Most schools today are run to suit the world of the Mind. They prepare the young to be selfish, self-confident, competitive and aggressive. They emphasise the values of individualism, which is detrimental to social and communal life, and therefore ultimately at the expense of the individual.
More than ever before, today's teenagers long for love. They should be taught that everyone loves those who laugh at their own pretentiousness.
Some people are convinced that we are born either with, or without, a sense of humour,and that it is not something that can be taught, or learnt.
If we can learn how to be over-serious, pretentious and to pose, surely we can learn how to be less over-serious, less pretentious and less affected, as Aristotle said "What lies in our power to do, it lies in our power not to do".
It is not a simple matter to try to encourage people to reduce their self-importance, self-infatuation, beliefs, illusions or dreams, as all these are equivalent to addictive drugs and give us a false impression of living a fuller and more purposeful life. Explaining that these 'drugs' can only lead to misery, depression and unhappiness, is like telling an alcoholic that alcohol creates hangovers. The alcoholic knows this, but he likes it. A hangover is an achievement that gives him a valid reason to complain, which, like his immature mentality, contributes to his sense of self-importance.
It is even more difficult to convince people that the best cure for their problems, their disillusionment, psychosomatic troubles or mental disorders, is a sense of humour or self-ridicule. Self-infatuated people are offended by the suggestion they should take themselves less-seriously and regard themselves with humour. What is more, by taking ourselves too seriously,we exaggerate the size of everything and resent the fact that a problem might have a simple answer, this undermines our conceit and sense of self importance.
I would like to help people discover a sense of humour, recognise the benefit of sustained good humour, which will enable them to perceive life in a more realistic way. The problem does not exist, however dramatic or tragic it may seem, that does not have a humorous side that once perceived, dissolves the problem. As Dostoevsky put it "There is no idea, no fact, which could not be vulgarised and presented in a ludicrous light".
For those who find it difficult to acquire a sense of humour and maintain a good humoured outlook or for those people who find self-ridicule offensive or degrading, I suggest first learn gratitude. Surely, everyone can recall at least one happy time in their past to be grateful for. Much unhappiness and misery is caused because most people believe what they have to be their due, a sentiment that leaves no room for gratitude. Based on this belief, we even strive for more, creating a life of permanent frustration."It is not the man who has little, but the man who craves more, that is "as Seneca said "miserable".
Gratitude can have the same effect as a sense of humour on the Mind's eagerness, avidity, pretentiousness, and on its emotional stimuli and the anxiety and stress they cause.
The realisation that things could be worse opens the way to gratitude, which assists us in eliminating the Mind's created fears, anxieties and stresses, and helps prevent, or helps in the recovery from cancer, psychosomatic diseases and mental disorders.
It is important to realise that our intelligence can be as powerful as our Mind in psychosomatic relationships. If our Mind is capable of producing cancer, psychosomatic diseases and mental disorders, then our intelligent reasoning is just as capable of creating psychosomatic well-being and serenity.
With gratitude, we also acquire the greatest gift: time. By smiling at the Mind's eagerness, avidity and pretentiousness, we eliminate the Mind's created fears. By eliminating these fears, we discover time, time to reason, time to understand, time to play, time to prevent diseases or to recover from them, time to laugh and time to live.
Gratitude therefore creates a life of elegance and taste, enabling us to make demands on ourselves, to give-time inspires nobility. Sophocles must have recognised this when he wrote ,"Time is a gentle deity". What a difference to the motto of today, 'Time is Money'
Those who think that gratitude might lower their status should be informed that it is possible for greatness to be attained through gratefulness.
Judaeo-Christianity contributed much to gloom and doom. If only Moses had introduced 'Thou shalt not take thyself too seriously' as an Eleventh Commandment, our lives might have been happier and healthier. In fact, Western culture produces more cancers, psychosomatic diseases and mental disorders than any other culture.
If Christ had died on the cross with a smile of gratitude for having been chosen as the Son of God, perhaps people would have smiled more over the past two thousand years.
This self-imposed gloom and over-seriousness have gradually reached extremes in certain parts of our pretentious world. In some Western Capitalist countries, a smile is considered a sign of frivolity, or inadequate competitiveness. In Communist countries smiling is politically suspect. In Sweden, anyone caught smiling is in danger of being breathalysed. In U.S.A. smiling is not compatible with productivity.
On the door of every classroom there should be a large sign inscribed in Chamfort's words:"The most wasted day is that in which we have not laughed".
Laughter, both physically and mentally, is healthy. It brings us nearer to sanity, to common sense and reality. An Italian told me that he already knew by 1942 that Italy would lose the Second World War. He realised it when the Fascist Government prohibited laughter in public places. To him it was a sign of lost sanity. Nazi Germany did not even need to introduce legislation against laughter. No-one laughed in Nazi Germany, anyway. They were too exhausted coping with their wishful ideas of a super-race.
Ancient Rome 's popular writer, Martial's caveat was: "Ride, si sapis", ("the wise laugh").
Many people spend their whole lives afraid of being a laughing stock. This fear drives them to deceit, hypocrisy, or meanness.
By developing a sense of self-ridicule, this fear would vanish. One way to achieve self-ridicule is to think of oneself in the third person and to talk to oneself in the mirror.
Courses in humour should emphasise that self-ridicule is not a sign of inferiority, but a sign of maturity.
In his book 'The Tragic Sense of Life', Miguel de Unamuno wrote: "The mortal Don Quixote, in dying, realised his own comic-ness and bewept his sins; but the immortal Quixote, realising his own comic-ness, superimposes himself upon it and triumphs over it without renouncing it... He (Don Quixote) will triumph by making himself ridiculous. And he will triumph by laughing at himself and making himself the object of his own laughter".
These courses should advise people to see amusing and happy plays and films, and to read humorous books or magazines. The benefit of this can be deduced from the following passage in Fielding's 'Covent Garden Journal No.10': "Now whoever reads over the five great writers first mentioned in this paragraph must either have a very bad head, or a very bad heart, if he doth not become both a wiser and a better man". The five writers that Fielding had mentioned were, Lucan, Cervantes, Swift, Shakespeare and Molière.
Our culture concentrates on praising success, but this merely magnifies the fear of failure. We take failure over-seriously, which drives us to excessive self-blame or self-contempt, resulting in unhealthy consequences.
By minimising failure, however, we reduce our fear of it. By reducing this fear we might acquire a certain serenity that allows us time to realise that most failures are basically funny, funny because our exaggerated expectations, based on our inflated self-appreciation, are deflated.
The best way to eliminate the tense state of competitiveness is by de-dramatising failure. This can be done by entering into the spirit of a good loser. If we did not mind losing, then, among other tiring emotions, we would eliminate envy, a major incentive to unscrupulous and stressful competition. If we did not mind losing we could eliminate from our system another unique emotion of our species: hatred. Hatred is the principal incentive for savage human aggression.
Much unhappiness is caused by the fallacy that successfully competitive people are happy. Those who envy successful competitors should remember that few of them achieve success in their own eyes, as they want more.
Many might argue that people with good humour, understanding, gratitude or serenity could never be 'aggressive' or efficient enough from the point of view of economic productivity.
I would like to emphasise that good humour, understanding, gratitude and serenity do not generate passivity and indolence, but exuberance and radiance. What is more, with a more mature way of reasoning, created by a sense of humour, exuberance and radiance are employed more intelligently, contributing therefore to social capital and welfare, and economic prosperity much more than neurotic and aggressive individual competition, inspired by an immature victor/victim or success/failure way of reasoning. Voluntary or charity work is evidence of this.
These courses should encourage people of all ages to find a hobby. Hobbies eliminate tension and stress because they are a play on over-seriousness. It is advisable, however, to change the hobby the moment it is taken too seriously.
Sailing or gardening, for example, would be beneficial, as these activities teach us about being in harmony with the laws of Nature, and that these laws do not recognise any of our Mind's illusions or pretensions.
People should be encouraged to have pets. Playing with, talking to, stroking or cuddling a pet reduces the Mind's activity, thereby reducing anxiety, stress and loneliness. Talking to pets and answering for them in a silly childish voice, helps playfulness and self-ridicule. Besides, there is scientific evidence that pets help to prevent, and in some cases help in the treatment of many psychosomatic diseases and mental disorders.
These courses should promote the fact that we can only have content and peaceful lives if we understand the essence of our existence.We can only achieve this knowledge if we are in a receptive mood. The best way to become receptive is through a sense of humour, and this is the only way we will survive the destructive nature of our Mind's world.
In understanding a problem we go further than solving it, we dissolve it. Understanding de-dramatises. Immature reasoning tries to solve a problem without understanding it, by imposing a wishful solution on it.This is why most of our problems are obscured rather than resolved.
These courses should include a re-examination of national histories. The national history of any country, from Albania to America, is always presented in the most glorified terms. This encourages arrogance, inflates pretentiousness, and creates national prejudices and beliefs in national superiority.
"What experience and history teach us is that people and government have never learnt anything from history or acted on the principles deduced from it", complained Hegel. But Hegel had obviously not realised that people and governments cannot learn from their own history for the simple reason that they re-invent and describe the past to suit the beliefs, prejudices or wishful thinking of the present.
Many amusing hours could be spent comparing the same event from each of the Russian, English, American, French, Italian and German national history archives.
One of the main duties of the United Nations should be tore-write national histories for its members from an objective point of view. The European countries of the Common Market would have much more in common if they rewrote their national histories in less complimentary terms.By glorifying the past of one's own country, one generally has to undermine the neighbouring countries, which does not help good neighbourly relations.
The following extract from a report by the coroner after the assassination of Lord Mountbatten in Ireland, should be pasted all over the walls of offices of the United Nations. "I believe it necessary to stress again the great responsibility that parents and teachers of any national have in the way they interpret history and pass it on to the youth of the country. I believe that if history could be taught in such a fashion that it would help to create harmony among people, rather than division and hatred, it would serve this and all other nations better."
All countries experience, at some time in their history, episodes of absurdity, incongruity, stubbornness, capriciousness, short sightedness, misunderstanding, cowardice, defeat, lies, treachery and wantonness. Ignoring or hiding these common elements deprives the nations of the earth of the opportunity to harmonise in order to avoid repeating their mistakes.
Examples of the power of humour:
We could reduce the arrogance of 'modern' paintings and those who consider us inferior if we criticise them, by reminding ourselves of this anecdote.
Picasso employed an Italian gardener. One day he decided to ask the old man's opinion of his work. In Picasso's studio the following dialogue took place:
Gardener:"What is this?"
Picasso:"It's a woman."
Gardener:"A woman?"
Picasso:"That is how I see a woman."
Gardener:"And that one?"
Picasso:"A horse."
Gardener:"A horse?"
Picasso: "That is how I see a horse."
Gardener: "Signor Picasso, with such terrible eyesight, what made you decide to try and paint?"
The following story shows how humour can be used to inoffensively admonish un-aesthetic behaviour: A youth sitting opposite an elderly English lady in a train was chewing gum in a most unattractive manner. "Young man," the lady smiled, "it is very kind of you to make, what I'm sure is fascinating conversation, but sadly I am deaf, so please don't bother."
Here is a description of a High Mass, as seen through the eyes of a child on his first visit to church, which might help people to be less intimidated by religious ceremonies:
"There were a lot of people but they all looked cross or sad. Obviously the owners of the Church were poor, as there was no lighting or heating, just candles. Most people were whispering and some were counting the beads on their necklaces to check that none was missing. A lot of people were sleeping as they had their eyes shut. Suddenly there was silence and everyone stood up. A man wearing a lady's gold and red dress, with a tall gold hat walked slowly up to the table at the top, followed by other men and boys wearing frilly white shirts. The gold and red man went behind the table and came back again without his hat. I suppose someone had stolen it, because he started wailing very loudly and waving his arms around. Then the other men and boys all joined in to look for it, but all they found was a big heavy book, He must have got quite dirty looking for it, so they brought some water and a towel so that he could wash his hands. After a while they decided that he must have a new hat, so someone passed plate round and everyone put money onto it. They must have collected quite a lot, as there was enough for most people to go up to the table and get a free drink and a biscuit. Then suddenly the man went behind the table and came back with his hat on. He smiled and opened his arms to everyone, obviously very pleased to have found it, but he forgot to give the money back."
I am certain that if a sardine developed a Mind it would also create a god that had created a sardine in its own image. This sardine god would have urged its flock to 'go forth and multiply' and they would 'go forth' and dominate the Planet, over populate and pollute it.
Similarly, the following fable might help us to laugh at the increasing pessimism in the world today:
Once upon a time, there were two frogs. One was an optimist, with a cheerful and happy nature, able to see the funny side of everything. The other was a pessimist, gloomy and over-serious.
One day they both fell into a large milk churn. "How awful, we'll never get out of here and we cannot survive in milk," the pessimistic frog sighed. "we are going to die, and die in agony. I don't want to suffer. I would rather kill myself." He banged his head hard against the side of the milk churn and sank like a stone.
"Well, I'm not going to commit suicide," the optimistic frog said, "if I've got to die, I'm going to die happy. I shall have one last fling." With these words, the optimist began splashing round and round, dancing and singing.
After a while, he noticed that his exuberant movements were turning the milk to butter. Soon he was able to climb out, and leap to safety.
Here is a sentence anyone can use to subdue arrogant and argumentative people:
"I'm sorry I thought you had a sense of humour." The person you are talking to immediately tries to prove that you are wrong. This response gives me confidence in the ability of humour to liberate us from the Mind's world.
Just to illustrate the Mind's tendency to suppress intelligence and rationality in order to protect its world of fantasy and wishful beliefs consider the case of Maimonides, the great twelfth century Jewish philosopher, theologian and community leader.
He was born in 1135 in Cordoba in Spain, when it was an important cultural centre in which Jews, Muslims and Christians lived in peaceful harmony. His theological and philosophical teachings were revered and respected and have inspired scholars of both persuasions ever since, including Spinoza, Leibniz.
Maimonides was also a renowned physician attaining the position of Court Physician to Sultan Salem al Din. He reasoned that "just measures" were essential in preventing and curing diseases, and eliminating excess would lead to a better quality of both mental and physical existence.
Yet despite his undoubted wisdom, and the esteem in which he was held, his advice on physical and mental well being was ignored by Christians, Muslims and Jews alike, and there has been little reference to it for nearly a millennium. He lived in 'The Golden Age' of great excess and opulence and his contemporaries, however much they held him in awe, could not bring themselves to set aside the Mind's world for the sake of rationality.
It has taken us eight hundred years to reach the same conclusions. Moderation, self-restraint and limiting indulgences are now widely recognised as being both physically and mentally healthy. They not only prevent and cure diseases, but also nurture good humour, harmony, tolerance, healthy communities and lead to social, political and religious sanity.
To have missed nearly a millennium of decent good living can make you laugh or cry, this account certainly ridicules the Mind.
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