Discordianism
Discordianism is a belief system based around Eris, the Greek goddess of strife and discord, and variously defined as a religion, new religious movement, virtual religion, or act of social commentary; though prior to 2005, some sources categorized it as a parody religion. It was founded after the 1963 publication of its holy book, Principia Discordia, written by Greg Hill with Kerry Wendell Thornley, the two working under the pseudonyms Malaclypse the Younger and Omar Khayyam Ravenhurst.
David Chidester considers Discordianism to be the first virtual religion and the first to take up the challenge of establishing its religious authenticity. When the Yahoo search engine categorized Discordianism as a parody religion, in May 2001 Discordians started an email campaign to get the religion reclassified. It is difficult to estimate the number of Discordians because they are not required to hold Discordianism as their only belief system.
According to Arthur Versluis, Discordianism "both shaped and reflects the counterculture of the 1960s and 1970s".
Founding and structure
The foundational document of Discordianism is Principia Discordia, fourth edition, written by Malaclypse the Younger, an alias of Gregory Hill. Principia Discordia often hints that Discordianism was founded as a dialectic antithesis to more popular religions based on order, although the rhetoric throughout the book describes chaos as a much more underlying impulse of the universe. This may have been done with the intention of merely "balancing out" the creative forces of order and disorder, but the focus is on the more disorderly aspects of the world — at times the forces of order are even vilified. Disharmony is particularly emphasized, along with its relation to harmony.Organizations
Discordian Society
The most general group, presumably including all Discordians, is the Discordian Society, whose definition is "The Discordian Society has no definition". Its members include many adherents of Neopaganism and Thelema.POEE
The sect of Discordianism founded by Malaclypse the Younger and Omar Khayyam Ravenhurst is known as the Paratheo-Anametamystikhood of Eris Esoteric, a non-profit irreligious disorganisation. Principia Discordia contains some details about the structure of POEE. In particular:Episkopos
Episkoposes are the overseers of sects of Discordianism which they have created. They speak to Eris through the use of their pineal gland. It is said in Principia Discordia that Eris says different things to each listener. She may even say radically different things to each Episkopos, but all of what she says is equally her word.Popes
According to Principia Discordia, "every single man, woman, and child on this Earth" is a pope. Included in Principia Discordia is an official Pope card that may be reproduced and distributed freely to anyone and everyone.Saints
There are five classes of saints within Discordianism, who are those who best act as exemplars and are closer to perfection. Only the first of these classes, "Saint Second Class", contains real human beings, with higher classes reserved for fictional beings who, by virtue of being fictional, are better able to reach the Discordian view of perfection.An example of a second-class saint is Emperor Norton, a citizen in 19th-century San Francisco, who despite suffering delusions was beloved by much of the city. He is honoured as a saint within Discordianism for living his life according to truth as he saw it and a disregard for reality as others would perceive it.
Other
Since the first edition, various approaches to a Discordian organization chart – called in the work is "disorganization" and later "disorganizational matrix" – have differed from volume to volume, but have included especially the House of the Apostles of Eris, which is inclusive of the founders as the Apostles, of the Golden Apple Corps and Holders of the Sacred Chao, of the priesthood and saints, of the episkoposes, and even of "heretical" or "protestant" internal opponents of some of these, but not inclusive of the popes, legionnaires, disciples, and various other parties. A variety of other notional organizations were renamed and shuffled around and often enough replaced, as part of POEE. But the House of the Apostles of Eris continued to be credited as the sanctioning body of the later editions, and remained the top division of the POEE "Eristocracy".Another recurrent organizational name is the Legion of Dynamic Discord, inclusive of legionnaires, disciples, and evangelists. LODD was also introduced in the first edition and survived throughout later versions, as well as in works less centrally associated with Discordianism, such The Zenarchist's Cookbook which integrates some elements of Thornley's Zenarchy material and is dedicated to the LODD.
Mythology
Eris and Aneris and their brother Spirituality
In Discordian mythology, Aneris is described as the sister of Eris a.k.a. Discordia. Whereas Eris/Discordia is the goddess of disorder and being, Aneris/Harmonia is the goddess of order and non-being."DOGMA III – HISTORY 32, 'COSMOGONY in Principia Discordia, states:
The sterile Aneris becomes jealous of Eris, and starts making existent things non-existent. This explains why life begins, and later ends in death:
However, the Void decrees that Aneris may not absorb her brother Spirituality, that he can only be absorbed back into the Void itself. Cusack points out that this is "distilled into a teaching about the ultimate fate of humans: 'so it shall be that non-existence shall take us back from existence and that nameless spirituality shall return to the Void, like a tired child home from a very wild circus.'"
Hand of Eris
The "five-fingered hand of Eris" is one of several symbols used in Discordianism. It was adapted as an astronomical/astrological symbol for the dwarf planet Eris. Initially, the planetary symbol, designed by Discordian Denis Moskowitz, was rotated 90 degrees and had a cross-bar added so that it resembled two lunate epsilons back-to-back, with epsilon being the Greek initial of Eris. The cross-bar was later dropped, but the vertical orientation retained. The Hand of Eris has appeared in a public-outreach publication by NASA, though planetary symbols play only a minor role in modern astronomy.The symbol was accepted by Unicode in 2016 as .
Original Snub
The "Original Snub" is the Discordian name for the events leading up to the judgement of Paris, although more focus is put on the actions of Eris. Zeus believes that Eris is a troublemaker, so he does not invite her to Peleus and Thetis's wedding. Having been snubbed, Eris creates a golden apple with the word kallisti inscribed in it. This, the Apple of Discord, is a notable symbol in Discordianism and is included in the Sacred Chao. It is traditionally described as being made of gold.Curse of Greyface
One of the most important parts of Discordianism, the Curse of Greyface features prominently on several pages of the Principia Discordia. According to Principia Discordia, Greyface was a man who lived in the year 1166 BC and taught that life is serious and play is sin. The curse is the psychological and spiritual imbalance that results from these beliefs, both individually and within groups, nations, and civilizations.In addition to the generic advice of cultivating the natural love of chaos and playing with her, the Principia Discordia provides "The Turkey Curse Revealed by the Apostle Dr. Van Van Mojo" to counteract the Curse of Greyface. The Turkey Curse is designed to counteract destructive order. It derives its name from the fact that the incantation resembles the sounds of a turkey.
Theology
Three core principles
The Principia Discordia holds three core principles: the Aneristic and Eristic principles representing order and disorder, and the notion that both are mere illusions.The Pentabarf
The Pentabarf are five rules of Discordianism, described by David G. Robertson as "the Discordian take on the Ten Commandments". As venerators of Eris, Discordian views vary from one person to the next as neither order or disorder, nor chaos are requisites of falling into the Discordian category. The fifth rule is representative of that.Sri Syadasti
The third "apostle of Eris & who they be's" name, commonly called just Sri Syadasti, is Sanskrit, and means: All affirmations are true in some sense, false in some sense, meaningless in some sense, true and false in some sense, true and meaningless in some sense, false and meaningless in some sense, and true and false and meaningless in some sense.The Sacred Chao
A unique symbol created in Discordianism, the Sacred Chao is said to have been devised by the Apostle Hung Mung in ancient China. It is a modified version of the Yin-Yang, a common symbol in Taoism. The Sacred Chao is not the Yin-Yang of the Taoists. On one side of the Sacred Chao is a pentagon and on the other depicts the golden Apple of Discord. The Sacred Chao symbolizes absolutely everything anyone would need to ever know about anything, and more. It even symbolizes everything not worth knowing, depicted by the internal empty space surrounding.Discordians pronounce "chao" as "cow", thus making the terms "Sacred Chao", "Holy Chao", and "Wholly Chao", into puns and inside jokes.
Operation Mindfuck
Operation Mindfuck is an important practice in the Discordian religion, in which "all national calamities, assassinations, or conspiracies" are publicly attributed to the Bavarian Illuminati, an 18th-century secret society, in an attempt to "sow the culture with paranoia". The concept was developed by Kerry Thornley and Robert Anton Wilson in 1968 and given its name by Wilson and Robert Shea in The Illuminatus! Trilogy.Operation Mindfuck uses many of the recurring themes of Discordianism, including "hidden knowledge, secret societies, chaos magic, ancient cults, mysterious rituals and conspiracy theories". Stuart Rathbone described it as "a deliberate campaign of revolutionary disinformation" and notes that "many of these topics have had a lasting impact on anarchism, the pseudo-sciences and even mainstream culture."