THE DULL SADNESS OF THE MODERN AGE

I. THE STRANGE SERIOUSNESS OF A WORLD THAT THINKS ITSELF CLEVER

One of the most baffling mysteries of modern society is its inability to laugh with genuine joy. It’s not that people don’t make jokes—they do, constantly—but rarely with true delight. Instead, modern humor is bitter, calculated, and, above all, sad.

There was a time when men laughed because life was a gift and the world a stage full of surprises. Today, the modern man laughs with a bitter smirk, as if trying to prove that he is too intelligent to take anything seriously. He has turned humor into a tool of sarcasm and disdain, a shield against the terrifying possibility of happiness. Because, in the modern mind, to be happy is to be naive, and to not take oneself too seriously is a sign of low intelligence.

This obsessive seriousness is the clearest sign of a world that has lost its grasp on reality. Because only those who possess the truth can laugh at everything without fear.

II. THE SADNESS OF THOSE WHO BELIEVE IN NOTHING

The problem with the modern world is not just that it lacks humor, but that its own philosophy makes it incapable of finding any.

To laugh, one must at least momentarily accept that the world is something good. And that is precisely what the modern man cannot do. If life has no purpose and the universe is a meaningless accident, then any expression of joy is, at best, a foolish distraction and, at worst, an offense against reason. The modern world is incapable of spontaneous joy because it has convinced itself that nothing is worth celebrating.

When men of old drank wine, they sang and toasted with joy because the wine was a gift. The modern man drinks to forget. Before, festivities were a reflection of gratitude; today, entertainment is merely a way to anesthetize oneself. The difference is simple: the man who believes in God drinks with joy; the man who does not drinks in despair.

III. HUMOR: A MATTER OF MENTAL HEALTH

In a sane world, laughter is a sign of sanity. Not because everything is funny, but because everything is meaningful. True humor arises from the ability to see life from the right perspective, to understand that the world is at once serious and ridiculous, profound and lighthearted, divine and human.

The saint and the wise man can laugh because they know man is small and yet, miraculously, loved by God. The madman and the proud man, on the other hand, never truly laugh, because they believe the universe revolves around their own gravity.

This is why the modern man—who thinks history begins with him and that the fate of the cosmos depends on his social media debates—is incapable of lighthearted laughter. He has made seriousness into a religion and has banished joy to the margins of childhood and ignorance.

But joy is not a sign of foolishness; it is a sign of sanity.

IV. ONLY THOSE WHO HAVE THE TRUTH CAN LAUGH

Laughter is not just a trait of human nature; it is proof that there is something in the universe worth celebrating. It is the spark that confirms that reality is neither a trap nor a nightmare, but a story with a purpose.

This is why saints have always been the most joyful. Because their joy does not depend on circumstances but on the certainty that truth exists and that God is good.

The modern world mocks faith, but it is incapable of laughing with the freedom of a believer. Because the one who possesses the truth can afford the luxury of laughing even at himself, but the one who has made relativism his only truth must cling desperately to his own importance.

When a Christian laughs, he does so with the confidence of a child playing in his father’s house. When the modern man tries to laugh, he does so like someone whistling in the dark to hide his fear.

V. THE SECRET OF JOY

The secret of joy is simple: not thinking oneself the center of the universe.

The man who sees the world as a gift is happy because he understands that his role in this story is that of a character, not a frustrated author trying to rewrite the plot. He does not need to pretend that everything is under his control, because he knows the script has already been written by someone infinitely wiser.

Christianity has always been the religion of joy because it is the only one that has a real reason for it. It not only offers an explanation for existence but a reason to celebrate it. It not only answers suffering but redeems it. It not only understands death but conquers it.

This is why the Christian can laugh freely, while the modern world, with all its science, progress, and technology, remains as dull as ever.

Because nothing is more boring than living in a world without meaning.

VI. THE WORLD HAS BECOME SERIOUS BECAUSE IT HAS LOST GOD

The problem with the modern world is not just that it has stopped believing in God but that it has taken itself too seriously. And a world that takes itself too seriously is a world doomed to sadness.

Before, men could laugh at their own flaws because they knew they were not the center of existence. Today, the slightest joke is taken as an offense because every man has turned his opinion into a personal dogma and his ego into a religion.

The world has banished laughter because it has lost humility. It has exiled joy because it no longer knows how to be grateful. And it has murdered humor because it has forgotten that reality is far greater than our intellectual pretensions.

But laughter will not disappear. Because truth, in the end, always triumphs.

And when the world, tired of its own dullness, rediscovers the greatness of simplicity, the wonder of the ordinary, and the immense joy of being a creature in the house of its Creator…

Then, it will laugh again.

OMO