We Human's Require Humor & Laughter

"Happiness is neither virtue nor pleasure nor this thing nor that but simply growth. We are happy when we are growing."– William Butler Yeats

Did you know that in the ancient times  the Greeks used, the term  “humor “   to refer to the principal body fluids of:1.  Blood 2.Phlegm 3.Choler (yellow bile) 4. Melancholy (black bile)? And they thought the balance among these four fluids determined an individual’s health, temperament, and mood. Good balance of these four fluids led to “good humor;” and an imbalance  led to “ill humor” so they thought. Would you say  you experience ” good” or “ill” humor ? Do you have enough humor in your life?

Most of the definitions of humor relate  specifically to laughter, with laughter  acting  as an indicator that something humorous has occurred. Sigmund Freud, in the early 20^Th century, believed that there was a link between dreams and jokes. He believed that because society leads  to repression of so many basic impulses, that  joking emerged as a socially acceptable method of expression . He also believed in psychic economy and that  humor was the ability to minimize psychological energy spent on a particular issue. Freud further believed  that when the expenditure of psychic energy was  slight we did not need a lot of humor in order  to feel happy with life. He also believed that humor was  not only liberating, but ennobling, possessing both grander and elevation which made  the world seem   safe and less threatening. In fact so safe, that it was  okay to joke about it.

According to the superiority theory, one of the traditional theories of humor,   we assert our own superiority over others by laughing at their inferiority, stupidity or misfortunes. In fact Plato and Aristotle spoke of this as the “pleasure in the pain of others.” Some of you might remember that laughing at other people’s silly antics was employed in the role of the clown and performers such as Charlie Chaplin, Laurel and Hardy, the Keystone Kops, and Buster Keaton. Their humor contains an element of aggression but it was not always cruel and scornful; it  contained  warmth and empathy as well. In essence we’re laughing at ourselves and our own very human foibles. The moment we laugh, we are feeling superior. It didn’t happen to us but it could in the future. The so-called superiority theory is often called the disparagement theory, the ability to laugh at ourselves and our all too human weaknesses. Source:”Humor & Healing” Barbara Sternberg, Ph.D.

To be Continued