Laugh Therapy

watch original V-Blog in Persian

Two rival political candidates were scheduled to speak at the county fair on the same program. Mulla Nasrudin was chosen to introduce them. He arose and said, "I want to present to you a man who, above anyone, has the welfare of each and everyone of you at heart. More than anyone I know, he is devoted to our great and glorious nation." Then he turned to the candidates and asked, "WHICH OF YOU FELLOWS WANTS TO TALK FIRST?"

Humor is an amazing thing. It can make a very specific and profound point in no time at all. How often have I discussed the inadequacy of our current political paradigm, pointing out that our adversarial systems artificially bolster ordinary mortals into saints only to drag them back down and blame them for all the things we don’t want to take collective responsibility for? And then a simple joke like this speaks a hundred volumes.

Humor helps. It opens your mind and heart and allows you to breath and gain hope. I’ve heard that in Iran at the moment people are attending humor classes to release the stress and desperation they have been feeling due to the increased tension since the presidential elections. I’m not sure how these classes are panning out, but it reminds of the power that humor and comedy have in cleansing our soul of the burdens we lay on it.

In Kamal Tabrizi’s “The Lizard” (2003), a convict escapes hospital by putting on the clothes of a cleric he shares the room with. Because he is a thief, his language and manner are ordinary and raw. He uses examples from his life as a criminal to teach his congregation spiritual lessons and ends up attracting a whole host of lost sheep back into the fold simply because he is honest and compassionate. So although on one level the film is a critique of the current theocratic regime, it doesn’t make fun of any specific cleric nor necessarily of clergy in general. The film clearly offers an example of how clerics could and should be.

That to me is very valuable, because I think there is a fine line in humor. If used to alienate or demonize people it is as poisonous as the societal ills it is trying to counter. But when humor is employed in a non-offensive way, when it is not in breach of preserving “unity”, it can be a healing medicine. The intention, I think, is the key. And although we can’t set guidelines as to when humor is in good taste or bad the heart can always discern the intention.

Mulla Nasrudin, of course, knew all about intention! He had been calling on his girlfriend for over a year. One evening the girl's father stopped him as he was leaving and asked, "Look here, young man, you have been seeing my daughter for a year now, and I would like to know whether your intentions are honorable or dishonorable?" Nasrudin's face lit up. "DO YOU MEAN TO SAY, SIR," he said, "THAT I HAVE A CHOICE?"