Better Than a Run

This post is based around the work of Immanuel Kant. He talks about humor from the point of incongruity. However in the excerpt I read he doesn't talk about the mental confusion of incongruity, he talks about the physical aspects of such humor and it reminds me of exercise. He explains the sudden moment of incongruity as a point where a physical reaction occurs. He actually describes a pulling sensation in the stomach that activates the diaprham and lungs. He compares it to being tickled. This, he says, adds to our well-being which is a state of gratification. His larger argument in this piece is about Gratification. But he's referring to a more primal sense of gratification, not a personal feeling of a job well done, which he calls self-esteem.

So I while reading this I wrote in the margin: like exercise, feel better after a good laugh. And I really think that's what he's getting at. A person starts out listening to another in an everyday, serious way, and then the punch line startles us into a physical reaction, which is good for us. And according to Kant that's where the value lies. I can see this I've laughed so hard with my mother, that we were crying and sore. It was a real workout, and we both felt so good afterwards. I've even slept better after a night of good laughing, just as I do after a good workout. So maybe that's my new goal. Forget the elliptical machine, I'll tune into a few sitcoms and consider myself good to go.