Chopra - Why is God laughing? : the path to joy and spiritual optimism

CONTENTS

To Mike Myers,
who showed me that true spirituality means
not taking ourselves too seriously, and to lovers of
laughter and wisdom everywhere

Photo by Mark Seliger

FOREWORD

IVE HAD MANY HEROES IN MY LIFE. MY FATHER WAS the first; Deepak Chopra the most recent. There was one hero in between who taught me about laughter. His name was Del Close.

Del Close was one of the founders of the Second City Theatre in Chicago in 1959. He is the father of modern improvised comedy as we know it, a leader of the American satire boom, the inventor of the happening, a philosopher, a theorist, a great teacher, and most important he was funnyand he knew funny. Bill Murray, John Belushi, Chris Farley, Stephen Colbert, Amy Poehler, myself, and many others have all benefited from his teaching and his philosophy that comedy equals truth and truth equals spiritual growth. Plainly put, ha-ha is related to ah-ha, the sound one makes upon the realization of truth.

They say that the truth may set you free, but I find that the truth can be very painful at first. As Lenny Bruce once said, the equation for comedy is laughter = pain + time. Del would call the plus time distance Deepak would call it detachment. Both would agree that to be enlightened you must travel lightly.

Laughing feels good. In a fast-paced and entertaining form, Why Is God Laughing? lays out the spiritual/healthful nature of laughter as well as the mindset of detachment, gratitude, and brave truth-seeking that fosters such laughter and the inner peace that results.

My first hero, my father, used to say, Nothings so bad that it cant be laughed at. An intense man, he still found humor in the darkest moments. My father lived through the Depression, the Phony War in 1939, World War II, the Cold War, and ultimately his own war with Alzheimers. But even in his dementia he could find humor in his own condition: so strong and innately human is the need to laugh.

Henri Bergson, in his essay Laughter, said that laughter is an autonomic response from deep in the reptilian part of our brain, and that it is triggered by the realization of our own mortality. In these pages Deepak has managed to dramatize this brilliantly in the form of Mickey Fellows, a comedian forced to face his darkest fears. Deepak shows us that there is darkness in the world and that comedy is a candle; he encourages us to meditate on the candle and not the darkness.

Why is God laughing? He gets the joke.

MIKE MYERS

G RACE SHINES LIKE A SLIVER OF LIGHT. IT PENEtrates the universe, undeterred by distance or darkness. You wont see it, but it knows where it is going. At any moment someone may be touched by its mysterious power.

Even Mickey Fellows.

On this particular day Mickey was speeding through the Valley in his black Cadillac Escalade, keeping half an eye out for police. The L.A. sun glared off the freeway, but for Mickey, sitting behind his tinted windows and wraparound shades, it could have been twilight.

Say that again, he muttered into his cell phone.

The club owners arent happy. They say the new material isnt funny. They want the old Mickey back. It was Alicia, his agent.

Screw em. They should kiss my derriere that I even bother to show up.

Mickey Fellows had movie offers from two studios. His last divorce had made the cover of People magazine. The only reason he worked the comedy clubs at all was to keep his feel for the audience.

Alicia didnt back down. You dont want to play it that way. You may need those clubs some day.

God forbid. Mickey lit up another menthol Merit.

God has the advantage of witnessing every lifetime at once, erasing all differences. If you could look down on the human race from an infinite distance, youd see Everyman was on the freeway that day. Like the rest of us, Mickey gave little thought to his soul. He didnt want to face painful truths, so he managed to distract himself almost every waking hour.

At this moment, Mickey figured it was time for a laugh. Ive got a good one for you, he told his agent. My grandfathers eighty years old, and he still has sex almost every day. He almost had it on Monday, he almost had it on Tuesday, he almost had it on Wednesday.

Alicia was silent.

I think I have another call coming in, said Mickey.

No, you dont.

Im not kidding this time, Mickey said. Hold on. He pushed a button. Hello?

Is this Michael Fellows?

Who wants to know? Strangers were always getting his number.

Im calling from Cedars-Sinai Hospital.

Mickey felt a bead of sweat roll down his neck. He gripped the wheel tighter. Yes?

In the few seconds between an impending disaster and its crash to earth, an amazing number of thoughts can race through your mind. Mickey saw himself at his annual physical the week before. His wifes face flashed before him, as clearly as if they hadnt been divorced for five years. Cancer, AIDS, car accident. Fates wheel was spinning, and the arrow was about to stop.

Im sorry, Mr. Fellows. Its your father.

Did he fall? Someones supposed to be watching him, Mickey said. He had hired a full-time housekeeper for his father, a placid Guatemalan lady who knew little English.

Your father got the best care in the ER. Everything possible was done to revive him, but he couldnt be saved.

Mickey didnt hear those last words. As soon as the voice said everything possible was done, a roar in Mickeys ears drowned out everything else.

When did he die?

The voice on the phone, a womans and probably a nurse, started to explain, but the roar kept blocking it out.

Wait a second, said Mickey, pulling off onto the shoulder of the road. He breathed deeply, and shook his head, like a swimmer knocking water out of his ears. Could you repeat that?

He was brought in unconscious by EMS. It was a massive coronary. Your name was in his wallet as next of kin.

Mickey felt faintly nauseous. Did he suffer?

The voice tried to sound reassuring. If its any comfort, this kind of heart attack is usually quick, less than a minute.

A minute that felt like hours, Mickey thought. All right, Ill be right there. Will I find him in the ER?

The womans voice said yes, and Mickey hung up. He pulled back out into traffic and raced to the next exit. The news had come as a shock, but he didnt cry. He didnt know how to feel, really. Larry. The old man. Mickeys mother had died young, of breast cancer. Her side of the family was prone to it. His father on the other hand was tough as nails. A joke popped uninvited into Mickeys head.

A middle-aged woman drops dead of a heart attack. When she gets to Heaven, God says, Theres been a terrible mistake. Youre not due to die for another forty years.

The woman wakes up and goes home. She figures shes got such a long life ahead of her, she might as well look good. So she goes in for plastic surgeryface-lift, boob job, tummy tuck, the works. Two months later shes crossing the street and a bus hits her.