Smilende Visdom

Laughter should be used in educational situations

Laughter can – and should – be used extensively in “serious” educational situations. It is very valuable, especially in terms of promoting intellectual development. Contrast, surprise, unexpected conclusions are all among the causes that produce laughter, which thereby awaken and sharpen our intellectual processes, and enable us to notice many things that might otherwise easily escape our attention. For example, odd and ridiculous comparisons and similarities, or a comic juxtaposition of facts that are different and unrelated, can emphasize a commonality in phenomena that seem incompatible, or similarities in some that are otherwise quite different. This gives us new perspectives, enables us to discover strange connections that exist between different groups of facts. Thus our powers of observation are sharpened, and new ideas are given the opportunity to be born in us. In short, they make our intellectual faculties more active and alert.

This stimulating effect is paradoxically associated with a peaceful effect. The nervous relief that laughter produces reduces excessive intellectual tension and restores the balance destroyed by too intense an effort.

It is often desirable – if one knows how to do it – to teach students in ways that can make them laugh, because laughter has a very valuable property: it increases the student’s attention. As is well known, one of the greatest challenges in teaching lies in attracting and retaining the student’s attention and interest in the things being taught. The value of laughter is equally great in terms of understanding and remembering what has been learned. Modern psychology has shown how wrong it is to let students learn by heart, and to mechanically emphasize the memorization of abstract definitions – instead of showing by concrete examples the practical consequences and the inner nature of a fact, or a group of facts. Humor can be a good help in this, because of the precision and liveliness of the ideas and images it produces.

Thanks to its memory-promoting properties, laughter is extremely useful in helping with the study of dry subjects, based primarily on memory. For example, there is a French book on anatomy that treats the subject humorously, and I remember using it with pleasure when studying this dry science. Similarly, the cheerful “Chemistry in Verse” by Alberto Cavaliere can be a great help in remembering the properties of various chemical substances.

Laughter can be extremely useful in teaching languages ​​by enlivening this study, which is so dry and boring if languages ​​are taught according to the pedantic grammatical method still used in many schools. In short: Our motto should be: Learn and teach with joy!

Different types of laughter

Laughter can also have great moral and spiritual value. I say “may have” on purpose, because not all laughter has this quality. It is therefore necessary to distinguish clearly between different types and “levels” of laughter. There is the vulgar, crude laughter, the simple pleasure of instinct, which is unfortunately all too common. And then there is sarcasm, contempt, mockery, which can be called the laughter of bitterness, and which can provoke dangerous, psychological self-poisoning. And then finally there is the simple, harmless laughter, which is provoked by puns, sudden whims, etc., which has no moral content, and which does not pretend to have any.

The spiritual value of laughter depends on the intention of the one who provokes it. For example, there are comic literary expressions, such as satire, parody, and comedy, which can sometimes have social and ethical value if their purpose is to denounce hypocrisy and immorality, or to unmask conceit and vanity. Good examples of this function of the comic are seen in the satirical writings of Molière and Orwell.

This brings us to the higher and spiritual aspects of true humor. It is very difficult to define humor because of its subtle and fleeting nature, and because it takes on various forms and colors with countless nuances. It is possible, however, to suggest its most prominent characteristics, without enclosing it in a formula. Let me first quote some apt remarks by Guido Stacchini:

” Humor is like the intimate smile of the soul, which – if you know how to feel it – never tires and never lets up. It is a sublime joy where the best part of us feels lifted to a higher level and experiences the full, spiritual satisfaction of being an actor and a judge at the same time.”

One assumes a humorous attitude, especially towards oneself, as a means of overcoming suffering, that is, one treats oneself as if one were a child, and at the same time one assumes the role of the experienced adult as superior towards the capricious and irresponsible child.

This remedy can be used in a broader perspective in relation to the lives of other people. When the adult understands the emptiness of the interests and sufferings that seem important to the child in him, he ridicules them, and in this way puts things in their proper place, assigning to them the value that is due to them. In such cases the adult is the humorist, the child is the average person or the public .

These wise observations of Stacchini help us to understand and appreciate the great spiritual value of humour. The worries and sufferings that ravage man, the small and large mistakes he constantly makes, are mostly due to his passionate attachment to people and things. They are also due to his total lack of sense of proportion, which leads him to attach enormous importance to things that are empty, fruitless and artificial, and he therefore disregards things that are magnificent and valuable, things that are real and eternal.

The noble function of humor is precisely to dissolve these illusions, to devalue the goals of this attachment, to unmask ignorance, to bring things and people back to where they belong. Humor can do this because – as Plato expressed it with deep intuition: “The ridiculous is he who does not know himself.”

Laughter is good against vanity

One of the human weaknesses that can best be a target for the arrows of humor, and that deserves them most, because its roots are so strong and widespread that it can be found even in very worthy people – is vanity. The adult usually lives under the illusion that he has reached his goal, simply because he has become an adult. He is satisfied with himself, and it does not occur to him that as soon as he finishes primary school he should enroll in the larger and real school of life, that he should take care of himself and begin his self-education. Instead, as Stacchini so well says, ” the age that is supposed to be of reason is an age when one begins to commit serious stupidities. “

How blinded by vanity! As Schopenhauer says: ” As surely as a cat purrs when you stroke its back, so surely does a sweet elation appear on the face of a man who receives praise, especially when the praise is for what he imagines himself to be; even if the praise is a blatant lie. “

Vanity is often accompanied by conceit, which manifests itself, among other things, in contempt for those slightly lower on the social ladder and in flattery towards those at the top.

Then there are those cases where the small seek to elevate themselves by belittling and belittling the great. But their efforts are in vain, for their scorn and contempt fall back on themselves – as Tagore puts it in an aphorism:

“The scholars say that one day your light will no longer exist, the firefly said to the stars. The stars did not answer .”

Fear is comical

A weakness that often seems comical is fear. And a common form of fear is worrying about the future. How many groundless worries do people create for themselves! Their pessimistic predictions and exaggerated precautions are wittily expressed and mocked in this Tuscan proverb: “Don’t bandage your head until it hurts.”

Another kind of fear is preoccupation with what others think of one. How often do people poison their lives by anxiously seeking to avoid any reproach or criticism. And yet the impossibility of pleasing everyone has been known throughout history. We read in the Dhammapada, a Buddhist text written many centuries before the birth of Christ:

This truth is ancient, O Atula, and not at all new: He who is silent is spoken of badly, and he who speaks much is spoken of badly; even he who speaks little is blamed. No one in this world can escape criticism.

Among the many possible mistakes, there is one that is subtle and not obvious – but nevertheless very real – namely, that committed by certain intellectuals and philosophers who spend all their time in empty discussions of purely academic interest. At the same time, there is an urgent need to perform spiritual tasks as long as true liberation has not yet been achieved. The Buddha ridiculed this folly so elegantly:

It is said that the monk Malunkaputta once went to the Buddha and expressed his dissatisfaction with his failure to tell his disciples whether the world was eternal or not eternal, finite or infinite, etc. The monk went so far in his impudence as to challenge the Buddha. He demanded that the Buddha answer his question either yes or no, or by admitting that he could not answer. If he agreed, he would certainly remain his disciple, otherwise he would return to worldly life. The Buddha answered him in this way, without losing his composure for a moment: A poisoned arrow has struck a man, and his friends sent for a physician. If the wounded man says, “I will not allow this arrow to be removed from my body until I know who has wounded me, what family he comes from, what he looks like, whether he is tall or short, fair or dark, and where he lives,” then that man will certainly die before it is possible to help him. This is precisely what will happen to a man who demands answers to all his questions before he embarks on the path of liberation.

If we ask ourselves what is a typical attitude of a humorist, we can answer that he views life on earth basically as a theatrical performance, a comedy, in which everyone must play their role as best they can, without taking it too seriously, and most importantly, always be aware that they are playing a role.

Spiritual humor

Spiritual humor is a paradoxical mixture of an attitude of clear and impartial observation, a sense of oneness with life, and deep sympathy and compassion for others. “The humorist,” writes Professor Fanciulli in his essay on humor, “is highly endowed with the ability to live the lives of others… He feels the ties that bind all things together. Plurality is relative… perhaps only apparent; all parts are linked together by ties that cannot be broken…. An admirable synthesis is the result…. ; the pain and joys of others become one’s own joys and pains. This sympathy has the qualities of gentleness. It shares in the sufferings of the weak, the defeated, the poor.”

But this sympathy is always conscious and clear and does not prevent what Fanciulli correctly considers the typical characteristic of humor, namely the smile. All this and more is hidden and revealed in the smile of the liberated Buddha, a smile full of compassion, but a smile born of the certainty that there is a path to liberation and that all people, sooner or later, will achieve liberation and bliss.

It should be mentioned that everything, even the best things, can be misused, and it is precisely the task of the “art of living” to use everything for a good purpose and in the right amount. As for humor, let us remember that its function is like salt in food, a spice that gives flavor to the life that is given to us, but that salt in itself does not nourish.

From another angle, humor is a contemplation of the passing pageantry of life; it is not a direct and active participant in events. The perfect man, the true sage, is not one who confines himself to contemplation, but on the other hand, neither is he one who is completely absorbed in action. He is the sage who, in the suffering and laborious life, maintains his higher self as an impartial and smiling spectator.

To achieve such a state of inner freedom, it is necessary to use humor, first and foremost towards oneself, gently making fun of one’s own little personality, which is so filled with its own importance, which gives itself attitudes, and which takes itself so solemnly – and which is at the same time vulnerable, restless, and suspicious.

What Giuseppe Zucca has so aptly called the “steel box” of personality cannot in the long run resist – no matter how thick and hard its walls may be – the finely penetrating and all-consuming flame of humour. Sooner or later its doors open, and one can free oneself from this narrow and suffocating prison. When this happens, one can say that the greatest feat has been accomplished. The soul spreads its wings, and unites itself, joyful and with a divine smile, with other souls, with all creatures and with God.

How to move forward

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Also read the article Psychosynthesis an Integral Psychology and the biography of Roberto Assagioli

Read the introductory article about integral meditation