Spirituality, Religion & The Sense of Humour

It has always struck me that the sense of humour is sadly lacking within many religions and spiritual paths. I'm not talking here of slap-stick humour or joke telling for the sake of joke telling, but, the subtle bright-eyed lightness that comes with a certain special outlook. All too often those peddlers of religion and spiritual ways have a heaviness and solemnity that reveals more about their state of mind than spiritual truth. What reaction would you get if you laughed in church? Not a very warm one I would think. Seriousness has become the hall-mark of the pious agents of God as "Christianity should be approached with misery" so one illustrious prelate stated. And why should this be the case? Because, he stated "There is no surviving record that Jesus ever laughed!" This may be true, but, is this ridiculous assumption something to base spiritual or religious practice on? There is also no records of Jesus having to relieve himself so does this mean a good Christian should abstain from going to the lavatory until they explode?

Plato stated, "Serious things cannot be understood without humorous things, Nor opposites without opposites."

Even when there is documentation the conditioned convictions of an individual will often filter them out. Yet, withing Islam we find one of the Prophet's companions, Abdullah son of Harith saying, "I have never seen anyone who smiled more than the Messenger of Allah." Evidently the Prophet Mohammed (pboh) was famous for his sense of humour.

Humour used on the spiritual path, however, as stated above is different to that of worldly humour. It is a many edged sword that can be understood on many levels, reveals aspects about oneself through one's reaction to it and can be a valuable teaching tool when used correctly.

There is an anecdote in circulation around the world:

An American tourist that was taken to a shrine in Japan and shown around it. At one point a very aged monk showed him a flame. "That flame has been been burning non stop for a thousand years" he quavered. The American leaned over, looked at it and blew it out. "Well it isn't now" he said.

The setting of the story changes, the nationality of the tourist changes, but, the story follows the same formula. What was your first opinion of that American tourist when he did that? Did you perhaps think he was insensitive? What if he were English or French, would you have seen the story in a different light? If the person in question had previously been living isolated as a hermit in a cave somewhere in the Himalayas then would you perhaps have thought of him trying to teach some sort of spiritual lesson in non-attachment and the folly of putting so much importance in physical things? What truths do you gleam about yourself and your attitude toward the world and spiritual matters in this story? A many edged sword indeed!

The greatest barrier to spiritual enlightenment, the revelation of Truth, their Self Knowledge or whatever you prefer to call it is ones own concepts and convictions of what it is and how to attain it. You want to be filled. But something which is full has first to be emptied. Empty yourself so that you will fill properly... stated Bahaudin Naqshband, but, how to go about the emptying, how to get rid of false conceptions and convictions? Spiritual humour applied in the correct way at the correct time is one such technique used as a shock-applier and tension-releaser and of course and indicator of false situations. This type of humour is not always immediately obvious, once applied it can sit there within oneself working quietly inside until one day the full import of it breaks to the surface with revelations of one's inner self. A little story about false convictions illustrates this, it's taken from "Special Illuminations" by Idries Shah:

* * *

A certain woman from the West kept plaguing one teacher, who, for twenty years or so, found it necessary to refuse to allow her to seek "Heaven" or enlightenment through divining cards, enigmatic books, mysterious rituals, perfumes, disembodied voices and other exciting and intriguing ways. He did not allow her to use Oriental names, to spiritualize the physical or to physicalize the spiritual.

Finally, when she had become very subdued, he realized that she was just biding her time and would again start demanding secrets and processes instead of just teaching. He decided on a memorable once-for-all interview and counsel.

"Here at last are your instructions" he said. "You will drink some holy water, fast for three months and repeat this word ninety million times. Then you will walk to Kathmandu, measuring your length along the way, never lose your temper, strain every fibre to hear celestial music and never say a metaphysical word. Then you will stop doing all these things and go back to ordinary life as you know it.

"Oh master!" she breathed, "And then I will be in a state of perfect freedom and release?"

"No, but, you will feel as if you were!"

* * *

A true sense of humour is essential if one is going to make any headway upon the Way. I have often heard people referring to God, Allah or whatever name you are conditioned to use, as being serious, stern and even jealous and retributive. This surely is more an indication of the individual's or culture's projection of the self image rather than a fact. Has the Creator a sense of humour? You only have to look at nature and all the bizarre creatures and plants that make you smile and laugh to answer that. Only someone with a sense of humour could create a pomegranate of such delicious taste only to fill it with so many seeds.

So, before going I will leave the following to ponder upon:

There was once two mystics (who had become so enlightened that they were hardly in the world any more) talking. The first one said: "I had a disciple once, and despite all my efforts I was unable to illuminate him."

"What did you do?" asked the other.

"I made him repeat mantras, gaze at symbols, dress in special garb, jump up and down, inhale incense, read invocations and stand up in long vigils."

"Didn't he say anything which might give you a clue as to why all this was not giving him higher consciousness?"

"Nothing. He just lay down and died. All he said was irrelevant: "When am I going to get some food?""

Counsels of Bahaudin the Designer (Naqshband Sufi)

You want to be filled. But something which is full has first to be emptied. Empty yourself so that you will fill properly, by observing these counsels, which you can do as duties to yourself:

FIRST
Never follow any impulse to teach, however strong it might be. The command to teach is not felt as an impulsion.

SECOND
Never rely upon what you believe to be inner experiences because it is only when you get beyond them that you will reach knowledge. They are there to deceive you.

THIRD
Never travel in search of knowledge unless you are sent. The desire to travel for learning is a test, not a command.

FOURTH
Never trust a belief that a man or a community is the supreme one, because this feeling is a conviction, not a fact. You must progress beyond conviction, to fact.

FIFTH
Never allow yourself to be hurt by what you imagine to be criticism by a teacher, not allow yourself to remain elated because of praise. These feelings are barriers in your way, not conductors of it.

SIXTH
Never imitate or follow a man of humility who is also mean in material things, for such a man is being proud in material things. If you are mean, practice generosity as a corrective, not as a virtue.

SEVENTH
Be prepared to realize that all beliefs which were due to your surroundings were minor ones, even though they were once of much use to you. They may become useless and, indeed, pitfalls.

EIGHTH
Be prepared to find that certain beliefs are correct, bu that their meaning and interpretation may vary in accordance with your stage of journey, making them seem contradictory to those who are not on the Path.

NINTH
Remember that perception and illumination will not at first be of such a character that you can say of them "This is perception" or "This is illumination."

TENTH
Never allow yourself to measure everything by means of the same time measurement. One thing must come before the other.

ELEVENTH
If you think too much of the man, you will think in a disproportionate manner about the activity. If you think too much about yourself, you will think wrongly about the man. If you think too much about the books, you will not be thinking correctly about other things. Use one as a corrective for the others.

TWELFTH
Do not rely upon your own opinion when you think you need books and not exercises. Rely less upon your belief when you think you need exercises and not books.

THIRTEENTH
When you regard yourself as a disciple, remember that this is a stage which you take up in order to discover what your true distance is from your teacher. It is not a stage which you can measure, like how far you stand from a building.

FOURTEENTH
When you feel least interested in following the Way which you have entered, this may be the time when it is most appropriate for you. If you imagine that you should not go on, it is not because you are not convinced or have doubts. It is because you are failing the test. You will always have doubts, but only discover them at a useful time for your weakness to point them out.

FIFTEENTH
Banish doubt you cannot. Doubt goes when doubt and belief as you have been taught them go. If you forsake a path, it is because you were hoping for convictions from it. You seek conviction, not self-knowledge.

SIXTEENTH
Do not dwell upon whether you will put yourself into the hands of a teacher. You are always in his hands. It is a question of whether he can help you to help yourself, for you have too little means to do so. Debating whether one trusts or not is a sign that one does not want to trust at all, and therefore is still incapable of it. Believing that one can trust is a false belief. If you wonder, "Can I trust?" you are really wondering, "Can I develop a strong enough opinion to please me?"

SEVENTEENTH
Never mistake training for ability. If you cannot help being what people call "good" or "abstemious", you are like the sharpened reed which cannot help writing if it is pushed.

EIGHTEENTH
When you have observed or felt emotion, correct this by remembering that emotions are felt just as strongly by people with completely different beliefs. If you imagine that this experience - emotion - is therefore noble or sublime, why do you not believe that stomach-ache is an elevated state?

NINETEENTH
If a teacher encourages you, he is not trying to attach you to him. He is trying, rather, to show you how easily you can be attracted. If he discourages you, the lesson is that you are at the mercy of his discouragement.

TWENTIETH
Understanding and knowledge are completely different sensations in the realm of Truth than they are in the realm of society. Anything which you understand in an ordinary manner about the Path is not understanding within the Path, but exterior assumptions about the Path, common among unconscious imitators.


The above was taken from a chapter from "Thinkers of the East" by Idries Shah. Idries Shah was head of the Naqshbandi order of Sufis until his death. The Naqshbandi are considered to be the elder order of Sufis and wear the cloak of permission to initiate seekers into any order they see fit. Many of their rites have direct correlation with rites within the Freemasons. It was a sub-order of the Naqshbandi called "The Builders" that taught the original knights in the Temple of Jerusalem who later became known as the Knights Templar and from which the present day Masons evolved (or devolved, depending on how you look at it) from. Perhaps if the original knights stayed for longer there and learned the inner teachings instead of the superficial rites etc. history may have been different.