Jokes and Justice (Part 2)

 Laugh and fear not, creatures. Now that you are no longer dumb and witless, you need not always be grave. For jokes as well as justice come in with speech.

(The Magician's Nephew)

In our last post we questioned why Aslan seemed to approve the laughter of the Talking Beasts at the Jackdaw. Though all the Talking Beasts assure Aslan that they would not return to the ways of the Dumb Beasts, it was only the Jackdaw who loudly proclaimed, "No fear!" much to the mirth of the others. The Jackdaw was embarrassed (though he later happily realizes that he will forever be remembered as the First Joke), so why is the laughter sanctioned? 

"The devil...the prowde spirite...cannot endure to be mocked."  (Thomas More). Lewis quotes this insightful line as a type of prelude to The Screwtape Letters thus casting this work as a fulfillment of More's words. For it is in Hell that there is strict concern for one's dignity and austerity (Screwtape Letters, Chapter 11), and it is Hell's inhabitants that cannot laugh at themselves (Screwtape Letters Chapter 22).

However, one should not think that it is the experiences of Hell that turns its inhabitants this way. No, those who dwell as one of the damned do so because their dignity and pride brought them there. Their worship was of themselves, and their rituals were for self-glorification. Who should be worshipped? To whom should glory appropriate? The One God! The Creator of All and the True Judge! But for those who replace God with themselves, the ultimate blasphemy is being mocked. 

Belief in God requires humility. Recognizing the presence of the All-Powerful, who has provided you with everything and upon whom you are completely reliant for success. How can one take themselves seriously in the face of God? Is not our whole existence a joke? Is our creation not absurd? 

The Jackdaw will be remembered as the First Joke, but he was not. The first joke was that God saw fit to create creatures of flesh and blood that He was to call His children. How can we not laugh in the face of such absurdity? 

The command to love our neighbors as ourselves requires that we care for the physical and emotional well-being of friends, neighbors, and even strangers. Yet, even this must be balanced by the truth, that humans are awkward creatures who (hopefully) try to do the right thing but often fail spectacularly and hilariously. God knows how much or how little we really try. But if we do try and still fail a little laughter (and even mocking) is perhaps just what we need to help us realize that taking God seriously is more important than taking ourselves seriously. 

Hence the need to laugh at the Jackdaw. He tried to do the right thing, tried to be in sync with the other creatures in a unifying response to Aslan. But he failed, hysterically. Well, if everyone took the Jackdaw's indiscretion seriously, there would be furtive glances between them, malicious whispers, the a real danger that the Jackdaw would feel ashamed, that he would feel apart from the others, different, separated from Alsan. Perhaps there is no reason to feel that way, but isn't that how we feel when we do something off, something singularly foolish? 

But there's a cure, laughter. The laughter shows that everyone understands it was just a mistake, something that we all do at one time or another and you should just shrug it off. 

And so Aslan not only urged the Talking Beasts to laugh, but took the joke at step further modelling for his creations how one should truly feel about their self-worth.