laughing

You are standing underneath the coconut tree collecting the coconuts when suddenly a big heavy husk comes tumbling down from above, landing right next to where you are standing! You instinctively covered your head with your hand, and when you looked up, instead of yelling up to the coconut picker to be more careful, or to say something before he cuts off a branch, or that he could have hurt you…you laugh.

You are playing the drum in the gamelon band and all 22 players depend on you for their cue to begin, and even though you have been practicing the same song twice a week for hours, as you hit the drum, you play the wrong beat and everyone…..laughs!

You have just been taught the correct series of notes to play by the leader, you have gone over it again and again, and then when all the musicians join in and reach the climax and you have your solo, you mix it up ….and everyone laughs!

You are walking into the temple with your offering and almost trip, and everyone, including you, laughs.

You are a priest walking with over a hundred devotees through the forest to invite the spirit of God to come down to the temple below for the ceremony, and you stop along the path to urinate….and everyone who passes you, laughs, and so do you!

You are a priest and you are in the middle of the ceremony along with 10 other priests, sprinkling holy water on all the different altars, and you forgot one, everyone laughs, and so do you!

You are one of the waitress' at the resort and after you have asked the guests which juice and kind of egg they want for breakfast, you can't remember what one of them told you, and all of the staff laughs, including you!

You are learning English with 4 other Balinese and when it is your turn to say the word in English that you have just learned, you don't remember how to say it….and everyone laughs, including you.

You are a balinese man and you wake up in the morning after having wanted to have sex with your wife at night, and you tell her that she fell asleep before you began...and you both laugh

You are a foreigner dressed up in Balinese style temple clothes as you walk down the main road to the temple, and all of the women and men sitting along the road laugh as they see you…. you just keep walking, as if nothing happened! Why not just laugh with them?!

Not being able to understand Balinese, I focus on body language instead, in order to learn about the people a little deeper. What I have recognized as the most prevalent trait of all of the Balinese is that they laugh. If ever a response is needed, laugh. If you meet someone, laugh, if you are asked something, laugh, if you are making small talk, laugh, if something happens unexpectedly, laugh, if something goes "wrong", laugh. If you are embarrassed, laugh, if you are telling a story, laugh. If you are reenacting a scenario that happened, laugh. If you are collecting contributions at the temple, laugh. If someone is sad, tall a joke and laugh together. And if you are not laughing, then at least smile.

I think they have an inner glimpse of what this life we have been given is all about…..God is just playing around with us all….so why not laugh?!

They seem to be lazy, stupid, slow, undeveloped people, by our western standards of efficiency, time management, productivity, goals. When i asked why they laugh about everything, they said that it is a softer and gentler way to deal with things, always their main concern being that the other person feel good and not ashamed or losing face ….but the longer I am here, the more the deeper layers of their true essence shines before me. They are very unpretentious, humble, friendly, loving people that have all the same trials and errors and dramas in life just like the rest of us, but they seem to be able to detach from it all with a wider deeper view that their main purpose in life is just to be in the present, in a state of gratitude no matter what is going on….it is all in the hands of God, so we can just laugh, and play the part we have been given to play, in joy, in beauty, in harmony.