[Neurons] 2008 Meta Reflections #43

[Dr. Hall]

From:  L. Michael Hall

Sept. 29, 2008

Meta Reflection #43

   Humor -5

                        

 

       HUMOR DRAGONS

 

 

I began Meta Reflections on the meta-state of humor by looking at some of
the theoretical frameworks about humor and I then identified the state of
humor itself as a meta-state involving various meta-states.  That's what
makes humor so powerful-while it feels really simple, basic, and primary, it
is actually a complex state of mind-and-emotion which can involve numerous
complexities of our self-reflexive consciousness.  That's why humor itself
jars consciousness as it turns our expectations and understandings
upside-down and inside-out.  And that's also why we would normally expect
humor to expand and grow as intelligence grows and expands.

 

But it doesn't always.  It is not always so positive and bright.  There's
seems to be a dampening effect so that whether it is in schools, churches,
government, politics, industry, or business, the more intellectually complex
something becomes, the more serious people get.  And when they then become
serious, they also become humorless.  The humor goes.  Things now are
serious and "no joking matter."  Now things are in earnest and there's no
time for kidding around.  Now things are life-and-death matters and so we
banish playfulness, teasing, lightness, joking, etc.

 

It is for that reason that I wrote the last Meta Reflection and focused on
the premise in Neuro-Semantics which heals the dichotomy between humor and
seriousness.  When we dichotomize seriousness and humor, we rob ourselves of
a great resource that keeps us sane and human.  If in seriousness we are
likely to become "dead" serious, and then stupid, we need humor for balance
and perspective.

 

Humor is that powerful.  In terms of power, humor is very powerful.  For
example, those who torture and brainwash say that if a victim laughs, they
have to start all over.  In that context, humor powerfully protects our
sanity.  Humor is also powerful for improving our health and well-being, for
expand our ability to mindfully reflect on things, gain inner distance, and
keep perspective.  Humor can reduce tensions, bond people together, and
improve learning and memory.

 

Well, if humor is that powerful in a positive way, it is inevitable that
humor can also be mis-used and abused.  It can also be powerful in a
negative way.  It is inevitably that humor can be used in ugly and hurtful
ways-ways that undermine health, sanity, and resourcefulness.  In other
words, we can turn humor against ourselves in various ways and be consumed
by these humor dragons.

James J. Walsh in Laughter and Health writes, "While laughter is a mystery
from its mental aspect, it is easy to appreciate its far-reaching physical
effects.  Laughter makes us feel better for having indulged in it.  There
seems no doubt that hearty laughter stimulates practically all the large
organs, and by making them do their work better through the increase of
circulation that follows the vibratory massage which accompanies it,
heightens resistive vitality against disease.  Besides, the mental effect
brushes away the dreads and fears which constitute the basis of so many
diseases or complaints and lifts men out of the slough of despond...
Laughter makes one expansive in outlook and is very likely to give to the
feeling that the future need not be the subject of quite so much solicitude
as is usually allowed for it." 

 

Desacrilizing Dragons

Humor is most powerful in the way it can desacrilize.  To sacrilize is to
see the value and importance of something.  It is to gain a perspective of
how something is special, valuable, precious, and sacred.  So to
de-sacrilize is to rob a person, experience, or thing of its value and
specialness.

 

So via humor and laughter, we can laugh things off.  We can use humor to
dismiss things, fail to treat something as important or serious, and trash
it.  In this we have to be careful what we laugh at, laugh at precious and
sacred things long enough and you can desacrilize it.  You can rob it of
meaning and significance.  That's why there's a line of humor and laughter
where once we cross it we enter into the area of being sacreligious and
blasphemous.

 

When we apply humor to people, we can laugh at them rather than with them.
This leads to the humor that insults, puts-down, and mocks.  This is making
someone the butt of our joke.  This is the vulgar humor that gets us to
laugh at another's misfortune, deformity, weakness, etc.  And when we do
this, we can thereby violate the dignity and honor of a person and destroy a
relationship.

 

This kind of derisive humor typically tends to be vulgar and scornful.  It
was this kind of humor that led to the superiority theory of humor that I
mentioned earlier.  This theory talks about the ugliness of using humor to
put oneself up by putting others down and doing so via mocking them and
making fun of them.  Some stand-up comics use this kind of humor and get by
with it because they do it to everyone and do so with a wink of the eye.
Yet it is a dangerous kind of humor. 

 

Then there is humor as a defense mechanism.  We see this kind of humor in
the nervous laughter that occurs when we feel insecure, unsure of things,
out of place, etc.   One of the first kinds of laughter that was ever
studied was hysterical laughter.   We often laugh with others or at
something as a way to fend it off, to make it laughable to us, something to
reject, show disdain to and not deal with.

 

It is the disarming power of humor itself that in some context can enable us
to connect with each other and create a sense of rapport which in other
contexts can take advantage of others, manipulate them, and enjoy a laugh at
their expense.  Humor and laughter, while seemingly non-serious and
therefore innocuous are actually powerful and serious.  To your healthy and
enjoyable humor!

 

 

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L.  Michael Hall, Ph.D.

International Society of Neuro-Semantics

Meta-Coach Training System

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