It hit me with the force of joy. Happiness is what we experience as we celebrate the achievements of the self — winning a prize. Joy is what we feel when we are encompassed by a presence that transcends the self. We create happiness, but are seized by joy — in my case by the sensation that I had just been overwhelmed by a set of values of intoxicating spiritual beauty.

This is part of a beautiful piece by David Brooks.

There truly is a difference between “spirituality” and “religion” in Brooks’s view:

Mere spirituality invariably teaches me the easy lessons that I already wanted to learn. Religions, by contrast, enmesh your life in a sacred story. They provide the sacramental symbols that point to ineffable truths and rituals to mark the transitions in our lives. They give us peoplehood, a tradition of music, emotion and thought, an inheritance of spiritual treasures. 

In this Advent season I am reminded again of this deep longing for God. There is a drawing to him that grows sweeter and sweeter by the season, by the year.

The desire for God appears to be insatiable. Nobody ever said: “I once experienced God’s presence and that was enough for me. I’m good.” Jews calls their study halls “houses of seeking.” The word “Israel” itself means “wrestling with God.” I’m onboard with the early church father Gregory of Nyssa, who argued that heaven itself is endless longing. That’s the heaven I want to be in.

It’s a beautiful piece David Brooks has gifted us this season. Savor it.