I call it Joy, which is here a technical term and must be sharply distinguished both from Happiness and Pleasure. Joy (in my sense) has indeed one characteristic, and one only, in common with them; the fact that anyone who has experienced it will want it again… I doubt whether anyone who has tasted it would ever, if both were in his power, exchange it for all the pleasures in the world. But then Joy is never in our power and Pleasure often is.
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This is a portion of a passage from C.S. Lewis’s book *Surprised by Joy: The Shape of My Early Life*.
The best answer to your question on what Lewis was describing will be found in his book.
My own interpretation is that the experience he names “Joy” is one that comes into a person’s awareness/psyche from outside the person. A person can, by his/her own efforts, bring the experiences that Lewis names “Happiness” and “Pleasure”, but not “Joy”. “Joy” comes as a result of other forces/influences that don’t obey the person’s efforts.
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