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| | | Book Name: The Discipline of Transcendence, Vol 3 | Previous Next | |
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he got back to New York, his friends asked him how he had liked the hotel. He said, "It was very nice, but if you ever go there and the waiter suggests that you eat soup, eat it, otherwise they shove it into you anyway."
So please cooperate with me...!
The second question:
Question 2
OSHO,
YOU TELL US SO MANY JOKES -- WHAT IS THE BASIC SECRET OF A JOKE AND WHY DO YOU TELL THEM?
I HAVE TO TELL JOKES TO YOU, otherwise you will fall asleep. A joke shocks you back into awareness. It is a small electric shock. That's the beauty of a joke, and that's the secret of a joke. It is impossible even for the dullest mind to remain unalert when a joke is being told. Even the dullest, the most stupid, will become interested -- even one who is snoring will come out of his snoring and will start listening to what is going on.
That's the beauty of a joke. A joke is something that brings in you a subtle awareness. The awareness comes because you have to listen to the joke very alertly, otherwise you will miss the punchline. If you miss a single word in a joke, it is lost. A joke is a very small thing -- a few lines. You cannot afford to be unaware. If you miss one line, you will not be able to catch hold of it.
And a joke takes a sudden turn -- that is its secret -- a very unexpected turn. A joke is not logical, that's why I love jokes -- they are illogical. Still, they have a logic of their own. A joke is illogical and yet logical -- very paradoxical. A joke takes such an illogical turn that you had never expected. If you can expect, then that much pleasure will be lost.
If a joke is a simple syllogism, an Aristotelian syllogism, that you can simply go on and you can feel what conclusion is coming, and you can conclude because the premises are given already; if you can conclude logically, as if two plus two is four, this cannot be a joke -- because two plus two is four. When somebody is saying 'two plus two' you have already known the conclusion: it is going to be four. If a joke is absolutely logical and the conclusion is not absurd, then it is not a joke, it will not shock you into awareness.
The joke takes a
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