Death by a Thousand Papercuts, II

The larger point, of course, about “death by a thousand papercuts” is the same one raised in the old comic series, “Laughter Is the Best Medicine.”  If you can manage to laugh at a thing, it doesn’t seem nearly so overwhelming.

The key words there are “if you can manage.”  Laughter is all about perspective—about the ability to recognize a disproportion—hence Aristotle’s claim that the ridiculous mistakes in comedic drama are a species of “the ugly,” ugliness being a kind of disproportion (e.g., having a nose that is too big or small for one’s face).

But having perspective means standing in some sort of position.  You don’t have a perspective without some sort of principles—ideally, the sort of principles that give you the broadest possible perspective, that allow you to see as much of reality as is humanly possible.

So it happens that, for all that there is a tradition of lampooning “sour saints,” I think that the ability to laugh at life’s mishaps is probably greater among people who have a healthy religious mindset than amongst those who lack it.  I say “healthy” because, of course, the dwarfing of everything else by the specter of eternal life can produce melancholia and irritability and disregard for one’s neighbors.  But at its best, a believe in eternity, rightly understood, is what makes it possible to laugh at the thousandeth papercut of the day.

Because after all, even if that final papercut were the end of the world, what’s the world?

It’s not so much that laughter is the best medicine, as that it’s more pleasant to die laughing.  Which is why I’ll never agree with the philosophy of this movie …

… as much as the philosophy of this movie …