Must
be funny
MUST:
To escape our prison of seriousness we follow the rule must
be funny without
any deviation or exception.
BE: Our state of being or consciousness, to be transformed.
FUNNY: The higher state of consciousness we aspire to.
Seriousness and original sin
The whole world labors and suffers under the rule must be serious. So pervasive and all-encompassing is this rule that we never question it. We do not even know we're serious, can't imagine any alternative. Our very souls are in bondage to The Serious One, who holds us captive with chains we cannot see.
Many of us go to church looking for relief. But all the churches and religions are serious and ruled by The Serious One. They'll say we're suffering from various sins, and even if we avoid those we're subject to original sin, which is a mysterious inherited condition.
That's getting close to the truth. Our original sin, passed down since the Fall of Man, is seriousness.
The good news
Must be funny (mbf) gives us the alternative to seriousness, and the good news that we can escape our ignorance and captivity and ascend to a higher state: funniness. Without this hope it would do no good to discover the nature of our sin, and we would be better off in denial.
Yet how can we cast off a lifetime of seriousness, reaching into our very heart and soul? Won't we carry our serious nature till we die?
Mbf is a mission to the last, the most serious among us. We will find that the depth of our sin makes no difference, that salvation is available to all regardless of our condition. In fact, being last may be an advantage. (See The last shall be first, below.)
Good news also for the devout of many religions: Your faith will not go to waste. (See repentance, redemption and so on.) We build on traditional religious values to attain this new level.
Repentence
Once we know what we're suffering from, and that there is another way, then we can afford to repent. We can see ourselves immersed in seriousness, which controls our lives, leading us into dead ends and serious trouble.
Repentance is becoming aware of our lost condition and wanting to change. This is the first step in turning our life around.
We realize we are powerless and cannot change by ourselves
We realize we are serious, without any talent for being funny. We know we are powerless over our minds, which were made up long ago. We know we will never be cured, and will have to live with our seriousness until the day we die. How then can our souls be freed from this fate? What is the secret of funniness?
Redemption, forgiveness and remission of sins
Forgiveness or remission of sins says it's not our fault. We didn't know any better. We can start over and do it right. Except we can't. We're still serious and will fall into the same pattern. We need something stronger.
Redemption means our seriousness is put to use and made funny. That's the powerful remedy required for our condition. Without changing ourselves, we can turn our seriousness from a negative to a positive.
One more element is required: faith. We are incapable of funniness by ourselves. But we believe we can be saved and become funny through some higher power bestowing its grace upon us.
As we follow
this belief in our inept serious fashion a miracle occurs: we hear laughter.
People are laughing at us! We're funny! Halleluia, we're saved! And the more
serious we are, the more they laugh. Our original sin is no longer a liability
but an asset.
| We're
all funny. Some of us just don't know it yet. |
The last shall be first
We who are most serious can do the best deadpan act. We who are most serious are most in need of funniness. We who are most serious will recognize that we cannot change ourselves, and surrender to the higher power of funny.
Mbf is a mission to the last. We realize the depth of our sin, our hopeless condition. We will be the first and most fervent and faithful followers of the funny path.
and the last shall be first.
--Jesus (Matt 19:30)
and become as little children,
ye shall not enter into
the kingdom of heaven.
--(Matt 18:3)
Children are funny until they learn to be serious people. They are last in seriousness, first in funniness. If we can return to that consciousness we are saved.
| Forgive,
O Lord, my little jokes on Thee and I'll forgive Thy great big one on
me.
-- Robert Frost |
Sacred meme
A meme is any short phrase or concept that tends to spread itself and become part of the cultural memory.
Must be funny is the sacred meme and algorithm that has been given to us as a guide to the new age, to save our souls from the sin of seriousness and build a funny world.
"Must be funny" is all we need to know in every situation. It is our guidance and decision rule. We carry our faith within us as these three words.
To escape the pull of serious world, we must always keep our gaze fixed on funny, the highest, even if it seems beyond our reach.
| Blessed are they who can laugh at themselves, for they shall never cease to be amused. |
Backwards compatible
Must be funny works fine as a stand-alone religion, but most people have a faith already. Therefore we're making funny religion backward compatible and offering free upgrades to owners of legacy religions, to convert to the funny operating environment with no loss of faith.
| Saved | Funny |
| Heaven on earth | Funny world |
| Original sin | Serious* |
| The
one commandment The one true faith |
Must be funny |
| Repentance | Seriousness sucks |
| Redemption Forgiveness of sins |
Seriousness made funny |
| True
believer Instant salvation |
Committing one's life to funny |
| By their works shall you know them | Making people laugh |
| Holy spirit, flows through the saved | Divine spirit of humor |
* Serious people are sitting in darkness, lost souls, ignorant of the saving power of funny. Oops, that's us!
The mbf mission does not attempt to know what's going on in your heart and soul. That's your business. The mission stays out of any invisible metaphysical realms.
We deal with laughter, which can be measured with a laugh meter if necessary. It's a physical accoustical quantity in the material world.
No, we don't carry laugh meters around. We
have something much more elegant: funny money (Chapter
6). We reward people who make us laugh. Funny people get rich. Funny money
is our measure of spiritual merit, how far we have progressed in becoming
funny people.
Funny is as funny does
We don't argue states of beingness, who's funny and who's not. Funny is as funny does. We're funny if we make people laugh.
This misquote from Forrest Gump ("Stupid is as stupid does") is one of our fundamental principles. We don't get saved by navel-gazing. We have to do something.
This agrees with traditional religion: Faith
without works is dead.
Serious in pursuit of funny is no vice
What can serious folk do to be saved? We may not have a funny bone in our body.
We are saved by the principle: Serious in pursuit of funny is no vice. In fact it's funny. And if we're serious, it's the only thing we can do to be saved. The mission puts serious people to work building funny world.
The true believer and salvation
True belief in funny is funny, and this is the redeeming role for serious people, to take this manual seriously and follow its instructions without question as the one true path to funniness. Once we commit ourselves to this course we are indeed funny, instantly saved.
We are following the traditional formula for salvation followed by most religions, which insist on true belief in something impossible, and then obedience to that belief. And it works! The true believer is saved by faith in anything, even funny. If you have a faith already, it's transferable.
| Believing
in funny is funny. People will laugh at us. Our faith is rewarded. |
All saved, all lost or who cares?
All saved is too cheery. The news isn't that good. All lost is funnier and goes on forever. We make futile efforts while convinced we're on the right track. We're optimistic fools. Salvation beckons. We have dramatic contrast.
All lost expands the story. We start out in
original sin, in the grip of The Serious One. We're on a long and risky adventure
to escape to funny world. The path says we aren't there yet, and that's what
makes the mission go.
Obedience that comes from faith
Obedience is following orders: Must be funny. Build funny world. The true believer follows the commandments faithfully. "Must be funny" is a decision rule that we trust. That simplifies life and we can proceed with confidence.
This obedience is not a burden. It lifts the burden of doubt and decision-making and seriousness. The yoke is easy.
Obedience is also willpower. We have to do
it. We have to raise whatever strength and energy is required, and the spirit
flows through us.
Faith without works is dead
By their fruits will we know them, in this case by making people laugh. But even those who aren't funny yet will work and be fruitful building funny world.
We're saved by faith, which is more than a belief. Just having a belief doesn't get us very far. Faith includes repentence which is a rededication of our work and energy, from our former serious life to our new life of funny. Then our belief matters and we are saved. Faith and practice go together.
Traditional religion has dealt with this at length. If it's the same in full-blooded Christianity and in funny religion it must be universal.
Belief fires up our imagination and gets our
energy moving. Works give the energy somewhere to go, and the spirit flows
through us. This is our salvation and reward. Without the works our faith
will soon die, its hopes unfulfilled.