As the good Colonel said, “Nobody likes a good laugh more than I do… except, perhaps my wife… and some of her friends. Oh, yes, and Captain Johnson. Come to think of it, most people like a good laugh more than I do, but that’s beside the point!” In that spirit, today we’ll have a talk on humor. On a serious blog like this one. Feels awkward, somewhat like when you need to explain a joke. You know that feeling, don’t you?

Some say it is the magic recipe. A good laugh a day keeps the doctor away. Or an apple. Just being able to laugh means that you have a sense of humor? Consider this guy over here propagating the mechanical laughter. Creepy. Laughter doesn’t imply the comic. Laughter can be pathological, laughter can be hysterical. But when it implies comicality (as the aesthetical category), it has a social value, a social function.

Aristotle in Poetica has the following definition on this: “Comedy is, as we have said, an imitation of characters of a lower type- not, however, in the full sense of the word bad, the ludicrous being merely a subdivision of the ugly. It consists in some defect or ugliness which is not painful or destructive. To take an obvious example, the comic mask is ugly and distorted, but does not imply pain.” (Part V.)

Considered a gospel by many great artists, it is also helpful to see here, that comicality must not imply pain. But it is not too gentle either. It simply acts on an other level. When the sense of humor notices something worthy to be expressed, it never hurts, but it warns. Thus, it becomes constructive, thus it contributes to the development of others.

Being entertained by disgust

Due to the overwhelming presence of the ugly in our current era, the predominant aesthetic category of our times is disgust. Accordingly, humorous entertainment tends to be focused on disgusting matters. Rarely considered or used as social warning. Mostly as a perversion. Louts are laughing on everything. But Aristotle warned that in the true sense, one should not laugh on everything.

Laughing is relaxing of inner tension

Laughing occurs when there is an inner tension. When the inner tension needs to be released. Laughing eliminates the surplus of energy. That tension is created by impressions that can not be reconciled. Every joke, at its core, imitates the occurrence of this tension. The punchline produces the release of that tension. Thus, you can get rid of the accumulated conflicting impressions.

Psychoanalysts consider humor a form of sublimated aggression. Which correlates here. Aggression can turn into violence when the inner tension is unbearable. But as you see, also a joke can help with that in a friendly, peaceful way.

What to do if a joke is not at hand?

More to that, a joke does not give guaranties to the sublimation to occur, or to the relaxing of the tension. It might be too late, it might be unfitting, inappropriate etc., maybe having the effect of increasing the tension. So, the outer source for that to happen is not always available. Still, there is hope. Our own sense of humor can save the day. In that case, we need to do the job ourselves. We need to make an effort. A conscious effort.

“The sense of humor is often mistakenly considered as given. It is confused with the ability to laugh. Although the relation is close, they are not the same. The sense of humor can be caught in action in rare moments. And it doesn’t imply laughter. As an example for this, in a recent reading my attention was drawn to the fact that Christ never laughed. There isn’t any evidence, not even the slightest one, that Christ laughed even once.” (in P.D.Ouspensky, In Search of the Miraculous, Ch. XI.).

And on the other hand, there are people so deeply involved with their own negative emotions that they never laugh. So sour, so severe and serious in a sick way.

A good, developed and polished sense of humor can be even more than just a tool to get rid of accumulated conflicting energy. By facing greater oppositions, existential paradoxes, meeting and facing the absurd can become a spring-board for spiritual evolution. More on that soon.

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