It's Funny Because It's True: Buddhist Realism and the Dark Comedy of Louis C.K.

None at Threes Brewing

Tue, Jun 28 at 6:30 p.m. | 90 minutes

Christopher Kelley is back after a sold-out event last month!

Gautama Buddha is believed to have promulgated four basic truths about the nature of the human condition. In the first of these (the noble truth of “suffering”) he claims that stress, anxiety, and dissatisfaction are endemic to life. This supposition is not exclusive to Buddhism. Any good stand-up comedian knows this already because making jokes about it usually gets big laughs, or as they say—“kills.”

Like the Buddha, the comic can be a powerful medium for communicating the more disquieting and shunned truths in life. In this session we will examine the dark comedy of contemporary artists like Louis C.K. in terms of the Buddhist four noble truths: 1) the truth of suffering, 2) the truth of the cause of suffering, 3) the truth of the cessation of suffering, and 4) the truth of the path that leads to the end of suffering.

Teacher: Christopher Kelley

Venue: Threes Brewing

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Classically, the liberal arts, were the education considered essential for a free person to take an active part in civic life. To counter a humanities that has been institutionalized and dehumanized we infuse critical thinking, openness, playfulness, and compassion into our learning experience.

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