:: LAUGHTER ::

LIFE IS FUN, LAUGHTER & JOY
 
Seriousness is a disease and somehow man has been conditioned by the religions and the priests to be Unhappy. According to them, a man has to be serious, has to carry a long face, a mask; he cannot smile. He cannot enjoy the small things of Life -- his Ego won't allow it. His Ego keeps him aloof, away, distant. 

Osho says "Seriousness is never Religious, cannot be religious. Seriousness is of the Ego, part of the very disease. Laughter is Egolessness." Read on as Osho speaks on non seriousness, laughter and joy. 

"Life is not a serious thing. It is fun, it is laughter, it is joy. So you cannot find anything like the seriousness of a church-goer, or the long faces of so-called religious people in the world of the Bauls. They love laughter, they love fun. They enjoy small things with tremendous respect. Ordinarily, religions are very long-faced, very somber, serious, because they have to be -- they are against life.

I have heard....
One friend of Mulla Nasrudin was amazed to see that the Mulla had hitched his prize-winning possession, his prize-winning bull, to the plough, and was guiding it across his fields.
He said, "Mulla, have you gone crazy? That bull is worth twenty-five thousand rupees! Why are you letting him pull a plough?"
"That bull," said the Mulla grimly,''has got to learn that life is not all play."

There are people who become disturbed the moment you laugh; they would like to teach you that life is not all play. These people are themselves ill. They have missed life and they would not like anybody else to enjoy it. The priests are ill people; they would not like you to enjoy. They have missed; they are jealous of you. And they have staked too much: their egos are fulfilled only because they have been against life. They have chosen ego against life. If you choose life they will be against you. They will go on curbing you, they will go on condemning you, they will go on creating guilt in you. No greater calamity, not a bigger calamity can happen to humanity as has happened through religions. The calamity is that they have created a guilty conscience. So whenever you are enjoying, deep down somewhere you start feeling guilty, as if you are doing something wrong. Whenever you are healthy, you start feeling something is wrong. Whenever you are dancing, you start feeling something is wrong. Whenever you laugh, you can never laugh totally because deep down something goes on pulling you back: "What are you doing?" From the very childhood, whenever you were happy there was somebody to teach you that life is not all play: "Stop laughing! Be serious! When will you be mature? Be grown up! Enough is enough! Drop all this nonsense of childhood." Somebody was always round the corner to teach you.

They have lost: they could not enjoy so they cannot allow others to enjoy. This is how, from generation to generation, diseases are being transferred.

Take hold of your own life. See that the whole existence is celebrating. These trees are not serious, these birds are not serious. The rivers and the oceans are wild, and everywhere there is fun, everywhere there is joy and delight. Watch existence, listen to the existence and become part of it. Then you become a Baul, then you become a lover -- because love can exist only with a deep respect for fun, with a deep respect for delight. Love cannot exist with a serious mind. With a serious mind, logic is in tune. be non-serious. I'm not saying not to be sincere. Be sincere, but be non-serious. Sincerity is something else; seriousness is totally different. Be sincere with existence, then you will be true; you will become part of this cosmic LEELA, this cosmic play."

OSHO
THE BELOVED, VOL 1

Laughter time with Osho:

1. Doctor Klein finished the examination of his patient and then said, "You are in perfect health, Mr. Levinsky, your heart, lungs, blood pressure, cholesterol level, everything is fine."
"Splendid," said Mr. Levinsky.
"I will see you next year," said Doctor Klein.
They shook hands, but as soon as the patient had left the room, Doctor Klein heard a loud crash. He opened the door and there, flat on his face, lay Mr. Levinsky. The nurse cried, "Doctor, he just collapsed. He fell down like a rock."
The doctor felt his heart and said, "My God, he is dead." He even put his hands under the corpse's arms.
"Quick," said the doctor, "take his feet!"
"What?" cried the nurse.
"For God's sake," said the doctor, "let us turn him round. We have to make it look like he was coming in!"

2. A woman went to one of those health clinics where they have about seven doctors. After twenty minutes in one doctor's office she ran screaming down the hall. Another doctor who finally got the story out of her called the first doctor. "What is the idea of telling that patient she is pregnant? She is not! You nearly frightened her to death."
"I know," the first doctor said, "but I cured her hiccups, didn't I?"

3. Mulla Nasrudin went to the psychiatrist and asked if the good doctor couldn't split his personality.
"Split your personality?" asked the doctor. "Why in heaven's name do you want me to do a thing like that?"
"BECAUSE," said Nasrudin! "I AM SO LONESOME."

4. "My doctor insisted that I came to see you." the patient told the psychiatrist. "Goodness knows why -- I am happily married, secure in my job, lots of friends, no worries..."
"Hmmm." said the psychiatrist, reaching for his notebook, "and how long have you been like this?"

5. A doctor told a small child that if one eats an apple a day, it keeps the doctor away.
The child said, 'Ah, nuts ! This is nothing !'
The doctor was a little shocked. He said, 'What do you mean, "This is nothing?"'
The child said, 'I have got a better advice to give.'
The doctor said, 'What is that?'
The child said, 'Eat one onion a day, and it keeps everybody away! Not only the doctor -- everybody!'

6. Mulla Nasrudin complained to the doctor about the size of his bill.
"But, Mulla," said the doctor, "You must remember that I made eleven visits to your home for you."
"YES," said Nasrudin, "BUT YOU SEEM TO BE FORGETTING THAT I INFECTED THE WHOLE NEIGHBOURHOOD."

7. A psychiatrist once asked his patient if the latter suffered from fantasies of self-importance. "NO," replied the patient, "ON THE CONTRARY, I THINK OF MYSELF AS MUCH LESS THAN I REALLY AM."