Laughter and Religion

Many religions and spiritual paths are built primarily on bricks of tears. Others demand almost superhuman courage to climb their tall trees and pick their fruit. Still others seem just to want to scare us silly so we’ll start behaving according to their dictates, our own impulses and truths be damned. And why doesn’t laughter seem to fit in anywhere? This thought-provoking piece will really get you thinking, if not actually laughing out loud.

Why is there no place for Laughter at the banquet table of organized religion? Could it be that, if invited, Laughter would behave so badly that it might upset first the cart bearing the golden apples (being served as the first course of temptation and enslavement), and then the whole table as well? Is the high priest’s chair the one place on the face of the Earth that’s off-limits to a whoopee-cushion? What’s become of the smiling Buddhas with the roly-poly bellies and the laughing Taoists who, just before they died, concealed fireworks under their robes so that the mourners gathered at the funeral fires would be giggled, tickled, rollicked, and rolled out of their grief?

Compassion is one of the most powerful and beautiful forces of human nature, but tie a smile as a wick around a glass jar of compassion, fill it with the fuel of laughter, and you have a Molotov cocktail capable of sending the blue meanies that strangle our souls racing for the exits.

Read more: Spirit, Inspiration, compassion, laughter

Adapted from The Spiritual Practices of Rumi, by Will Johnson (Inner Traditions, 2007). Copyright (c) 2007 by Will Johnson. Reprinted by permission of Inner Traditions.
Adapted from The Spiritual Practices of Rumi, by Will Johnson (Inner Traditions, 2007).

Disclaimer: The views expressed above are solely those of the author and may not reflect those of
Care2, Inc., its employees or advertisers.

Bharata W.

7:22AM PDT on Aug 25, 2011

There is a great open secret that any organization is threatened by. That ecstatic experience in whatever package it comes in , such as free laughter will threaten status quo. Peter Berger, a sociologist, wrote about this in a couple of books, Redeeming Laughter and Facing Up to Moderity.

As Mark Twain once said, "Will a day come when the race will detect the funniness of these juvenilities and laugh at them--and by laughing at them destroy them? For your race, in its poverty, has unquestionably one really effective weapon--laughter. Power, Money, Persuasion, Supplication, Persecution--these can lift at a colossal humbug,--push it a little-- crowd it a little--weaken it a little, century by century: but only Laughter can blow it to rags and atoms at a blast. Against the assault of Laughter nothing can stand."

send a green star

Jennifer C.

1:12AM PDT on Aug 2, 2011

Great article. Thanks for sharing.

Michele W.

7:10AM PDT on Jun 25, 2011

Thank you

Robert O.

11:56AM PDT on Mar 28, 2011

I believe the problem is that since religion is regarded as something very important and sacred to individuals, most palces of worship believe that it must be presented in the same serious fashion. Maybe they think that if religion isn't presented in a serious matter 100% of the time people won't take it seriously 100% of the time. My family feels that way (they're all sticks in the mud) and that levity has no place in religion...ever. I however disagree with that and think that it makes religion more appealing since humor is a part of life. Granted the humor should be clean and non-offensive, but it can have a place in religion. Don't many religions speak of joy and happiness and being of a cheerful nature? I see no harm since there's so much sadness in the world, all that seems left are the few iotas of joy and happiness we can pluck from our worldy existence.

KS G.

12:35AM PST on Dec 26, 2010

Thanks for the article.

Kerry S.

1:13PM PDT on Oct 4, 2010

THANKS

Colleen F.

5:46PM PDT on May 10, 2010

Is there anything as sacred as joy?

Ann W.

9:48AM PDT on May 10, 2010

"The more your tighten your riptock, the more star systems will slip through your fingers."

Why do the big Churches feel like they've lost the Spirit?

Janice P.

8:54AM PDT on May 10, 2010

There is nothing so true as the last paragraph of this article. It was demonstrated to me just yesterday. When you see someone who needs compassion, give it - and give it along with a healthy dose of love and happiness. Too many people have forgotten that. Too many religions have forgotten that.

Jan C.

12:37PM PDT on Apr 21, 2010

Amen Sharon B!! I, too, enjoy the good humor presented by the ministers of my church. I remember a sermon when the minister posed the questions to us of why we sit so quietly? Why don't we smile? Call out in joy? Dance in the aisles? Black churches surely are doing better than the white churches in these respects. All of our hearts should be bursting with joy, not fear. It was with great love and delight when friends of ours from Africa celebrated their daughters' baptisms in our church with traditional African music, dancing up and down the aisles, and call-singing from the audience. The smiles, the joy, the laughter. They all make us feel the privilege of being a part of our mother earth!