Can we keep a sense of humour, despite serious philosophy problems?

Jack Cummins

I am asking this question because I often end up feeling that my head is exploding? It might be a trite question, but as a person I think it is important. I even ended up flooding my mother's bathroom by leaving a tap on, to the point where the electrics went out downstairs, as a result of being so preoccupied by replying to a thread on this forum. My mother was not at all impressed at the time but did see the funny side a day afterwards.

My post may end up being demoted to the lounge as superficial and I don't mind. However, I do wonder sometimes if we take ourselves and our questioning too seriously.I do believe that a certain amount of sense of humour, and playfulness, is important in enabling us to keep some balance as human beings, especially in the face of the whole experience of suffering. Do others feel the same about this at all?

TheMadFool

↪Jack Cummins

God is a comedian playing to an audience too afraid to laugh — Voltaire

It's better to be laughed at than to be cried for — TheMadFool

Should I, can I, laugh now?

Albero

↪Jack Cummins

I try to keep a sense of humor about it, but man do I fail miserably. I have obsessive compulsive tendencies, so philosophical ideas can literally keep me up at night and stop me from doing school work because I become momentarily obsessed with finding an answer. Sometimes I sit and wonder why any of these ideas even bother me. Most of the time a bizarre and counter-intuitive thought experiment wriggling in my mind doesn't impact or reflect on reality at all. The hardest part is learning to let go and realize that perfect answer ain't coming no matter what

Jack Cummins

↪TheMadFool

Well, I am glad that you replied really, because it was during a reply to you about the idea of Biblical idea of the unpardonable sin that I caused the flood. Of course, I realise it was my fault alone, my sin of carelessness and I am lucky that my mum has a sense of humour.

But generally I think that tragedy and comedy are part of the human condition. I also have to admit that I have a bit of a dark, surrea lsense of humour and I once had a manager who totally misconstrued me playing around with the lion on my keyring, who I called Leonardo.

TheMadFool

Well, I am glad that you replied really, because it was during a reply to you about the idea of Biblical idea of the unpardonable sin that I caused the flood. Of course, I realise it was my fault alone, my sin of carelessness and I am lucky that my mum has a sense of humour.

But generally I think that tragedy and comedy are part of the human condition. I also have to admit that I have a bit of a dark, surrea lsense of humour and I once had a manager who totally misconstrued me playing around with the lion on my keyring, who I called Leonardo. — Jack Cummins

I'm just sharing my thoughts with you. To be frank, there are more reasons to cry than to laugh but have you seen beauty pageants? What's the reaction when the pretty girl in high heels and a flowing dress wins the crown? Tears flow down the cheeks and the mouth curled into a lovely, breathtaking, smile. What's that all about? Then there's this other image that keeps flashing across my mind - a middle-aged woman who's lost her entire family in some tragedy which I can't, for the life of me, recall laughing hysterically. What's up with that?

Jack Cummins

↪Albero

Yes, it is difficult, especially if you are a really serious person. I think that the whole situation is to find the right people to connect with, who enable you to find a lighter side to things.

I sometimes have found that people do not know how to take me. I have a sense of humour but it is a bit surreal, and in some situations I have even taken on the role of the 'fool'.

But I think it is not even just about enjoyment, whether in art, sport or music, because even if we are serious questioners I do think we need some fun, or life can just become too heavy.

Jack Cummins

↪TheMadFool

I think that we can all experience some incongruous emotions, laughing in some supposedly unfunny situations and vice versa. I think that the problem is when we are expected to follow the norms. I know that I have an off beat sense of humour, in line with my metal music. I think everyone on this site would expect yours to invoive paradoxes, because you are Mr Philoparadoxus.

And you wouldn't believe it I have missed my stop on the bus and having to get the bus back, having come to Streatham instead of Tooting. I am that kind of fool, and sometimes get lost. At one job I had, we each got allocated names according to the Mr Men characters, and I got told that I was Mr Daydream.

But, seriously I don't think that humour always has an inherent logic and we have to take it for what it is and suspend judgements.

TheMadFool

incongruous emotions — Jack Cummins

Is it really incongruous or is there a deeper meaning to laughing when sad and crying when happy? You should look up Heraclitus (the weeping philosopher) and Democritus (the laughing philosopher) - both did so after, what I presume is, having understood what life - the same thing - is all about.

Outlander

I even ended up flooding my mother's bathroom by leaving a tap on, to the point where the electrics went out downstairs, as a result of being so preoccupied by replying to a thread on this forum. My mother was not at all impressed — Jack Cummins

Lol. Priorities, mate. At the same time at least it was due to you pursuing your education and self-betterment and not from being too doped up on a pipe. So. I'd have laughed after the fact too.

Jack Cummins

↪Albero

Yes, I was just thinking of what you were saying as I finally got home.

Just because I appear to laugh at certain situations I don't mean that I haven't found myself in certain situations in which I cannot find humour, especially at certain moments. The worst situation can be when others appear to be laughing at you.I definitely had that when I was at school and it was a horrible thing.

I believe in laughing when it is natural and not in a contrived way. But when everything seems completely dismal and heavy, the main thing is to just wait because it all will pass, with something entirely new arising.

Jack Cummins

↪Outlander

I hope my mum keeps her sense of humour too, because last time when I visited, she got so cross with me writing on this site that she tried to grab my phone out of my hand.

Jack Cummins

↪TheMadFool

I think that there are deep meanings to emotions, including humour. I think we should analyse it but not too much in case we are in danger of overthinking and in the process become unable to laugh, or feel certain emotions.

On my art therapy course, one of my tutors told me that rationality was my dominant mode, and emotions as the inferior one so I try to avoid over analysing to redress the balance.

I would imagine that emotional experiencing is the more inferior one in most people inclined towards philosophy, so perhaps we are the ones who need to be able to laugh or cry most of all.

TheMadFool

↪Jack Cummins

:up: Carry on, if you don't mind my saying so.

Gnomon

as a result of being so preoccupied — Jack Cummins

Sounds like the story of an ancient philosopher, who while walking & thinking, and looking up at the sky, fell down a well. Onlookers laughed, but it wasn't funny to him. :joke:
Serious Note : in those days, a well was just a hole in the ground.

Preoccupied Philosopher : This recounts a story that Thales was so preoccupied with the matters above him that he failed to see what lay immediately below his feet, so he fell into a well.
https://oregonstate.edu/instruct/phl201/modules/Philosophers/Thales/thales_well_of_thought.htm

unenlightened

Hey guys, my mum is long dead and my wife has to keep my philosophy in bounds. But I still get over-excited about things. Go talk to the trees when it gets too much. Better still, listen to them. they are older and wiser.

one of my tutors told me that rationality was my dominant mode, and emotions as the inferior ones — Jack Cummins

He was wrong. But then bullshit is the dominant mode of most art therapists. Get him to do your portrait if you want to learn about yourself.

The excitement of philosophy is that not only is your whole future at stake, but also your past, your family, your most fundamental beliefs and your eternal soul if any. Wives, mothers and therapists will just have to get used to it; philosophers never will.

Have some lyrics. https://genius.com/The-incredible-string-band-puppet-song-lyrics

Better still, have the song - explains everything.

Jack Cummins

↪Gnomon

Yes, I will heed the advice to try to avoid falling into the well. Actually, I fell into the trout pond when I was messing around with friends on a school trip at the Cotswolds wildlife park, so I may have already followed in Thales' footsteps.

praxis

On my art therapy course, one of my tutors told me that rationality was my dominant mode, and emotions as the inferior one so I try to avoid over analysing to redress the balance. — Jack Cummins

Perhaps you misinterpreted them, analysis is commonly contrasted with intuition, not emotion.

Jack Cummins

↪praxis

I got told that I was too much of a thinker and that I viewed everything from the perspective of my 'head', but of course this was one person's opinion.

But I have, nevertheless, taken it on board and try to approach life as far as I with a balance of the four modes: sensation, thought, feeling and intuition.

But, probably most people don't stop and think about this at all and I am not sure that I am more balanced now as a result.It is not always that easy to keep fully balanced. If anything, I sometimes hide my emotions, but it can be hard to express them unless it is in a supportive context. It sometimes feels safer to put on a front, and even humour can be a facade.

Leghorn

Jack, I am honored that you adopted my nickname for Mad Fool.

Keep flooding bathrooms and falling into ponds...as long as you don’t drown!

Allan Bloom used to get so involved in conversation with his students, that he would put the lit end of his cigarette, instead of the butt, to his lips.

Antony Nickles

↪Jack Cummins

The "profundity" of philosophy was a serious nemesis for J.L. Austin, who is actually very funny at times. He was trying to show the difference between serious investigation and fervent ideological belief/theory. Also, an important part of Emerson's work is its constant optimism (in the face of conformity and skepticism). Wittgenstein's interlocutor in the Philosophical Investigations was very adamant and certain--and Witt is constantly poking them or leaving them flustered with almost a mocking enigmatic humor. Nietzsche also found joy, courage, and a sense of humor was necessary for philosophy; he wrote a book called The Gay Science. This is not a trivial, tangental topic. Maybe the more certain and strict and strident we are, the less we see of the awe and joy and fullness of the world.

Book273

↪Jack Cummins

Never stop laughing. Far too many people take themselves far too seriously. Take time to watch the gophers. They have things figured out! Eat, sunbathe, sex, eat, sunbathe, more sex, chase away a rival, eat, sunbathe....eventually get eaten because you are too distracted by the eating, sunbathing, or sex. Not such a terrible existence really.

ssu

1) People are basically anonymous here.
2) Our income and jobs don't depend of what we talk here: people don't have a monetary incentive in the debate.
3) People's careers or reputations aren't on the line here.
4) This is a very small site, so you don't get publicity by commenting

All above reasons just why we indeed could keep a sense of humour, despite serious philosophy problems.

Jack Cummins

↪Antony Nickles

I am glad that you have told me that 'The Gay Science' by Nietzsche is related to the idea of keeping a sense of humour as it is one of his books which I have not read. I will try to explore it, and I had not read the other ideas you mentioned, I created this particular thread simply because I felt that my head was exploding one evening while I was reading and writing comments on this thread.

Antony Nickles

↪Jack Cummins

I would suggest Emerson's Self-Reliance and American Scholar as examples of his rallying-cry in the face of skepticism, though they take some work to see as commenting on analytical philosophy (Kant, Descartes, etc.); and if you read A.J. Ayer's book "Language, Truth, and Logic", then you will understand the humor/fun in J.L. Austin's "How to Do Things With Words". Nietzsche is similar to Emerson in being hard to see as an extension/critique of Kant, etc., but his references to joy and courage are more explicit though the reason is as complicated/intricate as in Emerson. Good luck and good cheer.

Can we keep a sense of humour, despite serious philosophy problems?

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