Osho on psychology of Jokes, origin of Jokes
Osho : Jews have certainly proved their mettle. In all their agony they have maintained their laughter, they have not lost it. But it is a strange psychology that the people who are in suffering will always love laughter. That gives at least some time to forget the misery. People who have lived peacefully, with no suffering, don’t know what laughter is.
I have been thinking many times that I should speak on the psychology of jokes. It has so many implications, why a certain joke is a joke and why it arose; who were the people, who must have been the people who managed that joke?
In what background has the joke flowered, and was it refined? – because it is centuries of work. A single joke can be traced back for centuries, and you will find little differences happening and finally it comes to perfection. It is a work of art. But it needs a certain climate and a certain understanding and a certain openness, a certain unrepressed joyfulness; otherwise it can backfire.
This is a beautiful joke – but Nirvano is not a Jew. She thought it better to make it Christian because she knows the Christian names better and she knows the festival of Lent. In a Jewish context it would have been even better, because they are the most unrepressed people in the world. It is not a coincidence that Sigmund Freud – a Jew – started a new science: psychoanalysis. The whole science is against repression.
Every joke has a long history and background. It will be good sometime to give the whole series to Sardar Gurudayal Singh, and find the roots of these jokes – their psychology, the people, because there are many people. For example, Jews tell jokes about themselves; they are intelligent people.
Other people tell jokes about the Polacks, who are very unintelligent people. They cannot make a joke themselves, that is impossible. But they are good in a way; they allow the whole world to make jokes about them. Nice guys!
Showing posts with label Osho on Jokes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Osho on Jokes. Show all posts
Saturday, December 27, 2008
Monday, December 8, 2008
Osho on Indian Jokes, India has no Jokes of its own
Osho : India has no jokes of its own. All the jokes are imported – fortunately there is no taxation on importing jokes! You can just change the names to Indian names, but it will not be right; it will not sound right.
Even a joke has a certain context, a certain reference. It is not just a joke. You cannot implant it anywhere you like, it has a climate of its own. For example, a Jewish joke cannot be transplanted to another race because that joke has a history of its own.
Nobody writes jokes, you know. There are no joke writers. From where do jokes come? From the wisdom of the folk, hundreds of years... they pass through many hands, many situations and then they come to a refinement.
Nobody can claim that he is the writer. And never try to change the names, because they will look absolutely out of context. If you cannot find out to whom the joke should belong, just put some Jewish names in it. They are the only people rich enough, and it is for a particular reason that they can absorb any joke.
They have suffered so much since Moses brought them out of Egypt in search of Israel. Their whole life for these four thousand years has been that of suffering and suffering and suffering.
Even a joke has a certain context, a certain reference. It is not just a joke. You cannot implant it anywhere you like, it has a climate of its own. For example, a Jewish joke cannot be transplanted to another race because that joke has a history of its own.
Nobody writes jokes, you know. There are no joke writers. From where do jokes come? From the wisdom of the folk, hundreds of years... they pass through many hands, many situations and then they come to a refinement.
Nobody can claim that he is the writer. And never try to change the names, because they will look absolutely out of context. If you cannot find out to whom the joke should belong, just put some Jewish names in it. They are the only people rich enough, and it is for a particular reason that they can absorb any joke.
They have suffered so much since Moses brought them out of Egypt in search of Israel. Their whole life for these four thousand years has been that of suffering and suffering and suffering.
Saturday, October 18, 2008
Osho - Why so many Jokes on Jews
Question - Beloved Master, why do you tell so many Jokes about the Jews?
Osho : Sanatano, Jews have a sense of humor as nobody else has. For example, Hindus have no jokes, not a single joke which can be called Hindu. All the jokes that Indians tell to each other come from the West. India has lost the sense of humor; it has become too serious. Jews could not become too serious for the simple reason that for centuries their lives have been of great suffering. It is humor that helped them to survive.
They had to create a great sense of humor. India has lived in a lukewarm way. It has not suffered much, nobody has tortured it much, nobody was bent upon destroying it. It never needed a sense of humor to save itself from seriousness; on the contrary, because life has been simple, without much suffering and pain, people have become serious.
Jews have the best jokes in the world. You will be surprised, but this is my observation: it is their sense of humor that has saved them; otherwise they would have been destroyed long ago. They had to create a great sense of humor; even in the concentration camps of Adolf Hitler they were joking. That was their way of remaining alive.And I love jokes, hence I love Jews too.
Two Jews met each other for the first time. "Where are you from?" asked one.
"Miami Beach, Florida," answered the other. "Where are you from?"
"Lincoln, Nebraska," answered the first.
"What's the population of Miami Beach?"
"Oh, about a hundred thousand people."
"And how many Jews are there?"
"About ninety thousand."
"And what do they do for a living?"
"Oh, they are doctors, lawyers, judges, accountants, retired wealthy men, bankers, etcetera." "And tell me about the other ten thousand people? What do they do?"
"They are policemen, carpenters, laborers, etcetera.
So now you tell me about Lincoln, Nebraska. What's the population there?"
"About three hundred thousand people."
"And how many of them are our people?"
"I guess there are about five thousand Jews."
"Wow!" said the other, "How come you need so many servants?"
Jews are intelligent people, they snatch away more Nobel Prizes than anybody else. That intelligence is also there because they have suffered long, and they always have to find new ways to survive. Intelligence arises when it is challenged; intelligence arises, becomes sharpened, when it is used. If it is not used it gathers dust. When it is not used, when there is no need to use it, it dies.
It is as if you don't use your legs for years -- you will lose them, you will not be able to walk again. It is as if you keep your eyes closed for three years, you will lose your eyesight. Thieves have better eyesight than anybody else; naturally, because they have to look in the dark into other people's houses.
Maybe they have entered into the house for the first time: they don't know where the door is and where the wall is and how the furniture is arranged -- still they have to walk silently. They start getting better eyesight than anybody. You will not find a thief with glasses; at least I have not found one yet. So whenever you see a person without glasses, beware! Who knows? Keep watch.
A man with eyeglasses, you need not worry about him. He cannot even find his own things; how can he find your things? -- impossible. He cannot find things in his own house. Jews have really lived a long long, arduous life because of the Christians. The whole idea is absurd, because once Jesus was crucified, the Jews did not need to be tortured for ever and ever.
And the Jews you are torturing did not crucify Jesus; those people are gone. But that's how foolish prejudices continue, and Christians particularly go on and on repeating the same thing. The sin that was committed by Adam and Eve is still heavy on them. Now if Adam and Eve committed it, they will suffer for it. Why are you worried? You have not committed it.
But they think it is in your blood; it has come to you because you are in the same chain, in the same continuity. This is absurd, utterly absurd. Buddha had a son, Mahavira had a daughter; the daughter must have given birth to a few children -- where are they? Mahavira is not carried by his descendants. Where are Zarathustra's sons or daughters?
Zarathustra is not carried by his sons and daughters. Everyone lives his own life and dies his own death. Everyone is unique. Remember, the body comes from the parents but not the soul. And it is so with Adam and Eve. Adam and Eve are not carried by blood cells. It is utterly stupid to torture Jews for something that happened two thousand years ago.
But it continues. In a way it has been a blessing in disguise: it is a curse but it has given Jews a sharpness, a brilliance, an intelligence, a sense of humor. They can laugh even when they are facing death. I have heard that in the concentration camps they survived not on food, because the food was not enough -- they survived on jokes.
Even going into the oven, into the gas chamber, they were going telling jokes to each other, laughing. A beautiful people! Christians don't joke about their bishops, popes; Hindus never joke against their mahatmas, impossible. Jews joke even about their rabbis; they joke more about rabbis than about anybody else. That shows intimacy, that shows love and respect, remember. That shows that the rabbi is not something of an outsider, he is an insider.
Osho : Sanatano, Jews have a sense of humor as nobody else has. For example, Hindus have no jokes, not a single joke which can be called Hindu. All the jokes that Indians tell to each other come from the West. India has lost the sense of humor; it has become too serious. Jews could not become too serious for the simple reason that for centuries their lives have been of great suffering. It is humor that helped them to survive.
They had to create a great sense of humor. India has lived in a lukewarm way. It has not suffered much, nobody has tortured it much, nobody was bent upon destroying it. It never needed a sense of humor to save itself from seriousness; on the contrary, because life has been simple, without much suffering and pain, people have become serious.
Jews have the best jokes in the world. You will be surprised, but this is my observation: it is their sense of humor that has saved them; otherwise they would have been destroyed long ago. They had to create a great sense of humor; even in the concentration camps of Adolf Hitler they were joking. That was their way of remaining alive.And I love jokes, hence I love Jews too.
Two Jews met each other for the first time. "Where are you from?" asked one.
"Miami Beach, Florida," answered the other. "Where are you from?"
"Lincoln, Nebraska," answered the first.
"What's the population of Miami Beach?"
"Oh, about a hundred thousand people."
"And how many Jews are there?"
"About ninety thousand."
"And what do they do for a living?"
"Oh, they are doctors, lawyers, judges, accountants, retired wealthy men, bankers, etcetera." "And tell me about the other ten thousand people? What do they do?"
"They are policemen, carpenters, laborers, etcetera.
So now you tell me about Lincoln, Nebraska. What's the population there?"
"About three hundred thousand people."
"And how many of them are our people?"
"I guess there are about five thousand Jews."
"Wow!" said the other, "How come you need so many servants?"
Jews are intelligent people, they snatch away more Nobel Prizes than anybody else. That intelligence is also there because they have suffered long, and they always have to find new ways to survive. Intelligence arises when it is challenged; intelligence arises, becomes sharpened, when it is used. If it is not used it gathers dust. When it is not used, when there is no need to use it, it dies.
It is as if you don't use your legs for years -- you will lose them, you will not be able to walk again. It is as if you keep your eyes closed for three years, you will lose your eyesight. Thieves have better eyesight than anybody else; naturally, because they have to look in the dark into other people's houses.
Maybe they have entered into the house for the first time: they don't know where the door is and where the wall is and how the furniture is arranged -- still they have to walk silently. They start getting better eyesight than anybody. You will not find a thief with glasses; at least I have not found one yet. So whenever you see a person without glasses, beware! Who knows? Keep watch.
A man with eyeglasses, you need not worry about him. He cannot even find his own things; how can he find your things? -- impossible. He cannot find things in his own house. Jews have really lived a long long, arduous life because of the Christians. The whole idea is absurd, because once Jesus was crucified, the Jews did not need to be tortured for ever and ever.
And the Jews you are torturing did not crucify Jesus; those people are gone. But that's how foolish prejudices continue, and Christians particularly go on and on repeating the same thing. The sin that was committed by Adam and Eve is still heavy on them. Now if Adam and Eve committed it, they will suffer for it. Why are you worried? You have not committed it.
But they think it is in your blood; it has come to you because you are in the same chain, in the same continuity. This is absurd, utterly absurd. Buddha had a son, Mahavira had a daughter; the daughter must have given birth to a few children -- where are they? Mahavira is not carried by his descendants. Where are Zarathustra's sons or daughters?
Zarathustra is not carried by his sons and daughters. Everyone lives his own life and dies his own death. Everyone is unique. Remember, the body comes from the parents but not the soul. And it is so with Adam and Eve. Adam and Eve are not carried by blood cells. It is utterly stupid to torture Jews for something that happened two thousand years ago.
But it continues. In a way it has been a blessing in disguise: it is a curse but it has given Jews a sharpness, a brilliance, an intelligence, a sense of humor. They can laugh even when they are facing death. I have heard that in the concentration camps they survived not on food, because the food was not enough -- they survived on jokes.
Even going into the oven, into the gas chamber, they were going telling jokes to each other, laughing. A beautiful people! Christians don't joke about their bishops, popes; Hindus never joke against their mahatmas, impossible. Jews joke even about their rabbis; they joke more about rabbis than about anybody else. That shows intimacy, that shows love and respect, remember. That shows that the rabbi is not something of an outsider, he is an insider.
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Osho Why you are always Joking
Beoloved Osho, Why are you not serious? Why are you always Joking?
Osho - Gunga Prasad, God is not serious -- what can I do? God is always joking. Look at your own life -- it is a joke! Look at other people's lives, and you will find jokes and jokes and jokes.
Seriousness is illness; seriousness has nothing spiritual about it. Spirituality is laughter, spirituality is joy, spirituality is fun.
Two hunters were in a forest looking for game, when they came across a huge black bear. The first hunter took aim, but missed. The second hunter took careful aim as the bear drew closer to them, but his gun jammed. The two hunters fled in terror with the bear in hot pursuit. They came to a small cabin at the edge of the forest, ran inside and bolted the door just before the bear reached them.
The enormous bear circled the cabin, found an open window and climbed in after them. Loud crashing and terror-stricken screams ensued, then silence.... Finally, after three days, the door burst open and the first hunter staggered out, walked ten paces then fell face first onto the ground. Not long after, the second hunter staggered out, walked about twenty paces then fell to the ground. Hours later the bear appeared, staggered up the track about half a mile, then collapsed.
Shortly after, a beautiful young lady appeared at the door of the cabin. She walked up to the first hunter and said, "Him, he owes me ten dollars!" Walking up to the second hunter, she said, "Him, he owes me twenty dollars." Then she looked up and began scanning the horizon. "Now, I wonder what happened to that big guy in the fur coat? He had another free one comin'!"
Enough for today.
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Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Osho - What is Secret of Joke
Osho Jokes
Question: Beloved Osho, What is the secret of a Joke?
Osho: The sudden unexpected turn, that is the secret of a joke -- the revelation. You are expecting something and it doesn't happen; what happens is so totally absurd and yet has a logic of its own... it is ridiculous and yet not illogical. That's what suddenly becomes a laughter in you. You see the ridiculousness of it, and also the logic of it. It is unexpected -- if it is expected, then it doesn't bring laughter to you. If you know the joke then it doesn't bring laughter to you, because now you know, everything is expected.
Two insects were living in a cemetery. One said to the other: "Want to make love in dead Ernest tonight?"
Now, poor dead Ernest...!
An Englishman on his first trip to America went to one of those stand-up comic nightclubs for the first time. After he had had a couple of drinks, the lights dimmed and Henny Youngman stepped into the spotlight and greeted the crowd with his famous trademark gag: "Take my wife... please."
The crowd belly-laughed. The Englishman was impressed. "By Jove," he said to himself, "I must remember that and try it on the chaps back home."
Now, when somebody says, "Take my wife," you are expecting he will say, "for example." "Take my wife, for example." But he is saying "Take my wife," and then the silence, the little pause..."please." That is unexpected.
Some weeks later, back in London, he stepped to the microphone at a meeting of his club and, with great confidence, snapped out: "Consider my wife. Please."
Now the whole thing is lost. Just a single word makes it a beauty.
The secret of the joke is that it brings you to a point where you are expecting, expecting, expecting that this is going to happen; then it never happens. And what happens is so sudden... and because you were expecting something you were coming to a tension, and then suddenly something else happens, and the tension has come to such a climax that it explodes. You are all laughter. It is a tremendous release, it is great meditation.
If you can laugh totally, it will give you a moment of no-time, no-mind. Mind lives logically with expectations, laughter is something that comes from the beyond. Mind is always guessing what is going to happen, groping. And something happens which is absolutely contrary to its expectations: it simply stops for a moment. And that is the moment when the mind stops, when laughter comes from your belly, a belly laugh. Your whole body goes into a spasm, it is orgasmic. A good laugh is tremendously meditative.
An English gentleman went to his surgeon saying, "Old chap, I have this damned desire to be an Irishman. Can you perform some operation to make me one?"
"Well," replied the surgeon, "it is a fairly risky business, you know. We have to remove ninety percent of your brain."
"Do it," replied the Englishman.
When he awoke from the operation he found his bed surrounded by long-faced doctors. His surgeon stepped forward, saying, "Terribly sorry, old chap, but during the operation the old scalpel slipped and we accidentally removed one hundred percent of your brain!"
"Ah, na fuckin' worries mate!"
for Osho Jokes
Related Articles:
Question: Beloved Osho, What is the secret of a Joke?
Osho: The sudden unexpected turn, that is the secret of a joke -- the revelation. You are expecting something and it doesn't happen; what happens is so totally absurd and yet has a logic of its own... it is ridiculous and yet not illogical. That's what suddenly becomes a laughter in you. You see the ridiculousness of it, and also the logic of it. It is unexpected -- if it is expected, then it doesn't bring laughter to you. If you know the joke then it doesn't bring laughter to you, because now you know, everything is expected.
Two insects were living in a cemetery. One said to the other: "Want to make love in dead Ernest tonight?"
Now, poor dead Ernest...!
An Englishman on his first trip to America went to one of those stand-up comic nightclubs for the first time. After he had had a couple of drinks, the lights dimmed and Henny Youngman stepped into the spotlight and greeted the crowd with his famous trademark gag: "Take my wife... please."
The crowd belly-laughed. The Englishman was impressed. "By Jove," he said to himself, "I must remember that and try it on the chaps back home."
Now, when somebody says, "Take my wife," you are expecting he will say, "for example." "Take my wife, for example." But he is saying "Take my wife," and then the silence, the little pause..."please." That is unexpected.
Some weeks later, back in London, he stepped to the microphone at a meeting of his club and, with great confidence, snapped out: "Consider my wife. Please."
Now the whole thing is lost. Just a single word makes it a beauty.
The secret of the joke is that it brings you to a point where you are expecting, expecting, expecting that this is going to happen; then it never happens. And what happens is so sudden... and because you were expecting something you were coming to a tension, and then suddenly something else happens, and the tension has come to such a climax that it explodes. You are all laughter. It is a tremendous release, it is great meditation.
If you can laugh totally, it will give you a moment of no-time, no-mind. Mind lives logically with expectations, laughter is something that comes from the beyond. Mind is always guessing what is going to happen, groping. And something happens which is absolutely contrary to its expectations: it simply stops for a moment. And that is the moment when the mind stops, when laughter comes from your belly, a belly laugh. Your whole body goes into a spasm, it is orgasmic. A good laugh is tremendously meditative.
An English gentleman went to his surgeon saying, "Old chap, I have this damned desire to be an Irishman. Can you perform some operation to make me one?"
"Well," replied the surgeon, "it is a fairly risky business, you know. We have to remove ninety percent of your brain."
"Do it," replied the Englishman.
When he awoke from the operation he found his bed surrounded by long-faced doctors. His surgeon stepped forward, saying, "Terribly sorry, old chap, but during the operation the old scalpel slipped and we accidentally removed one hundred percent of your brain!"
"Ah, na fuckin' worries mate!"
for Osho Jokes
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Osho - why u tell Jokes
Osho Jokes
Question: Why do you tell jokes? And why don't you laugh at your own jokes?
Osho: First, Religion is a complicated joke. If you don't laugh at all you have missed the point; if you only laugh you have missed the point again. It is a very complicated joke. And the whole of life is a great cosmic joke. It is not a serious phenomenon -- take it seriously and you will go on missing it. It is understood only through laughter.
Have you not observed that man is the only animal who laughs? Aristotle says man is the rational animal. That may not be true -- because ants are very rational and bees are very rational. In fact, compared to ants, man looks almost irrational. And a computer is very rational -- compared to a computer, man is very irrational.
My definition of man is that man is the laughing animal. No computer laughs, no ant laughs, no bee laughs. If you come across a dog laughing you will be so scared! Or a buffalo suddenly laughs: you may have a heart attack. It is only man who can laugh, it is the highest peak of growth.
And it is through laughter that you will reach to God -- because it is only through the highest that is in you that you can reach the ultimate. Laughter has to become the bridge. Laugh your way to God. I don't say pray your way to God, I say laugh your way to God. If you can laugh you will be able to love. If you can laugh you will be able to relax. Laughter relaxes like nothing else.
So all jokes to me are prayers -- that's why I tell them.
And you ask: WHY DON'T YOU LAUGH AT YOUR OWN JOKES?
Because I have heard them before.
Source: from book "The Revolution" by Osho
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Question: Why do you tell jokes? And why don't you laugh at your own jokes?
Osho: First, Religion is a complicated joke. If you don't laugh at all you have missed the point; if you only laugh you have missed the point again. It is a very complicated joke. And the whole of life is a great cosmic joke. It is not a serious phenomenon -- take it seriously and you will go on missing it. It is understood only through laughter.
Have you not observed that man is the only animal who laughs? Aristotle says man is the rational animal. That may not be true -- because ants are very rational and bees are very rational. In fact, compared to ants, man looks almost irrational. And a computer is very rational -- compared to a computer, man is very irrational.
My definition of man is that man is the laughing animal. No computer laughs, no ant laughs, no bee laughs. If you come across a dog laughing you will be so scared! Or a buffalo suddenly laughs: you may have a heart attack. It is only man who can laugh, it is the highest peak of growth.
And it is through laughter that you will reach to God -- because it is only through the highest that is in you that you can reach the ultimate. Laughter has to become the bridge. Laugh your way to God. I don't say pray your way to God, I say laugh your way to God. If you can laugh you will be able to love. If you can laugh you will be able to relax. Laughter relaxes like nothing else.
So all jokes to me are prayers -- that's why I tell them.
And you ask: WHY DON'T YOU LAUGH AT YOUR OWN JOKES?
Because I have heard them before.
Source: from book "The Revolution" by Osho
for more Osho Jokes
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