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| Furious rabbit (humor) (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
Perhaps I should clarify the title question. When I ask "Where does stupid come from?" I'm not referring to dumb stupid. You know, the stupid that is really idiotic and bad. Things you shouldn't have done or said. The things that can cause big problems or get you into a lot of trouble.
The kind of stupid that I'm talking about is the weird, sometimes silly kind of stupid that makes you roll your eyes, scratch your head in wonderment, or burst out laughing. This stupid does not come from any lack of intelligence, ignorance, or negative influence. This is the stupid of
corny jokes, nonsensical commentary, or flatout tomfoolery. It's that thing you do and someone says, "Omigosh! That was so stupid!"
Fun stupid is okay as opposed to mean or cruel stupid. Today's post is about hoky fun silly stupid. The kind of wacko weirdness we often experience in our dreams. You've had those dreams haven't you? You wake up shaking your head wondering "What was that?"
It happened to me this morning. I woke up with the thought on my mind of where stupid comes from. I can't even remember what my dream was. The biggest impression that the dream made on me was that some of the things we dream about are so ridiculously outrageous that it we have to wonder where the idea ever came from.
Since our subconscious is the source of our dreams then we probably can deduce that nonsense could be a product of our subconscious. Jokes and humor are typically absurd representations of real life or exaggerations of everyday experiences. The rational mind is unlikely to resort to humor as a means of expression, but rational people need a break from reality. Humor provides one means of escapism from the daily pressures we face or the humdrum existence that we might perceive that life is doling out to us. Sometimes we need to just get away and not be serious.
Keep in mind that this is my theory. I did not research this idea to check the validity of it. I'm not even sure that any examination of the topic has ever been done. The entire idea of humor coming from the subconscious was just something that I woke up with because of some crazy dream I had. It all made sense at the time when I woke up with the idea and it actually makes more sense now as I've thought about it more.
Humor is ridiculous but it can be very useful and even necessary for good mental health. Hmmm--sounds like earlier views I've expressed about dreams.
Where do you think humor comes from? Do you think I've put forth a reasonable theory? Are your dreams so absurd and irrational (even the scary ones) that after you wake up you see the foolishness of them and maybe even laugh at what your mind saw?
