Have You Ever Had an Epiphany of the Absurd?

[Lord Quantum]

Epiphany: an intuitive grasp of reality through something (i.e. an event) that is usually simple and striking.

Absurd: dealing with absurdism.

Absurdism: a philosophy based on the belief that the universe is irrational.

So put it all together and what do you get? An Epiphany of the Absurd (EOTA) is an event that reveals the wildly ridiculous nature of reality. It typically involves something that; is wildly improbable, undeniably true and reveals that reality as a whole (or some small part of it) is Absurd.

It's like escaping from the Matrix.
It's like finding out that Santa Claus isn't real.
It's like uncovering the Conspiracy you know you can't stop .
It's like a preacher losing his faith in God.
It's like seeing a dead body rise from the grave and realizing that vampires exist.

So have you ever had a moment like that? If so, what was it and how did it effect your life?

[Kai]

Sounds like Chapel Perilous.

[Lord Quantum]

Eh. I don't know anything about Chapel Perilous except for what I found on a google search and a wikipedia article but what I'm talking about appears to be different. The basic idea came out of a conversation I had with a friend about whether or not philosophers could have spiritual experiences. Another meaning of "epiphany" is an appearance of the Deity. So technically a Discordian epiphany would have to be an appearance of Eris (say in a bowling alley) but at the time we were talking about Nihilism. Then I sorta started thinking about Absurdism. And yeah, anyway the Chapel Perilous appears to have some sort of agnostic/occult overtones that are quite different from what I'm talking about here.

[Brotep]

It's like rain on your wedding day,
A free ride, when you've already paid.

[Kai]

Eh. I don't know anything about Chapel Perilous except for what I found on a google search and a wikipedia article but what I'm talking about appears to be different. The basic idea came out of a conversation I had with a friend about whether or not philosophers could have spiritual experiences. Another meaning of "epiphany" is an appearance of the Deity. So technically a Discordian epiphany would have to be an appearance of Eris (say in a bowling alley) but at the time we were talking about Nihilism. Then I sorta started thinking about Absurdism. And yeah, anyway the Chapel Perilous appears to have some sort of agnostic/occult overtones that are quite different from what I'm talking about here.

Chapel Perilous is simply a state of model shock that occurs when your reality maps suddenly don't work anymore, either due to a sudden and fundamental change in your reality or a sudden understanding of reality which renders your maps obsolete. You stay in Chapel Perilous until you have maps that work again.

[The Wizard]

An Epiphany of the Absurd (EOTA) is an event that reveals the wildly ridiculous nature of reality.

2009 was this spread out through the entire damn year. One long Mindfuck.

[Jasper]

Absurdism is bullshit.

Poisoned bullshit that kills flowers.

That said, epiphanies are ideally common occurrences.  It's hard to maintain receptivity though.

[Lord Quantum]

Yeah, Chapel Perilous is definitely not what I'm talking about. That's just a temporary derailment. I'm talking about getting on a new train entirely. As for Absurdism being bullshit, eh, that's your opinion. I don't agree with the whole system entirely but I think it's a pretty accurate description of life in general and it's pretty close to Discordianism. The only problem is that in a way, it's kinda like Atheism. It's not really a belief all by itself and it gets in the way of building new beliefs (or maps).

[Jasper]

I am opposed.  Absurdity is rampant in life, but does that mean it has any particular value or personal context?  No.

To me, the fact that we must exist in such a meaningless and irrational world means that we have to embrace the things that make sense to us, because they are rare.  Absurdity is cheap, because it can be freely acquired.  Things that have depth of meaning and significance are of far greater value.

[Kai]

I am opposed.  Absurdity is rampant in life, but does that mean it has any particular value or personal context?  No.

To me, the fact that we must exist in such a meaningless and irrational world means that we have to embrace the things that make sense to us, because they are rare.  Absurdity is cheap, because it can be freely acquired.  Things that have depth of meaning and significance are of far greater value.

Interesting perspective. I see absurdism slightly different. To me, it is a world view that sees there /may/ be some fundamental meaning to life, but it's so obscured that we'll never possibly be able to know it, therefore we guess, and make whatever meaning we can and choose to. It's not nihilism, and it's not quite existentialism either.

[Lord Quantum]

And here I was thinking that a Discordian board would be flooded with Absurdists.

[Kai]

And here I was thinking that a Discordian board would be flooded with Absurdists.

That'll teach ya to make assumptions.

[Triple Zero]

And here I was thinking that a Discordian board would be flooded with Absurdists.

That'll teach ya to make assumptions.

Well, to be fair, we are flooded with absurdists.

Constantly, in fact.

Fortunately they mostly either don't stick around too long or stop being absurdists.

[Cramulus]

Absurdism, to me, is a huge relief. Every single hour of the day, people are trying to cram narratives and meaning down our throats with a funnel. Christ, you can't even buy coffee without someone force feeding you some eco-green story about how your actions as an individual are relevant to the world theater. Fuck that noise! I make up my own holidays, and I vote by die roll.

PD is full of absurdists, they're just pragmatic about it. Sometimes you have to pick up some meaning and run with it. Fully embracing absurdism is kind of like throwing away all your goals. Sure, you'll never be disappointed, you'll never fail at anything, but you'll also never "get anywhere". We wouldn't be able to communicate if we weren't willing to take each other somewhat seriously.


Anyway, I had an event like what you're talking about, I think. It was in 2005 or 2006. I was living in the OBNOXIOUS JERK CABAL cabalhouse, which was like a year long experiment in how to become as insane as possible. I did meet eris, I badly embarrassed myself, and I lost about three weeks of memory. (other guests at the party would recount a story about me emerging from a closet naked, covered in strange glyphs, shouting stuff like "Avert thine eyes! Your plebeian eyes are unfit to view this body of Adonis!") In the end, I did not successfully cast off all meaning and reinvent myself as some kind of psychic superhero. Well I did, but only as long as I stayed inside my apartment. Even after I came down, it was difficult to make reality checks. So I think there are dangers to absurdism - discarding other people's realities can be really disorienting!

In the end, I've found pragmatism to be a bit more effective way to crowbar reality.

[Lord Quantum]

Sometimes you have to pick up some meaning and run with it.

I totally agree, Cram. I don't fully agree with Absurdism (because I don't think that life is meaningless, it has meaning) but that's where I got in this crazy whirly-gig of fun and I was interested in hearing if other people had gotten on this bus at the same stop as I did. The second part of the Epiphany for me was figuring out how to react to the experience. For me, the solution was twofold; helping people out and creating chaos.