Working on the meanings of these words and on our own experiences. Activity: Listening, Reading, Discussions, Comments, Retelling, Speaking and Sharing.

On joy and Sorrow

Your joy is your sorrow unmasked. And the same well from which your laughter rises was so often filled with tears. And how else can it be?
The deeper that sorrow carves into your being, the more joy you can contain.

It is not the cup that holds your wine the very cup that was burned in the potter´s oven? And is not the lute that soothes your spirit, the very wood that was hollowed with knives?

When you are joyous, look deep into your heart and you shall find it is only that which has given you sorrow that is giving you joy. When you are sorrowful look again in your heart, and you shall see that in truth you are weeping for that which has been your delight.

Some people say, "Joy is greater than sorrow," and others say, "No, sorrow is the greater." But I say to you, they are inseparable. Together they come, and when one sits alone with you at your board, remember that the other is asleep upon your bed.

You are suspended like scales between your sorrow and your joy. And so your joy or your sorrow rise or fall. Only when you are empty, you are at a standstill and balanced.

Taken from "The Prophet"
Kahlil Gibran