The higher we are carried on the wings of joy

Seinfeld asked the crucial question.

What fun is life if you’re not making jokes all the time?

The zen master of comedy was not doing a koan, merely stating a fact. Joy is the reason we are here. Humor is not only our best way of accepting our humanity, but also our best survival tool.

Unlike other species, we can use it as a weapon to stave off bitterness and despair in even the darkest of times.

My mantra for this is, he who laughs, lasts.

The downside to this philosophy is, the higher we are carried on the wings of joy, the more people will start to resent us. It’s the strangest thing, but those who laugh easily are obvious targets of other people’s envy.

Reminds me of a grumpy coworker from my first job. She used to send me private chat messages on a daily basis, telling me to stop laughing so loudly because she was under a lot of stress and it was inconsiderate of me to have so much joy at work.

Clearly, this woman was in more dire need of a good crying laugh than anyone in history. Despite my attempts to lasso her with a joke and a smile, teasing her back from whatever far off fields she galloped through all day, joy could get no hold on her.

Carlin is another zen master who comes to mind. In his postmortem comedy album, recorded the day before the worst terrorist attack on our country’s soil, the comedian did perhaps the greatest rant on the topic of joy:

The only thing I care about is fun. That’s all I want. A good show. Philosophers ask, why are we here? And I tell them, I’m here for the fun. What else could it be? I’m not here to grow crops, build bridges and atone for my sins. I’m certainly not here to worry and suffer and sweat. I’m here to see the show. To me, the world is one big theatrical production, a long running show, a big round ball revolving around a big brown sun, and they give you a free ticket, and there is no second show. It’s all fun. What is there to care about besides your friends and family and being in love? Being crazy in love and eating a hot dog. Nothing else matters. It’s all little shit. The rest of it is all little shit. And the more you think it matters, the more power you give it, the more power you give it, the more it takes control of you, the more it tastes control, the less fun you have, the more you find yourself running around the shopping mall, trying to find a red dust buster in a salad shooter, trying to find a sale and use your credit card to get some extra miles so you can go on vacation with the rest of the people who aren’t having any fun.

In a world where nothing matters, laughter is the lever that we use to pry ourselves back to joy, wonder and meaning.

He who laughs, lasts. 

LET ME ASK YA THIS…
Do you accept that the jokes that the universe plays on hapless human creatures are cruel, but also funny?