USING HUMOR TO UNDERMINE ONE’S WORLDVIEW
One of the best ways to see through our limiting self view is to begin to have a humorous viewpoint about it. Quite frequently there is a lot of self justification, over seriousness and just plain ridiculousness associated with our view of ourselves, our role in the world, our view of the world around us, etc. Humor is one of the very best ways to craftily undermine all of this. Some ways that we can do this: 1) exaggerate your attitude about the situation. If it’s anger pretend to be absurdly angry with all kinds of exaggerated judgments about it. 2) On a more subtle level, smile to yourself as you hear your thoughts about the situation and what you intend to do about it. 3) Free form write about the situation while smiling until you can see the absurdity of what you are writing. 4) Playfully act out your feelings and thoughts about the situation as if you were an actor in a farce - because that’s actually what you are doing so you might as well enjoy it!
Ending the dualistic battle with Ego
It is very tempting in spiritual work to see our ego as “bad” and to do battle with it. Unfortunately this view keeps us in the realm of ego which is dualistic. “I want this, to be more spiritual and I don’t want that which is my ego”. This gives our Inner Critics an unparalleled opportunity to have a field day with us and does not lead to freedom but rather more perfectionism, self rejection and suffering.
What is more useful is to see through the untruthfulness of what our ego tells us, that we are very limited and on our own and that we cannot trust others.
