DELUSIONS

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Well, now I would like to take up the subject of delusions, which is a related subject to the
subject of surprise, as you will discover. A delusion is a false impression. That is a very good
definition of a delusion: a false impression. One looks at something and believes it to be
different than it actually is. That is a false impression. So that is a delusion. 

Now, as a matter of fact, there are basically only two types of delusion in this universe, and they
match the two basic types of lies in this universe. Now, let's just reiterate the two basic lies in
this universe. 

There are only two lies, there are only two basic lies in this universe: 

1. One of them is to say, that a thing exists when you know that it doesn't exist. That's the
first lie. 

2. And the second lie is to say, that a thing doesn't exist when you know that it does exist. 

Now, no matter how complex a lie is, it can always be broken down into the one or the other, or
both of those components. They are the two basic lies in this universe. And from those two basic
lies we arrive at the two basic delusions in this universe: 

1. Now, the first basic delusion is to believe that a thing exists when in fact it doesn't exist. 

2. And the second basic delusion is to believe that a thing doesn't exist when in fact it does
exist. 

Now you can see how the two basic delusions actually stem from the two basic lies in the
universe. Now, there's nothing essentially wrong with having a delusion. I mean, we all have
them, you know. You watch a child, when a child is learning about life and learning about the
universe around him, he gets the wildest of ideas about life. And you talk to a young child about
things, and they will tell you the wildest things about why things happen, you know, and the
reasons for this and the reasons for that. And you listen to this and you say, "Oh my god!" But it
all makes sense to the child, and it all fits together in his mind, and it's quite okay with him. And
most of it, of course, is non-factual. 

Well, this is quite okay; there's no reason why the child shouldn't be like this, as long as the child
can correct his delusions. You see that? And the child, the rational, sane child does. He has an
idea, he sees something and he has an idea about it, and then, later on, further evidence shows
up and he says, "So well, my ideas about this aren't right," and "No, that's not quite right." And 

then he changes his ideas to make his ideas fit the way things are in the universe, for he is now
learning about the universe. And so on. You see that? 

So there's nothing wrong with being deluded. It happens to all of us. All of us went through
childhood and a period of delusions, and so forth. No, the problem that arises with a delusion is
when you can't change it. When it becomes fixed, then that is the problem; the fixed delusion,
you know. When your delusions become fixed, that's when the brawny men in the short white
jackets turn up and cart you off to the local asylum. You see. That's when you're in trouble. When
you can't change your delusions in the face of evidence, which clearly indicates that these
delusions are false. 

So the first thing we have to get over is this idea there's anything wrong with having a delusion.
We all have them, you know. We all have delusions. So you just have to get off this idea there's
anything wrong about having a delusion. 

Humour and Laughter 

As a matter of interest: the whole subject of humour and laughter, and so forth, is based upon
the subject of delusions. If nobody had any delusions there would be no humour and no laughter
in the universe. Now, how does this work out? 

Well, you listen to someone telling you a joke and if you examine what is going on very carefully,
it runs somewhat like this: He's setting up a situation for you, he's sort of painting a picture; he's
setting up a scenario, as they say, of a situation for you. And as you listen to it you sort of build it
up, you build up a picture in your own mind what's going on. 

What you don't know is that it's a delusion; that there's a delusion here. There's something there
that you don't know. And he's not telling you; he's building up a scenario for you, and you finally
get the whole picture, and it all looks okay, and then suddenly he gives you the punch line. As
soon as you get the punch line you realise that you were deluded, that it wasn't what you
thought it was, and you laugh. And the laughter is the rejection of the delusion. You get it? 

You can define laughter as the explosive rejection of a delusion. And that's really all laughter is,
it's the explosive rejection of a delusion. The person is saying to himself, "Oh gee, I thought it
was that way, and it wasn't! It was this way." 

What he thought was the situation wasn't the situation; it was different from what he thought.
And the sudden rejection of the delusion and the acceptance of the facts is accompanied with
laughter; and also with surprise, which is the factor that relates the subject of laughter and
humour to the subject of surprise. 

When you hear the punch line in the joke, there's always an element of surprise in it too, isn't
there? There's a surprise there, there's a surprise factor. So the phenomenon of laughter, the
explosive rejection of a delusion, is related to the subject of surprise, so that they definitely go
hand in hand, these two subjects. 

Now, we can learn quite a lot about this by following through on this idea. It tells us immediately
that while a person can change their delusions, can change their mind, you might say, change
their ideas in the face of further evidence, they can laugh. Right? See that? Because the laughter
only occurs at the point where they reject the delusion, if they can't reject the delusion, i.e. they
can't change the delusion that's in their mind, they can't laugh. 

And we see this phenomenon with people. That the person, you might say the up tone scale
person, who's free to change his mind, can change his delusions very easily, very rapidly. And this
person laughs rather easily. And we say this person has a quick and ready sense of humour. 

But we get another person who is stuck, we say, in his delusions, stuck in his ideas. We tell him
jokes and he never laughs. You see, he can't, because he cannot reject the delusion, any delusion,
he can't laugh! You see? And that's why he doesn't laugh! You see that? 

And this is why this test, of whether a person laughs very much and how easy it is to make them
laugh, is a very good test of how serious case-wise a person is. The worse off they are case-wise
the more difficulty they will have on the subject of rejecting delusions. 

You might say that as they go down the tone scale, or as they get worse and worse off case-wise,
they become stuck in these delusions. They become less able to change these delusions. And it
shows itself most immediately in an inability to laugh. 

So, this subject of the delusion is quite an important subject, when we relate it to the subject of
the ability to laugh and understanding just what laughter is. And let's not kid ourselves, this is it,
you know. We've got it here. We know what laughter is. We know what this subject of laughter
and humour is. 

Comedian 

If you understood what I'm saying very well on the subject of humour, you could become quite a
comedian, assuming you had the ability to put it together, because you've got the actual essence
here of humour. 

It's the creation of a delusion; followed by the punch line, which shows the falsity of the delusion
that was built up and is causing the other person to explosively reject the delusion with laughter
and so call you a comedian, call you a funny man. That's the way it goes, that's the way it's done. 

This is the inner secret of the inner secret of how to make people laugh, I can assure you. But
before you could be absolutely certain that you could make the person laugh you better find out
how able this person is to change their delusions. 

If this person can't change their delusions very quickly and very rapidly they won't laugh at
anything you say. They won't laugh at anything anyone says. They're stuck. So that's what I
wanted to tell you on the subject of delusions and tie it up with the subject of surprise for you,
and tie it up with the subject of laughter and the subject of humour. 

And I hope this material is of value to you. Thank you. 

End of tape 

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