Have a laugh

Have you ever noticed the information that washes over us from the Internet is almost always serious? It is seldom light-hearted and fun. This stands in contrast to our lived reality. We know from personal experience that life is just not that serious. You don’t have to be a comedian to stand back and realize that existence is one big slice of humor from magical start to exquisite finish.

In ancient times, life could be described as a cosmic joke — a teasing by the gods. This is especially displayed in the epic works of the Iliad and the Odyssey. (1) Paris pursues, Helen, the most beautiful woman in the world — who is married — to the ultimate destruction of himself, his family, and his city. Ouch, to say the least! Men are continually tricked and played out by the vagaries of life — the heroes, many times, dying while leaving their courageous acts for us to ponder.

In modern times, this behavior is not as easily apologized for, however — not so lightly excused. We now have all the known corpus of humanity, literally at our fingertips, through the cell phone. Individuals do not have to commit immoral and illogical acts unless they are either foolish, like Eichmann, (2) or have consciously decided to behave in a wicked manner like Stalin. (3) Part of the justification for the immorality and greed on the part of humanity is that there is no purpose to life. There is no God, therefore, no moral guide to right and wrong. I can, thus, merely satiate my own selfish desires. This, of course, is plainly not true.

The New Atheists (4) make a brilliant and extremely erudite argument for the lack of God in the universe, but we know in our hearts that this is a false claim. We all have had this experience: you meet a physically beautiful person who you sense is somehow flawed. You don’t know exactly how, but later you discover you were correct. You were, initially, accused of being delusional, but, in the end, you were not. This was only a dismissive argument against what you truly knew.

I often remember Carl Jung’s famous quote when asked if he believed in God. His response: “I don’t believe, I know,” (5) and so life goes. I find that a wonderful way to lighten the mood of existence is to constantly remind yourself that when you awaken in the morning, you have a clear choice. You can make it a positive or a negative day. It is simply up to me. This is independent of my actual surroundings and, as I age, of my bodily responses to the morning — the proverbial aches and pains of life. The polymath, Francis Bacon (6) leaves us with a thought: Imagination was given to man to compensate him for what he is not; a sense of humor to console him for what he is.

A closing thought: I enjoy having a laugh at myself from time to time: the shirt not properly tucked in, the mismatched socks, the uncombed hair. The list is endless. Outside sources can also provide amusing relief. I recently saw a girl with rings and things all embraced by electric pink hair. Fantastic! On a darker, but still entertaining note, the other day, I watched a man explode in anger because his car was accidentally touched by a scooter. This should bring tears of humor to anyone — anger over a car, really? So, when you feel in the blackest of moods, look for the humor in life — have a laugh — the hilarity of just being alive is all around us.

To sum up: This week, we spoke about the comedy of life — have a laugh!

To be noted: From Victor Borge (7) — Laughter is the closest distance between two people

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