Laughter and Humour
The Laughter of God: What makes life so funny?
by Ralph A Pannett
"There is something universal and timeless that makes people laugh. Willam Hazlitt: 'Man is the only animal that laughs and weeps; for he is struck with the difference between what things are and what they ought to be."
"Humour at its best is a comic sensitivity to the riddle of our common existence and our 'fallen' nature. It becomes a vehicle for generosity. It is resolved into humility and compassion."
"Laughter is a mark of hope. The hopeless do not laugh. Humour is a way of asserting the self, of reclaiming power, knowing that justice will come, affirming the meaning of existence. ... Even the somber Kierkegaard asserted, "The more thoroughly and substantially a human being exists, the more he will discover the comical.
Wholesome humour offers a special kind of salvation. Laughter has a redemptive quality."
by Ralph A Pannett
"There is something universal and timeless that makes people laugh. Willam Hazlitt: 'Man is the only animal that laughs and weeps; for he is struck with the difference between what things are and what they ought to be."
"Humour at its best is a comic sensitivity to the riddle of our common existence and our 'fallen' nature. It becomes a vehicle for generosity. It is resolved into humility and compassion."
"Laughter is a mark of hope. The hopeless do not laugh. Humour is a way of asserting the self, of reclaiming power, knowing that justice will come, affirming the meaning of existence. ... Even the somber Kierkegaard asserted, "The more thoroughly and substantially a human being exists, the more he will discover the comical.
Wholesome humour offers a special kind of salvation. Laughter has a redemptive quality."