What do we want, Joy or Happiness?

I was talking to a friend, a Greek friend, and he described happiness as something momentary – winning the lottery, getting a raise, receiving a post, you are happy. On the other hand Joy, he described, is a more general joy of life, of being who you are and where you are. Happiness thus, he continued, depends on outside sources and you are always at the mercy of luck and the (Greek) gods, while Joy you are dependent on yourself.

At first I was surprised as in my understanding of English it was the opposite. But he explained that these words are from Greek origin and that’s their meaning (and an American friend present said it seemed reasonable to her), and it occurred to me that also in French the word for happiness is “Bonheur,” a happy moment, while Joy is “Joie de vivre,” Joy of life.

The topic of momentary happiness vs. a more general one has constantly come up in the How to be happy discussion (post, post, post) but this gives a nice clarification of it. For happiness you are constantly at the mercy of luck and outside events, while for Joy you are dependent only on yourself. 

It is interesting to remember: The joy of sex. Why is sex a joy? Why sex is actually not simply an event which makes us happy, like eating chocolate, or buying new cloth, but a more profound one of: Joy.

How do we become Joyful then?

Which kinds of moments of ecstasy are profound ones of Joy, and which ones are ones of Happiness?