Life is a Mighty Joke.

"Life is a Mighty Joke. He who knows this can hardly be understood by others. He who does not know it finds himself in a state of delusion. He may ponder over this problem day and night, but will find himself incapable of knowing it. Why? People take life seriously, and God lightly; whereas we must take God seriously, and take life lightly. Then, we know that we always were the same and will ever remain the same.......the Originator of this joke. This knowledge is not achieved by reasoning.
But it is the knowledge of experience."

~ Meher Baba

"Christianity has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult and not tried.
~ G.K. Chesterton

Read more at www.brainyquote.com...

Oh God I find it all so incredibly funny, in the final analysis when all that's no longer of worth or value is jettisoned in favor for what is, the whoe field bought up to retain the found treasure or the precious pearl, owned at last

What do you think. Does anyone really understanding what is meant by this idea, without a hint of sarcasm or snide cynicism towards life.

I don't see any other option THAN humor, but I don't mean funny in the sense of laughing AT life, no it's by another path of "reason" that's the only reasonable thing there is, imho.

Your thoughts are welcomed.

Best Regards,

NAM

Now of course some of you on seeing the title might be anxious to jump the gun in replying, but at the same time perhaps wondering, in constructing your thoughts as to how best to reply and contribute - "My God this could be TRAP of some kind, or is it the liberation from the trap, or both..?!"

If so then you've already fallen into the snare of this inquiry which I am convinced contains, at the root of it as a philosophical and spiritual-metaphysical inquiry, a type of "double-bind" on all our misconceptions and sources of ignorance, and folly, which, like Chinese handcuffs only get tighter the more the question is pondered over, and the humor of true understanding remains elusive (at which point the cuffs are released in epiphany).

Welcome, and since we all must take full responsibility for our own communication, reply at your own risk.. or at the risk of all your prior ignorance perhaps I should say, and thus at the risk of all prior conceptions and valuations of one's self, others and the whole of all creation that we inhabit.

It's like ATS, once you get a taste for it, you can't help but follow the chain of reasoning to its only logical conclusion, and then you're what I might call "royally screwed" which although screwed is really screwed in the best possible way.



Best Regards,

NAM

Well, if you look at it as being born naked and with nothing, then you die and are "naked" and have nothing. It's like the whole of life is a sort of borrowed trip, we all go into it the same and leave it the same, everything from what we "own" down to our very physical bodies, they are all borrowed. When you really look at it and think on it, it becomes both horribly depressing and wonderfully awesome. Maybe some laugh at this, but to me I replace laughter with further faith.

You hear things about "God got me by" or "my faith saved me." What does that actually mean? It means when you get caught up in the hectic-ness of life, you stop and realize its all for nothing, what actually matters is how you treat those who are in your life, how you react to the situations in your life and so on, because in the end the only thing we actually have are the things we do not actually own. When you strip a man of his possessions and everything in his life, all you have is the man for who he really is, and how did he get that way? He got that way through the daily dailies of life, not the big moments but the small ones.

That is why we know that a busy life and being so hectic so as to not have any time to reflect or any of that, is bad for a person. So yes, either life is a big joke, or the joke is that your taking life too seriously as the OP quoted. Maybe the big "joke" is that most people spend their entire lives pursuing something they cannot keep, when what was most important was there all along.

"The man is not a fool who gives up what he cannot keep, in order to gain what he cannot lose." - I read that in a bathroom stall, seriously. [/preaching]

No.
This is a mighty joke.

See, there were these two guys in a lunatic asylum... and one night, one night they decide they don't like living in an asylum any more. They decide they're going to escape! So, like, they get up onto the roof, and there, just across this narrow gap, they see the rooftops of the town, stretching away in the moon light... stretching away to freedom. Now, the first guy, he jumps right across with no problem. But his friend, his friend didn't dare make the leap. Y'see... Y'see, he's afraid of falling. So then, the first guy has an idea... He says 'Hey! I have my flashlight with me! I'll shine it across the gap between the buildings. You can walk along the beam and join me!' B-but the second guy just shakes his head. He suh-says... He says 'Wh-what do you think I am? Crazy? You'd turn it off when I was half way across!' - the Joker

The Killing Joke

Life isn't nearly as funny as that.

reply to post by NewAgeMan


Hello NewAgeMan, may Peace be upon you.

It is humoring that every iota of existence is this very moment of "isness".

It is humoring that I and I believe in division.

It is a joke of tragedy, beauty, and awe,... this human life. Illusion upon illuion of duality, relative-subjectivity, fragmentation, time, space, and place. There is only One, call One "God" if you please.

Oh what a gift it is to forget the Unity of All, what a gift it is to experience this individuality! We can laugh in knowing that this human life means so very, very much to us,... such suffering, such joy, such desire, such attachment, such passion!!! But we are like a droplet of water forgetting it is the ocean.

This means everything and this means nothing. The humorous realization of kgnowing the paradoxes. Positive vibrations

reply to post by NewAgeMan


Oh yes - when the joke is finally got it is funny. How do you explain the joke to anyone else??? Oh yes - there is no one else - there is just this.
Nothing is speaking to nothing. How weird is that?
Nothing once thought it was something and had to live with other somethings. That believed in something 'had to live' - oh what struggle, what fear.
Now it is seen that what is seen is amusement.
Nothing is entertaining itself by being everything.

reply to post by NewAgeMan


Agreed, life is a joke.
I just don´t think it´s a very funny one.
Tedious, waiting for the punchline.

How can a joke no one can get nor understand be funny? The punchline is always when someone says they know what life is. That's when we laugh.

From the thread Man vs. Consciousness

Originally posted by NewAgeMan
The "problem" however, with this all-or-nothing proposition being made and extended to us by life itself is that IT is what's real and true, and WE were false and absurd and ridiculous by any comparison or stretch of the imagination, so it's very very humorous, even if at the expense of all our own folly. But that's ok, once you realize or re-realize yourself and your true spiritual (and psychological) nature [without ever forgetting, again] as a sacred being of incalculable valuation even as a mere variable of a supreme value (life itself). Once this is fully "grokked" and accepted - then and only then at that final turning point, is the great lesson learned in the epiphany of ecstatic humor where it could be said that the manure of our lives was absolutely essential for the sweet smell of the rose, which is our true life as it was meant to be lived and experienced and enjoyed, not an inner life or an outer life but a real life. Consciousness then is life telling us to "get a real life".

Humor, the humor of understanding, is both the true nature of consciousness, and the final "ah ha" of any good and reasonable philosophy, as a cosmic joke of sorts told through us, with us, and for us, in mind, you see. It can't be told in fact without us, nor without all our prior ignorance and absurdity and the more the better as a final contrast by which to compare and distinguish as we march straight into the new creation or the real life, the resurrected life, laughing our asses off the whole way, but for all the RIGHT reasons this time 'round. That's precious!

The joke, WAS on "me"!

But again that's ok because I've realized this while still on the way and thus while still given the opportunity and the supreme privilege, to share it with others, and because the content of each of our own personal spiritual and psychological experience is entirely unique to each person, the "punch line" and precisely what makes it funny is also unique to each person, if they would have the courage to dare but laugh at themselves and their own prior ignorance in who they took themselves to be, or not to be.

It grieves us however and thus grieves the Spirit of Truth and Life, just how stupid and ignorant we really were, which is why I say that the epiphany of consciousness brings with it first tears of sorrow and regret while at the same time offering the very hand that wipes away those tears from our eyes, and helps us get back up from the heap we'd crumbled into until we simply collapse back into another one this time in tears of hilarity, and STILL the hand is THERE, as needed, and then you encounter the living God as the greatest comedian the universe has ever known telling a joke to us capable of saving the whole world, except for those who simply cannot and who refuse at any cost whatever, even at the cost of truth and reality itself, to get it, because it's to a very large degree at the expense of everything that wasn't real or authentic or true, and most people would rather try to hide away in the darkness of their own lies and bull$hit.

True consciousness then, as the awareness of being alive, prior to judgement, or after if the verdict is forgiveness... is humorous, kind, gentle, loving, merciful, tender, and again very funny, liberating, and joyful even to the nth degree.

We were our own worst enemies. We were absurd.

Originally posted by spartacus699

Thus, the absolute necessity of the resurrected life (see my avatar for clues).

For me, personally due to my Christian oriented theological framework, the Great Work of Jesus Christ, or his Magnum Opus, is what restores my humor in the face of what I like to call the indignity of the injustices of life which otherwise terminate either in a meaningless absurdity or worse a grave insult.

Best Regards,

NAM

I like to think of life like this.

It's a huge most popularly played MMORPG, yes it's a game, yes it's popular, yes, you start with no starting gear, and you even end the game with not playing anymore hence no end result gear or acquired goodies to carry onwards.

It's a place to experience, learn an grow as a spiritual being. Now that alone should hint towards other forms of living after this life, an I don't mean a ending place either like heaven, I mean a continuous cycle of lives on a quest to raise your vibrations / positivity / goodness about your being.

Maybe with the overall goal of helping to assist all to " see the light " so to speak. Or Better themselves.


I certainly know that many, upon many of people are in need of help or support in some way or another, and with that being said certainly may need more than one life to figure certain issue out.

Why would we all be doing this? Maybe to be our highest forms of ourselves and assist others as needed. That sounds like a great place to rest to me, even continue if I could onto another project, life is beauty, life is hope.

reply to post by Tranceopticalinclined


I think that the humor of it all can only be realized and appreciated in the space of absolute forgiveness and non-judgement opening a field of awareness wherein all that needed to be forgiven starts to look like slapstick humor by the three stooges as we do a mighty facepalm at just how ridiculous and absurd we really were. Then we're a light in the house who cause others to smile and laugh right along with us, as they too are given the courage to come out into the light and stop hiding out in an entirely unauthentic, false persona.

Originally posted by NewAgeMan
Does anyone really understanding what is meant by this idea, without a hint of sarcasm or snide cynicism towards life.

Yep. I understand it, to the extent that the archetype of the trickster is active in my psyche. Which is a greater extent than most people.

Here is a book I think you might really enjoy.

www.amazon.com...

Originally posted by LionOfGOD
reply to post by NewAgeMan

 

Agreed, life is a joke.
I just don´t think it´s a very funny one.
Tedious, waiting for the punchline.

Ah, grasshopper..

[Note the Cheshire smile and alert antennae.]




Once it's distinguished however, relative to the true good that is the free gift of life it dissolvs in the light of life and love, like some sort of alchemical transformation of the mind and heart and underlying experience, and then where are we?

If good conquors over evil and ignorance by transcending it, then so too does the trap or the snare contain embedded within itself the sweet release from the bondage of suffering and sorrow whereby it it is true that "the more that sorrow and suffering has carved into our being the more joy we can contain" (Gibran) and "for man, all happiness must arise exclusively only in relation to some unhappiness, already experienced." (Gurdjieff).

Our problem is that we never dare to fly, and to be happy, intrinsically happy, and we cannot while mired in the POV that there's no way out and it would only be better, if..this and that were so and so, overly concerned with external circumstances while set adrift on a sea of chaos shaking one's fist in the wind and spray at life and at it's creator for placing us in this mess to begin with, but that's a nihilistic and cynical viewpoint, and is it even correct? IS that REALLY the "way it is"? What happens when we check in to our innermost heart of hearts in the space of absolute unconditional acceptance and reintegration (forgiveness) including as needed self forgiveness and absolute unconditional acceptance, warts and all.

What else CAN we do but laugh out loud, once we've gotten fully present to our deepest regrets, worst fears, and deeply seeded lies, about ourselves others and the phenomenal world and occurrence of life, assigning it in a low judgement the lowest of low valuations, or worse a POV that bears no resemblance to the truth and life as it was meant to be lived and experienced, beyond judgement in the untouchable sphere of eternity that is our already-always condition.


Best Regards, even in spite of it all,

NAM

Originally posted by NewAgeMan

"for man, all happiness must arise exclusively only in relation to some unhappiness, already experienced." (Gurdjieff).

This is him


He looks both enlightened, or stunned, and as if he hasn't yet experienced enough unhappiness in life because he's not smiling and mirthful. That's funny, imo.

Even the "enlightened" fail to get the joke or forget it somewhere down the line, sadly.

Surely it can't be "ungotten" once you get it, because the touchstone of experience in the humor of understanding and knowledge remains, and grows.

Gurdjieff might have been a laugher too. That's just the way they used to pose for photos back in the old days, like they'd just received a whack to the face with a 2x4 of cold harsh "reality".

But now that the opportunity is ours, we totally blow it in apathy and self-pity, how sad is THAT?

We're either part of the solution or part of the problem, but of course no one can be TOLD or forced to be happy, so I guess it's up to you.

Originally posted by Thorneblood

The Killing Joke

Life isn't nearly as funny as that.

Now that was the most interesting, ridiculous, absurd and disturbingly symbolic story I've come across in a longgg while. Thanks for sharing.


Edit to add: It might be (life as funny as that) ya never know anything's possible..

Originally posted by honested3
Well, if you look at it as being born naked and with nothing, then you die and are "naked" and have nothing. It's like the whole of life is a sort of borrowed trip, we all go into it the same and leave it the same, everything from what we "own" down to our very physical bodies, they are all borrowed. When you really look at it and think on it, it becomes both horribly depressing and wonderfully awesome. Maybe some laugh at this, but to me I replace laughter with further faith.

I wonder... if, before we were born had we been shown a type of life viewer discretion warning..

Warning: Contains nudity, violence and course language. Viewer discretion is strongly advised..

if we would have gone ahead and pressed play anyway..

If so, woe to those who now complain, in hindsight, wishing they'd never been born to see the light of day, woe to them until they get the joke and experience the joy of koinonia, that is, then their regret and sorrow will turn to glee maybe even at the realization that once started there's no off button!

So now it's up to us to maybe shoot for more of a PG rating because there's just too much violence on TV now to begin with, and that's the beauty of it imho, that we are called into such a partnership and intimate, co-creative, participatory relationship with as co-producers on this stage called life.

"We are living in an unsaved world, and we are waiting for redemption in which we have been called upon to participate in a most unfathomable way"

~ Martin Buber

from Eco-Doom or Redemption: The Mad Movement and the Sixties' Counter-Culture Project.

No fear, only faith, love and laughter.

What are we after all if we forget to laugh, at our prior selves, and rejoice in the new creation we are involved with and commissioned by Christ himself to realize in time and history as a participatory eschatology?

Oh no I've gone and killed my own thread about the mighty joke of life! #!

Oh well Baba said very few would really understand, and the rest are probably just scared, sad, or angry.

Thanks anyway for your time and consideration and to all who've participated. What do we do now?


Best Regards, and Joy de Vivre!

NAM

Eduard von Grützner Falstaff mit Handschuhe, reknown for his joy de vivre.