There
is a vast scientific literature out there on the health benefits of laughter,why
we laugh and the neurological processes of laughter etc.
This
writing is not meant to pander to confirmation bias. So, we shall as
ordinary
human beings with humility, not like the academic struggling to
explain
by squeezing jargons as to why we laugh, observe what makes us
laugh.
If
we observe, the consciously aware human species likes or is subjected to too
much
of two behavior patterns, the inevitable polarity principle, one is
repetition/routine/normal
/expected activities and another is
anomaly/abnormality/unexpected/
unusual activity/actions/ any deviation
from
the normal/usual way . Let us not get into their relative merits or
demerits.
These
two behavior patterns, for the sake of brevity and convenience we shall
classify
them as repetition and anomaly. They predominantly pervade our
lives
on:-
1.
Physical plane [inevitable/pleasant
repetitive actions we perform] when there
is
some deviation/contortion/uneasiness/uncouthness in performing such
physical
activities they trigger, as anomaly, humorous feeling and we burst
into
spontaneous peals of laughter. These are portrayed as visual humor that
appeal
to all very easily and many great films, plays and circuses use these
effectively.
2.
Mental plane –
this includes a wider area like language based communications, emotional
interactions, socio-cultural exchanges [most of which we carry on repetitively
either with seriousness or out of habit or necessity or hypocrisy or to fit
into our scheme of confirmation bias] when there is a manipulated /mutilated
usage of language, perverted or surprising twist in emotional expression or
unexpected socio-cultural exchange etc again they evoke laughter because we
encounter some anomaly away from expected/repetitive behavior.
If
we observe closely all actions, reactions, situations etc which have caused us
to laugh we would notice this.
Most
emotions, actions, reactions, thoughts etc manifest in varying degrees of
intensity two vital emotions Love and Fear;
Similarly,
most behavior patterns are manifestations of either Repetition or Anomaly.
As
various manifestations of fear are negative and the emotion of love provides
the much needed anodyne.
Repetitions
and routines on the one side keep us in our comfort zone and pamper us in our
status quo addiction and also help many rituals, rules, healthy routines and
traditions to be retained and replayed with rejuvenated celebrations. These
very same repetitions on the other side bore us, burden us or by their sheer
familiarity or seriousness do not instill any great enthusiasm nor create any
great impact so we go about them very mechanically.
Whereas,
when we encounter any anomaly or abnormality it attracts our attention and has
a greater impact. In a way, laughter is a spontaneous acknowledgment of happy
feeling created by unexpected, new, unusual, abnormal, exaggerated
manifestation of actions/speech/expressions/usage of language/picture etc.
However,
not being the rule laughter is the most important side dish to the main menu of
monotonous life. I purposely say it is a side dish because it is a surface
phenomenon/manifestation/ outward reaction of some feeling felt deeply inward.
Though
there are many new trends like laugh your way to health, laughter the best
medicine etc. If we observe without bias laughter has often been associated
more with things which were considered frivolous, negative and/or weak.
Guy
Murchie in his The Seven Mysteries Of Life writes, “Although laughter is widely
accepted as the supreme outward expression of human pleasure, a little
thoughtful research shows it can just as often be the surface manifestation of
escape from a hidden conflict. Or, as Freud explained it, the humor that sets
us laughing is a benign device for mastering our forbidden urges. And a modern
psychologist might nod and say, "Indeed: like a cork on a bottle of
potentbrew."…. “And no less delusory, if a lot grimmer, is the weird disease
called kuru or "laughing sickness," whose obvious symptom is anything
but a laughing matter, for it has been found only among members of the obscure
Fore tribe in eastern New Guinea where, to those who catch it and laugh, it is
100 percent fatal”… “There is even a spot in the septal area of the brain
called the pleasure center, where, if delicate electrodes are implanted and
just the right electric current applied, the delightful satisfaction imparted
(according to one estimate) is "greater than the satiation potentials of
all other known appetites combined."
As
Michael Graziano writes, “Laughter is supremely irrational and crazily diverse.
We laugh at clever jokes, surprising stories, the slapstick of people tripping
and falling in the mud. We even laugh when we’re tickled on the ribs. According
to the ethologist Jan van Hooff, chimps have something like laughter: they open
their mouths and make short exhalations during play fights, or if someone
tickles them. Gorillas and orangutans do the same. The psychologist Marina Ross
compared the noises made by different species of ape and found that it was the
sound of bonobos at play that comes closest to human laughter, again, when
play-fighting or tickling. All of which makes it seem quite likely that the
original type of human laughter also emerged from, yes, play-fighting and
tickling.” http://aeon.co/magazine/science/should-we-ever-take-a-smile-at-face-value/
However,
let us also treat ourselves to some good quotes on laughter here:-
However,
all said and done, a life without laughter will be really boring.
No comments:
Post a Comment