193. Games and jokes
193. GAMES AND JOKES
Is St. Thomas so serious that he ignores or downplays the need for physical and verbal games?
Augustine says: I pray thee, spare thyself at times, for it becomes a wise man sometimes to relax the high pressure of his attention to work. Now this relaxation of the mind from work consists in playful words or deeds. Therefore it becomes a wise and virtuous man to have recourse to such things at times . . . the Philosopher assigns to games the virtue of . . . pleasantness.
Just as man needs bodily rest for the body’s refreshment because he cannot always be at work, since his power is finite and equal to a certain fixed amount of labor, so too is it with his soul, whose power is also finite and equal to a fixed amount of work. Consequently when he goes beyond his measure in a certain work, he is oppressed and becomes weary, and all the more since when the soul works, the body is at work likewise, in so far as the intellective soul employs forces that operate through bodily organs. . . . Now just as weariness of the body is dispelled by resting the body, so weariness of the soul must needs be remedied by resting the soul; and the soul’s rest is pleasure. Consequently, the remedy for weariness of soul must needs consist in the application of some pleasure, by slackening the tension of the reason’s study. Thus . . . it is related of Blessed John the Evangelist that when some people were scandalized on finding him playing together with his disciples, he is said to have told one of them who carried a bow to shoot an arrow. And when the latter had done this several times, he asked him whether he could do it indefinitely, and the man answered that if he continued doing it the bow would break. Whence the Blessed John drew the inference that in like manner man’s mind would break if its tension were never relaxed. . . . [W]herefore Tully says that when the audience is weary, it will be useful for the speaker to try something novel or amusing. . . (II-II, 167,2).
Play is necessary for the intercourse of human life. Now whatever is useful to human intercourse may have a lawful employment ascribed to it. Wherefore the occupation of play-actors, the object of which is to cheer the heart of man, is not unlawful. . . (II-II,167,3).
The Philosopher reckons the lack of mirth to be a vice. In human affairs whatever is against reason is a sin. Now it is against reason for a man to be burdensome to others by offering no pleasure to others and by hindering their enjoyment. . . . Now a man who is without mirth is not only lacking in playful speech but is also burdensome to others, since he is deaf to the . . . mirth of others. Consequently they are . . . said to be boorish or rude, as the Philosopher states (II-II,167,4).
There are some people who simply do not like jokes, games, or play. These people have suppressed something in their humanity. “Lack of mirth” is “a vice”, just as lack of seriousness is.
It is not merely the practical need for relaxation and recreation, which is necessary for the serious work of life (though it is that too). Play and mirth is also “necessary for the intercourse of human life” and “to cheer the heart of man”. This is why God invented not just water but also wine (Ps 104:15). They are aids to the works of charity, to making others happier. (Of course this too can be perverted into sinful or fake happiness.)
St. Thomas does not mention this, but jokes also express and produce a kind of insight or wisdom about life that nothing else quite does. Life is many things, but one of them is A Great Joke.
That doesn’t mean it’s not also serious. The distinction between the humorous and the serious is not absolute. Proof of that is the greatest joke in history, the one God played on the Devil in the Incarnation. (See Ps. 2:4.)
C. S. Lewis says that “Joy is the serious business of Heaven.”