Whenever I do a ‘humour’ post like my last one I worry for a moment about whether people will continue to take me seriously. Usually I overcome those reservations with the thought that anyone who would dismiss me for being funny (I mean, for trying to be funny) aren’t the people I’d appeal to anyways.
Niels Bohr said “there are some things so serious you have to laugh at them” (and you’d be hard-pressed to find someone who dealt with more serious issues than Niels Bohr).
I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve experienced an irreverent observation turning into a deep and useful insight. Humour takes the mask off. It lets us see things fresh — without as much bias and inhibition.
We approach every problem and opportunity with a lot of baggage that maybe isn’t so well suited to the present as it was to the past. That stuff ties us down. This is exactly what “pretense” and “pretentious” mean.
Genuine conversation is impossible without humour — or at least irony (it doesn’t exactly have to be slap-stick). Without the openness and flexibility provided by laughter, we’re either preaching to each other or making superficial small talk –nothing like a mutual transaction of ideas, or learning.
So I’m keeping the flow of jokes going even as I intend to turn “more professional.” I don’t know exactly where this will lead, but as long as it’s going somewhere I feel I’m doing my job.
