I was on an 11 day meditation retreat. On day 6 I had finally reached a rather serene and very peaceful state of consciousness. The observer of the mind. My thoughts had calmed down and all high and low emotions had settled. I was wondering if, in this serene, quiet state of being, which could also be experienced as emptiness, it would still be possible to experience emotions such as exhilaration and joy. Everything felt so neutral now. So devoid of highs and lows. I reflected on this while walking through nature on one of the meditation breaks. Minutes after these reflections, rain drops started to fall on my head. Yet, I could also see the sun shine above the clouds not far away from me. 'Typical rainbow weather!' I thought. Mere seconds later, as I turned my head to the sky on the right this beautiful and complete rainbow was already waiting for me to be seen. It was so magical and I immediately experienced joy and exhilaration, thereby answering my own ponderings: Yes one could still experience these happy, high emotions even while in a mostly neutral Zen state! It felt as if the rainbow had manifested right in front of my eyes just to prove that point.