Laughter, Bliss, Inner Joy

G‑d laughs. A blissful laugh. A laugh that resounds throughout the universe.

“There is nothing beyond bliss,” states the ancient Book of Formation (2:4). Bliss is the origin of all being, the source of all life, the meaning behind all that occurs.

And what is bliss? It is being at self.What is bliss? It is being at self. At home. Where there is no need to go anywhere, where this moment is forever. Where there is nothing else.

Bliss is an inner laughter, so deep within that it is neither heard nor felt—not even by the one who laughs.

What Delights You?

Think of pleasure. Of different kinds of pleasure.

There is a pleasure you take from outside of yourself. From music, from ideas, from teaching, from giving. They can provide a delightful pleasure, but they do not provide bliss. It is not pure and simple pleasure, because it is not you. A part of you delights—that part of you that is touched by this activity outside of you. But the rest of you remains untouched, unmoved.

Then there are things that ignite the innate pleasure within you. An absurdity, a joke, stupid fun. This pleasure is pure and simple because there isn't really anything giving you pleasure. You are “enjoying yourself”—something has tingled that essential sense of enjoyment you have in your own self. All of you delights.

Yet this delight cannot touch you to the core. Because it is not who you really are. And the proof—you know that you are happy. Which means that there is a part of you that remains the observer, standing on the outside. IfIf it were truly you delighting, you would not be aware of your delight. it were truly you delighting, you would not be aware of your delight. You would lose all awareness of self.

But then there is the pleasure not from teaching, but from having your students beat you at your own game; not from giving, but from seeing the success of those that you gave to; not from fulfilling your goals, but from success you had never dreamed of; not from living a good life, but from the surprise of knowing that you have lived, and there is yet more life that came from your life, and yet more, and in them you are found in a way you never knew that you knew.

This is pure bliss. There is nothing left of you to act as observer and say, “I am enjoying myself!” Because every cell of your being is engaged in this bliss. Because it is you.

It is the discovery of the you that you never realized you knew.

Where is that you discovered? In its fulfillment outside of you.

Ultimate Bliss

In the story of the universe, each of these three sorts of pleasure plays a part:

The Creator delights in each of His creations, in every ant that crawls, in every wind that blows. It is a current of delight that electrifies all things, surging through the veins of the cosmos leaving each creature tingling with life and celebrating life.

Yet that is not a pure delight.

The pleasure that set all things into motion at the start, the beginning, the point from which all things originate and to which all things lead, that was a pure delight—because nothing yet existed but the Creator.

Yet not entirely pure, not entirely of the core-essence.

The ultimate blissful pleasure isThe ultimate blissful pleasure is that which we created beings give back in return. that which we created beings give back in return—when a lost soul returns, a hidden spark of meaning is restored to its place, a piece of the world that seemed unsalvageable, ugly and sinister is transformed so that it shines—even if but for a moment—with its essential, primordial light.

All the more so when the entire world is entirely transformed.

It is then that all the universe is flooded equally with that blissful, divine pleasure, with a light that will never be withdrawn.

Because that pleasure derives from a place the Zohar calls “the beginning that is not known.” Meaning: that which is beyond knowing. Because it is one with Him. It is that which He has chosen freely, and so all of Him is engaged.

Through His creation, the unknowable is uncovered, and G‑d laughs in surprised delight to see Himself there.

All the universe resonates with that laugh.