Risibility

I didn't learn until I was in college that the reason humans laugh is because we're rational.

Apparently, it takes some logical brains to decipher whether something is humorous.

I remember reading one author in particular (don't ask me to remember which one) who explained that humor is recognition of the absurd. This makes sense to me; people with a highly developed sense of humor generally have the knack for quick analysis of a situation in all its complicated, potential absurdities.

My little Tigger laughs everyday. I'd like to say I do, as well, but he definitely does; and if I definitely do, it's because his is contagious. He expresses his rational soul on a regular basis. It's like his little innocent being understands what it means to be human in the fullest sense.

St. Iranaeus said, "Man fully alive is the glory of God." In other words, the more we actualize or participate in the life God created us to live, the more He is glorified. God created us after His image, higher than the animals, with a rational soul. So the more we are true to ourselves (aka: act like the rational beings we are), the more we are glorifying God.
This leads me to conclude that joyful laughter glorifies God.

A corollary to this conclusion might be that children glorify God, but that's more of a first principle, don't you think?

I think it's marvelous that my Tigger laughs everyday. Perhaps his sense of humor is not the most sophisticated, but the more he learns, the more he develops into the man God created him to be. For now, his laughter has enough meaning to convince me of the active presence of his rational soul.

And it reminds me to actualize mine, to the glory of God.