Fun

February 15, 2024

Fun gives excitement, pleasure, gratification, thrills, happiness, and more. Just as we experience ego grief and soul grief, we also have ego fun and soul fun. Ego fun differs from soul fun, but they can overlap.

All unchecked ego fun is found in experiences that fulfill the ego's story. The story avoids all that upsets its storyline. The unchecked ego's story assumes that its fixations are the best way to deal with life. The story's goal is to have its wishes for itself, others, and the world come true. Fun is a little more intense than happiness, but fun makes us happy. Sometimes, the ego's story parallels the desires of the soul. So, we can have ego fun and soul fun at the same time.

Whenever things fall into place for the ego and its story, there is a rush, thrill, or a sense of satisfaction. For example, there is an Ego Type Three who has fun watching their team win the trophy. This Type Three's story characterizes them as a winner, not a loser. So, when the team they identify with wins, it reinforces the Three Ego Type's self-image. That's a feeling of fun. However, ego suffering comes when Ego Type Threes become egocentric and have GOT to win to maintain their idea of who they are.

The soul can pull for their team, but their identity is not threatened if they lose. Why is this so? Because the soul's identity is in its Holy Origin, not in its ego's image of who they are. Soul fun brings the soul pleasure based on its overarching purpose. The purposed soul has reconnected to its reason for being created and to its Holy idea, which is the particular perception of truth with which God endowed us at our making. Therefore, when the soul's purpose is expressed, that moves it to soul gratification.

Soul gratification is expressed by mystics such as St. Teresa of Avila, as she describes the ecstasies experienced in her visions. Another is Julian of Norwich, whose showings (visions) taught that joy is the most extraordinary flourishing of human life. Thomas Merton describes happiness: "Happiness is not a matter of intensity but of balance, order, rhythm and harmony." Soul fun excites us from our depths because it is an activity and emotion that, through our hearts, delights us from our depths.

Inquiry: What kind of fun did you last have?

Dear God,

In my heart, I know when my soul is having fun; it delights and gladdens my heart. These joys are my deepest, for which I am wholeheartedly grateful. Amen

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