but attentively. Watch how it keeps leading you toward becoming more human, responsive, and capable of love."
"When we activists internalize a punishing, pleasure-denying mode of resistance, we replicate the operating system of the empire we’re trying to dismantle. We just point its weapons at ourselves."
"Joy in the face of monstrousness is the most strategically sophisticated form of resistance available to us. It tells the regime: You don’t get to install your scarcity in my nervous system. You don’t get to make my body a battlefield in your war against everything good."
This is the framing I keep wishing more astrology teachers would integrate. Venus, the planet at the heart of any pleasure practice, is currently traveling through Gemini for the first time in a Uranus-in-Gemini era we have not lived through since 1949 - so the kind of joy that liberates right now might genuinely be different from the joy that did the work even five years ago. Curiosity-pleasure, novelty-pleasure, the pleasure of suddenly noticing something you had not seen before, are all amplified. The 5th house, Leo, and Venus together describe the architecture you are pointing at: pleasure as creative principle, not consumption. Reading this on a Tuesday morning was the right kind of jolt.
This one along with your addiction piece begin to sing the song of our purpose in a life: each of us with our unique lessons to learn to become unconditional love, and if one can also procreate, all the better (I skipped that one, 'cause hedonism and family don't mix well). The solace you bring, the vigor you implore, compels so many beautiful and ugly souls, RB, and this world is grateful for your efforts. As a Beist rather than an Activist, no longer a revolutionary, but an iterationary, I will still sing along with your song in gleeful gluttony of a life, its gifts of sorrow, pain, pleasure, joy, destruction, famine, birth, death, illness, health, desolation, resurrection, and a snotty nose. Onward. Further!
"Begone foul deceivers!” This is what we must say to anyone who believes all is lost. Anyone who ascribes to the fatalism that all is lost because we have allowed the rich to get too rich, and then yawned about national elections not being sexy enough, so let the wealthy take it from here, and now we're depleted of ideas, needs to shut it and listen to these Amen-invoking words from Rob. Faithful attendance at The Holy Church of Saints Doubt and Apathy isn't uplifting, is it. I'll tell you how to kickstart your joy: Do something kind for another person. If you pull yourself out of your bloody Trumpian haze for a moment and look around, you will see dozens of opportunities right in front of you. If you have resources, use some of those to do a direct-action good for a local organization, or just routinely pay for the coffee of the person behind you in line. It feels really good, especially if you've thought it through and not only opened your wallet. But, sure, it's meaningful for just an instant, them and you. Dammit, the joy-bump you'll get might last a whole 10 minutes, big whoop. But rest assured that you'll want more and should get after that habit of demonstrating love. Because if you think Super Politician is going to fly in and make all our boo-boos better, stop all the bombing, restore those families, you are as big a fool as MAGA. We can only ever lovingly embrace the souls in our midst, and God knows this is how transformation takes place, and allowing yourself to be transformed is pleasurable. Do not fear it. Guide it.
I am 💯 sure Rob is one of the few living people about which I can say without hesitation that he has made my life better through his absolutely wildly brilliant creative & spiritual takes on existence. I find myself in passionate agreement with like 98% of what he says! And he makes the whole world seem better, saner and more hopeful to me because of his beautifully subversive but INTENSELY positive & freeing & poetic assertions about being alive. I really cannot praise him enough. No shit.
I agree so deeply with this and mightily endorse the teachings of guru Rob here. I know when I am forgetting to laugh and enjoy the beautiful & fascinating things in life that I am not functioning in my highest and truest nature. I have quite a few energies around me that strive to hurt or shame me if I seem to be having fun while I fight the good fight. But Rob is sooooo so right. We must allow ourselves to be guided by the inner joyfulness, gladness & good feelings we have. These are a wisdom and a power source that can draw us intuitively to a high vibration & great, tremendous things. In hard situations and dark times, to seek things which comfort or uplift us is necessary & healing & leads us toward a light, energetic vibration that aligns us harmoniously with the universe. It is intuitive, natural and I would say benevolent and holy thing to feed our pleasure sensors either experiences that keep our Spirit thrumming & humming with cosmic organic supple deliciousness. Rob makes more sense to me than almost anybody. Please tap into his genius, stat.
I will work at approximated the essence of that state of contentedness and delight you wrote for Aquarius. Years ago Idid an activity of defining my “brand of joy” with a coach. The word that really settled was “Delight”. Delight as a spiritual practice. (Spell check can’t even handle “delight”, it wants to change it to “light”). I feel uplifted today.💜
You sir...thank you for this; I'm calling it a Joy Manifesto. You've identified, articulated, and compiled a list of all my thoughts/beliefs on the subject (but have been too busy? to write about) + some new stuff. Hail, hail--I will continue spreading the Good News seeds that grow the field of JOY!
Naysayers shall nay say. Neither shall you cease your perfect pleasure parade that actually makes this world, my world, a much better place. You are so appreciated, Rob. Also, you are consistently there for us, giving, giving, giving. After I lost my husband, then my son, waking up on Tuesdays and knowing you were going to bring that strong message that could really drill through my grief was one of the things that got me through. Thank you.
Sending Love 💜💜
💔❤️
Thank you for your sumptuous kindness and your sparkling clarity. It's like opening a present every time.
I’ve seen delight. Thank you, Rob.
My oh my! You have outdone yourself this morning.. Well DONE... Joy on the menu.. full moon beckons and illuminates. Here are my fave quotes.. landing a space for gratitude and a not so gentle reminder. Thank you.."In both my extensive mythic explorations of dreamy truth and scientific investigations of hard-core reality, I have gathered incontrovertible evidence that pleasure is a central necessity for any spiritual quest that actually works."
"I mean the rich, ennobling euphoria and exhilaration that arise during encounters with smart fun: inspiring us to love ourselves more, expanding our capacity to love others, leading us in the direction of our shining dreams, and helping us solve our knotty problems."
"Self-denial doesn’t reliably produce saints. Often it just churns out people who are very good at pretending they don’t want what they want.
Those who know how to nurture themselves with good feelings often have a super-capacity to give without keeping score. Their generosity leaks out sideways. There’s surplus."
"Follow your joy, not blindly, not compulsively, but attentively. Watch how it keeps leading you toward becoming more human, responsive, and capable of love."
"When we activists internalize a punishing, pleasure-denying mode of resistance, we replicate the operating system of the empire we’re trying to dismantle. We just point its weapons at ourselves."
"Joy in the face of monstrousness is the most strategically sophisticated form of resistance available to us. It tells the regime: You don’t get to install your scarcity in my nervous system. You don’t get to make my body a battlefield in your war against everything good."
SO Loving forward. to this week of April 30
Healing through pleasure! Now you're talking my language. Bravo!
This is the framing I keep wishing more astrology teachers would integrate. Venus, the planet at the heart of any pleasure practice, is currently traveling through Gemini for the first time in a Uranus-in-Gemini era we have not lived through since 1949 - so the kind of joy that liberates right now might genuinely be different from the joy that did the work even five years ago. Curiosity-pleasure, novelty-pleasure, the pleasure of suddenly noticing something you had not seen before, are all amplified. The 5th house, Leo, and Venus together describe the architecture you are pointing at: pleasure as creative principle, not consumption. Reading this on a Tuesday morning was the right kind of jolt.
This one along with your addiction piece begin to sing the song of our purpose in a life: each of us with our unique lessons to learn to become unconditional love, and if one can also procreate, all the better (I skipped that one, 'cause hedonism and family don't mix well). The solace you bring, the vigor you implore, compels so many beautiful and ugly souls, RB, and this world is grateful for your efforts. As a Beist rather than an Activist, no longer a revolutionary, but an iterationary, I will still sing along with your song in gleeful gluttony of a life, its gifts of sorrow, pain, pleasure, joy, destruction, famine, birth, death, illness, health, desolation, resurrection, and a snotty nose. Onward. Further!
"Begone foul deceivers!” This is what we must say to anyone who believes all is lost. Anyone who ascribes to the fatalism that all is lost because we have allowed the rich to get too rich, and then yawned about national elections not being sexy enough, so let the wealthy take it from here, and now we're depleted of ideas, needs to shut it and listen to these Amen-invoking words from Rob. Faithful attendance at The Holy Church of Saints Doubt and Apathy isn't uplifting, is it. I'll tell you how to kickstart your joy: Do something kind for another person. If you pull yourself out of your bloody Trumpian haze for a moment and look around, you will see dozens of opportunities right in front of you. If you have resources, use some of those to do a direct-action good for a local organization, or just routinely pay for the coffee of the person behind you in line. It feels really good, especially if you've thought it through and not only opened your wallet. But, sure, it's meaningful for just an instant, them and you. Dammit, the joy-bump you'll get might last a whole 10 minutes, big whoop. But rest assured that you'll want more and should get after that habit of demonstrating love. Because if you think Super Politician is going to fly in and make all our boo-boos better, stop all the bombing, restore those families, you are as big a fool as MAGA. We can only ever lovingly embrace the souls in our midst, and God knows this is how transformation takes place, and allowing yourself to be transformed is pleasurable. Do not fear it. Guide it.
Thank you, at this time I am using joy and pleasure as a form of resistance❤️🔥 I appreciate you and your writings 💫🌌
Thank you, Rob 🫶🏼💫🫶🏼 You are a treasure xox
I am 💯 sure Rob is one of the few living people about which I can say without hesitation that he has made my life better through his absolutely wildly brilliant creative & spiritual takes on existence. I find myself in passionate agreement with like 98% of what he says! And he makes the whole world seem better, saner and more hopeful to me because of his beautifully subversive but INTENSELY positive & freeing & poetic assertions about being alive. I really cannot praise him enough. No shit.
I agree so deeply with this and mightily endorse the teachings of guru Rob here. I know when I am forgetting to laugh and enjoy the beautiful & fascinating things in life that I am not functioning in my highest and truest nature. I have quite a few energies around me that strive to hurt or shame me if I seem to be having fun while I fight the good fight. But Rob is sooooo so right. We must allow ourselves to be guided by the inner joyfulness, gladness & good feelings we have. These are a wisdom and a power source that can draw us intuitively to a high vibration & great, tremendous things. In hard situations and dark times, to seek things which comfort or uplift us is necessary & healing & leads us toward a light, energetic vibration that aligns us harmoniously with the universe. It is intuitive, natural and I would say benevolent and holy thing to feed our pleasure sensors either experiences that keep our Spirit thrumming & humming with cosmic organic supple deliciousness. Rob makes more sense to me than almost anybody. Please tap into his genius, stat.
I will work at approximated the essence of that state of contentedness and delight you wrote for Aquarius. Years ago Idid an activity of defining my “brand of joy” with a coach. The word that really settled was “Delight”. Delight as a spiritual practice. (Spell check can’t even handle “delight”, it wants to change it to “light”). I feel uplifted today.💜
Delight must be in the air (it’s spring!) because I wrote about it for Earth Day. Flowers are proof that delight is a birthright https://leeannprescott.substack.com/p/claim-your-right-to-delight
Ohhhh i en joy ed this!💚