"Living on the edge of the self." That was the thought which stayed with me from my conversation with my older brother. I was staying at his house this weekend which was very refreshing, he's a great guy and he loves to laugh and make others laugh.
Now I know he was talking about comedy and how useful it is in questioning the accepted order of things. And I agree. But what I took away was this sense that, above all else, it is so important to remain buoyant, to keep our joy alive. There is a secret there. It touches on how we give ourselves to God.
We human beings like to be secure, laughter however is based on a recognition that we are actually quite fallible. We can get bound up in a false sense of security, but true joy is based on the fact that we have God as our sure foundation. The paradox is that with God comes mystery and a sense of wonder, we can never know him completely; while he is security itself, discovering the divine is an eternal adventure. Laughter is a wonderful way of reminding ourselves that in this world we mustn't get too self involved. Dante called it the Divine Comedy, that Jesus actually called us to die in order to find eternal life.
P.S. It's good to be home.
Laughter is the best medicine so some say.Sometimes the best thing we can do is laugh at ourselves I think.
ReplyDelete; ) the TJ