The Antibody Network ·The Clearing
Course VIII · Divine Humor 5 lessons · About a week, one sitting per day.

The Laugh

Five teachings on the laugh from the height that sees the whole of it, and why it is the last thing, not the least.

A word before we begin

Every tradition on the Map that goes far enough ends up laughing, and the laugh is not a relief from the seriousness of the rest. It is the seriousness, completed. The Buddha’s half-smile. Shiva’s raised hand in the middle of the world’s destruction. A Galilean teacher giving instructions no one could follow and, apparently, knowing it. A French novelist in an occupied country insisting we imagine the damned man happy. And Ram Dass, one last time, with his guru’s giggle.

This is the last course of the Clearing, and the shortest to explain. The previous seven were about the ground, the self, the veil, the practice, the subtraction, the glimpse, and the turn. This one is about what the face does when all of that has been seen at once. Read these five as reports of that expression. If you find yourself smiling at any point, you are not doing it wrong.

  1. VIII.1
    Do not be afraid
    The destroyer of worlds dances with one hand raised, palm out, in reassurance.
    The Dance of Shiva · Nataraja iconography; Alan Watts, The Two Hands of God (1963)
  2. VIII.2
    Ye are gods
    Accused of making himself God, Jesus answers with a psalm that widens the claim to everyone.
    A Son of God — The Added Article · Gospel of John 10:30–34; Psalm 82:6
  3. VIII.3
    The impossible instruction
    Read as rules, the Sermon on the Mount cannot be kept. Read as a koan, it was never meant to be.
    The Commandments as Koan · Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 5–7; Romans 7:7
  4. VIII.4
    Imagine him happy
    Camus leaves the damned man at the foot of the mountain and insists we imagine him smiling.
    The Myth of Sisyphus · Albert Camus, The Myth of Sisyphus (1942)
  5. VIII.5
    The cosmic giggle
    Ram Dass names the laugh at the top of the ladder, and it is the Buddha’s smile with sound.
    The Cosmic Giggle · Ram Dass, “Seeing Humor in Our Predicament”
When you reach the end

If you have read all eight courses, you have read forty of the Map’s teachings and walked its shape once, theme by theme. The Clearing has done its work, which was to set the orientation. The rest of the site is built for what comes after.

The Map holds everything, cross-linked, for wandering. The Dispatches are the long readings, where one recognition is followed from one tradition into another. The Signal reads albums, films and games as carriers of the same recognitions. The Body Politic asks what the traditions noticed about civilizations, not just people. The Collections gather teachings around a single question; there is one for when someone has died. And Today puts one teaching in front of you each morning, if a morning is all you have. Go wherever is still warm.