Let us continue our investigation into various
hypostases of the state of joy, by talking about:
3. Joy as Marriage
What in the world could this mean? Well, if the term “laughter”
necessitated clarifications, this term (and this equivalence) surely does, as
well. In order to do that - to look into the ways in which “marriage”
corresponds to and is expressive of “joy” - I will employ as a visual aid the
following image, of a statuary group from the Cathedral of St. Matthew in Washington, DC.
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| the betrothal of Joseph and Mary (by Vincenzo Demetz, Italy; installed 1961) |
How does that work? Well, according to the mythical story of
the Book of Genesis (“mythical”, in the sense that its main concern is not with
relating “historical events”, but with revealing some essential truths about
the nature and the condition of the human beings), after God created the human being
(in Hebrew, adam - which is not a person’s name, but a general term
denoting human beings, without determination of sex), the resulting human
being looked around and “saw” that he was
as yet unaccomplished, incomplete – that it was alone. In consequence –
so the mythical story goes, revealing additional information about the nature
of the human beings - God put adam in a deep sleep, and then out of
this adam He made man (in Hebrew, ish) and woman (in
Hebrew, ishah). Then and thus - and only then and thus - was
the creation of the human being accomplished:
“God created mankind in his image;
in the image of God he created them;
male and female he created them.” (Gen 1:25)
In other words, the perfectly accomplished creation of the
human being, in the image of God (i.e. reflecting His perfection,
goodness, and unity), is only accomplished in this “original unity of ish (man) and ishah (woman)”. And “[t]hat is why a man leaves
his father and mother and clings to his wife, and the two of them become one
body.” (Gen. 2:24) – i.e. thus, marriage. According to this Jewish-Christian understanding,
then, marriage is a sacred covenant through which the man and the woman live
out, together - and, in a way, re-enact - that original harmony and perfection
of the original human condition – even if now only imperfectly, and in a
flawed manner.
Thus, the image above, of the very Jewish wedding of Mary
and Joseph (see, to the right, the young man who leaves, seemingly disappointed,
while breaking a stick on his knee - which is a sign, according to Jewish
customs, of being a rejected suitor of the bride), seems to embody and to
reflect such a moment and state - which connects
them (and us) with, and which re-enacts, that original state of unity and harmony
(of the creation of man, in the image of God, accomplished in the unity of ish and ishah). As such, what one “gets” from looking at
this statuary group is a sense of peace, of “things being right”, of the world “being
set aright” - of all the puzzle pieces finally falling into place, for once.
And it is in this sense that I identify in marriage another
manifestation of - and thus set of meanings for – the existential state of joy.
Joy, as a deep living out of our being being “at right”; of us being
in the right place and in the right condition; before God, who is the source of
our (and of all) being.
Note also that marriage is – naturally and essentially - a social, dialogical act; that this state of harmony and peace is
attained (or aimed at, imperfectly) only through the common act of two
persons, an act that binds them; that it is this covenant in which they enter, together, that endows them (as a couple) with the perfection (again, imperfectly lived
out) that we were talking about (the image of the original unity and perfection of the human being). Thus we see, yet again, that joy seems to be a state that is essentially social, or at least fundamentally open toward the other - just like
the human being itself is essentially open to - and in need of - the other.
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