The Five Lamps
The virtues by which Sacred Mirth is judged
Mirth
The willingness to create and receive wholesome joy. Mirth is active rather than merely consumptive. The Iambist asks not only, “What entertains me?” but “What joy can I help bring into being?”
Hospitality
The discipline of making room. Hospitality concerns tables, conversations, gatherings, institutions, and attention. A welcome that exists only for people already alike is incomplete.
Levity
The ability to reduce unnecessary weight without denying necessary seriousness. Levity is not irresponsibility. It is proportion. It asks whether a thing has become heavier than truth requires.
Fellowship
The practice of sharing life rather than merely occupying the same space. Fellowship requires presence, reciprocity, memory, and some willingness to be known.
Stewardship
The preservation and responsible use of resources so that present joy does not consume the future. Stewardship includes money, property, reputation, attention, traditions, relationships, and the natural world.
The Five Lamps are not ranked. Mirth without stewardship becomes waste. Stewardship without mirth becomes hoarding. Fellowship without hospitality becomes a clique. Levity without compassion becomes dismissal. Hospitality without boundaries becomes unsafe. Religious maturity is the effort to keep all five lamps lit at once.