On Humor

While dealing with the trials and tribulations of life over the last few years, I've found myself returning to Hegel, Lacan, and old ideas I considered before I'd read them. That is, nature and existence being somewhat paradoxical, albeit in a rather ordinary way—a sort of Möbius back-and-forth dictating all things. Lately I've noticed that I tend to alternate between two attitudes toward humor. On the one hand, for example, I recall reading something Spinoza once said, which I think is useful in pursuit of intellect and rationality:

Derision and jesting rest on a false opinion, and indicate an imperfection in those who deride and jest.

Going through life, I thought about this first sentiment quite a lot. And I find it quite consoling. Even cheerfully, I think there's great truth in this remark. But on the other hand, I also once again recognize the immense need for jest.

Freud also writes about this. Humor being a sort of rebellion against the superego. And it reminded me of a remark eigenrobot once made on twitter, drawing an analogy between humor and math:

Having a sense of humor at all is one signal. Humor indicates a commitment to Play, to Cartesian infinite gaming.

Lacan shares similar sentiments about this as well, saying that life is not tragic, but on the contrary, it's comic. In a Hegelian way, I find myself alternating in this non-linear, back-and-forth between seriousness and jest. And I guess I'm writing this note as a self-reminder, so that in time I may come to more firmly believe it, or rather, not to forget it. To hold in mind that life is not about taking an absolute linear position, but rather it is about reconciling and intertwining the one thing with the other—seriousness and jest, pain and pleasure, work and play, and so on. I think I've remarked before about life being like juggling, so I suppose I'm repeating myself here.

But to keep balance, we must stay in motion, avoiding gridlock. And humor, although it can cut in both directions, can serve us here. It may sound obvious. But it's a detail that can be difficult to notice in times of melancholy.

Humor as a sort of meta skill which we learn along the way in life, to help us make way in life. Or like so many other things in life—something we might know, then forget, but eventually remember again.

The restaurant scene from Ninotchka, 1939.