Every journey needs a goal, a guiding vision. Otherwise, we’re just wandering. Having a goal doesn’t mean we fully understand what we’re looking for, and it doesn’t mean we know what direction to travel. Still, having a goal is very useful. It enables us to seek guidance. It sensitizes us to clues. It allows us to formulate plans and make decisions. It enables us to gather resources and enlist allies. It gives us strength of purpose. It allows us to evaluate our progress and improve our strategies.
A well-chosen goal is big enough and high enough and deep enough to guide us no matter where we start out or how far we make it or how dramatically our understandings of ourselves and the world change along the way. In my experience, joy is the finest, most enduring and most powerful goal we can set for ourselves. No matter how lost we are or how enlightened we are, no matter how far we are from where we want to be or how many dreams we've made real, joy can always guide us to better things.
Joy is not merely a goal of this book. Joy is the goal of this book. Everything contained in it—every word and every image, every concept and every suggestion—is included to serve the cultivation of joy.
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