A Sense of Humour on the Path

We do need a sense of humour on the path of awakening; a path that is also known as the thorny path of return because of the hardships and personal suffering that must be lived through. The ability to laugh at one's self is a liberating energy and innocent laughter is a selfless joy that can dissipate the ridged energy of seriousness.

Although everyone undergoes hardship and suffering during their life, those on the path have this process accelerated because they are actively pursuing a higher state of consciousness. This means that the obstacles, blocks and barriers to this higher state will surface and have to be removed or transcended. However, they only surface when we can handle and transcend them. No one is given more than they can take, but it is still a challenge to deal with these, personal and/or physical, issues.

Remember, no one said that the path is easy but it is the only way.

For some reason there is a hardcore, no nonsense, seriousness when it comes to living the spiritual path. This can involve strict dogmas, prejudices, narrow-mindedness and even rivalry between the various belief-systems, whether old or new. Anyone who really understands the nature of the spiritual path knows that the path is an empty road, and that all the religions and belief-systems are simply interpretations of how we should walk that empty road.

What do you need and what is it like to walk an empty road? If you have no attachments to the world you must leave behind and no strong beliefs to hold you back then it is just a matter of walking. So you walk and after a while the cities and buildings of the world are soon forgotten. Then, on the road, you find groups of people standing still. Some are chanting, some are praying and some are standing on their heads. Most of them are talking about the road ahead and what is waiting at the end of the road, but no one is going there to find out the truth.

'What are you waiting for' you ask them.
'We are waiting for our Lord and Master to show us the way' one group said and sneered at the other groups.
'We are waiting for the angels to come and lead us by the hand into the glory beyond' another group proclaimed.
'We are already saved, we do not need to travel the road' yet another group said in contempt at all the others.
As you turn to leave them and follow the road, one of the leaders cries out, 'Where are you going? Without our beliefs you will never find the end of the road.' Then they start to argue amongst themselves about which group has the true belief.

Onward you go and soon you are alone on the empty road. As the going gets tough you cast off whatever beliefs you have and just concentrate on moving one step at a time. Even that is not enough and you cast away your fears and expectations. Finally the effort is just too much even to think. Onward you go...

Suddenly, there is no road - there never was a road. It is not that you have found the truth but you have discovered that you are the living truth. What is there left to do but to laugh at your own stupidity. Then you remember the groups of seekers stranded on the imaginary road and decide to return and tell them the truth.

When you find them and reveal the truth they do not believe you. They argued with you and even threatened to kill you just in case you tell the people in the world and they would then loss their authority and revenue.

'Why don't you follow the road and see for yourselves' you say to them, but they would not move for all the reasons they had mentioned before. So in exasperation you tell them a joke and their arguing ceases. You tell them another joke and they laugh and start to forget their beliefs. More jokes follow and in their merriment they begin to move along the road with ease.

'Look, when you were laughing you forgot yourselves and you have moved along the road. Why not continue on the road in selfless merriment and find the truth?'

Realising what had happened the groups rushed back to where they were before. Now they hate and fear you even more. Leaving them you return to the world, perhaps ordinary people will listen and understand, and if you can make them laugh then, at least, for a while they can forget themselves. Moreover, if the jokes contain a teaching that cuts through beliefs then a deeper purpose is served.

Maybe this little story is like that of Mullah Nasruddin, who was a Persian Sufi teacher and used humourous stories to convey his teaching. This is one of them:

A friend of Mullah was passing one night when he saw Mullah searching for something outside his house in the moonlight.
'What have you lost, Mullah?' he asked.
'The key to my front door' Mullah replied.
After a few minutes of searching, Mullah's friend asked, 'Where did you drop the key?'
'Over there in the dark' Mullah replied.
'Then why the hell are you looking for it here?'
'There is more light here.'

This may not be a good joke but it has an important message. Many people are searching for the truth in the light of knowledge and outside of themselves, while the truth can only be found within the silence of your own being.

Another example:
A neighbour went to Nasruddin and asked to borrow his donkey.
'It's out on loan' said the Mullah.
At that moment the donkey was heard to bray somewhere inside the stable.
'But I can hear it bray over there.'
'Who do you believe' said Mullah 'me or the donkey?'

Who do you believe?

Knowledge is needed in the beginning then each individual must follow the path within. Of cause, we can inspire each other and share our discoveries and experiences, but everyone must follow the path in their own way. The teaching that frees reveals the truth without burdening or enslaving people to a fixed belief-system. Also, it can enhance existing belief-systems to become less ridged and more flexible. There is no need to give up your religion or belief-system because the Art of Questing Life is just a way of living in the immediacy of being, and it costs nothing. dbm.

 Copyright © dbm (David Barrett-Murrer) 2010. All rights reserved.