Welcome Prelude Chalice Lighting Words: Mary Oliver, Look and See This morning, at waterside, a sparrow flew to a water rock and landed, by error, on the back of an eider duck; lightly it fluttered off, amused. The duck, too, was not provoked, but, you might say, was laughing. This afternoon a gull sailing over our house was casually scratching its stomach of white feathers with one pink foot as it flew. Oh Lord,how shining and festive is your gift to us, if we only look, and see. Unison words Song #361 Enter, Rejoice and Come In Not for Children Only Joys and Sorrows Meditation Offering
The Spiritual Practice of Laughter
"Consider the bizarre events of the 1962 outbreak of contagious laughter in Tanzania . . . . “ What began as an isolated fit of laughter (and sometimes crying) in a group of 12-to-18-year-old schoolgirls rapidly rose to epidemic proportions. Contagious laughter propagated from one individual to the next, eventually infecting adjacent communities. The epidemic was so severe that it required the closing of schools. It lasted for six months. (Provine)
Robert Provine, in his book Laughter, provides a wealth of information about what has been called a complex and often puzzling human behavior. Laughter is the physiological response to humor. We laugh more frequently than we eat, sing or have sex. It consists of two parts: a set of gestures and the production of sound. When we laugh, the brain pressures us to conduct both of those activities simultaneously. When we laugh heartily, changes occur in many parts of the body. Blood pressure is lowered, vascular blood flow increases, diaphragm, abdominal, facial, leg and back muscles get a workout. T-cells, a major part of our immune response, Gamma-interferon, a disease-fighting protein, salivary immunoglobulin A, which defends against infectious organisms in the respiratory tract, and B-cells, creators of antibodies, are all stimulated. In extreme circumstances, the tear ducts are activated so that while the mouth is opening and closing and the struggle for oxygen intake continues, the face becomes moist and often red (or purple). Hiccuping and coughing sometimes result from laughter, as a way to clear the respiratory tract. The noises that usually accompany this bizarre behavior range from sedate giggles to boisterous guffaws. All human laughter consists of variations on a basic form that consists of short, vowel-like notes repeated every 210 milliseconds. Laughter can be of the ha-ha type or the ho-ho type, but not both at the same time. Chimpanzee laughter, (yes, chimps laugh), differs from human laughter in that chimps pant their vocalizations so that their laughter has the sound and cadence of a handsaw cutting wood. Laughter triggers other neural circuits in the brain, which generate more laughter, although studies show that women laugh more than men.
Laughter provides a physiological and psychological relief. Sigmund Freud said that laughter releases pent-up nervous energy and indeed many of us laugh when nervous or uncomfortable. In action films and thrillers the film makers use comic relief at just the right times to release fear. Jokes with sexual innuendo, dirty jokes, also rely on a release of tension. From a London obituary of one Sir William Wigglesworth, who was named as the foremost expert on insect excretia. "I've spent 66 years studying excretia and it has made all the difference."
Laughter, the physiological response to humor, produces all of these health benefits, yet it has not always been valued or welcomed in society and religion. In ancient Greece, Plato wanted to regulate it because he thought it could disrupt the social order. Socrates counseled a sparing use of it, like salt. Pythagoras forbid his followers to indulge in it at all. The early Christian church took seriously Paul's warning in Ephesians 5:4 about engaging in "silly" talk. Medieval Christians spent a bit of time wondering whether or not Jesus ever laughed and the University of Paris convened a conference to decide the question in the 13th century. (The results were inconclusive.) During the French Revolution, the Constitutional Assembly, in its internal code, forbade laughter because it disrupted the serene and democratic deliberations. Historians have found, in the Assembly's records, 408 recorded incidents of laughter, an average of one nearly every other day. Uh oh. Laughter can be seen as undignified, I suppose, but more to the point perhaps, its physiological aspects and effects are not under our control and that can feel dangerous.
On the level of sense and mental perception, laughter is connected, consciously and unconsciously, to the expectations we have about our daily surroundings and of life itself. As Emmanuel Kant theorized, we laugh at what is incongruous; when perceptions don't conform to logical expectations. Here are some examples from announcements in church bulletins: what do you think? "The cost for attending the Fasting and Prayer conference includes meals." "The sermon this morning : Jesus Walks on the Water.. The sermon tonight : Searching for Jesus." "Our youth basketball team is back in action Wednesday at 8pm in the recreation hall. Come out and watch us kill "Christ the King." "The peacemaking meeting scheduled for today has been canceled due to a conflict." "Low self-esteem support group will meet Thursday at 7pm. Please use the back door." There's a sense of surprise that the brain outputs as laughter.
On a social level, laughter fortifies our sense of belonging and trust in others, “Laughter is more often a consequence of relationships than of jokes.” (Provine) There's a strong relationship between laughter and speech. We laugh 30 times less frequently when we are alone than when we are in social situations. Although some of us laugh when tickled, most human laughter occurs when there is no physical contact. Researchers have found that often people laugh, not even at what is said, but when the speaker's affect conveys a sense of playfulness. In-group feeling and positive emotional tone mark the social setting of laughter. Shared assumptions are crucial to all jokes. This commonality sets up the pleasures of a shared response. When a group of people laughs together, it confirms a set of shared feelings about the world and satisfies a deep human longing for intimacy. Psychologically, it is thought that laughter may have begun as a gesture of shared relief at the passing of danger. And since the relaxation that results from a bout of laughter inhibits the fight or flight response, laughter may indicate trust in one's companions. It occurs when people are comfortable with one another, when they feel open and free. And the more laughter, the more bonding between people.
We make jokes or appreciate jokes as a way of absorbing the theological and cosmic absurdities we meet. Humor arises in the incongruous tension between the sublime and the ridiculous, the serious and the profane. The peculiar capacity of jokes to absorb the absurd is theologically significant. To laugh at the world's absurdities implies some acceptance of incomprehensibility, which can become religious affirmation even in the midst of anger or despair, even in the midst of unknowing. Laughter provides a way of holding onto group cohesion and sanity in an inherently unjust situation. The laughter and jokes among groups traditionally oppressed are well known. Did you see the film A Serious Man? It was made by Ethan and Joel Coen and retells the Hebrew Bible story of Job, a righteous man to whom all sorts of inexplicably terrible things happen. What it adds to the Job story is humor. A Serious Man is a funny film. Interestingly, at first it did not strike me as particularly humorous, but then I watched my Israeli friend Jamie‘s response to it and I could see that she found the history of her people in this movie and her response, like the film’s, was a kind of wry laughter.
Laughing at oneself is an especially healthy thing to do. One of my favorite memories of this congregation occurred many years ago as we attempted to put on our very first Penny Social. For those of you not familiar with penny socials, people come in and buy a card of tickets for a penny a piece. On the tables they find an array of prizes, all with empty coffee cans in front of them, and they put their tickets in the cans beside whatever prizes they want. At a certain time, one ticket is picked out of each can and the person with the winning ticket takes home the prize. Anyway, we figured it would be a money maker for us. But we thought we would make even more if we charged, not a penny per ticket, not even a nickel, but a quarter per ticket. The evening arrived, people came from the community, quite a few of them. And then, when they heard what we wanted to charge, they rose up in protest, marched back to their cars and drove away. Except for the ones who stopped at the head of the driveway to tell other people not to come in. I stood there and watched all of this take place with Sue Waters, one of the organizers of the penny social. We recognized a disaster when we saw one. And then we blew a circuit and all of the lights went out. It was the last straw. Sue and I began to laugh and we laughed and laughed and laughed. I believe our laughter enabled us to learn from our mistakes and gave us the energy to try again a few months later. To laugh at one's situation shows an ability to adapt to life, useful in giving us a certain perspective that does not completely succumb to the tragic or to despair. Computer haiku: "Chaos reigns within. Reflect, repent and reboot. Order shall return." And: "First snow, then silence. This thousand dollar screen dies so beautifully."
I want to suggest today that laughter, because it affects our bodies, our minds, our emotions, and our spirits in a healing, connecting, and health promoting way, laughter, is a spiritual practice. Cultivating a sense of humor in response to life is something we can choose to do. When I laugh I feel happy. I can forgive myself and others more easily when I can laugh at myself. I know from personal experience that when I try to respond with humor to something that frustrates me, or baffles me I feel more relaxed and I can release the feelings of impatience and irritation and increase my sense of empathy, for myself and for others. When I can laugh I can lighten the blues and feel less isolated. If I muster up some humor I feel stronger, more competent and capable of weathering what life has to offer.
Laughter plays an integral role in many spiritual communities. The Buddhist community I know, led by Vietnamese Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh, laughs a lot. Thay, as we call him, is very funny. I don’t think that’s a coincidence. Laughter occurs often in our worship services here, and it plays an integral role in our community. That’s a strength. When we laugh together here, I feel close to you. Humor and laughter increase the sense of safety and decrease the sense of anxiety. They connect people to each other. They promote well-being.
Now, as with many good things, the practice of humor has its down sides. Part of the spirituality of laughter is recognizing that down side, listening to what it has to tell us about ourselves, and learning from it. People can use humor to cover up or even hide from their emotions. We can say something critical of each other, or cruel, or tease and then, in the face of the other person’s reaction, claim we were only kidding. What’s the matter with you? we say. Can’t you take a joke? Humor sometimes becomes a way of avoiding the consequences of our words. Of avoiding whatever feelings or motivations led us to them. How many of us make a joke rather than expressing our anger, our insecurity, our confusion, our fear, directly? When our humor cuts people with a sharp edge, we might want to look more closely at the feelings underlying it. Humor has a relationship with hostility. Thomas Hobbes said that laughter marks the sudden attainment of power or a feeling of superiority over someone else. We laugh at jokes that focus on the mistakes, stupidity, or misfortune of others. Those so-called “Polish” or “Irish” or whatever nationality jokes among non-Poles, Irish, and the like, for instance. While humor can connect people, it can also be used to disconnect us when it focuses on our sense of being different than others, when "they" are emphatically not "we." Humor is a fundamental response to the secure and insecure aspects of life.
Research shows a strong correlation between humor, creativity and the personality trait of aggression. You can see this in many routines of stand-up comics who use humor as a weapon, or an outlet for their anger. Satire can easily become hostility. Humor can blunt hostility’s aggression because laughter puts people in a good mood, but too much hostility is not funny. These days we recognize that many voters, especially younger voters, use late night comedy shows like The Daily Show or The Colbert Report as a source of political news. Politicians announce their candidacies on The Jay Leno Show and on David Letterman. For me, each of these men walks a fine line between funny and not funny. Hostility and humor often arise in each other's company. Cultivating the laughter that serves to connect, rather than disconnect, us to others, that promotes trust among people, that strengthens us and offers perspective in times of disappointment and failures, that enhances our ability to solve problems, that helps us to accept ourselves, our mistakes and imperfections, and that affects our physical and mental health in positive ways, cultivating this laughter as a response to life is a spiritual practice. Learning from the laughter that disconnects, that hides us, that promotes hostility is also a spiritual practice.
What would such a spiritual practice of laughter look like? Let me say one does not have to become a comedian or make others laugh in order to practice laughter. First, get in touch with what makes you laugh, what brings a smile to your face, what gives you a sense of joy. Remember your joy. What is that? Can you intentionally bring more of that into your life? If you feel happy watching the kittens play, then watch more often. If you smile when you get together with certain people, then get together more often. Laugh every day. If you do, you might also find an increase in the gratitude you feel and the appreciation you express. Did you know there is such a thing as Laughter Yoga, in which people come together and laugh for no reason except for the practice of it? Ha, ha. Ho, ho, they chant.
Second, and related to the first practice, is to pay attention to how often you find yourself dissatisfied and complaining about things. How much tension do you carry in your shoulders, your neck, your back? How often do you feel stressed? What would happen if, in the midst of disappointment, overwhelm, and dissatisfaction, you remembered your joy and turned to it? I think this is what Wendell Berry means in his poem The Peace of Wild Things.
When despair for the world grows in me and I wake in the night at the least sound in fear of what my life and my children's lives may be, I go and lie down where the wood drake rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds. I come into the peace of wild things who do not tax their lives with forethought of grief. I come into the presence of still water. And I feel above me the day-blind stars waiting with their light. For a time I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.
Third practice: look for humor, look for reasons to laugh. They’re all around us and if we seek we will find them. I know someone who writes down what her 4 year old twins say and reports it on her blog. Because my dog Evie adds humor to my life, I have begun to study her and I have learned to categorize her various tail waggings. There’s the energetic, wide-sweeping wag that cleans the objects off of tables and which usually occurs when she hears the chirp of Matthew’s car alarm announcing his immanent presence. There’s the “I’ve waited for you long enough” impatient drumming of the tail on whatever surface she happens to be sitting or lying upon. There’s the energetic, short-sweeping wag that comes with a wiggling of the behind and is used to greet other dogs and people. And more. Who would have thought? The point is, practicing laughter, sharing laughter, increases laughter and all of its benefits. As Mary Oliver said in our opening words, “ . . . how shining and festive is your gift to us, if we only look, and see.”
May we look and see, and enjoy our laughter. We can choose to meet the world with humor, with laughter. We can practice this. If we do, we will sow the seeds of our own happiness and felt connection to others and our presence will be a source of peace and happiness for others. Let our laughter sustain us, for laughter lives on the paths of love and justice. May it be so.
Song #100 I’ve Got Peace Like a River Closing words haiku We make snow angels Atop mountain we dared climb Our laughter echoes