the value of laughter

December 8, 2023

If You Were Given the Choice of Anything Possible, What Would You Choose?

Something wonderful happened to me. I was transported into the seventh heaven. All the gods sat there in assembly. By special grace I was accorded the favor of a wish.

‘Will you,’ said Mercury, ‘have youth, or beauty, or power, or a long life, or the prettiest girl, or any other of the many splendors we have in our chest of knick-knacks? So choose, but just one thing.’

For a moment I was at a loss. Then I addressed myself to the gods as follows:

‘Esteemed contemporaries, I choose one thing: always to have the laughter on my side.’

Not a single word did one god offer in answer; on the contrary they all began to laugh. From this I concluded that my prayer was fulfilled and that the gods knew how to express themselves with taste, for it would hardly have been fitting gravely to answer, ‘It has been granted to you.’*

So wrote Soren Kierkegaard, a nineteenth-century Danish philosopher and theologian who wasn’t thought of as a man with an everlasting smile. An author doesn’t usually laugh himself silly writing books like The Sickness unto Death.

Still, he offered us the amusing segment above while asking an important question:

What would you choose given one choice of anything in the world?

Laughter would be swell, but it has lots of competition. Consider the fulfillment of these wishes in addition to those Mercury offered:

  • World peace.
  • A rapid solution to climate change.
  • The health and happiness of your children and other loved ones.
  • Resilience to take on the world.
  • Immortality. (P.S. You might get bored).

You can think of more, I’m sure.

I’d like to know what you might choose or recommend to others from the gods’ “chest of knick-knacks” or any other list.

Once you decide, here’s an even bigger question: What are you doing to fulfill the one wish Kierkegaard’s story would allow you, assuming the ancient gods don’t pop over to your residence and offer it any time soon?

Speaking of decisions and laughter, I discuss how you might enhance your life with Wynne Leon and Vicki Atkinson on their just-dropped podcast, Episode 47: Being Your Own Best Friend With Dr. Gerald Stein – Part II on Anchor.

It is the sequel to Episode 46: Being Your Own Best Friend With Dr. Gerald Stein – Part I.

Our conversation also expands on a few points I made in my blog post, How to Become Your Own Best Friend.

I hope you listen. Who knows? Maybe even the gods of antiquity will jump into the conversation!
 
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*The excerpt came from Kierkegaard’s Either/Or: A Fragment of Life, translated by Alastair Hannay and edited by Victor Eremita.
 
The top image is the Roman mythological god Mercury, known originally to the Greeks as Hermes. It was sourced from Wikimedia Commons and is the work of Uma79. Also sourced from Wikimedia Commons is Make a Wish, photographed by Dennis Jarvis in Toronto, CA.