Is there a difference between laughter and humor?

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Robert_Sock said:
If you’re under monastic rule, it is indeed sin.
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From the web site for the Monastery of the Ascension (emphasis mine).
  1. Benedict’s strictures on laughing are also puzzling. He does not say one should not smile or laugh, but he says one should not indulge in “prolonged or explosive” laughter.
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Regardless of whether laughing is a sin or not, I’m still waiting for support for your contention that laughter is psychotic.
 
seagal said:
Regardless of whether laughing is a sin or not, I’m still waiting for support for your contention that laughter is psychotic.
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Don’t hold your breath. He never provides any kind of evidence or backup for any of the bizarre claims.
 
seagal said:
From the web site for the Monastery of the Ascension (emphasis mine).
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Humor can result in smiles or light laughter.
seagal said:
Regardless of whether laughing is a sin or not, I’m still waiting for support for your contention that laughter is psychotic.
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Inappropriate laughter has been cited as a symptom of psychosis (do a Google search using the keywords ‘laughter’ and ‘psychotic’). I take this a step further and contend that heavy laughter (excluding smiles and light laughter) is psychotic based on my professional training as a psychologist.
 
Robert_Sock said:
Humor can result in smiles or light laughter.

Inappropriate laughter has been cited as a symptom of psychosis (do a Google search using the keywords ‘laughter’ and ‘psychotic’). I take this a step further and contend that heavy laughter (excluding smiles and light laughter) is psychotic based on my professional training as a psychologist.
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That’s nuts. Some things are really, really funny.

Heavy laughing when nothing’s funny might very well be a sign of psychosis. But not all heavy laughter is inappropriate.

Your conclusion is like saying that since talking to one’s self can be a sign of psychosis, everyone who ever talks to himself is psychotic.

God Bless
 
I can recall many times when I laughed so much, tears fell from my eyes. It actually felt cathartic, and healing. I hope it was not psychotic!

The Rule of St. Benedict also recommends living in community. The solitary life is not for everyone, and probably dangerous for many (remember Genesis: “It is not good for man to be alone”). One reason, of many, is that left alone with only our own thoughts, we can easily become deluded (as a trained psychologist, you know this). We need other people to interact with and to test our ideas. Someone who will say, “Laughter is not psychotic, it is a healthy and natural part of how God made us.”
 
Robert_Sock said:
Humor can result in smiles or light laughter.

Inappropriate laughter has been cited as a symptom of psychosis (do a Google search using the keywords ‘laughter’ and ‘psychotic’). I take this a step further and contend that heavy laughter (excluding smiles and light laughter) is psychotic based on my professional training as a psychologist.
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Wait, are you really a psychologist? I genuinely did not know that! That’s very interesting.
 
Robert_Sock said:
Humor can result in smiles or light laughter.

Inappropriate laughter has been cited as a symptom of psychosis (do a Google search using the keywords ‘laughter’ and ‘psychotic’). I take this a step further and contend that heavy laughter (excluding smiles and light laughter) is psychotic based on my professional training as a psychologist.
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If you are a psychologist then you know about PBA. Not all inappropriate displays of emotion are psychotic. Why didn’t you acknowledge that?
 
I don’t mean this to be rude at all, but this post keeps making me laugh to myself (seriously, no pun intended.) I’m thinking about anything more than “light” laughter being psychotic, and it reminds me of my mom…she has this point in laughter where it has exceeded the norm and she reaches the level that we lovingly call “squeaking”. As in, “Oops! Mom’s squeaking again! She’s gone too far!!” Her laugh gets to a point where it is absolutely silent save for the occasional squeak as she gasps for air. This generally also includes being quite red in the face and having tears in her eyes from laughing so hard. I LOVE it when this happens. All of us siblings do our best to bring it out of her every time we’re together. 😃

I am genuinely, 100% certain that we are not leading her into sin by bringing about this response from her.
 
Ophelia23 said:
I don’t mean this to be rude at all, but this post keeps making me laugh to myself (seriously, no pun intended.) I’m thinking about anything more than “light” laughter being psychotic, and it reminds me of my mom…she has this point in laughter where it has exceeded the norm and she reaches the level that we lovingly call “squeaking”. As in, “Oops! Mom’s squeaking again! She’s gone too far!!” Her laugh gets to a point where it is absolutely silent save for the occasional squeak as she gasps for air. This generally also includes being quite red in the face and having tears in her eyes from laughing so hard. I LOVE it when this happens. All of us siblings do our best to bring it out of her every time we’re together. 😃

I am genuinely, 100% certain that we are not leading her into sin by bringing about this response from her.
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I love when I laugh so hard I can hardly breathe. Sometimes I try to read what’s funny to someone and can’t make because I’m laughing too hard. Can you all read all the way through this and not laugh until you cry? The Horror of Blimps

EDIT: Robert Sock, you should not follow the link. It might induce more than a titter.

EDIT: Oh, dear. The first comment on the thread in the link appears to give some credence to the idea that laughter is psychotic.
 
Bruised_Reed said:
I love when I laugh so hard I can hardly breathe. Sometimes I try to read what’s funny to someone and can’t make because I’m laughing too hard. Can you all read all the way through this and not laugh until you cry? The Horror of Blimps

EDIT: Robert Sock, you should not follow the link. It might induce more than a titter.
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poease excuse any typoos. I am still laughing hysterically with tears runnung down my face.

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:
 
Bruised_Reed said:
I love when I laugh so hard I can hardly breathe. Sometimes I try to read what’s funny to someone and can’t make because I’m laughing too hard. Can you all read all the way through this and not laugh until you cry? The Horror of Blimps

EDIT: Robert Sock, you should not follow the link. It might induce more than a titter.

EDIT: Oh, dear. The first comment on the thread in the link appears to give some credence to the idea that laughter is psychotic.
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Oh my goodness! That was hilarious!! I’ve always had a suspicion about blimps…
 
Robert_Sock said:
Humor can result in smiles or light laughter.

Inappropriate laughter has been cited as a symptom of psychosis (do a Google search using the keywords ‘laughter’ and ‘psychotic’). I take this a step further and contend that heavy laughter (excluding smiles and light laughter) is psychotic based on my professional training as a psychologist.
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But that is not what you started this post with, Robert.

May I remind you of your original FIRST post:
Laughter is sin that originates from within the darkness of the unconscious. Humor, on the other hand, is the good spirit that manifests itself from within the fruit of the soul. The truly spirited person laughs at nothing, but can find some kind of humor in almost everything he or she sees.
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Now you are waffling and ‘qualifying’.
 
Bruised_Reed said:
I love when I laugh so hard I can hardly breathe. Sometimes I try to read what’s funny to someone and can’t make because I’m laughing too hard. Can you all read all the way through this and not laugh until you cry? The Horror of Blimps

EDIT: Robert Sock, you should not follow the link. It might induce more than a titter.

EDIT: Oh, dear. The first comment on the thread in the link appears to give some credence to the idea that laughter is psychotic.
Click to expand...
:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:

Just what I needed before I take my ‘psychotic’ self off to bed!!
 
Robert_Sock said:
Humor can result in smiles or light laughter.

Inappropriate laughter has been cited as a symptom of psychosis (do a Google search using the keywords ‘laughter’ and ‘psychotic’). I take this a step further and contend that heavy laughter (excluding smiles and light laughter) is psychotic based on my professional training as a psychologist.
Click to expand...
I don’t doubt that inappropriate laughter is a symptom of psychosis, but I seriously doubt the huge leap you took after that. I’m not a psychologist or anything remotely like one, but I believe that before you can state categorically that laughter is psychotic you would have to do a bunch of research to verify your hypothesis. Have you done this? Have you published any peer reviewed papers? Anything I’ve ever seen suggests that laughter is the appropriate response to something genuinely funny and therefore healthy.
 
Bruised_Reed said:
I love when I laugh so hard I can hardly breathe. Sometimes I try to read what’s funny to someone and can’t make because I’m laughing too hard. Can you all read all the way through this and not laugh until you cry? The Horror of Blimps

EDIT: Robert Sock, you should not follow the link. It might induce more than a titter.

EDIT: Oh, dear. The first comment on the thread in the link appears to give some credence to the idea that laughter is psychotic.
Click to expand...
:rotfl:

Hahahaha! That was hilarious. 😃
 
Robert_Sock said:
Laughter is sin that originates from within the darkness of the unconscious. Humor, on the other hand, is the good spirit that manifests itself from within the fruit of the soul. The truly spirited person laughs at nothing, but can find some kind of humor in almost everything he or she sees.
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In the monastic tradition, there is a tradition of laughter being condemned (e.g. in the Rule of Benedict, the Rule of the Master, etc.), but, on the other hand, there is also a tradition of valuing humor. Sometimes, however, it is not often not possible to make a sharp distinction between the two (e.g. a mild chuckle- is that reflecting the bad form, or the good form?).

It is said that half an hour’s coarse, unrestrained laughter can undo a lifetime of hard spiritual work.

I often suspect loud laughter is generally ‘fake’. Honestly, most jokes or anecdotes one hears are not that funny, and the ‘big laugh’ is, not only uncouth, but also a mere pose. Proof of that is that no one laugh loudly while alone- ergo, it is done for an ‘audience’.

The wise man neither raises his voice in sorrow or anger, nor in joy or mirth, but expresses himself (if at all) through the slightest expression, remaining perfectly composed at all times. The wise man will see the humorous side, even should the whole world be consumed in flames, yet will also see the tragedic side of even the most joyous occassion.

Well, there is a kind of humour/laughter which lowers the mind and the soul, and a kind which raises it. All humor reflects and expresses the absurdity of something- if humor can relect and express the absurdities of the world, this life, human vanity, etc., it is a good thing. It is especially good if we can laugh (I mean laugh silently) at our own absurdities and vanities.
 
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