Collective Joy

I have said before that JOY is my favorite word in the English language. I like it for its impact in just a few letters. I love to play it in Words with Friends or Scrabble because I feel as if I am sharing a little bit of joy with my opponent. And, I challenge you to say it without smiling just a little, even if only on the inside.

We could all use a little collective joy these days. And, my family found it this weekend at Oriole Park at Camden Yards dancing in the dark with the Boss, the one and only Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band. I kept thinking all night how palpable the feeling of collective joy was in the stadium. It was thrilling, loud, happy, and highly energetic.

The phrase collective joy  was coined over a decade ago by author and columnist Barbara Ehrenreich who wrote Dancing in the Streets: A History of Collective Joy. In this scholarly history of dance, the author explores the human impulse to dance, and its seemingly constant suppression throughout history. 

Ehrenreich writes about “the desire for collective joy, historically expressed in revels of feasting, costuming, and dancing.” Communal celebrations and mass festivities date to Medieval times and are central to Western tradition. In recent centuries, however, Ehrenreich asserts that the festive tradition has been repressed, but, she states, “the celebratory impulse is too deeply ingrained in human nature ever to be completely extinguished.” I credit Ehrenreich with naming a condition that contains so much spirit and ability to inspire. In her definition, collective joy involves “music, synchronized movement, costumes, and a feeling of loss of self.” 

Brené Brown also wrote about collective joy in Braving the Wilderness: The Quest for True Belonging and the Courage to Stand Alone. Brown encourages us to share collective joy. “People with a sense of true belonging spend time sharing emotional experiences with large and diverse groups—whether those groups are found at sporting events, live music, church services, or vigils,” writes Brown. “The more we’re willing to seek out moments of collective joy…the more difficult it becomes to deny our human connection.”

On Friday night, Kelsy, Steven and I helped celebrate Jim and Jenna’s birthdays dancing for three hours to some of our most favorite music. Springsteen never disappoints. He is a gift to many people and inspires us to be better humans. Concert-goers connect and experience joy with each other as they sing together, dance together, jump up and down together, and scream at the top of their lungs together. 

The E Street Band are the people who know Bruce Springsteen best, and in his own words from an article in Rolling Stone, “They are my greatest friendships, my deepest friendships — irreplaceable things.”  His touching tributes last night to original bandmates who have passed on reminded me that loved ones are irreplaceable and that we should spend as much time with them sharing collective joy as is humanly possible. It will keep us young at heart and connected with lifelong memories. 

And although my throat is sore and my knee hurts a bit today, the three hours of singing and dancing were worth it! They don’t call him The Boss for nothing!