The Laughers

Laughter really is the key to the universe. When you discover the deepest holy of holies, the secret of secrets, the Holy Grail itself – if you ever reach that place – you will find, echoing there, eternal laughter. I experienced this when I was doing a regression with a friend of mine. I was deeply in it, and, at some point, I went back to my conception. And it wasn’t just the conception of my body, but the conception of my soul, and it was quite something. I saw the conception taking place and the growth of my soul as it was ‘born’ and came down into the space-time continuum of this universe. Then my friend asked me, ‘Do you have a mission? What is your mission on this plane?’ And that question went right into the core of that conceived soul foetus, and the response that came back was just raucous laughter! And I totally got the joke, and I just laughed and laughed! I could feel this delight of, ‘Do I have a mission?!’ And the answer was laughter, as it was a question that couldn’t be answered in a logical way. Because at the core of creation, in its very imprinting, is delight. Creation delights in exploration and development.

Of course, parts of the exploration can lead to terrible suffering. But even so, deep down, the soul is delighting in that suffering because it’s getting to explore and grow and learn, and go through the process of letting go and healing, and finally forgiving. But it can be a challenging paradox for us to experience, because there are things in life that are totally unlaughable – terrible things that you can’t possibly laugh at – and yet, in the core of all things, there is a great delight in exploring consciousness, and the growth and the learning that come from it. When we understand that, it changes our attitude towards our suffering and the suffering of others and, in some way, it actually increases our empathy and compassion. It also makes us more useful because we’re not caught up in the feeling of ‘I must fix this. I’ve got to help,’ which is a noble impulse, but if you have a bit of cosmic detachment, you are of much more service to people who are suffering than if you are invested in them getting better. Because that detachment enables you to be present for them without your emotions being so involved. Of course, emotions do arise, though, because we are human. And yet, there is just something so profound about digging deep into the core of creation and experiencing it all from that place.

Once I was sitting on a beach, all on my own, deep in contemplation, drinking a very special type of ancient tea from a little cup. I love tea as a means to contemplate, and this particular tea was teaching me many things, and I was moving through various layers of learning as I was drinking it, steeping it, and then re-steeping it. It’s said that when you get to the seventh steeping of the tea, it releases its deepest secret, and I think I was on the seventh time when, as I was looking at the cup of tea in my hand, the wind blew gently across the surface of the tea, and I heard a voice say, ‘It’s all just a storm in a teacup.’ As soon as I heard that inside my head and my heart, I started to laugh and laugh and laugh. I was on my own, just laughing, and I thought, ‘Oh my God, the whole of the world is in that teacup! The whole of my life is in that teacup!’

I can’t explain the depth of that joke and how it impacted me in that moment. ‘It’s just a storm in a teacup.’ It’s a wonderful expression. Some passing avatar whispered it in my ear and then was gone. It’s not that it’s making light of anything in the world. It just gives you the perspective of wisdom that there’s always more that you can’t see, and reminds you that there’s always a reason for things. So if you’re somehow in the middle of a challenging time or trial right now, know that it will, in time, lead to healing. Eventually, the different elements will be reunited and put back together somehow. It might not happen in this lifetime, but they will come back together at some point, in another time or reality. But because we don’t often see that bigger dimensional picture, we may miss that reuniting of the different parts.

So, you could try exploring these things, but, above all, just be open to laughter. If you know people who make you laugh, spend time with them. Belly laugh! Comedians are the most precious people in the world, but occasionally they embody a strange paradox. Take Robin Williams, for example. He was one of the funniest men ever to have lived, and a most open-hearted, beautiful man who made so many people cry with laughter and joy. On the inside, however, he was deeply tormented, with a deep inner sadness. Thus, laughter and sadness can go together. This is something to contemplate. Laughter often contains its opposite, and that other aspect can sometimes be very serious. But laughter is the most wonderful relief and release.