Getting the Cosmic Joke and Laughing Our Way to Wholeness

"Blessed our we who can laugh at ourselves for we shall never cease to be amused." I recently went to see Swami Beyondananda, the Cosmic Comic, and he told us, "Imagine that the creator is watching the comedy channel, and WE are what's on." Laughter is a wonderful thing. It is healing and heart opening, it lowers our blood pressure and raises our spirits. Like some of you, I was brought up in a family where feelings of anger, fear and sadness were not welcomed. However, those feelings found an outlet through the one and only accepted form of expression in my house...laughter. As a result, I developed a sharp wit and became a serial kidder! Voltaire said, "God is a comedian playing to an audience too afraid to laugh." The world can be an intense place, and it is easy to get seriously caught up in the drama of our lives. There's a story about a woman who had a recurring nightmare where a monster was chasing her and she would frantically run away from it, in a state of absolute terror. One night she was barely managing to stay ahead of the monster, when BAM! --she hit a wall and there was nowhere to go. The monster caught up to her and the woman cried out, "Oh no, what am I going to do?!" The monster looked at her and said, "I don't know lady, it's YOUR dream." Our life is OUR dream. As our consciousness is evolving, more and more people are waking up to the awareness that we are all interconnected, and life is a one big mirror, reflecting back to us our thoughts, feelings, and beliefs. God is now playing to an audience that's beginning to get the joke! It's a Mirror-cle! I've been amusing myself with this thought -- what if we get to heaven and there's a letter from God that says: "Welcome Dear One, rnI'm glad you made it! So, did you get the cosmic joke? Did you figure out that everyone in your life was YOU, especially those who pushed your buttons? When you tried to convince the critical people in your life of your value, that was the critical You that you were trying to convince. When you thought that people in your life were judging, rejecting, or neglecting you, that was You doing that to you. Everyone in your life was mirroring you. Every time you thought you got rid of an irritating person from your life, they'd just show up again in another body with a new name, because that was YOU you were trying to escape, and wherever you go, there YOU are. There were lots of clues about the many you's, such as your term for your world -- Universe, get it? -- YOUniverse. There were also clues in the Bible, like, "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you" (Because they ARE you); and from the Talmud, "We do not see things as they are, we see them as WE are." The whole dream thing was a big clue too, where everyone in your dream is an aspect of yourself. Just like in a dream, everyone in your life is an aspect of YOU. Did you figure out that the best way to deal with this cosmic joke was first to lighten up and have a sense of YOUmor? Then FACE the you's that were showing up in your life, in the form of other people, and get curious, "Oh, you're my mirror. What is it I haven't wanted to see?" Then be WILLING to really see what the YOUniverse is reflecting back to you, take a big breath and let it in, accept it. And then, here's the really funny part...LOVE what it is that you're seeing. Love what it is in others that you've been judging and rejecting. Love what it is you've been trying to get rid of and get away from. That's when you become One with the YOUniverse. Love is the great YOUnifier. Life is a funny, funny riddle. LOVE is the answer. I hope you had fun with it all. Love, rnGod (who, by the way, is also YOU)" How about you? Is there something serious in your life that you need to laugh at? As Swami Beyondananda says, "Laughter causes our blood vessels to dilate, which is a lot better than having them die early!" Here's to learning, laughing, and loving what is!