[Neurons] 2008 Meta Reflection #39

[Dr. Hall]

From: L. Michael Hall

August 25, 2008

Meta Reflection #39

Humor -1





THE META-STATES OF HUMOR




Humor - What a wonderful, enjoyable, and delightful state! Who doesn't love the lightness and laughter of humor? Who doesn't delight in the fun of a good joke, in a play on words, in a funny incident, in the playfulness of a child, or in the physical humor of exaggeration? Humor is fun. That's why we like it. But what it is? What is it really?

When it comes to understanding and modeling the structure of humor, it happens that humor is not a simple thing, not at all. In fact, there's considerable complexity to the experience of humor. That's why to understand it we have to ask many questions about humor:

C What is humor? 

C How does it work?

C Why are some things funny and other things are not?

C Why are the things one person finds humorous and funny not funny at all to another person?

C What is the element or elements that endow something with humor?

C How many forms of humor are there?

C What is the strategy or the structure of humor?

C How do we explain and model the experience of bursting out in laughter?

C What is the structure of feeling playful, silly, light-hearted, and joyful?

In Neuro-Semantics we use humor a lot. Coaches use humor to invite clients to step back from an experience (a meta-state) and bring other perspectives to the first awareness (another meta-state) in order to lighten up and create more flexibility (another meta-state). Trainers use humor in presentations to create engagement, interest, and fun about the learnings (a meta-state) and to lighten up so that one avoid becoming over-serious (another meta-state). Health coaches use humor as a key variable that facilitates well-being especially since the majority of illnesses are stress-activated. That makes health-ing (accessing the elements that make for well-being) a meta-state. Similarly, Norman Cousins used the humor state as a way to gain pain-relief (Anatomy of an Illness). 

At first glance humor seems like a primary state. Yet, as indicated in the previous paragraph, it is really a meta-state. In fact, because it can take so many forms, humor involves numerous meta-states. The primary state of humor is the state of delight and joy and the primary expressions of humor is chuckles, giggles, laughter, sparkling eyes, and a lighter breathing, voice, and muscle tension. But what is there at the meta-level of cognition that causes the humor?

Nor is humor all fun and games. It can be very hurtful and damaging. That's because humor is powerful in many of these and other ways, and so like anything powerful, it can be misused. How is humor mis-used? It is misused when we engage in sarcasm, insult, and put-downs. It is violated and misused in aggressive humor, degrading humor, and humor at the expense of others. Here is humor, yet it is not healthy or respectful humor at all. It is disrespectful, unhealthy, destructive, and degrading humor. It is humor that violates persons as it creates laughter at them and at their expense.

So back to the title of this Meta Reflection, "The Meta-States of Humor." I use that title because, in humor, there are multiple meta-states and not just a single meta-state. So what are the meta-states of humor? Here are a few that immediately come to mind.

C Lightness, perspective: Stepping back to gain perspective on an experience.

C Silliness by perspective: Comparing the temporary importance of something against a larger and more long-term experience ("One day I'll look back and laugh at this.").

C Exaggeration: Exaggerating something to the point where we see or hear it as ridiculous. This implies a comparison between what's appropriate and the exaggeration.

C Physical exaggeration: Exaggerating a physical response so that we sense a silliness between things. This is the case with much physical humor (making faces, acting out something).

C Word play: Realization that we can play with words- rhyming, alliterating, etc. as in the "playing around with words."

C Puns: Realizing that some words can sound like other words or be substituted and in doing so, it completely changes the meanings, as in creating puns on words.

C Mocking: Making fun of someone by using a mocking voice, sounds, exaggerations, so that it brings awareness of the activity and contrasts it with what would be appropriate.

C Shock and surprise: Humor often comes from a shock of awareness, a jar of consciousness when something unexpected suddenly is surprised on us. A joke or idea sets us up to expect one thing, then we are shifted to another awareness.

Aristotle said that humor is "that which is out of place in time and space without danger." It is without danger in that the shift, jar, surprise, exaggeration, mockery, and play acting is safe. What else is humor? In the Meta Reflections that follow I'll explore some of the key theories of humor, describe its structure, share some of the benchmarking our Meta-Coaches have made of how to use humor, and more. To the unleashing of your humor!



L. Michael Hall, Ph.D.
Neuro-Semantics Ltd., Executive Director
ISNS - International Society of Neuro-Semantics
P.O. Box 8
Clifton, Colorado, 81520 USA
www.neurosemantics.com 
www.meta-coaching.org
www.self-actualizing.org 

Email: meta @onlinecol.com @acsol.net @mindfocus.co.za
(970) 523-7877
(970) 523-5790 FAX
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