Happy Tears

This essay is one I worked on and sobbed over and just could not fit it into the book.... but it meant too much to me to discard it.   So I'll present it to you here instead.   Enjoy.


Happy Tears


        When we experience genuine acts of Love, we might cry.  Some call it a happy cry.  This act of crying is special.  It is a liberating release and a partial expression of grief.  Yes, grief. 

        During most of our time, the ego finds much solace in the protection of its vulnerability.  This habit is one so commonplace that we hardly notice it happening at all.  Sometimes, we feel as though there is no other possibility other than to live while fully guarded.  This defensive tactic traps us and keeps us caged in our own fear.  In its greatest act of self-preservation, the ego relies on these barriers to defend itself from becoming permanently vulnerable and therefore extinct.  As a result, we allow ourselves to become angry, aggressive, or arrogant so to shield ourselves from facing our own insecurities.  These are the times when we are unaware that we are always surrounded by Love.  Consequently, we live in fear, reluctant to exhibit kindness.   Because kindness can cause the exposure of our vulnerability, this causes a great conflict for the ego.  There will be times when we will witness kindness.  There are other times when we will perform kindness.  Inevitably, we must face that all-encompassing comprehension of Love.  For a moment, maybe even a brief moment, when we find ourselves in the midst of Love, that once-guarded veil of fear will be lifted, rendering us vulnerable.  In that moment of vulnerability, the ego discovers that its armor has been penetrated.  Then your Core entity acknowledges that, for a moment, it has been accessed.  In an instant, like a flash of lightning, your Core entity blooms!  It has experienced Love!  It embraces that moment and rejoices in Love.  It manifests feelings of happiness and gratitude and affirms the existence of Love as it readies us to perform kindness.  

        As we celebrate the beauty of Love, our ego will grieve over the understanding that it is no longer guarded.  The spirit of joy causes the ego to grieve for its lost emotional fortress.  This goes unnoticed because it happens farther back in the mind than what we are often consciously thinking.  Generally, it won't ever feel like grief because we are far more focused on those feelings of love and kindness instead.   Despite the attempt to defend ourselves through anger and arrogance, Love has that special talent to pierce through those walls and barriers.  Love is pervasive.  Love directly accesses the Core in ways that nothing else can.  The power of Love liberates the Core spirit as it triumphs over the human ego.  We are set free; free to laugh, free to dance, free to celebrate.  Yet our ego, with its affinity for attachment, cherishes its prized armor of fear instead, handicapping our potential to love.  Therefore, with one final strike, Love will sacrifice the ego.  As a result, we cry happy love-filled tears.  Once we are made aware of Love again, we are reminded that we had allowed ourselves to forget to love due to the world's distractions even if just for a moment.  

"May God break my heart so completely that the whole world falls in."  [Mother Teresa]


Joe Sielski
(January 28, 2014)