"That sudden turn makes you forget all your rationality, all your logic, all your language. In a split moment you are suddenly like a child.

"You must have noted, the jokes are only concerned with the repressed parts of your being. It is a revenge – revenge by the powerless against the powerful. They kill you, they destroy you, but you can do it better without weapons, just by a single joke! Jokes have a beauty of their own, because they bring laughter to you. And to me laughter is the moment when the mind stops, time stops and you are suddenly overwhelmed by a new energy, a new delight. These are simple glimpses to prepare you for the ultimate laughter.

"It is said about Bodhidharma that the first thing he did after his enlightenment was, he laughed loudly. Again and again it was asked of him why he laughed; there was no visible reason for it.

"He said, 'I laughed because I was searching myself, and I was going round and round everywhere except within myself. Existence has played a great joke on me.'

"Certainly jokes are not irrational.

"Just look at the rationality of the jokes:

"Bridget, the Irish prostitute, has just finished 'servicing' her client, an English gentleman.

"She asks him, 'Hey, you don't have that terrible AIDS disease, do you?'

"'No,' replies the gentleman, doing up his shoelaces, 'I get a medical check each week, I'm definitely clean.'

"'Oh good,' replies Bridget. 'Thank God for that, I wouldn't like to be getting that again!'

"What did the hurricane say to the palm tree? 'Hang on to your nuts, this is no ordinary blow job!'

"While waiting for Ronald Reagan's press conference to start, one reporter approaches a man standing in the corner of the hall.

"'Hey,' he says, 'have you heard the latest Ronald Reagan joke?'

"The man gives him an icy stare. 'Before you tell it,' he says, 'I must inform you that I work in the White House as his personal secretary.'

"'Thanks for the warning,' says the reporter, 'I will tell it very, very, very slowly.'

"On an Italian airplane flying over the ocean, the pilot tells the passengers to enjoy the flight and that they can expect to reach their destination in four hours."