Woofin’

Here in Michigan, at least among the gang I’ve run with for years, we have a term called “woofin.” I’m not sure if that’s a regional definition or a more widespread part of the English language. For me, it’s just another word for what is a clearly a universal human activity: Getting laughs with and about others, be it those we’re close to, folks we work with perhaps or maybe those we hear about through media.

It all sounds base and undignified, perhaps, to blatantly joke about other people. As Robin Williams said once, “I’m not laughing at you, I’m laughing near you.” I guess some of us just need that release at times. Love thy neighbor? Yes, of course, we try, but get real…it’s not always easy.

Woofin’ is just another way to make light of it all, to admit our limitations and to know we aren’t always going to rise above the so-called fray. Woofin’ allows us to accept that we don’t always, if ever, exist in some higher realm of consciousness 24/7, where judgment is suspended and assumed to bring us negative karma or at best, make us look like a jerk. This is the action of being like a kid again, letting it all out for a few minutes, a harmless way to expose our annoyances and upsets just long enough to chuckle, release and get on with it.

I cannot imagine my life without a sense of humor. I also can’t conceive of learning much from someone without that quality. Prem Rawat, who I consider my teacher (for total lack of a better term), is one of the funniest people I’ve ever known.

He’s an internationally known speaker on the topic of peace, someone I’ve enjoyed listening to for many years. Live and in person, I’ve never heard him get through a presentation without some major laughs, including some heavy duty “woofin” on human behavior here and there.

From re-telling jokes he’s heard before to his own natural ability to see the almost endless comedy in situations, he is, if nothing else, a very enjoyable person to know. Stand outside a room where he’s speaking and you’d never guess the so-called serious nature of the topic by the peels of laughter.

I was in attendance when he addressed an audience at the United Nations headquarters in NYC a few years back. The feeling before he got up to speak was pretty stilted and stiff, as you might imagine in a place with such a serious history. Those of us who know him were trying hard to be fairly quiet and dignified, whereas we’d normally erupt in applause when he came onto a stage. The other guests and dignitaries, not knowing much about the man about to address them, were simply waiting to hear another speech. That was my assumption anyway and by the looks on their faces, it was indeed the case.

He talks without notes or prepared words and it’s always impressed me that Prem seems to tap into the vibe of any given audience, be it 300 people or 300,000. This time, in New York, he started with a joke that absolutely killed. I won’t repeat it here because that’s not the point. It sure did loosen things up though, and everyone needed it. After that opening, we knew we could relax and listen while something beyond our efforts at being attentive took it all in and filed it away to peruse later on. The entire situation became, in that moment of comedy, clearly no big deal; no expectation of oratorical lightening bolts; no need to brace ourselves to attain some imagined state of understanding. By then, it was just a nice man reminding us about something very cool, simple and beautiful that we already knew but tended to forget.

This takes us back to the value of some good ol’ down home woofin’, when and where it’s appropriate. Laughter and humor are such necessary assets we’ve been given to get us through it all, to increase our level of enjoyment, and to give our bodies a good old shake and rattle whenever we need it. Just another little gift from whatever made us this way.

All I can really feel about this human quality is, “Thanks. I appreciate it” and I don’t worry about where to send that expression of gratitude. No need to make it complicated. I figure if I just let my “thank you” rip it’ll go exactly where it’s meant to. And I bet if there is some old bearded man in the sky getting those kudos from me, he’d be the first to say, “Heard any good jokes about me lately?”