Can you imagine living in a world of seriousness? Some don’t have to imagine. A humourless society is rigid and narrow-minded, entrenched in rigid ideology, cruelty, and tunnel vision. Humour embraces humanity; it obliges us to be forgiving, open-minded and encourages empathy.
In my opinion, humour is the only correct response to the absurdity of life. In society, we too often meet subjects of adversity like addiction and mental health issues with the seriousness and severity we believe they deserve. Being alive is stress-inducing, “Why are we here?” and “Who am I?” These are questions we never get the answers too, and this creates existential tension, from which we are so often trying to seek relief. Laughter is one of the best solutions.
Hilarapy (formerly Addictive Comedy) exists to provide a voice from the shadows using comedy as a tool, not just to flee the darkness but to wrestle with and make sense of it. Looking for humour in the absurdity of life, in the human struggle, is profoundly more constructive and positive than somberly trying to navigate this terrain. It’s much easier to move through the dark times with humour. We see we are no longer alone. People laugh because it’s a shared experience, and the laughter is gratitude and joy expressed.
You cannot deal with the most serious things in the world unless you also understand the most amusing. – Sir Winston Churchill
When you make someone else laugh, you’re not just being funny. It’s not a trivial thing; you are inducers of hope, embracers of strangers, eradicators of hopelessness. You are physicians and peacemakers.
You do have power.
Love,
Lizzie xxx
