The Dalai Lama and Desmond Tutu on the Joy of Laughter

When a Dalai Lama and an Archbishop walk into a bar, you may not expect them to be the ones cracking the jokes. But having worked with many spiritual leaders, I’m tempted to see laughter and a sense of humor as a universal index of spiritual development. After spending a week with the Archbishop and the Dalai Lama, I can attest that these two leaders certainly topped that index as they skewered humbug, status, injustice, and evil, all with the power of humor. They and everyone around them were constantly guffawing, chortling, giggling, and belly laughing, as moments of great levity were spliced together with moments of profundity and sanctity. So often their first response to any subject, no matter how seemingly painful, was to laugh.