One of the best ways to feel in your heart and soul the spiritual dimensions of joy is to listen to the finale of Beethoven's masterful Symphony No. 9, in D Minor, Op. 125. This choral piece is based on Schiller's poem "Ode to Joy" which affirms the unity of all. The exalted movement pioneers the use of the human voice into the symphonic medium. It also celebrates freedom by incorporating different musical elements — fugue, march, choral, and recitative — to create an unconventional whole. To ride wave after wave of this surging sound is to experience the exhilaration of true spiritual joy and freedom!

Two images of abundant joy are Margaret Neve's By Moonlight and Henri Matisse's Dance. In the first, a girl leans backwards, arms outstretched, as if to embrace the moonlight around her; her blissful look conveys her surrendering to joy. And in Matisse's famous painting, five female nudes dance in a circle on a green mound set into a rich blue sky. Hands joined and limbs fully stretched, they are exemplars of exuberant joy.