On a recent Saturday morning in St. Louis, I headed to the Missouri Botanical Garden for their dazzling Chinese lantern exhibit, Magic Reimagined. Admittedly daytime is not when you’re supposed to view a lantern exhibit, but I wanted to get a preview and the Garden is free to local residents on Saturday (and Wednesday) mornings. Here we are, in the middle of America, half a globe from China, and I’m awestruck by the commonality of whimsy in the human experience. Whatever the cultural, geopolitical differences between America and China, there is a familiar thread of delight and humor woven into this exquisite art of Chinese lantern making.

I wonder what binds us together in how we think about whimsical imagery. How long have people been creating funny animals, singing vegetables, and dancing soft drinks? When did people first decide it was a good idea to give non-human, even non-animate things life? Did this sort of thing start somewhere and get exported, or did the world’s people come up with it simultaneously, unaware of each other’s efforts?

Why do we do this? What compels us to enrich our lives with the extravagance of whimsy? We know humans have a long history of laughing. There is a large body of work from anthropologists, philosophers, even theologians, exploring the ins and outs of humor. However, whimsy is a slightly different animal (and a cute one at that). Whimsy makes us laugh, but it does something more. It taps into something deep within us. I think that it comes out of longing. Longing for things to be good, harmonious, and safe. And right.

Here’s the idea: I think whimsy evokes a longing for there to be some kind of place where a lamb can cuddle up with a lion. A place where things don’t merely meet the technical requirements for life, but satisfy the emotional need for safety. Some folks speculate that humans created gods and afterlives to quiet fears of thunderstorms and earthquakes. I don’t know of any primary source that states something like “the ground shook and I got scared so I created a super being to save me”. I consider that mere speculation and furthermore, I think it skirts the issue. The fact is, we are scared and everyone, in every place, has an aching realization that things aren’t right. We were reminded of that yet again this past week. When a peaceful church gathering is turned into a terrible crime scene, we know something isn’t right. We long to return to a place where things like this can’t happen.

Why did a post on whimsy turn to such a heartbreaking event like the terror visited upon Emanuel A.M.E. Church? Because my delight in whimsy is emphatically not an escape, but a deep desire for us to arrive home safely. I’m not alone in this. Magic Reimagined suggests that there is a universal longing for a place where happiness outdoes evil and light outshines darkness. It is another discussion as to how we get there and what getting there looks like, but that people want to get there is without question. I’m not suggesting that a lantern display answers all of life’s questions, or even that it necessarily gives the right answer. I’m simply saying that it suggests a global realization that we’ve lost our safe home and long to get back.