In the over-heated brains of these Englishmen, Shantam is really Frieda Pinto, sat at her computer dressed only in her chuddies!

“Studies show that men more often use humour to jockey for position with other males when they are in the company of women.”

In the light of this academic wisdom, I think I am just beginning to understand the underlying dynamic of the obsessive behaviour exhibited by Arpana, Satyadeva et al. As there are hardly any women around here then the prize for the fierce competition going on can only be – Shantam Prem!

Is all this part of Osho’s will and testament, too?

Help, let me out!

What about just having a laugh with anyone anywhere anytime, just because? Could be at home with family and friends, at work, play or the bus stop or Lidl check-out, online, corpsing at videos on YouTube or anywhere.

As the experts say, it can help you to pull the birds and to irritate long-faced misery merchants, which are definite bonuses…but it’s also health-inducing, intelligence-increasing, fun, bond-forming and, apparently, an aid to meditation!

You would have to be a mug to miss out on such a veritable free lunch for the soul!

Geoffrey Miller, an evolutionary psychologist at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque and author of ‘The Mating Mind: How Sexual Choice Shaped the Evolution of Human Nature’, argues that the humour divide is best understood as a result of sexual selection: Women are the choosier sex, and because they prefer funny men — a signal of cognitive fitness— men learned to deploy humour and wit to attract a mate and perhaps to outsmart other men.

“Men taunt other men with clever nicknames and insults,” says John Morreal, a professor of religion at William and Mary College in Williamsburg, Virginia, who has studied humour for 25 years. “That isn’t something that women do. They don’t tend to play practical jokes, or engage in humour that humiliates or puts somebody down.”

The basic difference is that males tend to use humour to compete with other men, while women tend to use humour to bond with others. Studies show that men more often use humour to jockey for position with other males when they are in the company of women.

The allure of male humour is so strong that female laughter may have evolved as a signal of sexual interest — picture a woman’s girlish giggles as she flirts with a man at a bar. Indeed, a German study found that when male and female strangers engaged in natural conversation, the degree to which a woman laughed while talking to a man was indicative of her interest in dating him. How much the woman laughed also predicted the man’s desire to date her. On the flip side, how often a man laughed was unrelated to his interest in a woman.

Bressler says that his study indicates humour likely developed through sexual selection because it is most desirable in romantic relationships. Women don’t care about a friend’s sense of humour, whether male or female.

https://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/200508/humors-sexual-side

“Ernie is playing with his electric toy train in the living room, overlooking the kitchen where his mother is cooking. Ernie’s toy train takes one circle and stops, Ernie says to his imagined passengers, “Dear passengers, hope you had a good journey and if anyone has any complaints please inform that F*****g Station Master in his office.”

The mother, on hearing this, says, ”Ernie, don’t use such bad language.”

Ernie continues playing…Then the 2nd circle takes a bit longer than the first one. When it stops he says, “Dear passengers, hope you had a good journey and if anyone has any complaints please inform that F******g Station Master in his office.”

On hearing this for the 2nd time his mother takes him by his hand and makes him stand in one corner for 1/2 an hour & then says, “Ernie, hope you are sorry and won’t use that word again”, to which he nods.

Ernie goes back to playing…Now the 3rd circle is complete & he says, “Dear passengers, hope you had a good journey and this time if you have any complaints go to that Bitch in the Kitchen!”

It’s my favourite from Osho collection.

Well done, everybody. God, it was difficult sometimes, I even thought we might never make it to the end but we did. Congrats.

Obviously, now we have actually sorted out what Osho meant, who we are, what the price of cheese is, the number of Angels who can dance on a pin, etc., it really leaves us very little to do.

Some people have thought of setting up a website with a team of invisible moderators and a nominal titular head of the blogsite with an avid yet passive interest in old Wisden’s Cricketing Almaniac, but I can’t imagine that idea would work (crazy, eh?)!!!

Also, some ‘girls’ have written in complaining that, well, just complaining actually, which is typical really, but it’s not their fault as they are girls.

Anyway, the thing is, it’s sorted. Thank goodness for that. I always knew we could do it and without a legal team. Brilliant and how very Osho, in an anarchically veggie way, even though I say it myself. Makes you feel like celebrating, eh?

Phewwwww.