Sacred Laughter

"Laugh at what you hold sacred and still hold it sacred."

-- Abraham Maslow

Laughter is prayer. A joyous, boisterous, cosmically humorous form of prayer. It is appropriate for every subject upon every occasion. Laughter, not music, is the universal language because everyone can laugh, but not everyone can play music.

What do you hold sacred? Whatever it is, I hope you can see the humor in it. I hope you can laugh with Monte Python and Lenny Bruce and George Carlin and Sarah Silverman, and all the other comedians who poke fun at our most cherished beliefs. Nothing that is truly sacred can be threatened by laughter. It is only when we are unsure of our beliefs, unsure of ourselves, that laughter becomes offensive.

Personally, I think it's an all or nothing proposition -- either everything is sacred, or nothing is. I choose to go with everything, and laugh at it all. Life is too sacred to be taken seriously! Cosmic humor abounds! Why not enjoy it?

But in these politically correct times, people have become so goddam sensitive! What ever happened to "Sticks and stones can break my bones, but words can never hurt me"? Because it's true, you know. The words can't hurt you. It's only your interpretation of the words that hurts you. And it's through your interpretation of words that you lose your sense of humor.

If you hold nothing sacred, you're obviously free to make fun of everything. No problemo. If you hold everything sacred, then laughter becomes a universal mantra, the perfect response to life's sacred absurdity. It's only when you start splitting hairs, picking and choosing, saying "this is sacred, but that's not" that problems arise. It's only when you think that one patch of dirt in the desert is more sacred than another patch of dirt that you lose your sense of humor and are willing to fight for hundreds of years and kill and die all over a plot of land that looks like a giant Kitty Litter box!

God didn't stick little Post-It Notes on all the stuff in the universe that said either "Sacred" or "Not Sacred." Sacred is a human concept. It's a goddam game that we invented! Can't you see that? It has no Reality whatsoever, it's just judgement disguised as spirituality.

And that, if you think about it for a second, is really funny!