Joy and Woe

William Blake wrote in “Auguries of Innocence” (1803):

It is right it should be so;
Man was made for joy and woe;
And when this we rightly know,
Thro' the world we safely go.

Knowing our true nature will make us safe in the world. I try to imagine this. I walk through the world. I experience joy; I experience woe because of the things I experience in this world… this fallen world where I am fallen. But I am safe? I am safe because I know that I am made for this? Knowing our true nature is knowing we belong in this fallen world in our fallen nature.

Joy and woe are woven fine,
A clothing for the soul divine.

We are eternally swaddled in joy.

Under every grief and pine
Runs a joy with silken twine.

The nature of grieving and pining is inseparable from the thread of joy that is part of what we are made of.