Laughter and suffering: Sinhalese interpretations of the use of ritual humor

Abstract

Among several possible models ... for the psychotherapist, consider the court jester. This figure, we are told, made playful comments about the king, his followers, and affairs of state; he punctured pretensions, took an upside-down look at human events. Now the patient, it might be said, suffers from gravity. To him life is a burden, his personality a riddle; yet viewed from the outside, he may seem altogether obvious and his problems nothing much. Indeed, just because he hurts ... eventually he must find laughter in the midst of his accustomed tears and glimpse his own absurdity [1].