I've had some requests on this forum to explain where i'm coming from when I talk about philosophy. Well sure i've read a lot about eastern and western philosophy. A lot of stuff about buddhism, Yogic philosophy, Taosism, and generally a lot of western psychology and eastern philosophy. But the one philosophy I take to the most and try to operate from is humor! It all started when I was standing line at the store one day and normally would be slightly anxious but this time I was not uptight or anxious because I was in a slightly humorous mood and even laughed a couple times while working the ATM machine to pay for my purcash because it wasn't working smoothly. When I walked out of the store I realized that the laugher mood was what kept me not just unanxious but also was able to enjoy myself. There were a few people standing behind me in line and normally i'd have an inclination to appologize to them but I didn't this time because I didn't see the situation as 'serious' and so I didn't see everyone else as serious (even if they were). Then I started thinking about this quote I love so much "Not a shred of evidence exists that life is serious" and on the bike ride home I decided to take a long route home and ponder this more. Well what happened was that I could hardly contain my laughter but was mostly able to in the form of a 'half-smile', so on the outside I appeared just normal and friendly but on the inside I felt immense joy. Laughin "inside" is a great way to be, and of course laugh outloud when appropriate. Then I thought about how this humor might be taken away and I realized it couldn't unless i gave it away. Instead of seeing things as black and white or yin and yang I just looked for the humor in them. It was easy to laugh and smile about things but I wondered if i'd be able to laugh when things got serious. So I thought about what if I rammed by bike into a telephone pole on accident and got injured but all I could do was laugh at how funny that'd look as I saw myself looking at myself from the outside. But there was a limit. I thought well what if i just witnessed someone doing something completely evil like stabbing a child right in front of me. To find something in that would probably be insane (though it is possible). But then this made me realize that there are many different kinds of humor. I mean laughing at a funny joke is a different kinda laughter than the laughter we have when we escape death. The laughter you get after just escaping death is more of a relief laughter. There's also the nervous laughter you get when something heinous happens in front of you. Laughter is like our intrinsic healing and coping mechanism. I started to get really 'out of control' with it which was a great feeling. I was laughing at things that normally wouldn't seem funny, such as the fact that two forms can crash into eachother. I could ram my bike into a pole, thats just funny! Now I didn't become insane and actually try, or want, to do this, but i still saw it as funny. The clouds were funny, the ground I stood on was funny, the trees were funny, the fact that the earth spins was FUNNY! (perhaps this is form of what the Yogi's call "samadhi", i'm not sure) But best of all I realized that you can laugh just for the sake of laughing. You can laugh for no reason! And when you finally truely realize this it opens up a whole new possibililty in how you live life. Another great thing about laughter is that when you laugh your mind stops. I find it one of the greatest and easiest meditations. It allows you to be mindful and "in the moment" and to see things as they really are. If you wake up in a serious mood and go out into your day you'll likely see everything as serious. If a butterfly flies in front of you you may take it for granted, if you even notice it at all. But if you're in a place of laughter and one flew by you you'd really see it and really enjoy it. As I approached this one street where cars never want to stop for me as I cross the crosswalk, I knew that normally this would cause me to go "well here comes the idiots who won't stop for me" and set myself up to be angry. But since I went into it already in my "laughter mode" I just laughed at it this truck who immediately sped up instead of slowing down like it was supposed to. A lot of people wouldn't feel ready to take this humorous approach to life because they still see payoffs in taking life seriously. Some people want to be seen as the tough guy or the guy who is anti-social and doesn't want others to get too close. But if they wanted to stop suffering more than they wanted to keep these payoffs then I think a non-serious approach to life would help them greatly. Here's a quote I left on another thread that is relevant: "I've noticed that laughter is about the only true contagious force I have. I can't make someone else agree with me, i can't make someone else love me, i can't make someone else enjoy things. But if i laugh and they laugh with me, suddenly we're connected, suddenly we agree, suddenly we love, suddenly we enjoy." Humor is like a muscle that atrophies if you don't use it often so if you feel extremely serious then it's going to take some time for you to develop a sense of humor but it is possible if you want it bad enough. Try just going through the motions of laughing and "fake it till you make it" and soon you'll gain momentum. You may think that if you laugh at everything that people will see you as a complete idiot or insane but I promise you that you'll end up more sane when you laugh. Laughter restores perspective and clears your mind. And besides, you can still laugh just on the inside so others won't have a problem with you and you'll still reap all the health benefits of laughter (and there are MANY benefits). Once you see that no evidence exists that life is serious you'll wonder why you always assumed that being serious equates to sanity. You'll change that to feeling weird when you're uptight and serious and start to feel at home when you laugh! I don't know anyone who doesn't like laughing or humor, even if it's a cynical, sick, perverted or otherwise twisted sense of humor =/ I believe that if you adopted this philosophy to life it would change you and your life greatly and rapidly. But you have to be ready to let go of your fear, drama and suffering. Since I started doing this a while back I changed a lot. I "seriously" decided to stop being so serious! I'm still met with the same challenges but they don't upset me anymore and I have, not just inner-peace, but enjoyment! enjoyment of life. And best of all it's free, always accessible and very healthy. I could literally write a book on this subject and my experiences but I think my post here has been long enough hehe so I'll stop now and end with the quote "There is no way to happiness, happiness is the way" (If this post helps anyone great but if you find it rediculous then by all means laugh at it )
funny =p but what i'm saying is the reason we need to stop and laugh sometimes is because we normally take life seriously. The philosophy is to not take it seriously in the first place because there's no reason to. And if you think life has to be serious ask yourself why
Now this is a philosophy I can really get behind and support fully. Well done gt3, a most resepectworthy perspective. I bow to you and suggest that you remind people often. btw the Earth spinning IS funny. And your post gave me a laugh I needed this evening. Now I feel healthier. Thanks. Keep it up. You've got it right.
