WHAT IS “A SENSE OF HUMOUR?"

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21019, 7 May 1930, Page 14

WHAT IS “A SENSE OF HUMOUR?"

Count Hermann Keyserling, in his article on " Genius Loci,” in the September Atlantic Monthly, explains precisely what he means by the term “ sens* of humour,” Here is his definition: — “He only has humour in the real sense who knows how to give expression to a profound and even tragic opposition from the point of view of a benevolent and serene mind. His is the quality of divine laughter ,of the man inwardly superior to those things ordinary people take with such fearsome seriousness. “ Accordingly, there can be no high quality of humour unless intellectual understanding acts as the keynote. Thit is why ancient Chinese humour must bt appraised as the highest mankind has as yet produced. This is why real humour is not merely a sense ol proportion as such, as the English would have- it—it is a sense o£ proportion ruled from within by a keen appreciation of spiritual and intellectual values.”