Laughter Back to the Universe - The 1970s

Laughter Back to the Universe - The 1970s

Masao Yamaguchi's "Laughter Lecture" is a symbolic essay in the thought circles of the 1970s that aims to criticize the managed society and rediscover human freedom. Rationality and efficiency dominated Japan's rapid economic growth, the student movement had ended, and the country was losing its ideological vitality. In the midst of such stagnation, Yamaguchi defined laughter as "a cosmic movement that melds the positive and the negative," and showed the way for human beings to reintegrate into the cosmic order.

For him, laughter was not mere entertainment, but an act of liberation that temporarily overturned the social order, as well as a critique of rationalism. Oriental "laughter without an object," symbolized by the kansanjutsu and the laughter of Zen monks, signifies the restoration of the rhythm of life that transcends all dichotomies. In an age of increasing political conservatism and commercialism, Yamaguchi's philosophy presents a "philosophy of life" in which human beings re-connect with the universe through laughter. Laughter, as a beacon of thought, brought hope in an age of silence.