Humor is a reflection of the absurdity of life, it’s an expression of it. Primates laugh, too. It is a relief. When something appears dangerous, and then seen to be not, it’s funny, the situation becomes absurd. Humor fundamentally is a temporary relief from absurdity.

Life is absurd. It’s absurd to pretend to be persons in society when we all know on some level we’re just animals. So all this awkwardness, insecurity, overconfidence, career troubles, romantic relationships are an endless source of humor. For a few seconds, the charade is seen through and we laugh in relief. All of this pretense is seen not to be real, not for long, but it’s seen. So humor is cathartic. Which is why the most physiological things, the most primal things, such as sex, death, excrement have the most power in making us laugh. And it’s also why these topics are taboo in society. That’s not a coincidence.

The lowest form of humor is when you laugh at somebody. It’s not actually humor. It’s like an animal growl - not a relief, but a signal of attack, a psychological attack. It’s distasteful, callous. Behind such humor is a sense of superiority and enjoyment of someone’s misfortune. Trolling, sarcasm is an example of such humor. A lot of people use this humor, and it’s not an expression of absurdity, but their own callousness. It’s a humor coming from deep insecurity. Don’t use that humor, it’s not good for your personal growth.

Then comes humor when you laugh with somebody at the absurdity of the situation. It’s cheerful, wonderful, and both of you for a moment see how foolish it all is. It’s great.

The highest form of humor for a person is to laugh at himself. To acknowledge one’s own absurdity, one’s own foolishness. Unfortunately, most people who think they can laugh at themselves, actually cannot. They can only do it when they feel safe, when they know others will enjoy it and kindly laugh with them. So, in any sort of conflict they quickly lose this ability and direct their humor exclusively at another person. A person who can truly laugh at himself can laugh at himself in any situation. Such a person can laugh at others kindly, before that it’s better not to do it and laugh at yourself and with others, but not at others.

Finally, there’s cosmic humor, the humor that comes from appreciating the absurdity of life as a whole, not on the level of society, but even on the level of biology. Life is supremely absurd. You are born, live, eat, poop, have sex, dance, and then you die. And whatever you have achieved, whatever you have done, everything that ever happened didn’t matter. You will never see it again. It will all be gone, forever. A person who realized cosmic consciousness is the person who realized the ultimate absurdity of life. Such a person doesn’t laugh at anybody, with anybody, or at himself, he laughs at life itself, he laughs at his own existence. When he laughs at someone, he laughs at himself. When he laughs at himself, he laughs at everyone else. There is no difference, because he doesn’t see a difference between himself and other people. We all die. Such a person can laugh facing his own imminent death. He is absolutely relieved, so when the time finally comes, he is ready.

It’s all just one big joke, one big cosmic joke. Enjoy it! Laugh!