Laughter!

Hello World

I’m using my daily thoughts and encounters to discover as many things as possible which bring together, rather than divide, our various belief systems and cultures.

“You have a gift for bringing joy and laughter to the world. I know, I created you.” – God (Morgan Freeman), Bruce Almighty

Humour. If there’s anything which everyone in the world should be able to share, it’s the ability to laugh. Yet it is such a paradoxical concept. Your favourite joke might have your mates in stitches but the next person you tell it to might find it silly, offensive, boring, or might just not get it. And some jokes are only funny if told at the right time.

One rather disappointing perception is that humour is not welcome alongside religion. I read an extract from The Spiritual Practices of Rumi which asked, “Why is there no place for Laughter at the banquet table of organized religion?” It goes on to ask, “What has happened to all the smiling Buddhas?” Have they all gone somewhere, then?

If they have, it’s news to me. Moreover, although the extract doesn’t specifically mention Christianity, it has conveniently forgotten to inform us that modern church services are full of smiling, friendly people. Our warden loves to warm us up at the start with a selection of funnies. And if we want to laugh in church, why shouldn’t we – as the above quote points out, if we are funny, it’s because God made us that way, so why would He then require us not to be so?

The science of laughter is intriguing. Everyone knows the old saying about how it takes far fewer muscles to smile than it does to frown. The responses in the brain, which lead from hearing something funny to the end result of laughter, follow similar patterns to those used for problem-solving. And laughter, as we all know, is the best medicine, relieving stress, triggering endorphins and relaxation, boosting immune cells, and even protecting the heart.

Socially, laughter brings us together because we are all sharing the same joke. This is important of course, but even more so, smiles and good humour are infectious. How many times have you seen someone random in the street smiling or grinning away to themselves, or laughing with their friends, and you yourself have felt a little more cheerful as a result? The point is we all have it within us to spread good humour and laughter. We don’t have to think we are or aren’t funny just because we do or don’t know a great joke about a rhinoceros. Laughing itself is a gift we were all given, whether you believe by a God or not, and which multiplies and spreads in all the right ways. So let’s take advantage of this gift and use it well.

At the risk of giving you all far too many quotes today, I shall leave you with one more, from 1 Corinthians 4:21 – “Shall I come to you with the whip, or in love and with a gentle spirit?”

Use your gift of good humour and laughter to communicate with each other; we all respond much better to this than we do to ‘the whip’!

Thanks for listening, and take care!