One way a spontaneous and genuine laugh occurs when an absurd idea meets an element of truth. The dramatic, quick, and subtle shift from an absurdity to a spice of truth peels open the mind, arouses the senses and generates a release in the form of laughter. The absurd idea takes our mind somewhere high up in space then some truth of it slams it back down. That impact is felt within us and we laugh. Now if the joke cannot relate or capture your imagination, which exists within an element of space where only creativity is possible, then the joke teller will not be able to bring your mind up and away so therefore bringing it back down has no impact. So this could be the joke teller’s inability to lift you up. This could also be the receivers inability to lighten up. What I am interested in, is the mind’s ability to lighten up, so that it can direct its light into the dark, the unknown. If your mind is scared of the dark, it cannot use its own light therefore it will not adventure into unknown spaces. Your mind will lack the brilliance it was designed for. The mind will stay down where it feels safe and therefore never allow space for the joke teller to lead you into what you think is danger, but might actually be gold. You remain down and close to the ground. Psychologically your ground of being exists within your knowledge. So all that you know or can control, so you stay close to the controllable. Knowledge is a form of matter. Space is a form of nothing. Think of the earth and the planets. We can study the planet’s material and make sense of it. It is something. Space is nothing. We only know space because of the matter that exists within, including ourselves. Now let’s zoom in to how matter and space cooperate. Any object that is concentrated with matter, cannot absorb. Think of a brick’s ability to absorb water vs a sponge. The sponge has space, holes, it’s porous, it has openings so it can absorb liquid, while also taking on the same shape as a brick. The brick is hard and there are no openings or space so nothing can get in. So if your mind is filled with knowledge, your brain may become hard and closed. No new sources can penetrate your mind. Its filled with knowledge. Essentially this makes it impossible to learn. You’ve created a barrier around your mind through your thinking which is part of your knowledge. A layer of protections. It’s like having a security guard and that guard keeps you secure. Never leaving your house also keeps you secure from assholes and thieves. But adventure only exists outside your house, or to say outside of what you know. That is the definition of adventure, to move into unknown territory. So to adventure is to move into the unknown. Most people think of this in terms of external factors, such as moving into a new job, a new relationship, a first date and of course this is not wrong. But I want to get into something closer, more intimate, more accessible and transmutable. Within one’s mind and body. Within one’s mind exists what? Your thoughts or what you routinely think about. That has become a form of home to you. It is so familiar. Have you ever left it? Perhaps blindly or without knowing. Of course you have. Some people much more than others. Some only know their home. I don’t become rich by staying home. In fact I become poor. I only survive on what I have, and this obsession with my existing possessions becomes a form of comfort to me, which eventually makes me poor. I’ve stayed close to what I know. To be rich and diverse in thought, requires the humility to be poor in thought. So to leave my possession behind gives me space to discover. What I discover is what makes me rich. If I am not following the joke teller, because I stayed in the comfort of my home, then I miss the ride up and down. It’s through that process of high and low, rich and poor, that a connection or discovery is realized. The humility to allow change of mind also allows for change of emotions. And that quick stretch from one end to the other end is what makes a person internally diverse. You increase your range, by going beyond your current range. If I only stay within the range of my thinking, how can I ever go beyond my thinking? Your brain will become poor, if you cannot give up your possessions. You will not experience the diversity of your magnificent and unusual mind.
