My new favorite joke…🥕⛄

Okay, it’s not REALLY my favorite, but it’s new (to me). And amusing.

Drumroll please…🥁🥁🥁

Q: Why don’t snowmen like carrot cake?

A: It tastes like boogers to them!

Cute, right? I found it because I was curious about something. I was wondering if there are any jokes about boogers for adults. I’ll tell you why in a second. That one about carrot cake is accessible to kids too. But here’s one that’s a little loftier…

Q: What’s the different between a crown prince and a booger?

A: One is heir to the throne, and the other is thrown to the air.

I wouldn’t exactly bring that one out to a room full of middle schoolers like the carrot cake one. That crown prince one feels more like the level of intelligence and sophistication you would find at a socialite dinner party. But, I probably wouldn’t tell it there either. Too taboo.

And that’s what this is all about. Taboos. Because they’re all around us and I ponder them often.

Taboos are found in many places, but they always indicate a boundary we are not to cross in order to keep order or decorum, some kind of very real dynamic that we are not to acknowledge in certain spaces lest we risk the trauma of destabilization, disorder or worse, shame or embarrassment. That’s how it seems to me today, at any rate. I could be wrong, and often am. But, whenever you find yourself having some kind of forbidden thought, ask yourself why it’s forbidden, and what is the potential social cost of violating that prohibition.

One class of taboos we can all see pretty clearly is the biological ones. I have a whole philosophical concept around this, participation in the Realm of LIFE. The fact is that we are all carrying these biological systems around and none too comfortable with many of those implications. In fact, we’ve had to work pretty damn hard as a society to put successful boundaries around many of these functions, which is an ongoing effort and moving target. But we can’t escape our biological natures. Click here if you would like to read a passage from a book I just wrote that describes this.

You and I both encounter people all over the place. All of our work and activity is premised on social connection in some way. So, you are constantly meeting people who pee/poop/fart, who have the mechanics of reproductive function and, yes, who even pick their noses 👃 Funny though, the nose thing is the least taboo of what’s on that list there. I wonder why. Either way, a well-ordered society necessitates controlling and carefully placing “appropriate” boundaries around all of these biological functions. We try to dress ourselves up, but we’re always carrying that stuff around. Each of us. Everyone you meet.

It’s not just biology though. There are countless taboos related to psychology, sociology, economics, business, commerce, family life, and pretty much everything else we can name. And you will find jokes to prod our discomfort around each and every one.

We have numerous taboos around topics related to money, power, workplace relationships, institutional hierarchy, unequal distribution of risk and reward, governance, socioeconomic status, work ethic, luck, education, therapy, and pretty much all the other dynamics that govern our social lives.

And most fundamentally we have taboos around the nature of commerce itself, which is the foremost activity performed by humans in relationship with one another. It ain’t just about money (see definition 1!). Ultimately it’s about value exchange, which means we’re all evaluating our exchanges on a continuous basis, with everyone else in our lives. And it’s very taboo to point that out explicitly (which is why we have such elaborate and obfuscatory dances to do so). It’s honest though. And the clients with whom I have very honest conversations about this taboo of social value exchange find a special kind of respite in the space I create to do this. It’s a place to release the tension of carrying around these taboos and being super aware of them.

Which is exactly what jokes do, about boogers or other bodily functions. Our about psychology and sociology. Or about business and commerce. Jokes often point to the taboos we endure as social beings and show how absurd yet necessary they are for the ordering of our social groups.

In the beginning God was One, pure Unity of Being Itself. But it despised Itself for it chose to divide, and that has been the shape of existence ever since - divided, separate, and engaged in commerce within, between, and among Itself at every conceivable level. And every level comes with taboos. And there is liberation in seeing them clearly and realizing you’re not the only one who does.

Want a space of respite to explore the taboos in your life, psychology, and commerce? I can help.