In recent times, it seems our land is becoming barren of humour and laughter. More recently, it seems as if it has become a taboo to laugh, and even smiling makes your intentions doubtful. The newspapers are full of sad and somber stuff. Politicians have lost trust of the people, and have found “politicking” within themselves on the media as the only means to delight and entertain the public. Media capitalises on their petty squabbles, and keeps their audience refreshed with the fun and pleasure associated with the display of their undignified behaviour. The poor people, feeling that this is the only deal they can have in the circumstances, have silently resigned to their fate. An uneasy truce seems to have descended upon us. And the resultant feeling is “God is in His Heaven, and all’s well with the world.”
But not very long ago things were different. The local press was abuzz with fun and humour, and a good crop of writers regaled their readers with crisp humour, tantalising anecdotes, and lively banter. The sordid aspects of life were made to appear less harsh by the playfulness of the humorists. The business of life too was not as ominously threatening as it appears today. A veritable hell of bigotry and intolerance has broken loose, which has crippled our thinking and stifled our growth. And there is no escape from it, unless we learn to inject a little fun and humour into our lives.
Whenever we have to describe an amiable figure we always refer to him or her as “having a sense of humour.” This shows the great value we instinctively attach to humour. Humour is an inexplicable mystery, very much like a mystical experience. Some people think that a sense of humour is inbred, and that it cannot be learnt. To a fair degree they are correct. Having a sense of humour means being ready to be amused by whatever life has to offer. It also means to amuse others by letting them feel more at ease with themselves. It is all friendliness and civility with which a person has to put up with the world. Humour as they say is one of the great lubricants of the wheels of social interaction.
A serious writing is hard to digest and difficult to follow. Humour, on the other hand, can make criticism more palatable. A truth laced by a joke can be driven home more succinctly than a laboured and serious discourse. Humour often gets to the heart of the matter in a very gentle and subtle way. Our modern-day humorists like Patras Bokhari, Khalid Hasan, Ibn-e-Insha, Zamir Jaffery, Mushtaq Yousfi and many others have written far less than most other writers and thinkers of our time but with far-reaching effects. Thus humour has a charisma and a mystique that other forms of literature can hardly claim.
However, it may sound strange that humour was never considered as an emotion or a state of mind until the beginning of the 20th century when Henrie Bergson wrote his book Laughter. All the earlier great philosophers like Plato, Aristotle, Hobbes and Locke treated it only as an emotion that overrides self-control. Aristotle made a little allowance in favour of wit by calling it “educated insolence.” The Stoics refrained from laughter altogether. Even for some prophets laughter expressed hostility. In Bible, mockery is so offensive as to deserve death. In early Christianity and through the Middle Ages, laughter and humour were rejected.
However, humour’s value as a form of art came to be gradually recognised. Seneca said, “Bear yourself with wit, lest you be regarded as sour or despised as dull.” The Puritans in the 17th century outlawed comedies. Laughter was considered only as an expression of scorn and ridicule. Towards the 19th century, in the writings of Herbert Spencer and Sigmund Freud, it came to be understood that laughter relieves pent-up nervous energy.
It is said that “laughter is a tranquiliser with no side effects.” It is believed that an imbalance in certain chemicals in the brain is the cause of stress and anxiety. Humour, exercise and talking therapies restore that neurochemical balance. Latest research has established that one of the symptoms of depression can be the loss of sense of humour. Financial and economic pressures in our daily lives cause us stress and anxiety, which lead to the loss of our sense of humour. This state in turn causes a fixation resulting in deep depression.
Life is not just to brood over our worries and misfortunes, but also to take stock of our achievements in a light-hearted mood of cool deliberation and planning. Thus we desperately need to reinvigorate ourselves by a constant dose of wit and humour, which we sadly lack today. Being surrounded by a mist of uncertainties, it is desirable that we cultivate a strong work ethic and a good sense of humour.
The writer is a former member of the provincial civil service and can be reached at [email protected]