Letter XI

Human Laughter: Joy, Fun, the Joke Proper, and
Flippancy
key word: Joy

TheJokeProper(Sudden
perceptionofincongruity)
Flippancy(frivolous,
disrespectful,saucy,
impertinent)
“The trumpeters and singers joined in unison, as with one voice, to give praise and
thanks to the LORD. Accompanied by trumpets, cymbals and other instruments, they raised their voices in praise
to the LORD and sang: "He is good; his love endures forever." Then the temple of the LORD was filled with a
cloud”
2 Chronicles 5:13
“Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the
seat of mockers.” Psalm 1:1
“The lips of the righteous nourish many, but fools die for lack of judgment” Proverbs 10:21
“The settled happiness and security, which we all desire, God withholds from us by the very nature of the world:
but joy, pleasure and merriment He has scattered broadcast. We are never safe, but we have plenty of fun, and
some ecstasy. It is not hard to see why. The security we crave would teach us to rest our hearts in this world and
oppose an obstacle to our return to God: a few moments of happy love … have no such tendency. Our Father
refreshes us on the journey with some pleasant inns, but will not encourage us to mistake them for home.”
Weight of Glory CS Lewis
I
F “joy is the serious business of heaven” then ‘flippancy’ seems to be the serious business of hell from the
outlook of this letter. Lewis masterfully discusses one of the murkiest ways the devil uses to distract us from
our heavenward ‘joyful’ living. “A thousand blasphemous jokes do not help towards a man’s damnation so
much as his discovery that almost anything he wants to do can be done, not only without the disapproval but
with the admiration of his fellows.”
Questions for Discussion
1.
How is joy characterized among friends and lovers reunited on the eve of a holiday?
2.
How can we experience real Joy? Is the “Joy of the Lord” your strength? If not, what is
missing?
What is the real danger of Fun according to Screwtape?
Describe the type 1 (to whom no passion is as serious as lust and for whom an indecent
story ceases to produce lasciviousness as it becomes funny), and type 2 (to whom
laughter and lust are excited at the same moment and by the same things) as depicted by
Lewis. Try to compare what they would look in your own circle of friends. How can we
help ourselves not to become as one of these characters?
If “joy is the serious business of heaven, what is missing in my life and our church life so
we can more fully enjoy the God given joy? How can we develop joy in our lives? What is
God’s warning in (Because you did not serve the LORD your God joyfully and gladly in
the time of prosperity), Deuteronomy 28:46-48 and how do I compare it to Hebrews
10:34?
Does God have a sense of humor?
3.
4.
5.
6.
The Joy of the
LORD is Your
Strength
7.
8.
How can we avoid the temptation of flippancy? Is it really as dangerous as Lewis
mentions?
Can there be joy outside God’s will?
For Further Reading and Reflection
Recommended
Go through a reference Bible and look up the word “fool”, “mocker”, “Joy”, “praise” and discuss with a group of friends how to
avoid being a fool and how you can live joyfully your God given life.
Last thoughts: "Do not follow the crowd in doing wrong” Exodus 23:2
“Our mouths were filled with laughter, our tongues with songs of joy. Then it was said among the
nations, “The LORD has done great things for them." Psalm 126: 2
Area of Life
Devil’s Advice
God’s Way
Joy
Avoid Joy by all means:
“a meaningless acceleration in
the rhythm of celestial
experience”
“disgusting and direct insult to
the realism, dignity and
austerity of Hell”
Encourage jokes and witticisms
b. Good Music – Detestable
Rejoice Always
a. Rejoice in the Lord, always. I will
say it again: Rejoice …even when
suffering!
“Joy is the serious business of
heaven”
b. Good Music – A Glimpse of
Heaven
c. Praise brings liberty and victory
over evil
enjoyment
Very Little Use
Can be used to divert
It has wholly undesirable
tendencies
EnjoymentJoy Contentment
a. “Closely related to Joy – a sort of
emotional froth arising from the
play instinct”
“It promotes charity, courage
contentment and other virtues”
b. Godliness + contentment
c. Pleasure in evil conductfool
The Joke Proper
(Sudden
perception of
incongruity)
A promising field.
a. Use jokes and humor (British
dry sense of humor)
b. Humor is invaluable as a
means of destroying shame.
“If a man simply lets others pay
for him, he is “mean”; if he
boasts of it in a jocular manner,
he is comical”
c “Mere cowardice is shameful;
cowardice boasted of with
humorous exaggerations and
grotesque gestures can be
passed off as funny”
d. Cruelty is shameful – “unless
the cruel man can represent it
as a practical joke”
“A thousand blasphemous jokes
do not help towards a man’s
damnation so much as his
discovery that almost anything
he wants to do can be done, not
only without the disapproval
A dangerous field
a. Speak the truth
b. Shame is a Godly gift and leads
to seeking God’s forgiveness
- Be just/ do not joke about it
c. Fear the Lord, all else “Do not
fear!
d. Cruelty – practical joke (winks
his eyed)
Questions, Observations and
Strategies
a. Phillipians4:4 “Rejoice in the Lord
always”
1 Peter 1:8 “you believe in him and
are filled with an inexpressible and
glorious joy”
1 Peter 4:13 “rejoice…sufferings”
b. Nehemiah 8:10 “Our mouths were
filled with laughter, our tongues with
songs of joy”
Hebrews 10:34 “Joyfully…better
and lasting possessions”
c. 2 Chronicles 20:22 “As they
began to sing and praise, the LORD
set ambushes against …they were
defeated”
a. 1 Timothy 6:17 “Who richly
provides us … for our enjoyment”
Proverbs 17:22 “A cheerful heart is
good medicine, but a crushed spirit
dries up the bones.
Ecclesiastes 2:25 “Without Him,
who can eat or find enjoyment?”
b. 1 Timothy 6:6 “godliness with
contentment is great gain”
c. Proverbs 10:23 “A fool finds
pleasure in evil conduct, but a man of
understanding delights in wisdom”
Are we having fun yet?
a. Proverbs 16:13 “Kings take
pleasure in honest lips; they value a
man who speaks the truth”
Ephesians 6:14 (belt of truth)
b. Psalm 83:16 “Cover their faces
with shame so that men will seek
your name”
c. Isaiah 8:12;1 Peter 3:14 "do not
fear what they fear”
Isaiah 35:4 ‘say to those with
fearful hearts, "Be strong, do not
fear”
d. Proverbs 10:10 “winks maliciously
causes grief, and a chattering fool
comes to ruin”
Isaiah 57:4 “Whom are you
mocking? At whom do you sneer and
stick out your tongue? Are you not a
brood of rebels, the offspring of
liars?
Proverbs 11:17 “A kind man
benefits himself, but a cruel man
brings trouble on himself”
but with the admiration of his
fellows.”
Flippancy
(frivolous,
disrespectful,
saucy,
impertinent)
The best of all.
a. Builds up around a man the
finest armor plating against the
Enemy.
Deadly
a. best armor “think others better
than self”, ‘respect?
b. the foolishness of the world
- crackling torn under pot
b. The opposite of Joy.
“It deadens, instead of
sharpening the intellect; and it
excites no affection between
those who practice it.”
- cursed
“Only a clever human can make
a real Joke about virtue”
- hate knowledge
“Among flippant people the
Joke is always assumed to have
been made”
“every subject is discussed in a
manner which implies that they
have already found a ridiculous
side of it”
- ruins a man
c. God foolishness is wiser than
man’s wisdom
-to shame the wise
“But our merriment must be of
another kind (and it is, in fact the
merriest kind) which exists between
people who have, from the outset,
taken each other seriously – no
flippancy, no superiority, no
presumption” (Weight of Glory)
a. Philippians 2:3 “in humility
consider others better than
yourselves”
b. Ecclesiastes 7:6 “Like the
crackling of thorns under the pot, so
is the laughter of fools.” Ex: Nabal:1
Samuel 25:25;
Proverbs 17:12 “Better to meet a
bear robbed of her cubs than a fool in
his folly”
Job4:3 “I have seen a fool taking
root, but suddenly his house was
cursed”
Proverbs 10:23 “a chattering fool
comes to ruin”
Proverbs 1:22 “How long will
mockers delight in mockery and
fools hate knowledge?”
c. 1 Corinthians 1:25 “foolishness of
God is wiser than man's wisdom”
1 Corinthians 1:27 God chose the
foolish things of the world to shame
the wise”
XI
MY DEAR WORMWOOD,
Everything is clearly going very well. am specially glad to hear that the two new friends have now made him acquainted
with their whole set. All these, as I find from the record office, are thoroughly reliable people; steady, consistent scoffers
and worldlings who without any spectacular crimes are progressing quietly and comfortably towards our Father's house.
You speak of their being great laughers. I trust this does not mean that you are under the impression that laughter as such
is always in our favour. The point is worth some attention.
I divide the causes of human laughter into Joy, Fun, the Joke Proper, and Flippancy. You will see the first among friends
and lovers reunited on the eve of a holiday. Among adults some pretext in the way of Jokes is usually provided, but the
facility with which the smallest witticisms produce laughter at such a time shows that they are not the real cause. What
that real cause is we do not know. Something like it is expressed in much of that detestable art which the humans call
Music, and something like it occurs in Heaven—a meaningless acceleration in the rhythm of celestial experience, quite
opaque to us. Laughter of this kind does us no good and should always be discouraged. Besides, the phenomenon is of
itself disgusting and a direct insult to the realism, dignity, and austerity of Hell.
Fun is closely related to Joy—a sort of emotional froth arising from the play instinct. It is very little use to us. It can
sometimes be used, of course, to divert humans from something else which the Enemy would like them to be feeling or
doing: but in itself it has wholly undesirable tendencies; it promotes charity, courage, contentment, and many other evils.
The Joke Proper, which turns on sudden perception of incongruity, is a much more promising field. I am not thinking
primarily of indecent or bawdy humour, which, though much relied upon by second-rate tempters, is often disappointing
in its results. The truth is that humans are pretty clearly divided on this matter into two classes. There are some to whom
"no passion is as serious as lust" and for whom an indecent story ceases to produce lasciviousness precisely in so far as it
becomes funny: there are others in whom laughter and lust are excited at the same moment and by the same things. The
first sort joke about sex because it gives rise to many incongruities: the second cultivate incongruities because they
afford a pretext for talking about sex. If your man is of the first type, bawdy humour will not help you—I shall never
forget the hours which I wasted (hours to me of unbearable tedium) with one of my early patients in bars and smokingrooms before I learned this rule. Find out which group the patient belongs to—and see that he does not find out.
The real use of Jokes or Humour is in quite a different direction, and it is specially promising among the English who
take their "sense of humour" so seriously that a deficiency in this sense is almost the only deficiency at which they feel
shame. Humour is for them the all-consoling and (mark this) the all-excusing, grace of life. Hence it is invaluable as a
means of destroying shame. If a man simply lets others pay for him, he is "mean"; if he boasts of it in a jocular manner
and twits his fellows with having been scored off, he is no longer "mean" but a comical fellow. Mere cowardice is
shameful; cowardice boasted of with humorous exaggerations and grotesque gestures can passed off as funny. Cruelty is
shameful—unless the cruel man can represent it as a practical joke. A thousand bawdy, or even blasphemous, jokes do
not help towards a man's damnation so much as his discovery that almost anything he wants to do can be done, not only
without the disapproval but with the admiration of his fellows, if only it can get itself treated as a Joke. And this
temptation can be almost entirely hidden from your patient by that English seriousness about Humour. Any suggestion
that there might be too much of it can be represented to him as "Puritanical" or as betraying a "lack of humour".
But flippancy is the best of all. In the first place it is very economical. Only a clever human can make a real Joke about
virtue, or indeed about anything else; any of them can be trained to talk as if virtue were funny. Among flippant people
the Joke is always assumed to have been made. No one actually makes it; but every serious subject is discussed in a
manner which implies that they have already found a ridiculous side to it. If prolonged, the habit of Flippancy builds up
around a man the finest armour-plating against the Enemy that I know, and it is quite free from the dangers inherent in
the other sources of laughter. It is a thousand miles away from joy it deadens, instead of sharpening, the intellect; and it
excites no affection between those who practice it,
Your affectionate uncle
SCREWTAPE