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A Rumor Of Angels By Peter Berger Summary

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In chapter 3 of A Rumor of Angels by Peter Berger he discusses five major signals of transcendence. The signal of transcendence I want to focus on is humor. The way Berger discusses humor is that it is necessary for being human. It’s my opinion that humor, laughter and joy add to life and make it more enjoyable. Berger defines humor as “an intrinsically human trait” (p. 70). I agree with Berger that humor is a human trait, but I do not think they are born with it. I will focus on when humans start using humor as a form of distraction that Berger describes and why Berger feels they do this. Berger’s thinking that humor can only be linked to humans is interesting to me and not a concept I have ever thought of. There are videos of animals doing …show more content…

Humans learn about the simplicity of their lives and how easy that life can end in a blink of an eye. The constant thought of death is crushing and makes life seem pointless. Humans start to realize that there is nothing they can do to truly escape death, and death starts to be a big part of their lives. It surrounds the world in all aspects of life. Truthfully, it is tough to go a day without seeing, hearing, or thinking about death. They start to learn that laughter is a powerful tool in helping the world be a happier place. Berger talks about how laughter can change the world and change what is viewed as powerful (p. 71). Laughter goes beyond what is facts and allows for the escape of the mind. I agree with Berger’s idea here because no matter who you are or what you have done death does not care you are going to die. Nothing at this time can change that fact, it is just part of the empirical way of life. Everything in the world can change or collapse in an instant, but the one thing that will always hold constant is that at some point everyone will physically die. The best way to cope with that fact and transcend the empirical thinking is to just laugh. Laughter makes the scary things such as death seem less. It allows for instances where people can forget about the inevitable and focus on what is in front of

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