# Why are we capable of laughing?

Юрий Михайлович Низовцев

Laughter can be up to tears, but tears do not bring up to laughter.

A new collection of the laconic humor "All into one line with laughter" can be found on the Amazon website (Nizovtsev Yury)


Why are we capable of laughing?


Abstract


Laughter can be up to tears, but tears do not bring up to laughter.


Key words: laughter, comic, situation, self-consciousness, reaction, absurdity, satisfaction, depth, simplicity, humor, creativity.


Any animals never laugh, but a person was able to assess the comic situation and use this assessment for his own purposes, the main of which is not just entertainment of oneself, but a distraction from the troubles and hardships of life which a person is aware, but cannot do anything.

The transformation into the comic of one's own hardships thereby became an unusually effective way for a person to distract himself from them. By such detachment from the cruel realities of life in laughter, a person frees himself from the conventions of beingness, intuitively feeling their temporality and imperfection.

The external expression of this curious transformation tribulations and tragedies into the comic, detract from them, is the laughter, the animal component of which comes from the reflexes, similar of a reaction to carding or tickling, and also from an instinctive reaction to threats, for example, in the form of growling, whereas the essential component of laughter is determined by the consciousness in the form of a relationship to some troubles and misfortunes as to the absurdity of the unexpected incident with yourself or preferably with others. Absurdity of it, dropping out of a framework of the known order, causes involuntary fun or an ironical grin from that, as "to those above" cannot provide the order in "hostel".

Therefore, the prime cause of laughter is an involuntary understanding of incongruity, absurdity of a situation, which, nevertheless reproduced in reality in one form or another vital or artificial forms. This intuitive understanding causes involuntary superiority over the situation, which finds a way out in a intense sound form, like a cough, or - in a concussion of the whole body resembling convulsions.

The pleasure and satisfaction of this understanding does not reach fixation in the mind as a judgment, but immediately passes into relief through sounds that bring relaxation, vivacity and an influx of energy from the insufficiency of beingness, that has clearly appeared.

In contrast, standard troubles, which regularly cause suffering and grief, cause the crying of the victims and the sympathy of others.

Moreover, unlike regrets or upsets from the misfortunes that occur, which often cause tears, thereby bringing relief, but only in the form of a decline in strength and the coming melancholy, the reaction to what is happening in the form of laughter manifests itself from surprise at its absurdity, that leads not to fear, but to interest in this unusual violation of the usual routine.

In itself, the unusualness of the situation in the form of its absurdity or implausibility most often develops as an artificial or natural manifestation of some event or object in an area where they should not be, which makes this kind of incident related to the creative process, which is characterized by the search for a new and unusual.

That is, if this incident does not pose an immediate threat, it can cause surprise, turning into interest due to its absurdity, which, in turn, can lead to an involuntary feeling of superiority over it, arising from an intuitive understanding of this absurdity or even stupidity, that finds reflection either in a smirk or a grunting.

In the absence of an involuntary desire to highlight the comic side of what happened with its absurdity, it turns out, as you know, a person without a sense of humor.

In the hierarchy of human characteristics, laughter, which is called this distinct grunting, stands above regret or chagrin, not only because animals can also cry from suffering, but because any person can be made to suffer, but he is not able to laugh due to coercion, since sincere laughter can only be spontaneous.

This human property is used by comedians both from the stage and in their writings, whose level of talent is determined by the ability to combine the incompatible, as it were, plausibly and effectively, simply and not too superficially.

In life, as a rule, everyone laughs at extraneous absurdities somehow affecting them, but some individuals, especially those advanced in realization themselves as personality in a contradictory and changing event world, are able to laugh at their own stupidity instead of tears and regrets.

Similar involuntary reaction to absurdity not always, but often turns an unpleasant situation into comical, that just like faith, making life easier, and thereby distracts a person from the troubles and hardships of life, which he sees, understands, but can do nothing except how to laugh at them, which is not typical for animals, since they do not aware their own existence in time, and thus they do not need distraction from the events of beingness, to which they are only able to adapt without striving to change it and themselves along with it, remaining only at the level of sensations, but not reaching the level of representations, imagination and abstractions, without which it is impossible to present a comicality of the situation.

Thus, laughter distracts a person from the oppressive reality. And in this he is similar to faith.

It should also be noted the two-sided nature of laughter that occurs when the consumer interacts with the information flows that cause laughter, from source, which can be not only the external, but also himself, since each person has self-consciousness, and, therefore, criticality.

Anyone who wants to try to cause laughter by presenting his comical expressions, in addition to his own talent, must maintain a certain balance between the originality of what is said or shown, which are peculiar sharpness up to paradoxicality, their depth, as well as simplicity, bordering with stupidity. All this can be expressed with an oxymoron: that's after all, it happens that, it seems, so it cannot be.

How difficult this is can be seen from the fact that in the entire history of mankind, the authors of amusing and sneering utterances that captivate everyone with their unusual, simplicity and at the same time depth, were much less than recognized fiction writers, unless we shall count the authors of anecdotes, sketches and the like, characteristic of their vulgarity, and causing laughter of one rude audience who is able to laugh even when showing a naked ass.

And this indicates that laughter and humor are not equivalent, since any absurdity, that does not threaten life, can initiate laughter, and a spoken or written utterance can be attributed to humor, that is, to be funny for the audience, only with a certain combination of absurdity with the depth of content and simplicity of form, which should be laconic, as well as accessibility to any audience.

That is, it is enough for laughter to contemplate a ridiculous, but not terrible situation that violates the established order, in which someone gets into a stupid position in the eyes of the audience, causing ridicule of this idiot - the so-called the humor on the square.

As for the humorous utterances, formed by the authors themselves, then it is possible to make by these utterances laugh or smile if it is possible to maintain a certain balance between the originality of the utterance, its depth and simplicity, demonstrating their coherence in orientation to the violation of the established order.

In particular, the lack of silly simplicity reduces the statement, at best, to satire, the lack of depth - to a flat joke, and the insufficient originality - to banality.

In this case, simplicity should be understood as the unpretentiousness and naturalness of utterance up to its silly, which gives a person, as it were, superiority over the situation, assuming not only surprise, but also mockery of it.

Therefore, the seriousness of the utterance, despite its originality and depth, can cause respect or even admiration, but not laughter.

As an example, we can cite several magnificent maxims of Polish satirist S. E. Lec.

- It is necessary to multiply the number of thoughts so that there are not enough overseers on them.

- The window to the world can be closed with a newspaper.

- The dream of slaves is a market where you could buy yourself masters.

- Ideas get into the head inside.

If the utterance is devoid of depth of thought, then, despite its originality and simplicity, it comes down to a flat joke in the form of a common expression or a newspaper anecdote, for example:

- From a bachelor's diary: "I washed the floor, wiped the dust, washed the dishes, cleaned the bath and toilet, cooked dinner. Want to marry myself..."

- Wife to husband:

- Here, you pay the attention, our neighbor every morning, leaving for work, kisses his wife! Why don't you do that?

- I don't even know her!

In the event that the utterance loses a significant amount of paradoxicality, it becomes nothing more than a triviality, as, for example, such utterances of the Russian humorist M. M. Zhvanetsky:

- Whoever married a young woman has paid in full: she will not see him young he will never see her old.

- The world's first ruined poor appeared in Russia. Not a single ruined banker, and a mass of ruined poor people.

The same M. M. Zhvanetsky in some utterances quite managed to find a balance between originality, depth and simplicity of the spoken, giving samples of full-fledged humor, for example:

- Alcohol in small doses is harmless in any quantity.

- Women can do anything. They should not be given time to think.

Similar balance in many of his utterances was found by the famous American writer Mark Twain, for example:

- This man is known only that he was not in prison, but why he was not in prison is unknown.

- I don't think I could like her, except on a raft in the open sea, and even then, if there is absolutely nothing to eat.

- You need both hands to kiss.

Real humor that evokes a smile, that is, truly funny, slips in some of Kozma Prutkov's utterances, for example:

- Not every general is by nature complete.

- It's nice to caress a child or a dog, but it's most necessary to rinse your mouth.

- Click the mare in the nose - she will wave her tail.

Any source of humor that really makes everyone laugh or smile, certainly carries content in a form that reflects the habits, traditions of the audience or individual, as well as their ability to pry, sometimes reaching interest.

Only such interaction between the source of information and its consumer is able to produce a resonance, expressed in an unaccountable laugh or smile, which is nothing more than an actual recognition of someone else's creativity in the form of surprise, carrying in this case purely unconscious, but interested character.

Thus, the astonishment as the reaction to an unexpected situation, leading both animals and people to fear or arousing their ability to pry, can give rise to laughter in humans, unlike animals.

What is the root cause of such a difference between humans and animals?

This kind of cause, both laughter and goal-setting and creativity, inherent only in humans, can only be the self-consciousness of a person, radically distinguishing him from other living beings.

It was it that finally brought him out of the world of the predominance of sensations into the world of abstractions, interests and ideas.

Therefore, a person's interest in the new has penetrated into the sphere of the absurdities of beingness, the intuitive understanding of which, if it is addressed to phenomena or objects that combine not only absurdity, which can frighten, but also simplicity, leading to an understanding of the phenomenon, as well as the depth of connection of this, apparently, simplicity with the unusual situation, is able to manifest in a person the inherent property of creativity in him, manifesting itself in this unexpected situation by its resolution for itself in the form of expressing feelings not in the form of growling or mooing, but in the form of a smile or laughter, into which these animal forms have transformed, reflecting only fear or ability to pry.

If this inner creativity does not find expression, that is, the absurdity of what is said or done does not arouse interest, for example, because of stupidity or misunderstanding, thereby leaving a person indifferent, then he perceives what is happening or presented only as a violation of order, the result of which can only be his discontent.

In conclusion, it should be noted that if the sphere of humor reflects situations that cause laughter or a smile, then, on the one hand, it cannot include satire, sarcasm, and similar serious forms.

On the other hand, laughter caused by excitement, excess of strength, nervous discharge, anxiety, hysteria, imitation of someone or tickling, has nothing to do with humor.

At the same time, the so-called "evil laughter" also has nothing to do with involuntary laughter, which means that it is impossible to attribute it to humor. Rather, it should be called a certain sound mockery of others, whereas humor has the opposite orientation - not to harm anyone, not to spoil mood, but on the contrary, to make life easier by the amusing or the sneering.

Therefore, to humor, the attribute of which is involuntary laughter or, at least, a smile, can be attributed only the various types of jokes, sneers, gags, puns and witticisms that cause mood increases, that is, amusing or sneering. They can be determined as comic, but not resentment or schadenfreude, which is characteristic for vulgar jokes, mockery, sketches and similar opuses that play on the base feelings of the audience, stupefying it even more. These areal jokes or schadenfreude are nothing but a concentration of absurdities and stupidity, addressed to the egocentrism of human consciousness, ignoring the altruism of its self-consciousness.

It can be seen from the considered that under the recognized term "humor" utterances both causing laughter and not leading to it are combined. Moreover, even utterances of a sinister nature, for example, the so-called black humor, can cause laughter.

Therefore, the failure of this definition of the funny situations, which in places turn out to be not funny at all, is clear.

This fact presupposes the separation from the ridiculous generally, the amusing or sneering, which can be designated as comical, causing not malicious, but good-natured laughter.

In the comical, the balance between pointed originality, depth and simplicity is quite naturally observed.

Perhaps I managed to keep this balance in some passages below.


It is amusing

If you suddenly lose your temper, it becomes not so lonely.

To accurately penetrate the future, you need to cling to the window and look into the distance until it appears.

How to gain dignity?

To hand out the existing property, and then only dignity remains.

When does it make sense to shoot yourself in the heart?

First you need to make sure that the heart is yet present, and then make sure that the pistol is not yet present.

What to do, if my husband s already standing across the throat?

Leave him to be eaten by other women so that they choke too.

How to find the excellent wife?

Wives meet only pretty, but not always and not for long.

Who is the best person to live with?

With a parrot - he also knows how to talk.

How to find freedom?

Try to get out of a prison regularly for good behavior in it.

Drunkenness is the surest means of ensuring a subjectively fearless existence in a hostile surrounding.

Interesting what was when there were no parents? So far, one thing is clear: in those wonderful times it was impossible to become an orphan.

Become husbands, if there is no strength as want under a skirt.

Why do they like to write appeals and vilified expressions on fences?

Because everyone is curious to look behind the fences, but they only have enough time to look at the fences.

Blondes are so loved by us because they resemble a haystack, which is always a pleasure to lie on.

How to live on the truth?

No! But you can settle down nearby.

All masochists are respected by people for their self-critical attitude towards themselves.

What to do if your own personality is split?

To establish a sequence of personalities and strictly follow it.

Impotents are best able not to be distracted by trifles.

For what reasons does a person lose teeth?

In different ways, but the main thing is that he does not find them.

What should a wife do if her husband is a fool?

To be glad that there is only one fool in the family.

If you put your palm on your bald head, you will confidently loop your thoughts on feelings.

It is sneering

Where can I have a cheap and high-quality rest?

In bed with someone else's wife.

How to make sure not to worry unnecessarily?

It is necessary to cast a glance into the distance and not in a hurry to return it.

How the ocean differs from the sea?

There is more space in the ocean to drown.

How useful or harmful is physical exercise?

If you do not do them, it is harmful, and if you do, it is useless - you will still die, but with the consciousness of the duty done.

How much and what should I drink?

It's better to drink anyway what, but in moderation, and to pour out the rest on passers-by with so that they get it too.

Can we talk about lunar life?

Of course, you can, once sleepwalkers roam at night.

Is there life on Mars too?

It was, but sailed due to cataclysms to Earth. So, we're actually former Martians.

How is salary different from income?

Income comes by itself, but you have to go running for a salary.

Will the world become better?

The world may and become, and we will lie down.

How far can swim in the sea?

Until they get caught.

Is it possible to stop drinking and smoking at once?

Of course, you can, having drunk away all money at once.

How do eggs differ from caviar?

There is a lot of caviar, and there are only two eggs.

How not to give to a miss?

It will not work, since Miss or Mister will always be found.

When is time more valuable than money?

At the approach of diarrhea and when the end comes.

For what do you have to chase in life?

For everything at once, because chasing one, you can miss the other.

Will funeral processions be back on the streets, as it used to be?

It is unlikely so how for the dead man will be restless in traffic jams.

Will the time come when there will be no beggars and hungry left on Earth?

It will come when the last beggar dies of hunger.

To create the conditions anyway for what, we would be better off not doing at all anything.

Is it possible not to be born into the world?

You can't! But you can degenerate.