Laughter in Brain, Body, and Community
Laughter is a funny thing. Consider: it is a reflex. Just as an eye’s iris will contract when exposed to a bright light or a baby’s face will turn towards a brush against its cheek, a person exposed to certain stimuli will find their facial muscles involuntarily contracting, their breathing becoming labored, their voice producing a series of noises, and their eyes watering. Stranger still, humans enjoy these odd little spasms: we punctuate our speech with them; we are attracted to mates who provoke them; we seek them out in our free time. But irises contract to protect their retinas; babies turn in order find their mother’s breast; what is laughter? Why does it exist? Laughter feels good, but is it always good? And how does humor – the art of fashioning entertainment from incongruities – relate to religion – the art of discovering truth from incongruities?
Timbits 