MUDITA

moo-DEE-tuh -- (n.) Finding joy in the happiness of others.

A child laughs uncontrollably and without knowing what it is they're laughing at, you laugh too because their joy is contagious and beautiful and pure. This is mudita. Mudita applies not only to joy but to success like when you find joy in the success of others. Yet another word pulled from the world's great divinity traditions, and this Buddhist word is exquisite in its rarity. Buddha used the word to express the idea JOY is an infinite quality, not a commodity to be saved or stowed. Regardless of one's religion, Mudita transcends denominations and deserves to be found more often.

~Wordeby's by Chanel Rion

ART: "Whose Turn First" (1910) by Arthur John Elsley

STYLE: Victorian Genre

NATIONALITY: British