The Divine Comedy Will Be Televised

We are always tested in ways we can’t expect. I am feeling a tad overwhelmed with the expense and maintenance that will be required for my recently diagnosed diabetic cat. But he’s really a sweety though… 

See, I told you! So I suppose he’s worth it.

It brings me back to the suffering that we struggle with and the absurdities that we put ourselves through. Peter Kreeft said it best: “Life is neither a tragedy nor a comedy but a tragicomedy. If we do not both laugh and cry at life, we do not understand it.”

So what’s the Divine Plan in all of this? Theologians have been taking on the subject of tragedy for eons. There are religions built around suffering (Buddhism). Many of us don’t seek out the need for spiritual comfort until we’ve come across some real setback. And while I spend more than enough time feeling sorry for my shortcomings, I want to touch on the comedy part for a bit.

I mean, does God have a sense a humor? Not in a perverse sort of way that His creation would be trivial entertainment (or maybe that’s why God created MTV). But in the way that our God-given humor opens something up in us, releasing us from anxiety and fear, and making some-thing more accessible. 

I always enjoyed good comedy. But how do I define good comedy? Let’s face it, a lot of so-called humor is mean spirited. I’ve known many people in my life who have used comedy as a crutch. It gets you only so close to them, so you won’t know what jerks they really are. And many professional comedians aren’t pleasant people to be around. But every so often you get a good comedian who cleverly points out the absurdities with heart. For instance, Louie C.K.is one such example…

There’s a lot of nuance to this sort of comedy, and Louie is a master at it. While he’s not afraid to go into those dark places, he can come out the other side with a lot more light shining in. You can’t help but go for the tragicomedy ride and be released. 

I recently got to see a test screening for a film yet to be released, coincidentally called The Comedian. It stars Robert De Niro and is directed by Taylor Hackford. While I don’t want to offer too much of a review, since it’s not quite in the can (as they say in Hollywood speak), I will say it has potential to be a good film. There are many well written scenes, and De Niro’s acting is a return to form from the lightweight stuff he’s been doing as of late. But the scenes that were the best were the ones that felt spontaneous and joyful. So when we mention the Divine Comedy, it must be some of those same qualities that comes through from above and in time.

Humor is antithetical to suffering in that it’s not contracted. But it’s also complementary in that we can only appreciate humor in relation to suffering. We wouldn’t understand it otherwise. I believe it was Mark Twain who originally said humor is tragedy plus time. So there’s the tragicomedy in a nutshell. We all suffer and experience tragedies to various degrees, however, over the long haul of deep time it’s one heck of a cosmic joke!