to fully experience it requires something terrifying as well as exalting: opening oneself up to the possibility of loss. That’s what Vaillant realized about joy. It makes us more vulnerable, in its way, than sadness. He’s fond of quoting William Blake’s Auguries of Innocence: “Joy and woe are woven fine.” You can’t have joy without the prospect of mourning, and to some people this makes joy a difficult feeling to bear.
