We received an email from Phil’s friend, Chad Glang PhD, a retired psychologist who lives in Boulder CO. He updated us on his current status. He shared a guest sermon he wrote for his local church. It’s titled, Bringing Our Best Selves to the Challenge. The first two paragraphs follow:
In 1972, I visited a friend in Burlington VT [that friend was Phil]. We attended a weekly Friday night political meeting downtown. A couple dozen of us were seated in a large circle. In light of the Vietnam war, someone suggested we sing “We Shall Overcome.” Someone else shot back: “No! We Shall Overthrow!” It got loud and contentious. Then, a little girl of 6 or 7 walked to the middle of the room and began singing “Someone’s in the Kitchen with Dinah.” We all joined in.
We’re not going to sing our way to more peaceful times now, but remembering to laugh — to engage our playful selves — is an important part of keeping our equilibrium.
I had completely forgotten about that incident. The revived memory brought a smile to my heart. Children can remind us of important truths that might otherwise be forgotten or lost in the “serious” business of being an adult.
With the challenges, divisiveness and stress we face today, we need to keep in touch with our innate childlike nature that loves to laugh, play, sing and unite people in harmony, like that little girl did.
Importance of a Healthy Perspective and Sense of Humor
And we need to keep a perspective that promotes unity rather than discord. Such perspective comes with a healthy sense of humor. Healthy humor brings healing and social bonding. It can even bring us closer to our best Selves. Unhealthy humor brings harm and divisiveness. It can be mean. Sarcasm, for example can sting. The word “sarcasm” comes from the Greek word sarkazein, which literally means “to tear apart or bite through flesh.”
A healthy sense of humor is a sense just as sight or hearing is. It gives us a creative way of seeing, thinking and responding to life’s challenges. It’s much better than becoming demoralized or discouraged.
Without a sense of humor, each of us as an individual are vulnerable to breaking or “losing it.” Without a sense of humor, a family, group or nation is vulnerable to falling apart. As Erma Bombeck wrote: “When humor goes, there goes civilization.”
Humor is dis-arming. It de-escalates tension and dissension. In Mark Twain’s words, which are surely pertinent these days: “The human race has only one really effective weapon, and that is laughter.” It is much less expensive than military warfare and much less costly to human life. On average, stand-up comedians cost $300 to $500 an hour. A Tomahawk missile costs $2 million and is gone in a second.
Interestingly, during the Middle Ages in times of war, Kings frequently used their personal jesters as messengers and would send them across enemy lines as a diplomatic gesture to lighten tensions.
Humor, Religion and Yoga
In talks I give to groups and churches, I often highlight the importance of humor. All the great religions and teachings of the world give value to humor. Just as one example, the Benedictine abbess, philosopher and visionary mystic Hildegard of Bingen advocated laughter as a natural expression of joy and a gift of God. She said that a sense of humor is a state “of being moist,” having “greening power” and helps us become creative instead of “being dried up.” (Note that the word “humor” derives from the Latin word for “being moist or fluid.”)
In the words of Saint Anonymous (meaning that I don’t know who really said them): “Cheerfulness gives elasticity to the spirit.” That’s much better than being stiff, brittle and easily broken.
I consider a sense of humor and laughter much like yoga. On the physical level, it gives a good stretch and releases tension. A good hearty laugh is even aerobic and good for the heart. In fact, a Stanford University researcher, William F. Fry, determined that 60 seconds of laughter is equivalent to doing 25 situps!
On a more subtle level, a sense of humor benefits your mental, emotional and spiritual health as does yoga. To quote Mark Twain once more, his words about humor could also be used to describe the effects of yoga:
Humor is the great thing, the saving thing, after all. The minute it crops up, all our hardnesses yield, all our irritations and resentments flit away, and a sunny spirit takes their place.
In short, humor helps smooth out the effects of the rough roads of life (including potholes and frost heaves nowadays).
Humor, Travails, Tragedy and Trauma
Humor uplifts us from the gravity of life, keeping us sane during tough times. It even helps us get through trauma.
During the pandemic, when we were fraught with fear and worry and felt caged in, humor helped give us space and relief. In his article titled What’s So Funny About the Pandemic?, author Gregg Lavoy stated that laughter may not be a vaccine, but it’s still good medicine. He noted you cannot be scared and laugh at the same time. I add that neither can you be tense or angry. Here’s more from Lavoy:
Some may think pandemic humor inappropriate (and it certainly could be…), but it’s also a coping mechanism, if not a survival mechanism… Humor is part of our natural immune system, doubles as a stress reliever and mood enhancer, and helps us take back some of the control we’ve lost … Some research even suggests that the healing effect of humor isn’t necessarily a function of how much you laugh at all the jokes going around, but whether you maintain a generally humorous outlook on life, the downs as well as the ups — an outlook that would surely come in handy these days.
Even during the Holocaust, humor served a valuable purpose. In his book Comic Relief – A Comprehensive Philosophy of Humor, John Morreall writes:
During the Holocaust, humor served three main functions. First was its critical function: humor focused attention on what was wrong and sparked resistance to it. Second was its cohesive function: it created solidarity in those laughing together at the oppressors. And third was its coping function: it helped the oppressed get through their suffering without going insane.
So keep a sense of humor handy. Don’t bottle it up! Laugh often. Don’t let things get you down. Let your sense of humor help you ride the roller coaster of life more smoothly and joyfully. Stay centered in “your best Self.”
Allow a “sunny spirit” to rise from within, and March on! Relentlessly. It is March, after all!