Decompressing by listening to Mozart's Requiem, oh yes, the musical equivalent of death throes is how I decompress. It's pretty much being taken on a musical journey of the months leading up to dying. I at least think I hear what it might have felt like to be nearing death, there are just so many complex emotions in the piece ... there's one part that sounds like resolution mixed with fear mixed with a sort of peace and jubilation then suddenly the feelings change to all these complex feelings, regret mixed with guilt mixed with nostalgia, then this exaltation, it just goes through so much in like five minutes and evolves. It's a rollercoaster for two hours, so much happening. It's so beautiful. As someone with interest in Jesus, it's for me an exploration of birth and death in particular, Jesus birth and death, the believers birth and death, the meaning of joy -- the birth of Jesus. Christmas, joy, everything that Christmas hints at in our modern world ... everything pointing to the joy of Jesus, all the stars in the sky, universe, the soul. There's no space now days for joy, the exaltation of joy, the beyond, the expansive mystery, to dream of and long for heaven, it's an odd thing to think about. When I listen to music like this, it reminds me to dream of heaven -- lifts my soul in a way I long for more than what is earthly.
C.S. Lewis defines joy as: Joy is distinct not only from pleasure in general but even from aesthetic pleasure. It must have the stab, the pang, the inconsolable longing.