Read time 4 minutes. Silliness as presence.
Lately I’ve been hearing a car commercial with Elaine Stritch singing “Are You Having Any Fun?” Maybe you’ve heard it too—it’s hard to miss. The song is striking in its playfulness, but also loaded with wisdom: “Are you having any fun… laughs?” Or the sharper question: “Who cares for what you’ve got if you’re not having any fun?”
The song is silly. But in its silliness, it’s also Zen. Let’s see why—and maybe have a little fun ourselves along the way.
Take silliness seriously
Let me pose a question: are you taking your practice a little too seriously?
The Tao Te Ching says we should be like newborns. Babies cry, then laugh, then cry again. What they don’t do is suddenly get overly serious.
Even fun can become over-serious. Try too hard to have a perfect day, and the pressure ruins it. Our practice is no different. The last thing we need is more pressure, yet we smuggle it in anyway: That was bad. I shouldn’t say that, should I?
Instead of scolding ourselves, why not laugh with the ego? Bring it in on the joke. That’s Zen at its most basic—and one of the most effective practices around.
The Tao of silliness
Among all the layered teachings, today’s might be as valuable as any: make silliness a priority.
Zen masters were often tricksters. Students would bring their most desperate questions, and sometimes the master’s response was laughter. Not mockery—just a reminder: You’re trying too hard.
Comedy and tragedy are yin and yang. Each tilts into the other. So if you’re going to go out of your way to find something, find the funny. Laughter is a direct route into presence.
Yes, some things are no laughing matter. But even then, step back. Is it really? Sometimes the most serious moments are the ones most in need of a smile.
Practice silliness
Let’s not complicate it. Here are some simple ways to practice:
- Flip insecurities. If your hair must be perfect, mess it up. If dancing makes you self-conscious, dance when no one expects it. Let the ego squirm, then laugh at it.
- Play with language. Shakespeare’s genius often wasn’t what he said but how. Humor works the same way. Potstickers? Call them doo-dads. Appetizers? “Appetizing treats.” Nonsense words pull us out of ordinary thinking and ordinary living.
- Lean into absurdity. Sometimes at dinner I’ll ask the server, “How many doo-dads come with these appetizing treats?” Then turn to my partner and ask if she thinks I can eat 20 orders. Sometimes I repeat something so dumb that, after weeks, it becomes an inside joke.
Absurdity jolts us awake. The Western mind craves neat stories with morals. Zen calls that illusion. Sudden absurdity—like thunder cracking or beauty shocking—can slap us into presence.
Turn the overly serious on its head
A personal story. In high school, I went on a youth group camping retreat. The leader was explaining the rules for capture the flag, while I was cracking jokes. Finally, exasperated, he asked: “Don’t you take anything seriously?”
Yes, I thought to myself, but only the rules to capture the flag, the vast majority of which are contained within the name itself. Thankfully, I kept those thoughts to myself.
I know—the class clown can be tedious. Sometimes silliness isn’t welcome. But I still remember that moment. The question—don’t you take anything seriously?—isn’t so straightforward. In Zen, the answer is flipped into a statement: don’t you dare take anything too seriously.
The playful path
Life and practice will be challenging. We’ll slip. We’ll get angry, reactive, frustrated. But the moment we notice it, we can pause, breathe, and chuckle at the silliness of it all.
Silliness won’t fix everything, but it will keep us light enough to meet whatever comes. So go ahead—have a little fun.
And don’t you dare take anything too seriously.
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