Laughter and Holiness

 'You have as much laughter as you have faith.'
Martin Luther

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Greetings,

Woody Allen: "I am thankful for laughter, except when milk comes out of my nose." (Similar caution is in order for Diet Coke.)

Anne LaMott: "Laughter is carbonated holiness."

Karl Barth: "Laughter is the closest thing to the grace of God."

Decades ago I stumbled on an Islamic saying: 'He who makes his brothers laugh opens the gates of heaven.' (Check out "Laughs for Islam" - http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2013/03/laughs-for-islam.html)

In addition to standard hagiographic categories such as "Martyr," "Virgin," "Wonder Worker," ”Bishop,” “Monk,” and "Confessor,"  I have long thought “comedian” should be added.

Eastern Orthodox Christianity (which, unlike Western Christianity, emphasizes "Mystery") comes quite close with its saintly designation of "Fools for Christ." http://orthodoxwiki.org/Fool-for-Christ  (In passing, I refer you to "Faithful Fools," a Catholic-Unitarian collaboration in San Francisco, California, which which is dedicated to “street ministry,” including eye-opening "street retreats."  http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2012/08/faithful-fools-unitariancatholic-street.html)

Mythically, Satan “fell” by “gravity.”

We need more light, more lightness, more dedication to "making light."

If, as I believe, “we become what we perceive,” we will benefit from more humor and less concentration on bleak, end-time scenarios. 

What if there is a catastrophic, eschatological event and it proves to be a “self-fulfilling prophecy?”

Quick! Name a really funny conservative.

Whenever I listen to right-wing "humorists" -- and I try to listen to "everyone" -- my mind is flooded by images of middle school bullies. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KCl_--E3T2c   

These people are not funny. They are mean and punitive. 

Lacking the good graces of irony and paradox, they are merely sarcastic - and in a particularly juvenile way.

Here's a funny Bill Maher shtick. http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2013/03/bill-maher-why-obama-is-not-muslim.html

And here is a bit of humor at Pope Benedict's expense that I think Benedict himself would laugh at.  http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2013/03/pope-benedict-xvis-last-breakfast.html

Pax

Alan

PS I once read that the Greek root of "mystery" -- mysterion -- refers to "realities that will only be revealed by living a full life to its conclusion." In commonplace Greek understanding (and also our derivative English understanding) a "mystery" is that which is "hard to understand," "incomprehensible," "kept secret." Then, "at the end," the mystery is revealed: the veil is lifted.  ἀποκάλυψις apocálypsis, from ἀπό and καλύπτω meaning 'un-covering'), translates literally from Greek, as a disclosure of knowledge, hidden from humanity in an era dominated by falsehood and misconception, i.e., a lifting of the veil or revelation, although this sense did not enter English until the 14th century. In religious contexts it is usually a disclosure of something hidden. In the Revelation of John (Greek Ἀποκάλυψις Ἰωάννου, Apocalypsis Ioannou), the last book of the New Testament, the revelation which John receives is that of the ultimate victory of good over evil and the end of the present age, and that is the primary meaning of the term, one that dates to 1175.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_of_Revelation