We are proud to consider ourselves the only species able to laugh. We seldom notice that we are also the only laughable species. In fact, laughter has to be preceded by the laughable. 'Homo ridens' is preceded by' Homo ridiculus'.
What makes us ridiculous?
The answer is our Mind with its self-created world far removed from reality.
The Mind conjures up countless diversions and distractions from reality, such as comedy, irony, satire, folly, fantasy, snobbery, nonsense, illusions, delusions, absurdities, affectations, poses, farces, caricatures, parodies, pantomimes, melodramas and pretensions, all of which are incongruities that create stress in us. In its transcendency, our Mind tends to take these deviations too seriously, and in doing so becomes ridiculous.
Life implies fear. Along with our Mind, with its imagination and fantasies, we acquire more fear and, above all, we acquire more anxiety, which is mainly caused by worry or concern created by the Mind's uncertainty and by the doubts carried by the Mind's abstract ideas or beliefs. We are, in fact, the most anxious, the most angst-ridden and the most tense, animals on our planet.
An important characteristic of the Mind's uncertain and unstable world is that its tendency to grow also generates aggressiveness. The aggressiveness of the Mind produces additional tension. This tension of the Mind is discharged whenever the Mind's ideas, beliefs or pretensions are shaken. The collapse or the failure of the Mind's ideas, beliefs or pretensions releases the tension caused by the Mind. This release of the Mind's created tension can result in laughter.
For instance if we have been anticipating a tragic event for some time, as in the death of a loved one the actual event can provoke loud and uncontrollable laughter because accumulated tension has been released.
Laughter, fear and anxiety are intimately related. We mainly laugh when we liberate ourselves from the Mind's tensions caused by the Mind's fear or anxiety.
Dante was wrong to introduce 'holy laughter' in his 'Paradise' as Paradise is supposed to be a place without worries, fears or anxieties. Nietzsche advised his 'Superman' to laugh, but being without fear and anxiety, Nietzsche's 'Superman' is unable to laugh, and this, paradoxically, makes him laughable.
Most laughter is generated either by some failure of other people's Minds, or by the failure of our own Mind's ideas or beliefs. In both cases, we release our tension in the form of laughter and so we feel more relaxed.
There is, however, another aspect of laughter that can be called "offensive laughter", a laughter aimed to deride those with aggressive or intimidating Minds. Its purpose is to ridicule the beliefs or ideas of such Minds and by doing so reduce the fear or anxiety they are causing us.
Worshipers of the Mind's supernatural world abhor offensive laughter. Among the enemies of offensive laughter, we find philosophers, religious and ideological leaders and fanatics. Greek philosophers considered offensive laughter a sign of madness or vulgarity. Christian leaders considered it satanic or diabolic, and in fact, there is no mention of Christ laughing. Christian, Muslim and Jewish fundamentalists despise offensive laughter and fanatics find it irritating. The following examples are evidence of the relationship between anxiety and fear on one side, and laughter on the other.
Catastrophes or other fearful events can create hilarity. The end of the first millennium brought all kinds of exuberant restlessness and joyfulness because of the worry brought on by the belief that the world was going to end. Scurrilous stories that appeared during the Inquisition provoked laughter. The great European plague of the fourteenth Century was accompanied by an increase in laughter. The same happened during the instability created by the sixteenth Century religious wars in Europe. The rise of the avaricious, exploiting and aggressive bourgeoisie brought derisive laughter and jokes against this social class. The intimidating self-confidence and arrogance of the Renaissance also brought with it the satire and derision of those who considered themselves the centre of the Universe. In fact, in 1602, the first 'Accademia degli Umoristi' was formed by Paolo Moncimi in Rome. The Increasing uncertainty of the French Revolution of 1789 increased mockery and derision. The French Constitutional Assembly in fact forbade the laughter during discussions. During the French Terror of 1794, the guillotine attracted many in search of amusement and entertainment. During the tragic death toll of the First World War, humour became an important therapy.
Feeling more threatened, minorities tend to laugh more than the rest of the community.Jews in the Diaspora were great inventors of humorous stories; they became less disposed to laughter once they settled in Israel.
Since ancient times, because it was frightening, old age was a joking matter. We love to joke about death in order to placate our fear of it. Medieval 'Les danses macabres' tried to mock death. Ancient Rome's gladiatorial games were popular because they involved a gung-ho approach to death.
Many like horror films or shows because they ridicule danger. Fearing foreigners, we tend to mock them. Denigrating ethnic jokes seem to be popular with those doubting their belief in their own superiority. Being inferior to women, men like to denigrate and to deride them. Because mothers-in-law intimidate us, we are inclined to joke about them. On escaping danger, we tend to release our tension by laughing loudly. During economic recessions, people seem to be more joyful than during times of economic growth.
The relationship between fear and laughter can best be illustrated by the following: If we see a person in uniform, which usually represents intimidating authority, slipping on a banana skin, we laugh with happiness. If we see an inoffensive invalid or a blind person falling down in the same way, we do not laugh.
Most species, including ours, have a primal fear of darkness and of the night. In fact, most species try to hide away during the night. We like to spend evenings and nights together as the protective togetherness and contact placates our fear of the dark. It is this fear of the dark that makes us more disposed to joviality, playfulness, joking and love making during the night as opposed to the day. Parties, dances, ceremonies, shows and receptions seem to be more popular and successful if they take place during the evening or at night.
In order to dissipate our fear of the night, especially if we are alone, we tend to sing or to whistle or talk to ourselves. Our Mind's imagination and fantasy exacerbates our fear of darkness.
Individual Mind's beliefs that are similar to others can form a community. These common held beliefs also tend to produce collective anxieties that create collective tension, which also tends to be discharged by the community as a whole.
Individual discharges of tension mainly take the form of laughter. Discharges of the collective tensions of a community can take also place through public unrest, marches, insurrections, revolutions, wars or competitive games, public ceremonies, festivals or carnivals.
There is another form of release of the tensions created by the Mind and that is orgasm. Laughter and orgasm have a lot in common.
Orgasmic pleasure can also be experienced by researchers, scientists or other people working on complex problems. When they find a solution or make a discovery after all their tense work, they can experience a sudden release of tension, in other words they reach the euphoric 'eureka!'
Scoring a goal or achieving a victory in a highly competitive game can provide orgasmic pleasure. Orgasmic pleasure can be reached by victorious revolutionaries on barricades or by a victory in a battle or a war, or by a suicide bomber in the seconds preceding the explosion.
Finally, laughter is infectious. It is the sound of someone suddenly, and uncontrollably, releasing tension and thus is in an inoffensive and non-aggressive state. Sensing this, others in the company of the laughing person also release their tension and join in. Perhaps, just like another infectious signal of relaxation, yawning, it is an indication that, for a moment, fear, threat, anxiety and irritation are minimal and the company becomes a protected community.
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