Discordianism
Discordianism has been described as both an elaborate joke disguised as a
religion, and a religion disguised as an elaborate
joke. It has also been described as a religion disguised as a joke disguised as a religion. Others view it as a simple rejection of
reductionism and
dualism, even
falsifiability — not in concept different from
postmodernism or certain trends in the
philosophy of mathematics. It has also been described as\n"
Zen for
roundeyes", and converges with some of the more absurdist interpretations of the
Rinzai tradition.
Discordianism is said to have been founded in
1959 (or maybe it was
1958) by Greg Hill (also called
Malaclypse the Younger, or
Mal-2) and
Kerry Thornley (also called
Omar Khayyam Ravenhurst). The foundational document of Discordianism is Hill's
Principia Discordia.
Unlike most religions, which revere the principles of harmony and order in the Universe, Discordianism purports to recognize that disharmony and chaos are equally valid aspects of reality. Discordianism consists almost entirely of playful nonsense, but some feel it has a more serious underlying meaning.
The matron deity of Discordianism is
Eris, the
ancient Greek goddess of discord, whom the
Romans identified their goddess
Discordia.
Philosophy
\nA summary of the Discordian philosophy appears on page 00049 of the Principia Discordia. The following is a quote (All Rites Reversed).
HERE FOLLOWS SOME PSYCHO-METAPHYSICS.\nIf you are not hot for philosophy, best just to skip it.\nThe Aneristic Principle is that of APPARENT ORDER; the Eristic Principle is that of APPARENT DISORDER. Both order and disorder are man made concepts and are artificial divisions of PURE CHAOS, which is a level deeper than is the level of distinction making.\n\nWith our concept making apparatus called "mind" we look at reality through the ideas-about-reality which our cultures give us. \nThe ideas-about-reality are mistakenly labeled "reality" and unenlightened people are forever perplexed by the fact that other people, especially other cultures, see "reality" differently. \nIt is only the ideas-about-reality which differ. Real (capital-T True) reality is a level deeper than is the level of concept.\n\nWe look at the world through windows on which have been drawn grids (concepts). Different philosophies use different grids. A culture is a group of people with rather similar grids. Through a window we view chaos, and relate it to the points on our grid, and thereby understand it. The ORDER is in the GRID. That is the Aneristic Principle.\n\nWestern philosophy is traditionally concerned with contrasting one grid with another grid, and amending grids in hopes of finding a perfect one that will account for all reality and will, hence, (say unenlightened westerners) be True. This is illusory; it is what we Erisians call the ANERISTIC ILLUSION. Some grids can be more useful than others, some more beautiful than others, some more pleasant than others, etc., but none can be more True than any other.\n\nDISORDER is simply unrelated information viewed through some particular grid. But, like "relation", no-relation is a concept. Male, like female, is an idea about sex. To say that male-ness is "absence of female-ness", or vice versa, is a matter of definition and metaphysically arbitrary. The artificial concept of no-relation is the ERISTIC PRINCIPLE.\n\nThe belief that "order is true" and disorder is false or somehow wrong, is the Aneristic Illusion. To say the same of disorder, is the ERISTIC ILLUSION.\n\nThe point is that (little-t) truth is a matter of definition relative to the grid one is using at the moment, and that (capital-T) Truth, metaphysical reality, is irrelevant to grids entirely. Pick a grid, and through it some chaos appears ordered and some appears disordered. Pick another grid, and the same chaos will appear differently ordered and disordered.\n\nReality is the original Rorschach.\n\nVerily! So much for all that.\n
And this from the Principia Discordia's very beginning, a Discordian koan:
GREATER POOP: Is Eris true?
\nMALACLYPSE THE YOUNGER: Everything is true.
\nGP: Even false things?
\nM2: Even false things are true.
\nGP: How can that be?
\nM2: I don't know man, I didn't do it.
Chao
\n
The word Chao was coined as the singular of chaos. In the Discordian religion the chao is a symbol of the pataphysical nature of reality; singular instances of chaos being at the center of pataphysical theory. The word is a pun that enables the following couplet in the Principia Discordia:
To diverse gods
\nDo mortals bow;
\nHoly Cow, and
\nWholly Chao.
The Sacred Chao is a symbol used by Discordians to illustrate the interrelatedness of order and disorder. It resembles a yin yang symbol with a pentagon on one side representing order, and a golden apple on the other side representing disorder. The pentagon relates to the Law of Fives, and the golden apple is from a story about Eris.
The Law of Fives
\nThe Law of Fives is summarized on page 00016 of the Principia Discordia:
The Law of Fives states simply that: ALL THINGS HAPPEN IN FIVES, OR ARE DIVISIBLE BY OR ARE MULTIPLES OF FIVE, OR ARE SOMEHOW DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY RELATED TO FIVE.\n\nTHE LAW OF FIVES IS NEVER WRONG.\n\nIn the Erisian Archives is an old memo from Omar to Mal-2: "I find the Law of Fives to be more and more manifest the harder I look."
It is worth noting that the Law of Fives includes the word "Five" five times.
The Apocrypha Discordia
A collection of works on Discordia, written by various Discordian saints, sinners, popes, priests, madmen, miscreants, degenerates, straight-arrows, etc... Compiled from various non-copyrighted (or Kopylefted) sources by Reverend DrJon Swabey and published sometime in the 21st century (the date on the document says 2001, but we're not going to fall for that one).
Although some Discordian cabals consider the work to be canonical (some even going as far as considering it the only canonical Discordian work), there are also many who discount the validity of the document. Others amongst the Discordian movement discount the idea of there being any canonical literature other than Dr. Ramos Montecino's 1667 work Howe to Mayke a Cannon. Most people would probably agree, however, that there are far better things to do with one's time than to shoot works of literature out of any firearm whatsoever.
Thanks to the work of Rev. DrJon, many Discordian writings have been brought together in one place where without him, they may have been lost to the grainy particles of temporality -- leaving us free to peruse or ignore the work at our leisure and for overzealous lunatics to print copies of it so that they may have something to feed the bonfires that warm their cold, empty hearts.
\nThe Original Snub
\n(From The Principia Discordia, all Rites Reversed)
- It seems that Zeus was preparing a wedding banquet for Peleus and Thetis and did not want to invite Eris because of Her reputation as a trouble maker.*
\n:This made
Eris angry, and so She fashioned an apple of pure
gold** and inscribed upon it
KALLISTI ("To The Prettiest One") and on the day of the fete She rolled it into the banquet hall and then left to be alone and joyously partake of a
hot dog.
\n:Now, three of the invited
goddesses,***
Athena,
Hera, and
Aphrodite, each immediately claimed it to belong to herself because of the inscription. And they started fighting, and they started throwing
punch all over the place and everything.
\n:Finally
Zeus calmed things down and declared that an
arbitrator must be selected, which was a reasonable suggestion, and all agreed. He sent them to a shepherd of
Troy, whose name was
Paris because his mother had had a lot of
gaul and had married a
Frenchman; but each of the sneaky goddesses tried to outwit the others by going early and offering a bribe to
Paris.
\n:
Athena offered him Heroic
War Victories,
Hera offered him Great
Wealth, and
Aphrodite offered him the Most
Beautiful Woman on
Earth. Being a healthy young
Trojan lad,
Paris promptly accepted
Aphrodite's bribe and she got the apple and he got screwed.
\n:As she had promised, she maneuvered earthly happenings so that
Paris could have
Helen (
The Helen) then living with her husband
Menelaus,
King of
Sparta. Anyway, everyone knows that the
Trojan War followed when
Sparta demanded their
Queen back and that the
Trojan War is said to be The First War among men.
\n:And so we suffer because of the Original Snub. And so a
Discordian is to partake of No
Hot Dog Buns.
\n:Do you believe that?
\n:* This is called THE DOCTRINE OF THE ORIGINAL SNUB
\n:** There is historic disagreement concerning whether this apple was of metallic
gold or
acapulco.
\n:*** Actually there were five
goddesses, but the
Greeks did not know the Law of Fives.
The Golden Apple of Discord is thus one of the major symbols associated with
Discordianism
Law of Eristic Escalation
\nThe Principia Discordia contains the Law of Eristic Escalation. \nThis law states that Imposition of Order = Escalation of Chaos. \nThis can be read as an argument against zero tolerance and hard security, or just a statement about the world.
The Pentabarf
\nThe Pentabarf (given on page 00004 of the Principia) is the set of 5 holy laws of Discordianism. It is as follows:\n#There is no Goddess but Goddess and She is Your Goddess. There is no Erisian Movement but The Erisian Movement and it is The Erisian Movement. And every Golden Apple Corps is the beloved home of a Golden Worm.\n#A Discordian Shall Always use the Official Discordian Document Numbering System.\n#A Discordian is Required during his early Illumination to Go Off Alone & Partake Joyously of a Hot Dog on a Friday; this Devotive Ceremony to Remonstrate against the popular Paganisms of the Day: of Catholic Christendom (no meat on Friday), of Judaism (no meat of Pork), of Hindic Peoples (no meat of Beef), of Buddhists (no meat of animal), and of Discordians (no Hot Dog Buns).\n#A Discordian shall Partake of No Hot Dog Buns, for Such was the Solace of Our Goddess when She was Confronted with The Original Snub.\n#A Discordian is Prohibited from Believing What he reads. \nThe Pentabarf is the most fundamental of all Discordian catma (which is what Discordians have instead of "dogma"). As the third commandment demands a violation of the fourth commandment, and the fifth commandment seems to subvert the concept of written law, it is not clear whether the Pentabarf is considered binding, in any sense.
See also
\n* Discordian calendar\n*
Illuminatus trilogy\n*
Church of the SubGenius\n*
Emperor Norton\n* Kallisti Absurdity
Category:New religious movements
External links
\n* http://religiousmovements.lib.virginia.edu/nrms/disc.html\n* http://www.fnord.org\n* http://blog.23ae.com\n* http://groovygravytrain.i8.com\n* http://www.poee.org\n* http://www.sjgames.com\n* http://www.principiadiscordia.com — Contains the
Principia Discordia in
HTML. Also has Discordian
message boards and some amusing PDFs.\n
