When the absurd is contained within the boundaries of one’s own mastery — that is, when the absurdity is situated and contained within an understood whole — the absurdity is laughable, and the relationship is comic.

When the absurd breaks into the boundaries of our own mastery — that is, when absurdity overwhelms understanding, and submerges all involved in perplexity — and reason is no longer a reliable guide, the relationship is tragic.

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With levity one has rises above a tragedy, gets over it, gains a higher perspective on it, is no longer caught up in it.

We are no longer subject to the absurdity. We’ve become detached, gained critical distance, and see things more more objectively. From the new perspective, the absurdity is no longer such a threat. Now we can look back and laugh.

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Comedy can mask tragedy. We try to rise above painful situations with black humor. People affect superiority by laughing at things that make them anxious or insecure —  things they don’t understand, and hope never to understand.

Mockery treats a matter as understood to be not worth knowing.

Mockery of a person means that their perspective does not need to be considered. We only consider other people’s perspectives when we need to — either we need a new perspective (rare), or we wish to share perspectives, or the other person is in a position to force us to consider their perspective, or we know the other person’s actions will affect us, and we need to understand how they see things so we can predict or influence their behavior.

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Jack Handey: “It takes a big man to cry, but it takes an even bigger man to laugh at that man.”