ITT: Goons give us feedback

[Cain]

http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3154710

Not much, but a little.

[LMNO]

SA forums are workblocked.  xpost?

[Cain]

I know a few people that consider themselves Discordian, but I haven't really had the chance to discuss it with them. What is it about? I'm pretty sure it's not meant to be taken too seriously, and I know the goddess Eris is involved, but that's about it. Is it something that people take on in their every day life? Approximately how many people out their consider themselves Discordian? I had a look on Wikipedia but I didn't really get it.

http://www.principiadiscordia.com/

Give the Principa Discordia a read, and read some of Robert Anton Wilson's books- specifically the Illuminatus trilogy. That will explain it as well as anything.

From Robert Anton Wilson, the Schrodinger's Cat trilogy is pretty good too.

Overall, it is mostly an absurdist joke religion along the lines of Church of the SubGenius, but with a sprinkling of truly held philosophy. This philosophy has been intentionally been made difficult to get to past the BS, along the lines of many other occult oriented systems. But basically, it can be summed up thus: 'Everything you know is wrong, because you've spent your life believing that other people are NOT full of poo poo at a base level. They are just as clueless as you are. Think for yourself douche.' Oh and 'Smoke weed everyday.'

Because of this, the system has an anarchist/absurdist/individualist lean and tends to breed pathological liars. One of the icons of the 'faith', and I use that term loosely, is fictional character Hagbard Celine. If he were real he would be at L. Ron Hubbard levels of insanity and and self-deception, but he is still awesome.

Check out this guy [Wikipedia link to Kerry Thornley], the self-styled Lord Omar Khayyam Ravenhurst. His story includes one of my favorite bits of Discordian lore. He testified in front of the Warren Commission because of his distinction of having written the only book about Lee Harvey Oswald before the Kennedy assassination

When you dig down to that core of real philosophy, Discordianism is essentially Taoism in a clown costume.

When you dig down to that core of real philosophy, Discordianism is essentially Taoism in a clown costume.

That is a fantastic way of putting it.

When you dig down to that core of real philosophy, Discordianism is essentially Taoism in a clown costume.

I... I can't top this. This is amazing.

When you dig down to that core of real philosophy, Discordianism is essentially Taoism in a clown costume.

Hahahaha. And the clown is smoking weed and trying to convince you to participate in sex-magic ceremonies.

Hahahaha. And the clown is smoking weed and trying to convince you to participate in sex-magic ceremonies.

Less magic sex ceremonies and more "And the clown is horny."

Been pretty well put so far.
There are internet-discordians who have almost more to do with Cult of the Sub-Genius who take the poo poo waaaay too seriously. I had a brief encounter with the Black Iron Prison folks, who maintain the core "think for yourself" notion, but miss a lot of the point elsewhere.

All Discordian religious rites are optional, except for the eating of the hotdog on friday, and it is particularly fun to find the meme bombs (or make your own!) and wheatpost them around your favorite metropolitan area.

I have a copy of the Principia right here. It's a sacred text in the sense that it's something a "believer" will refer to often and it usually acts as an antidote to people who take religion too seriously. And, like atheism, it doesn't really translate into many real world decisions. But it can be part of your philosophy of life. Think of it as building material.

There are internet-discordians who have almost more to do with Cult of the Sub-Genius who take the poo poo waaaay too seriously. I had a brief encounter with the Black Iron Prison folks, who maintain the core "think for yourself" notion, but miss a lot of the point elsewhere.

I was recently introduced to http://www.principiadiscordia.com/forum/ which is a lot closer to the book's intention. They have a members-only forum for executing Discordian mischief, which is a lot like the kind of stuff GBS does for fun.

Absurdism for teenagers pretty much.

Depends on the teenagers! Also the absurdism. Tao and Discordianism and Absurdism all share a lot of things.

not even that, just a ridiculous culture which disburdens aspiring intellectuals who are also weak and unable to actually exert any effort to make them feel like their doing something "meaningful."

Thanks for all the info guys. I'm giving the principal of discordia a read now, and I'll be asking my friends to borrow Robert Anton Wilson's books. I'd heard of the rule of the 5's before, had no idea it was a discordian idea.

Is it considered a real religion? I mean, if Jedi can be considered a real religion, it isn't completely out of the relm for this is it?

Not if you're planning on running for political office, champ. Try something nice and Protestant.

Depends on who you ask. Probably not, though. I don't think it is one, at least - which is probably why I identify myself as a member.

Slightly related, is the ILLUMINATUS! Trilogy worth reading? I heard that it was fairly entertaining.

Everything RAWilson wrote is worth reading, but ILLUMINATUS! and the schroedinger's cat trilogy are definitely standouts. The Cosmic Trigger series will seriously gently caress with your head as well.

Good, time to hit up amazon. Thanks.

Personally I consider 'Promethius Rising' to describe the actual point of Discordianism but without the clown suit. There's a lot to be learnt from that book.

The Cosmic Trigger series is fantastic - it's like acid, but in book form.

The PD is a fantastic read, absolutely hilarious. You may also find this site useful [hyperdiscordia], it's a kind of discordian-wiki. Lots of circular links, iirc though, so it may take some time to slough through it.

Also, can't second the ILLUMINATUS! trilogy enough as well.  c'mon, Hitler's zombie army rising from the lake, epic!

not even that, just a ridiculous culture which disburdens aspiring intellectuals who are also weak and unable to actually exert any effort to make them feel like their doing something "meaningful."

While Discordianism IS ridiculous, you miss the point entirely AND come off as insanely pretentious. Congratulations!

Aside from the hidden philosophical stuff, Discordianism also gives people an easy template to make "jokes" of a certain rare form that's hard to describe but involves a lot of self-contradiction.

Am I right in assuming that anyone that takes Discordianism too seriously has completely missed the point?

Absolutely. The Principia says "Don't believe anything you read, including this."

[Faust]

Anyone want me to cross post anything to the site?

[the last yatto]

the taxi has been hailed

[Cain]

I got nothing to say.  I just thought that since all feedback is useful...bringing this to everyone's attentions might be worthwhile.  Maybe.  Possibly.

[Faust]

I've posted in the thread and I invited people to come here to discuss stuff.
I hope this doesn't come back to bite me on the ass.

[Cain]

The link is in your sig over there though anyway, right?  And at least one of them seems to lurk here (since they know about O:MF), so I can't see it being awful or anything.

[Telarus]

For anyone from SA that's reading this, I'd argue that Discordianism is quite definitely 'a Religion', but one that has been specifically designed as an irreligious disorganization.

(see, I did the contradicting my-self joke-thing there  )

[the last yatto]

IMHO atheistism is a religion with no means of invisible support

[hooplala]

I think every single one of them was spot-on.

[Bebek Sincap Ratatosk]

Seemed like a pretty good discussion overall.

[Iason Ouabache]

Taoism in a clown costume.

  I hope that is in the news feed now.

[Verbal Mike]

Yeah, that one was epic.

[Faust]

Taoism in a clown costume.

 I hope that is in the news feed now.

I'll add it now
edit: done already.