Joy and Happiness are not the same thing. Which do you want in life?

Question

Joy is an internal process grounded in the knowledge of Spiritual truth..

Happiness is a mental emotional response to temporary external stimulation...

Answer 1

I want joy, truly a spiritual gift. Happiness is just a human emotion that balances the effect of sadness. It's only temporary, no one can be happy for ever. I think joy however is attainable at all times. This is an emotion that can be carried all the time. It's just a battle to put your mind in a joyous state all the time.

Answer 2

Happiness is a decision, not a destination. But Joy, ahh, that is a direct result of direct contact with the Spirit. But usually unhappy people have difficultly getting to that experience of joy simply because they are blocking their connection with the very thinking that is making them feel unhappy. I want both sense I realize If I am miserable I also lose that joy. Trust me, I have been unhappy & it has always been the direct result of my thinking & that thinking is usually that for I while I lose my mind & actually think that I can be happy or joyful putting some trivial concern out here above my spiritual needs.

Answer 3

The jury is still out as to whether "joy" and "happiness" are or are not the same thing. Again the parody of "knowledge" and "wisdom" return.
"Remember that desire demands the attainment of that of which you are desirous; and aversion demands the avoidance of that to which you are averse; that he who fails of the object of his desires is disappointed; and he who incurs the object of his aversion is wretched. If, then, you shun only those undesirable things which you can control, you will never incur anything which you shun; but if you shun sickness, or death, or poverty, you will run the risk of wretchedness. Remove [the habit of] aversion, then, from all things that are not within our power, and apply it to the things which are within our power, you must necessarily be disappointed; and you are not secure of those which are within our power, and so are legitimate objects of desire. Where it is practically necessary for you to pursue or avoid anything, do even this with discretion and gentleness and moderation."
Epectetus

Answer 4

Incorrect.

I feel happy.
I feel joy.

Happy and joy are just feelings. Nothing more. As feelings they are both transitory. Happy and joy will be sustained as long as what one experiences or thinks about creates happy or joy.

Happy and joy, or at least the want of these things are the experience of not having them. We can then deduce that you are currently unhappy and unjoyful.

I want neither. I have both.

Answer 5

I want joy

Answer 6

Both