Needs editing and clarification, most likely.
____________________________________________
Shrapnel. Something exploded, and a piece of it embedded in your flesh. Now you have to carry that around with you for the rest of your life.
It affects you. In changes the way that you behave, you take the experience of being hit by that shrapnel with you in every decision that you make. Even if you remove it, the scar remains. Even in its absence, it informs your decisions.
For the most part, the explosions are essentially random, when taken from a subjective view. Someone else planted these things, and you walk right into it. These things may have exploded centuries ago, but the shrapnel is still in the air. Still able to pierce into the heart of you.
Often, they tell you where to go. They push you onto new paths, or keep you going down the one you're on. They can blind you, they can cripple you, they can make you afraid to continue. They can accumulate, like scales, like armor, like a lead weight. Given enough time, they can even render you impervious to other bits of shrapnel. But not forever.
Shrapnel is not subtle. It's just that we don't recognize it for what it is. We get hit full in the face, and we don't even realize what just happened. We know something just went down, but what?
You heard a symphony.
You read a story.
You went to school.
You got a job.
You fell in love.
You got into a fight.
You fell out of a tree.
You were mugged.
You got an erection.
You listened to a preacher.
You took drugs.
You got lost in the woods for 3 days.
You lived your life. And you carry that with you. Each thing that got the limbic system pumping, every "aha!", all the moments of simmering rage, each instant of bliss... They all left their bits of shrapnel in you. They all push and prod you in directions you might not even have intended to go.
But you don't have to be one of the walking wounded. The choice is yours. Self-surgery is messy, but it's possible. Search out the bits that got stuck into you, see if they're worth keeping. Then get a pair of pliers and an exacto knife, and get to it.
Good stuff.
I think that this is the makings of a 'bare minimum shrapnel'.
There's been a lot of ideas thrown up on this forum since the initial stirrings of the PD06 concept: BIP, The Con, The Machine, Shrapnel, Lollercaust etc.
All of these notions need to be thrashed out to the nth degree and then nicely condensed, hopefully capturing the appropriate essence & spirit of the piece. It's not that I think everything can be reduced & over simplified, but if we're interested in creating & spreading memes, then the ideas need to be short & accessible, yet prompt further thinking & dicussion.
I think part of the success of the original PD (and while we still get LOLFNORDPINEALGLAND) is because the ideas were so easily assimilated. Pretty much any schmuck can read the damn thing, acquire the Discordian subculture's ideolect and then participate (by participation, I mean coming here and annoying the shit out of people...)
For BIP to be sucessful, then we need to collate all of the concepts that we feel extend the original Discordian notions, and present them in a format that is short enough for rapid assimilation but still be thought provoking.
Maybe we need to introduce people to the idea of how the STFUPID's take on is a new extension/interpretation.
In order to establish the individuality & identity of PD.com, we've taken great pains (Paynes?) to disassociate ourselves from the Kerry/Thornley vibe. However, it might not be a bad idea to make the connections and fairly, say: "Ok, this is what we distilled from them and are grateful for - but this is where we're going with it." Perhaps, acknowledge the roots in a fair minded way, but without getting trapped into deifying the past and putting a load of 60's LSD casualties on a pedestal.
Thought: A Discordian Roast.
We eulogize and mock the Old Guard, and announce we're stealing their ideas and running away with them.
This could be funny.
I like it! :mittens:
I do think however, once we are aware that everything, person, place, experience etc.. leave shrapnel, we can be smart enough to dodge it, unless it is something we need to carry around in us.
:mittens: for teh OP
Some damn good ideas there Mangrove, also.
Regarding OP: Def. liked! It works for being short and simple, wraps up about as positive and avoids any judgemental tone.
Trimming down the number of examples (in text and in the list) might make it flow a bit smoother.
Still, if you've gotten your intended audience reading a short essay it's a debatable thing.
This thread is WIN!
:mittens:
ITT, I comprehend Shrapnel for the first time. :mittens:
Quote from: LMNO on June 24, 2008, 06:33:28 PM
Thought: A Discordian Roast.
We eulogize and mock the Old Guard, and announce we're stealing their ideas and running away with them.
This could be funny.
Pure Lollercaust.
If the 'new PD' (whatever it gets called) begins with Kerry/Thornley being simulataneously praised/mocked, it might make the classic Pinealist a little more open to absorbing some new, extended ideas. Cause let's face it, they're probably going to find The PD first, before they find our shit. At least for a few years/decades.
I have this image in my head of 'original Discordians' on a VH1 special, getting ripped on by various people (real, imagined, alive or dead). Or possibly, a reworking of Dicken's Christmas Carol, with ghost of Discordia past, present and future. Perhaps there's some 23ist n00b in bed and gets visited by the ghost of RAW...
Quote from: Cainad on June 24, 2008, 07:06:00 PM
ITT, I comprehend Shrapnel for the first time. :mittens:
Oh, thanks, spag.
Quote from: Payne on June 24, 2008, 07:23:02 PM
Quote from: Cainad on June 24, 2008, 07:06:00 PM
ITT, I comprehend Shrapnel for the first time. :mittens:
Oh, thanks, spag.
I guess our verbosity was our undoing.
Quote from: R.W.H.N? on June 24, 2008, 07:36:22 PM
Quote from: Payne on June 24, 2008, 07:23:02 PM
Quote from: Cainad on June 24, 2008, 07:06:00 PM
ITT, I comprehend Shrapnel for the first time. :mittens:
Oh, thanks, spag.
I guess our verbosity was our undoing.
If that was the case, someone could have
SAID, at least before I continued to write all that verbose shit down.
If it wasn't for your verbose shit, my slight poomp would have never been squeezed out.
Oh.
Well that's alright then.
Carry on walking citizen, nothing to see here.
Good work, LMNO, and good thoughts there, Mang.
I might try to hammer something out at work, if the nighshift is as quiet as it should be (and if I can keep my eyes open long enough.) I'm thinking a pretty short piece can explain the whole shebang in a non-offensive way, whether the reader has read PD or not. And this piece might get inserted into BIP v3.2.
What, you said you'd like a shiny visual to go along with that?
(http://www.blackironprison.com/images/thumb/8/8a/Shrapnel.jpg/458px-Shrapnel.jpg)
Here's my lame attempt at this:
QuoteHere's my lame attempt at this:
You may find yourself wondering what this is all about. Well, in the late 1950's, a couple of Americans, notably Kerry Thornley and Gergory Hill (under the names Omar Khayyam Ravenhurst and Malaclypse the Younger, respectively), put together a little book called Principia Discordia. The two were obviously very stoned when they wrote it, but they somehow managed to get a few brilliant ideas into it, along with quite a few quaint jokes.
Fifty years later, some of us still find these jokes funny, but most of us consider the underlying ideas in the Principia as relevant as ever.
When I say "we" or "us", I mean the ladies and gentlemen that frequent PrincipiaDiscordia.com. "We" are more a loose association of "I"s than a "we" as such (and there is very little we can agree on), but for the sake of clarity let's just make believe for a bit.
So at some point in 2006 - before yours truly came along, as a matter of fact - some of "us" started talking about where the PD stands in the present Robot Future. The Principia said a lot of things - even contradictory things - and definitely elicited a chuckle, back in the day. The Principia says Nonsense is Salvation, and that we should not take ourselves so seriously.
But here in the Future, it looks like people all over the world are determined to take themselves way too seriously. Actually, it seems many, many people these days are dead serious - and dead isn't necessarily a good thing. So obviously, Thornley and Hill's message still has a place, here in the Future.
However, my esteemed colleagues wondered, is the Principia Discordia really still the ideal way to deliver this message?
This question lead to a flurry, nay, a long succession of new ideas on PD.com. "We" started pumping out new pieces of writing, afflicted as we are with an irresistable urge to put words together, forming sentences, delivering thoughts to the Series of Tubes that is the Interwebs. In these new texts, we tried to take what we undertood to be the old Joshua Norton Cabal's greatest ideas, and make these our own. Rather than go on about the Law of Fives and our pineal glands*, we began to take what seemed important and relevant to us, and put for new concepts around it.
Several new concepts developed and emerged from these discussions. There was even a plan to produce a series of pamphlets, each portraying the issue from a different angle. One such pamphlet, Black Iron Prison, was not only completed but has seen one revision since. Plans are underway for a third edition. Other concepts were a mystical/theological look at the issue, and a modern horror-mirth based pamphlet called Lollercaust (LOL-ercaust, get it?).
So yeah, "we" don't necessarily ramble about the AMAZING NUMBER 23 or even talk all that much about Goddess. But if you think PD.com has no HA-HA left in it, look again.
*Which, science has now learned (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pineal_gland), produces Melatonin, a hormone that may modulate wake/sleep patterns.
I don't think the ending was any good, nor the beggining or the middle, but I was trying to keep the thing general enough so it's not only good for BiP v3.2. If you guys think it's any good (I do
not trust my own judgement) I think it can be tweaked and taylored for use in different ways. Also, it could theoretically use a little more humor, both towards Hill/Thornley and towards itself.
I'm tired. And I have six more hours of work to go. :'(
(edited for stupid mistakes. work is so distracting.)
Here's my thoughts on a sequel to PD
The title itself "Principia Discordia" strikes me as drawn from Issac Newton's 1687 publication Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica or how I found physics and what I did to them
(okay I may have added the subtitle but stick with me here - this is going somewhere)
So we want to update the Principia Discordia, it strikes me that a sequel might benefit from taking a corruption of another groundbreaking science book as it's title.
We could bring it forward to 1859 and use Darwins - origin of the species, "origin of the monkees" perhaps? Subtitle: new discordia dancing on the bones of the hippies
Or maybe bring it right up to date and use Hawkins - Brief history of time, "Historical time in briefs": Heisenberg's less well known, Incredulity Principle
ideas on a sheet of blotter acid...
I like that, Silly.
"Origin of the Feces".
Also, I realize this should have been originally posted in the TFY,S forum. So it goes.
I was going to post my Paths thing in TFY,S but thought it best to keep these together. Also, they'll get more attention in here.
Quote from: Mangrove on June 24, 2008, 06:24:23 PM
Maybe we need to introduce people to the idea of how the STFUPID's take on is a new extension/interpretation.
In order to establish the individuality & identity of PD.com, we've taken great pains (Paynes?) to disassociate ourselves from the Kerry/Thornley vibe. However, it might not be a bad idea to make the connections and fairly, say: "Ok, this is what we distilled from them and are grateful for - but this is where we're going with it." Perhaps, acknowledge the roots in a fair minded way, but without getting trapped into deifying the past and putting a load of 60's LSD casualties on a pedestal.
This is something I just typed up very quickly this morning, but it just kinda sounds like cock&repost (to me)
Quote
"We came here, not only to help John [Sinclair] and to spotlight what's going on, but also to show and to say to all of you that apathy isn't it. We can do something. Okay, so Flower Power didn't work, so what? We start again."
~John Lennon (at a benefit concert for John Sinclair)
There are many Discordians out there who still slavishly follow the original Principia Discordia, a ragged tome written by a couple of stoned hippies, filled with 60's humour but with a serious message running through it like barbed wire hidden in a heap of cotton wool. This humour was already dated by the early 70's, but even today we have aspiring Discordians who will parrot the jokes ad infintum. They don't even believe that there IS barbed wire in there.
Which is fair enough, a person is allowed to believe what they will. They also have to take the consequences when they shread their hands unexpectedly on the "true" message of the PD.
Flower Power did not work. It became less a philosophy and more a fashion statement, less a movement and more a profitable exercise. With this in mind, is the packaging of the original message of PD really appropriate? Can we expect an audience of today to find any truth hidden in hippy rhetoric? While the answer is obviously "yes" (many of us were able to see some form of "The Truth" in it), shouldn't we also consider the number of people who have completely missed it, and set it aside as an interesting yet ultimately dated and dead piece of literature?
I personally think that the meat of the PD is a stark reminder that we are all monkeys, we are all subject to simian behaviour, regardless of our "civilisation", "humanity" and other such concepts. It tells us to 'Think for yourself, Schmuck!', and that we are all susceptible to trying to impose our own ideas of what should be onto situations where no such concept can exist, and then call it "reality"!
This is a timeless idea, as applicable today as it was in the 60's, and probably all over human history.
When we seem dark, stark and bitter, we are only relating what we believe is the true tone of the PD. When we are hateful, impatient and arrogant, we are reacting to the context of the time that the message now finds itself in, stripping the cotton wool of the 60's off of it and clothing it in the flak jacket and utilitarian fatigues of our time.
Nonsense as Salvation, whats more non sensical than taking the scribblings of a couple hippies and turning it into a personalised philosophy where these things can happen, without contradiction?
So spare us the "ZOMG23PINEALFNORD" crap, the hippies are dead. The new age requires new action, the activist today needs a suit and a tie, not a tie-dyed shirt.
Thoughts please?
Pretty good. I've got one bubbling up, myself.
This could be very useful in stirring up shit amongst some of the pinealists who have been critiquing the BIP.
Both of these rewrite intro's have some meat in them. The evolution of the PD is going to be a long and difficult process and the more ideas like this the better. I will try to come up with something as well.
I like, Payne.
And I find it pretty awesome that four of us are working on a piece about the same thing at the same time.
Also, it's 17:05 (that's 5:05pm) and I just woke up. Nothing makes sense anymore. :x
Quote from: SillyCybin on June 25, 2008, 10:39:03 AM
Here's my thoughts on a sequel to PD
The title itself "Principia Discordia" strikes me as drawn from Issac Newton's 1687 publication Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica or how I found physics and what I did to them
(okay I may have added the subtitle but stick with me here - this is going somewhere)
So we want to update the Principia Discordia, it strikes me that a sequel might benefit from taking a corruption of another groundbreaking science book as it's title.
We could bring it forward to 1859 and use Darwins - origin of the species, "origin of the monkees" perhaps? Subtitle: new discordia dancing on the bones of the hippies
Or maybe bring it right up to date and use Hawkins - Brief history of time, "Historical time in briefs": Heisenberg's less well known, Incredulity Principle
ideas on a sheet of blotter acid...
The Monkey Delusion
The One Eyed Watchmaker
;-)
QuoteHere's my lame attempt at this:
You may find yourself wondering what this is all about. Well, in the late 1950's, a couple of Americans, notably Kerry Thornley and Gergory Hill (under the names Omar Khayyam Ravenhurst and Malaclypse the Younger, respectively), put together a little book called Principia Discordia. The two were obviously very stoned when they wrote it, but they somehow managed to get a few brilliant ideas into it, along with quite a few quaint jokes.
Fifty years later, some of us still find these jokes funny, but most of us consider the underlying ideas in the Principia as relevant as ever.
When I say "we" or "us", I mean the ladies and gentlemen that frequent PrincipiaDiscordia.com. "We" are more a loose association of "I"s than a "we" as such (and there is very little we can agree on), but for the sake of clarity let's just make believe for a bit.
So at some point in 2006 - before yours truly came along, as a matter of fact - some of "us" started talking about where the PD stands in the present Robot Future. The Principia said a lot of things - even contradictory things - and definitely elicited a chuckle, back in the day. The Principia says Nonsense is Salvation, and that we should not take ourselves so seriously.
But here in the Future, it looks like people all over the world are determined to take themselves way too seriously. Actually, it seems many, many people these days are dead serious - and dead isn't necessarily a good thing. So obviously, Thornley and Hill's message still has a place, here in the Future.
However, my esteemed colleagues wondered, is the Principia Discordia really still the ideal way to deliver this message?
This question lead to a flurry, nay, a long succession of new ideas on PD.com. "We" started pumping out new pieces of writing, afflicted as we are with an irresistable urge to put words together, forming sentences, delivering thoughts to the Series of Tubes that is the Interwebs. In these new texts, we tried to take what we undertood to be the old Joshua Norton Cabal's greatest ideas, and make these our own. Rather than go on about the Law of Fives and our pineal glands*, we began to take what seemed important and relevant to us, and put for new concepts around it.
Several new concepts developed and emerged from these discussions. There was even a plan to produce a series of pamphlets, each portraying the issue from a different angle. One such pamphlet, Black Iron Prison, was not only completed but has seen one revision since. Plans are underway for a third edition. Other concepts were a mystical/theological look at the issue, and a modern horror-mirth based pamphlet called Lollercaust (LOL-ercaust, get it?).
So yeah, "we" don't necessarily ramble about the AMAZING NUMBER 23 or even talk all that much about Goddess. But if you think PD.com has no HA-HA left in it, look again.
*Which, science has now learned (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pineal_gland), produces Melatonin, a hormone that may modulate wake/sleep patterns.
:mittens:
Verb' & Payne - I think you're both onto something. If other PD.commmies have versions, then post away. I'm really interested in where this is going. Hell, I may just end up writing one myself.
Silly - Damnit. You're going to have to stop having good ideas. Every time you do that, it makes it harder for SSOOKN to maintain hostilities. So take your excellent idea and go fuck yourself!
Also, I think LMNO (in another thread) inadvertently came up with the best subtitle for whatever the new PD gets called: "A manual for the recovering idealist." I love that phrase.
And yes, this probably should've gone into Think For Yourself...but whatever. At least we're talking.
Quote from: Mangrove on June 25, 2008, 09:52:38 PM
Silly - Damnit. You're going to have to stop having good ideas. Every time you do that, it makes it harder for SSOOKN to maintain hostilities. So take your excellent idea and go fuck yourself!
Heh, irony is - they're you're ideas. I hacked your HGA syndication feed. Lemme guess you actually thought your one true will was to lick toilet bowls clean?
Pariahs - we're hijackin j00r astral planes and flyin them into Jachin & Boaz
\\
:hashishim:
The Origins of the Poop-flinging Primate.
Quote from: SillyCybin on June 25, 2008, 11:15:04 PM
Quote from: Mangrove on June 25, 2008, 09:52:38 PM
Silly - Damnit. You're going to have to stop having good ideas. Every time you do that, it makes it harder for SSOOKN to maintain hostilities. So take your excellent idea and go fuck yourself!
Heh, irony is - they're you're ideas. I hacked your HGA syndication feed. Lemme guess you actually thought your one true will was to lick toilet bowls clean?
Pariahs - we're hijackin j00r astral planes and flyin them into Jachin & Boaz \\
:hashishim:
:lulz: Wrong in so many ways. :lulz:
Quote from: Cain on June 26, 2008, 01:05:08 PM
The Origins of the Poop-flinging Primate.
Pud Pounding Primates '08.
Quote from: Verbatim on June 24, 2008, 11:52:13 PM
Here's my lame attempt at this:
QuoteHere's my lame attempt at this:
You may find yourself wondering what this is all about. Well, in the late 1950's, a couple of Americans, notably Kerry Thornley and Gergory Hill (under the names Omar Khayyam Ravenhurst and Malaclypse the Younger, respectively), put together a little book called Principia Discordia. The two were obviously very stoned when they wrote it, but they somehow managed to get a few brilliant ideas into it, along with quite a few quaint jokes.
Fifty years later, some of us still find these jokes funny, but most of us consider the underlying ideas in the Principia as relevant as ever.
When I say "we" or "us", I mean the ladies and gentlemen that frequent PrincipiaDiscordia.com. "We" are more a loose association of "I"s than a "we" as such (and there is very little we can agree on), but for the sake of clarity let's just make believe for a bit.
So at some point in 2006 - before yours truly came along, as a matter of fact - some of "us" started talking about where the PD stands in the present Robot Future. The Principia said a lot of things - even contradictory things - and definitely elicited a chuckle, back in the day. The Principia says Nonsense is Salvation, and that we should not take ourselves so seriously.
But here in the Future, it looks like people all over the world are determined to take themselves way too seriously. Actually, it seems many, many people these days are dead serious - and dead isn't necessarily a good thing. So obviously, Thornley and Hill's message still has a place, here in the Future.
However, my esteemed colleagues wondered, is the Principia Discordia really still the ideal way to deliver this message?
This question lead to a flurry, nay, a long succession of new ideas on PD.com. "We" started pumping out new pieces of writing, afflicted as we are with an irresistable urge to put words together, forming sentences, delivering thoughts to the Series of Tubes that is the Interwebs. In these new texts, we tried to take what we undertood to be the old Joshua Norton Cabal's greatest ideas, and make these our own. Rather than go on about the Law of Fives and our pineal glands*, we began to take what seemed important and relevant to us, and put for new concepts around it.
Several new concepts developed and emerged from these discussions. There was even a plan to produce a series of pamphlets, each portraying the issue from a different angle. One such pamphlet, Black Iron Prison, was not only completed but has seen one revision since. Plans are underway for a third edition. Other concepts were a mystical/theological look at the issue, and a modern horror-mirth based pamphlet called Lollercaust (LOL-ercaust, get it?).
So yeah, "we" don't necessarily ramble about the AMAZING NUMBER 23 or even talk all that much about Goddess. But if you think PD.com has no HA-HA left in it, look again.
*Which, science has now learned (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pineal_gland), produces Melatonin, a hormone that may modulate wake/sleep patterns.
I don't think the ending was any good, nor the beggining or the middle, but I was trying to keep the thing general enough so it's not only good for BiP v3.2. If you guys think it's any good (I do not trust my own judgement) I think it can be tweaked and taylored for use in different ways. Also, it could theoretically use a little more humor, both towards Hill/Thornley and towards itself.
I'm tired. And I have six more hours of work to go. :'(
(edited for stupid mistakes. work is so distracting.)
:mittens:
but i can't figure out, who wrote this? Silly or Verb?
anyway, this "lame attempt" sounds to me like a
perfect introduction for the main index page on the principiadiscordia.com site. (which i'm still working on, but RL business is keeping it a bit on the backburner)
right?
also
"On the Origin of Feces by means of [natural] [selection]" (too lazy to fill in punny words here)
Quote from: triple zero on June 26, 2008, 06:09:28 PM
anyway, this "lame attempt" sounds to me like a perfect introduction for the main index page on the principiadiscordia.com site. (which i'm still working on, but RL business is keeping it a bit on the backburner)
I agree 1"000"% ;-)
That was my own lame attempt (just used the quote tags to separate it from the commentary). And I am ridiculously flattered.
Just wrote this for Crams latest pamphlet, but I like it, so I'm posting it here too.
Once upon a time, a little baby was born. There is nothing remarkable about this- I'm told it happens every day- and there was nothing remarkable about this baby, except that it was you, or me, or them.
This baby was pristine, a sponge for information and experience. Little though it was, it was growing rapidly, learning every thing it could as fast as it could. It had to, you see, because it's a big bad old world out there.
Everything it learned chipped a little bit of its personality away, or added a bit to it, every packet of information, every experience. Much like that saying about sculptors "freeing the statue" from the crude stone its encased in. Except that the sculptor is blind, like that woman in the Lionel Richie video (hah! "Hello, is it me you're looking for?!" except she's blind...), but I digress.
The tools that are used to "sculpt" this baby into the badass human that will stride the earth on two hind legs, using it's opposable thumbs like it just doesn't care, is what I call shrapnel.
It's when you are told about God, it's when you fall in love for the first time, it's when you realise, as a baby, that bawling your head off will have your mother come running.
It's the "ripples" of things that happened long ago, still affecting us today. The shrapnel thrown out by history, causing us to throw out our own shrapnel into the future. It blows your mind, it really does.
Shrapnel is necessary, and vital, to who we are, to what we do. And for Discordians, it can be a tool. It's another medium for spreading a little bit of chaos. It's not "good" or "bad", though you may want to assess which bits of it you have sticking in you that aren't really needed. Unwatched, that shit can fuck you up.
In conclusion, Shrapnel is an idea that has yet to find its time. In the right hands, it can be a kick ass suit of armour AND a big-fuck-off flamethrower. For me, being aware of it is enough until some wiser heads can show us how it works.
Okay, I'm done preaching at you for now, I'm back off to my ivory tower, where I'll probably look for that Lionel Richie video and laugh about it all night.
Bump.
Ah, good times, when I was able to hold a coherent thought in my brain and extrapolate attempted bursts of wisdom.
Huh, totally forgot about this. I think "BIP 3.2" was the new edition I was trying to put together for some reason, which I appear to have completely forgotten about at some point.
And it's amusing, reading my "lame attempt", to notice that even the little bit of humor about the Internet being a Series of Tubes now seems quaint and irrelevant... Only four years have gone by. After half a century, no wonder the Pricipia is so full of ex-funny.