I remember a day in LA a couple of decades ago, walking through a parking lot in the urban jungle, when something struck me so funny about what I had just witnessed that I looked up into the vast sky and had a spontaneous, hilarious, magnificent, unforgettable spiritual experience. The whole sky was undulating with powerful waves of laughter; I could see it, wish I could draw it, never will forget it. The reality of it crashed in on me like a tsunami. Everything is a joke! The joke is on us. The universe is made of laughter. Nothing we take seriously is truly serious. There is a realm we all share in which everything that weighs us down has no weight at all, in fact is bouyantly funny.

I have been taking a lot of things seriously lately. Many things. Serious, serious, serious. If I told you about them you might believe me that they are serious too. In the midst of it all tonight I decided to slow down and find something to watch on TV, anything, while I took a rest. On a movie channel that they gave me for free recently I happened to tune in to The Men Who Stare at Goats. I do not know if it was the mood I was in, or the fact that I know the movie histories of the main characters – Ewan McGregor, Jeff Bridges, George Clooney and Kevin Spacey – but watching this story unfold unleashed so much laughter in me I could barely stand to look at any of their faces while they performed it. I felt like I was tripping, it was just too silly. The humor got into me, bored in underneath the worries and sorrows exploding all of that energy.

I felt, and feel, instantly healed of great weight. There is no underestimating the power of laughter to relieve absolutely every kind of burden. I have heard stories of cancer being healed by laughter. This is a great reminder. Whatever the burden – find a way to laugh. The sky is laughing anyway, we might as well join in. I am very relieved, and grateful.