Being serious without taking yourself too seriously

I used to take myself way more seriously than I do now. Maybe I still take myself too seriously. But in changing this, I had to come to terms with the fact that I am, for the most part, serious, and that is something I don't want to change. I like to deal with serious questions. I like to say and do deep things. It dawned on me that I could do this without carrying the world on my shoulders.

This does not mean that I have to tackle the serious questions in an entirely serious way. In fact, humour is usually the best, and often the only, way of approaching the deepest questions.

ie:

"God is dead." -- Nietzsche.
"Nietzsche is dead." -- God.

This does not mean that I am depressed or depressing, either. I take my joy in big, deep breaths.

As Kerouac said:

"All laughter is solemn."

There's a Japanese text (the Hagakure I believe) that advises the following:

Treat great matters lightly,
Treat small matters with the greatest seriousness.

This is excellent advice if you are a samurai who may need to forfeit your life at a moment's notice, but good for the rest of us, too. I've always taken it to mean that one should take enjoyment from the small things that are within one's control, and surrender one's life to fate and a Higher Power (whatever one believes that power to be).