Merold Westphal has another essay in this book entitled “Laughing at Hegel.” I read the whole thing.
“Christmas Humpheys says, ‘There is more honest ‘belly laughter’ in a Zen monastery than surely in any other religious institution on earth’ — and the faithful chant before Maitreya, the Messianic Buddha whose avatar is a clown:
When the big belly thunders with loud roars of laughter,
Thousands of white lotuses rain through all the worlds.
Is Bataille’s laughter in ‘expression’ of satori? Very possibly, but we must proceed carefully . . .” (pp. 213-214).
Which I did, tiptoeing right out of there.