When we think of parables, we imagine opening a slim crumbling text that recounts ancient tales of sages deep in the forest or meditating in caves, or on mountaintops. Our images of divinity carry us to far off times and places, far, far away from the hassles of today’s world.

The very last place we’d expect to encounter a spiritual parable is stopped in traffic on an LA freeway. The very last person we’d typically entertain as the hero of a parable, is a harried modern comedian, struggling with the conflations of ego, and the deflations of inadequacy, while trying to cope with the recent passing of his elderly father. Yet it’s just that hero whom Deepak Chopra gives us in his wonderful new book, Why is God Laughing?

This easy read is a like a bag full of munchies—you just have to read a few more pages, (and a few more) until you get to the bottom (or top) of it. Chopra’s hero is a second rate comedian named Mickey Fellows who keeps his sadness, loss, and insecurity at bay by keeping his mind on auto-pilot generating a constant stream of jokes. While Descartes famously asserted, “I think, therefore, I am,” at the book open, Mickey’s mantra might well be, “I’m funny, therefore I am.” As the book traces Mickey’s inner monologue along with his inner (and outer) journey, the reader can readily sense the desperation lurking behind the ha-ha’s. His familiar brand of humor seems somehow poignant: We long for Mickey to find freedom from defensive humor and awaken to his core. Indeed, we all want that for ourselves. And that’s where the book takes us.

On this journey, instigated from the beyond by his recently departed Dad as a farewell act of caring, Mickey is guided by one Francisco, a mysterious guy who shows up unexpectedly in all the right places. Through this contemporary parable, Chopra carries us right to heart of the cosmic joke—awakening Mickey to the joy and the surprise a-ha! hidden inside every moment as without his realizing that he's doing so, Mickey, like all of us, weaves the movie of his life.

Beyond the puzzle and the struggle, the book reveals that it's all there for us to recognize and delight in—if only (like Mickey) we can let go, trust that we are right where we are meant to be, and learn to see (and delight in) the joke.

Without revealing too much of how Mickey gets there, I can tell you that this delightful volume, like all parables, conveys its spiritual lessons, and unlike many, it conveys them artfully through humor. Why is God Laughing? is a rare blend of divinity and humor, something to be savored. Who said the most important lessons have to be serious?

For over a century, beginning with Nietzsche, people have said that God is dead, but thankfully in these times, Chopra can hear him laughing, and through this disarming book, so can we.

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