Is it frightening to be funny?

What comes to your mind when you hear the word “clown”? Some may think of medieval court jesters, while others may alternatively consider it a derogatory term.Nonetheless, a clown on the whole is seen as a harmles fools, someone silly but funny. But why then did Carl Jung single out the Jester as a distinct archetype? What is the role of the Jester in our collective consciousness? And what communicative function does the it serve in society?

Consider the Jester from a historical perspective. Ancient societies did not have Jesters, they only emerged in the Middle Ages. So, what did the Jester represent?

From a political viewpoint, the Jester held a position of great influence as the chief advisor to the King, granting them nearly unlimited power. However, the Jester was not merely an assistant to the King; they were a parody of the ruler, a grotesque and unrecognizable distortion of same power. Socially, the Jester was an outcast, no one, not even considered a person, but a broken mirror reflecting all the vices of society. Lastly, the Jester played a crucial cultural role; they were a musician, actor, magician, and more. They could do everything and nothing all at once. Even the ragged beggar laughed at the Jester, who had power over the King. The Jester is the dark side of things, the hidden part of the iceberg underwater, and the shadow that everyone casts behind them.

Thus, the Jester stands above the rest of society, above all human laws, and below all at the same time. Laughter is the main feature associated with the Jester. His attire, mannerisms, jokes, and everything about makes the crowd laugh. Now, it’s essential to take a step back and explain the ontology of laughter.

The French philosopher Henri Bergson developed a unique concept of laughter. Bergson believed that laughter is one of the defining features of Man as an “animal that knows how to laugh”. Bergson posits that the appearance of anything artificial or contrived in the realm of the authentic and genuine leads to laughter. For example, when a serious politician stumbles or a lecturer sneezes, we find it funny. In other words, laughter arises when there is a gap between the real and the fake, the original and the copy.

Now let’s apply Bergson’s concept to the phenomenon of the Jester. The Jester’s laughter is the gap between truth and evil, heaven and hell, life and death. In ancient societies, such a gap did not exist, and therefore, the Jester was not needed. For an ancient Greek, satyrs, nymphs, and dryads were entirely real creatures that one could see and touch. The ancient Romans even had a god of faeces. With the advent of Christianity, the sacred was clearly separated from the worldly, leading to a unique kind of ontological chaos. “The eternal battle between God and Satan, and the field of their battle is the human soul.” For ancient societies, such battles did not exist at all.

Buffoonery is an attempt to point people towards the sacred by grotesquely depicting the artificial and the human. The Jester archetype represents the agony of the soul, which cannot distinguish good from evil or truth from lies, and can only laugh, primarily at itself. The Jester’s laughter is the laughter of a person who has looked into a broken “quasi-mirror” and seen their own spiritual deformity.

The key values of this archetype include a developed sense of humor, courage in statements, the ability to forgive others for their mistakes, honesty, openness, cheerfulness, and an active attitude to life.

This archetype is socially dependent, with its energy directed outward. The Jester requires an audience, those to whom he can direct a joke as well as those who want to see the truth hidden behind a witticism or need his veiled advice. The Jester, changing many masks himself, does not tolerate pretense in others and is capable of noticing and exposing covert manipulation. The Jester does not forgive pomposity and pretense, treating himself and life with irony, looking at the world simply but not simplistically. He shows real depth in apparent superficiality.

The Jester’s purpose in life is to serve the King, but not just any King. He serves a wise, fair, and caring ruler who is capable of making informed and thoughtful decisions and taking responsibility for their consequences. The Jester helps such a ruler see the hidden cunning of their subjects, those who put on masks and want to shift power or receive benefits and patronage under the guise of false help. The Jester and the King are partners and allies, and often, in such an alliance, the Jester saves the King and their entire kingdom, even if it means putting their own life on the line. However, the Jester must be careful not to humiliate the monarch in the eyes of their subjects, even if they get carried away and make a sharp joke to the King’s face.

If you have good access to the energy of the Jester and can control it, you are spontaneous, easily switched, cheerful, and playful. You appreciate a good joke and love to laugh, especially at yourself. You are congruent and open in the manifestation of your feelings, with everything written on your face. You admit your mistakes, apologize, and sneer at your own mistakes without getting offended when others make fun of you.

The Jester archetype can be described as either “bloated” or “insufficient” in energy. The former is characterized by a lack of measure in humor, resulting in causticity and cynicism that spares no one, while the latter is marked by extreme pomposity and seriousness, driven by a fear of being open and vulnerable. Both extremes can lead to collapse and isolation.

The Jester must learn to survive ridicule and accept frivolous attitudes from others. He must endure the experience of resentment and rejection, develop a sense of proportion in humor, and cultivate levity through cognitive and spiritual growth. They must also learn to be sensitive to the differences among people and learn lightness, gentleness, and tact in their relationships.

This archetype teaches us to let go of control and to believe that we can be ourselves in any situation, while being adequately perceived and loved by others. It helps us cope with the absurdity of the modern world and its faceless, amorphous, everyday bureaucratic routine. This is partly because he takes everything so lightly, and partly because he likes to break the rules. He teaches us how to have an easy attitude to life, encourages us to live in the moment, enjoy our day-to-day interactions and not burden ourselves with worries about the opinions of others.

He can be a source of inspiration for the future, where the unknown is not an uncomfortable state but rather an opportunity for creativity and change. Under the Jester’s influence, a person’s creative potential is revealed, their desire for change, and ability to transition to a new level of self-realization. He encourages us to pursue authentic desires and live dynamically and freely, with a thirst for constant renewal.

The main lesson that the Jester archetype teaches us is to perceive the new in an unbiased manner and to understand life through an awareness of its hidden cause-and-effect relationships. When we embrace curiosity, experimentation, spontaneity, and playfulness, we embody the Jester archetype and discover the beauty and diversity of the world. It is an invitation to unlock the dormant power within us.

The Jester resides in the attic of our house, the highest space. On one hand, the attic provides all the essentials, including a bed, an armchair, hangers, a toilet, a sink, and even a bathtub. On the other hand, the whole room is eccentric, vibrant, and comical. The sink sits atop a barrel, the bathtub is a vibrant green, and the toilet is a bold red. Instead of a traditional bed, there are three mattresses tucked away in colorful covers. The room lacks a table but has a suitcase with legs to serve as a replacement. For seating, there is a soft hare instead of a typical armchair. The ceiling slopes, so one must be mindful and crawl in the corners. At night, you will sleep beneath a striped circus-like dome adorned with colorful lanterns.

Learn more about the Jester’s room