The Alchemy of Laughter
The Alchemy of Laughter
Article by Constantin Tanase Part I
“ Superficial laughter drains us . Authentic , genuine laughter gives us resilience .” – Dr Shyam Bhat
“ A day without laughter is a day wasted .” – Charlie Chaplin
“ The human race has one really effective weapon , and that is laughter .” – Mark Twain
According to the Oxford Living dictionary , alchemy is a seemingly magical process of transformation , creation or combination . In this article , we will look at this magical process of transformation that is triggered inside of us through laughter .
The origins of laughter lose themselves somewhere in the beginning of creation . Scientists have studied animal behaviour and have reached a conclusion that didn ’ t come as a surprise , that certain mammals endowed with an elementary form of self-consciousness , such as dogs , horses , dolphins , wales and monkeys all clearly manifest various kinds of laughter .
People in their turn , laugh from early infancy , some of them even to the moment of leaving this world . Together with the self-preservation instinct , the human being holds impregnated deep within their consciousness the thirst for freedom and the profound aspiration to achieve happiness .
All throughout our lifetime we are pursuing happiness , though most of the time we are unaware of this .
Unfortunately , due to the level of understanding imposed by our society ( school , family , church , massmedia etc .), most of the people condition their happiness to reaching certain goals , desires , acquiring material goods ( houses , cars , business etc .), professional functions or social statuses and last but not least to establishing and consolidating relationships with other human beings .
This is how , day by day , hour by hour , mistaking pleasure and comfort for happiness , we run about in all directions hoping that just maybe we will hit the jackpot and finally obtain the much longed-for happiness . Consequently , we gradually lose our spontaneity , the childlike state disappears , and as years go by we find ourselves uptight , tense , overstressed , old before our age , sick and unhappy . Having reached this place of maximum rigidity , we are stone-hearted and almost hopeless and only a miracle can save us . This miracle is the awareness of the state we are in , as well as the understanding that we need to take action . From the Bible to scientific evidence , various authorities in the matter remind us that “ laughter is the best medicine ”.
There are countless methods we can apply in order to find our lost inner balance , purity , happiness and harmony . For instance , we can choose to go down the line of our existence and to realise where , in what way and whom we have wronged , and to start taking action in the opposite way : helpfully and harmoniously , thus compensating our mistakes with righteous actions .
Another efficient method , practiced in most of the religions of the world , is that of completely abandoning ourselves to the Divine Will , allowing God the Father to decide for us , while we choose to live the present moment to the maximum and , as much as possible , without desires .
One more method , which is practiced by yogis for
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