It seems that human beings are the only reasonable creatures who have the ability to laugh every day, every hour and for the rest of their lives. They should never stop laughing for a very simple yet very sad reason: Human beings know very well that their days are numbered, and they eventually head out on an eternal journey from which they can never return. No matter how powerful a person is, their life on earth will ultimately come to an end, and then he or she embarks on a journey to an eternal world, which science cannot yet explain.
The only certainty is that we are all destined to eventually pass away. Despite the fact that man knows the undeniable tragic fate that awaits him, he knows little about the manner in which he will part with life and the living. However, man continues to strive in life to build and reproduce, passing the fruits of his labour to his children and grandchildren. It’s the cycle of life that nobody can deny.
And that is why constant laughter has become a requirement for human beings, due to them being well aware of the tragic fate that awaits them. The question here is: Did humans resort to laughter as a way to deal with excruciating pain? Perhaps.
People in the world today are going through a massive and unprecedented psychological strain, and as such, other crises do not matter as much. Once a human being returns to his home or family, the only issue on his mind is his psychological strain caused by the outside world and his daily interactions. This strain dictates how long the body can hold out for. Therefore, as one grows older, specialists view laughter as the only cure for this increasingly common disease. Friedrich Nietzsche, a German philosopher, said: “Perhaps I know best why it is man alone who laughs; he alone suffers so deeply that he had to invent laughter”. This definition for laughter, ‘I laugh so I won’t cry’, is shared among many different poets and writers.
Is laughter a way to express our contempt towards life and the living?
Samuel Coleridge, an English philosopher, wrote: “To resolve laughter into an expression of contempt is contrary to fact, and laughable enough. Laughter is a convulsion of the nerves, and it seems as if nature cut short the rapid thrill of pleasure on the nerves by a sudden convulsion of them, to prevent the sensation becoming painful.”
It seems that man was singled out among all creatures to possess the gift of speech and laughter, which serve as evidence for man’s power of emotional perception. A human child is capable of laughter when it is only a few weeks old, with research pointing out that some newborns are capable of laughter when they are only 40 days old.
Animals, on the other hand, do not laugh. Some might say that hyenas and monkeys do, but that is merely a sound, and is not similar to human laughter which contains psychological and mental aspects.
Thomas Hobbes, an English philosopher, said: The passion of laughter is nothing else but a sudden glory arising from sudden conception of some eminency in ourselves, by comparison with the infirmities of others, or with our own formerly.”
In my opinion, loving life is enough to be a source for laughter. Contrary to popular belief, laughter does not deaden the heart, it fills it with life.
We laugh when we feel that we are overwhelmed with rage, sadness or joy, and thus we are able to overcome tension through this automatic transformation. It is a trait that is unique to humans.
Another question is why does a child laugh if he sees a man run into a wall? This particular situation seems to be a common reason for inducing laughter in children. That is because there is a big difference between a man who can see and avoid the wall, and a machine that might run straight into it. The child already expects the man not to be a machine, but when he runs into a wall and proves otherwise, the child finds it amusing and laughs. Sigmund Freud, a prominent Austrian psychologist, described laughter as a release of repressed inhibitions.
There is nothing else to say except that you should make laughter a daily habit. If you cannot, at least pretend to laugh or encourage other people to do so.
Mohammad Hassan Al Harbi is a writer and journalist.
