Embracing Joy: The Transformative Power of Laughter

"and Dante's home The Divine Comedy made me the most famous and influential poem in Western history he has to navigate his way through all the pain and the horrors of hell and then through the process of purgatory and then finally he comes to this celestial sphere and he hears a sound unlike any other sound he has ever heard before what do you think that sound might be what do you think you might hear if you were to approach to heaven in the presence of God and the angels and the Saints and what Dante writes is the sound that he heard was the sound of the universe laughing" [00:00:53]

"and I am today at the beach because it's a place where I go to experience the life today I want you to do one thing that is really fun just for the sake of the joy of it today laugh I'm doing this and when I'm done here I'm gonna go surfing now this gift of play of teasing of Joy brings a lot of benefits I remember reading years ago about an experiment folks were given a candle and a box of matches and they were told they had to create a freestanding light" [00:01:58]

"and the solution to this was you would light the little candle let some of the wax drop off and attach it to the match box which then you would use the wax to stick it to the wall and a little more wax on top of it you put the candle on it here's what was interesting a group of the subjects before being given that problem watch really really funny videos and then another half of the subjects before being given that task watch the news which was not funny" [00:02:29]

"and there was a hugely higher percentage of folks who had left who had experienced joy ahead of time that were able to be creative that were to solve the problem and a much smaller percentage of people who were able to solve that problem if they were not relaxed if they were not joyful uh in almost every regard when we experience joy and Delight we enter into deeper relationships with other people we love to be around people who bring joy to us" [00:03:00]

"your blood pressure goes down your heart rate slows and here's in particular what I want you to remember today it is God who invented laughter God wants you to experience Joy Proverbs I think it's chapter 17 verse 22 says a cheerful heart is good medicine I've read this last year a remarkable book in the name of the Rose by Umberto Echo and there is a uh debate that is woven like a thread through the book" [00:03:28]

"between um William of Baskerville who's kind of the hero it's among other things it's a detective story there's murders in the Abbey it's a discussion of medieval theology uh and he's the hero and then Jorge of Burgos is a old very severe Monk and their debate is did Christ last and Jorge says no he didn't because he believes that laughter demeans the character of God that we need to be serious and severe" [00:04:04]

"um that laughter would cause people to uh not be serious enough about the problem of sin and William Abacus says no uh when Jorge says the Bible never says that Christ laughed William says but it never says that he did not laugh so we are free to bring our imagination to this and often throughout the history of the church uh people have misunderstood God and missed out on the Deep sense of Celebration and joy the joy of the Lord is our strength that is in scripture" [00:04:33]

"and Jesus said I've taught you these things that my joy might be in you and your joy might be complete in fact the sound of laughter in a baby is one of the most medicinal things I know and I cannot get enough of it you're going to hear some right now there is a video of a little baby who is cracking up at the sound of ripping paper so take a look right now" [00:05:46]