"There are pretty much two kinds of humor. . . ."

Humor:  the quality of being amusing or comical.

There are pretty much two kinds of humor – humor that is funny, and humor that is cruel and deceitful. The latter is usually some accusation couched as a joke so the person speaking it can’t be called out, or if they are, they can appear innocent. Humor was used in the king’s court, often as instructive, in the guise of a jester. And the King’s court is a replica of the human mind, with the king, queen, cleric, jester, ladies in waiting, etc. as archetypes.  The following is a suggested meaning of the jester archetype:

“Jester is an archetype that is at peace with the paradoxes of the world. He uses humor to illuminate hypocrisy, and also level the playing field between those of power and those without.”

My older sister got her PhD in psychology. For her thesis, she proposed as her premise that people who have a concrete idea of God with its attendant dual nature of either/or, right or wrong, black or white, such as Christians, are more at peace than people who do not believe in mainstream religion. She assumed their faith gave them comfort that people who didn’t believe in God did not have. She also assumed that even though their beliefs are rigid, there were fewer questions in their lives, therefore, less anxiety. As they see everything as good/bad, right/wrong, they know what they believe, where they belong and why.

But she found just the opposite. She found that people with rigid ideas are buffeted by the blowing winds of life more. But people who didn’t believe in God, or at least not the Christian idea of God, were found to be the ones more at peace, as they could flow with change and challenge better. Not only that, she found such people were at home more with things unsettled and undetermined and with paradox. So it seems fitting that jesters are considered to be humorous and lighthearted, depicting freedom from concern, maybe freedom from taking life too seriously – the freedom to be frivolous.

Thane would tell the story of studying in an Ashram (I believe it was an Ashram) with a guru who would come into the room, sit down, laugh for awhile, then get up and leave. I always felt I knew why he was laughing. Sometimes, when I have entered a higher state of consciousness, things seem so funny. It’s laughter at the human condition, but not really “at,” as though I was separate and superior. It is more like laughing at a comedy or at puppies or at darling little children. But most of all, it was the joyful laughter of freedom.

 Frivolity: lack of seriousness. Lightheartedness.

I’ve always regarded “frivolous” as pertaining to something that is useless, or activity that does not add to anything, activity that is considered a waste of time. But there are times when frivolous activity is a good thing, especially after some kind of intense work that seeks an answer. If you can shake free and truly engage in frivolous activity, you set up the relaxed atmosphere where intuitive answers can come through.

At the age of 25, I began to have physical problems. My limbs would paralyze and sometimes I would pass out. I had tremendous headaches. I was 5’8” tall, and lost weight to the point that I was wearing size 7 clothes. I went to more than one doctor, who all hinted they believed my problem to be emotional. No one could figure it out. I wasn’t in The Prosperos, or hadn’t even started that journey yet. But I instinctively tried to write out what was wrong with me, what was I feeling, etc.

Then one weekend my mother informed me she was coming to visit. She had never visited me anywhere once I had gotten away from her and out on my own. The pressure I felt about her pending visit was compounded by my feelings of vulnerability due to illness. I went to a bar I frequented to drink and try to relieve what I was feeling. While there, I overheard some girls talking about going to Dallas for the weekend. I suddenly asked if I could go. For that weekend, I had more fun than I had had in years. Nothing I did had a purpose. Every minute was frivolous. When I got home, I sat down once again to try to write out why I was crazy. And then it happened – there was a silent explosion all around me. At least that is what it seemed like. In one second, I shot into complete health, but better than I had ever felt in my life. In that second, it was like my mind was given a word – a sudden knowingness – diabetes. I ran to the phone, called my doctor and asked to be tested for that disease. As it turns out, I had its companion – hypoglycemia, but the test for diabetes is the same. However, hypoglycemia was not in my vocabulary. If I hadn’t opted to be irresponsible and run away, I know I would not have had that healing experience.

This, in fact, was the spiritual experience that got my attention. I was then after on the alert, always looking for an explanation of what had happened. Asking at church was useless. No one had any idea what I was talking about. But, at a party, I overheard a girl talking about “The Fourth Way.” For some reason, I was jealous of her – not the other girls in her group, even though it made more sense for me to be jealous of one of them. They were the “in-crowd,” and I wanted in. So I bought the book to tear it down and showcase my superior intellect. By page 11, I never thought of those girls again. I was dumbfounded, for that book resonated with me like a high hot shout.

And of course, later, after I got into The Prosperos, I found out that engaging in frivolous activity after putting energy into discovering some answer, is a real thing. I forget about this process and this helped remind me. I don’t break away from life and responsibilities enough. I often base my decision to do something on whether or not it accomplishes anything. So, for the rest of today, I have no intentions of being responsible or accomplishing anything.