Laugh Out Loud!

Comment by Osho News: Speaking Tree has published many articles related to Osho and sannyasins that people around the world enjoy reading and also published a large section with detailed information on Osho, excerpts from his discourses, and reader’s comments.

The latest posting at Speaking Tree shows excerpts from a discourse by Osho on laughter. However, while working on the posting our editor detected unusual expressions in the text, compared it to the published discourse and found that words and expressions had been added or changed, paragraphs had been moved around and the flow of Osho’s discourse was disturbed.

We do not know who knowingly changed Osho’s words. What we do know is that Osho insisted that his words were not to be changed, that his book editors were advised to merely use punctuation and only if there was something they felt strongly about could they ask Osho for advice and, in some rare cases, Osho accepted a change.

We therefore use the opportunity of this article below to show in red the words and phrases that were inserted or changed by persons unknown, and in green bold what Osho really said. This includes the last sentence of the discourse which was omitted. (We have abstained from showing sequence changes.)

We are not here to point an accusing finger but we ask again all those who work with Osho’s discourses and books to respect his work and take the responsibility to remain true to his words.

Graveyards are serious; death is inevitable. So why don’t we laugh our way through life, wonders Osho

Laughter is one of the most repressed things by society, all over the world, in all ages. Society wants you to be serious. Parents want their children to be serious, teachers want their students to be serious, the bosses want their employees [servants] to be serious, the commanders want their armies to be serious. Seriousness is required of everybody.

Laughter is ‘dangerous’ and ‘rebellious’! When the teacher is teaching you and your friends [you] start laughing, it will be taken as an insult. Your parents are saying something to you and you start laughing — it will be taken as an insult.

Seriousness is thought to be honourable, respectable. Naturally, laughter has been repressed so much that even though life all around is hilarious, nobody is laughing! If your laughter is freed from its chains, from its bondage, you will be surprised — at each step there is something hilarious happening.

Life is not serious. Only graveyards are serious, death is serious. Life is love, life is laughter, life is dance, song. But we will have to give life a new orientation. The past has crippled life very badly; it has made you almost laughter-blind, just like there are people who are colour-blind. There are 10 per cent of people who are colour-blind — it is a big percentage, but they may not be aware that they are colour-blind.

The constant repression of laughter has made you laughter-blind. Situations are happening everywhere, but you cannot see that there is any reason to laugh. If your laughter is freed from its bondage, the whole world will be full of laughter. It needs to be full of laughter; it will change almost everything in human life.

You will not be as miserable as you are. In fact, you are not as miserable as you look — it is misery plus seriousness that makes you look so miserable. Just try this: misery plus laughter, and you will not look  so miserable!

Just look around at life and try to see the humorous side of things. Isn’t life funny? Every event that is happening has its own humorous side, you just need a sense of humour to experience it. 

Do you know, no religion has accepted the sense of humour as an important quality. I want a sense of humour to be the fundamental quality of a good man, of a moral man, of a religious man. And it does not need much looking; you just try to see it, and everywhere…. there’s plenty to laugh about. 

Seriousness has become almost part of our bones and blood. You will have to make some effort to get rid of seriousness, and you will have to be on the lookout — wherever you can find something humourous happening, don’t miss the opportunity; throw inhibitions to the winds and simply laugh with all your being. 

Laughter needs a great learning, and laughter is a great medicine. It can cure many of your tensions, anxieties, worries; the whole energy can flow into laughter. And it is not necessary that there should be some occasion, some cause for you to be able to laugh.

In my meditation camps, I used to have a laughing meditation session: for no reason, people would sit and just start laughing. At first they would feel a little awkward that there was no reason — but when everybody is doing it…they would also start.

Soon, everybody was in such great laughter, people were rolling on the ground. They were laughing at the very fact that so many people were laughing for no reason at all; there was nothing, not even a joke had been told. And it went on like waves. Laughing, laughing….. 

So there is no harm…even just sitting in your room, close the doors and have one hour of simple laughter. Laugh at yourself. But learn to laugh. Seriousness is a sin, and it is a disease. Laughter has tremendous beauty, a lightness. It will bring lightness to you, and it will give you wings to fly. And life is so full of opportunities. You just need the sensitivity. And create chances for other people to laugh. Laughter should be one of the most valued, cherished qualities of human beings — because only human beings [man] can laugh, no animals are capable of it. Because it is human, laughter [it] must be of the highest order. [And to repress it is to destroy a human quality.]

From Beyond Enlightenment [Ch 27, Q 6, ed.], courtesy: Osho International Foundation, www.osho.com

To repress laughter is to destroy a human quality.

We change physiologically when we laugh. We stretch muscles throughout our face and body and we breathe faster, sending more oxygen to our tissues.

People who believe in the benefits of laughter say it offers some of the same advantages as a workout. Combining laughter and movement, like waving your arms, is a great way to boost your heart rate.

Some studies have shown that the ability to use humour may raise the level of infection-fighting antibodies in the body and boost the levels of immune cells.

Researchers at the University of Maryland found that the blood vessels of people who watched comedy movies expanded and contracted easily. But the blood vessels in people who watched serious movies tended to tense up, restricting blood flow.

One study of 19 people with diabetes looked at the effects of laughter on blood sugar levels. After several sessions on humour and entertainment, it was found that the group had lower blood sugar levels.

Laughter is said to be contagious, because people laugh up to 30 times more when they are in the company of others than when they are alone.  Also, people who laugh a lot may just have a strong connection to the people around them. That in itself might have health benefits.

Source: R Morgan Griffin, WebMD Feature

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