Line #83 Literature/PrincipiaDiscordia


1	[[quoteright:220:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/220px-Sacred-Chao_svg_3074.png]]
2	[[caption-width-right:220:[[IceCreamKoan Fnord.]]]]
3
4	->''GREATER POOP: Are you really serious or what?\
5	MAL-2: Sometimes I take humor seriously. Sometimes I take seriousness humorously. Either way, it is irrelevant.''
6	-->--'''Interview with Malaclypse the Younger''', ''Principia Discordia''
7
8	->''"If you think the Principia is just a ha-ha, then go read it again."''
9
10	Not Literature/TheBible of the [[UsefulNotes/{{Discordianism}} Discordian Movement]] (that would be the Honest Book of Truth - and, actually, the Bible is the ''Principia Discordia'' of the Christian Movement), this book[[note]] ''Principia Discordia; Or, How I Found Goddess and What I Did To Her When I Found Her, The Magnum Opiate of Malaclypse the Younger, Wherein Is Explained Absolutely Everything Worth Knowing About Absolutely Everything; Or, How the West Was Lost''[[/note]] was originally published in 1965 by Greg "Malaclypse the Younger" Hill and Kerry "Omar Khayyam Ravenhurst" Thornley, and went through several major revisions before the "Fourth Edition", the version most circulated today, was produced in 1970.
11
12	Discordianism is a philosophic movement that worships the chaos Goddess Eris (yes, that [[Myth/GreekMythology goddess]] with the [[AppleOfDiscord Golden Apple of Discord]] who sparked UsefulNotes/TheTrojanWar. It was the Original Snub). Goddess Eris isn't malicious, though; She's funny, She's smart, and She brings mischievous chaos and change to stodgy, petrified order. Eris likes the number 5 and hot dogs.
13
14	More generally, Discordia believes that humanity's in trouble[[note]] not that trouble is necessarily a bad thing[[/note]] as long as it continues to take itself too seriously, that chaos is needed in life so that creation can occur, and that sometimes things are just ineffable. Logic isn't everything.
15
16	The actual layout of the ''Principia Discordia'' mirrors the chaos included in its pages. Pages of typewritten copy are side-by-side with clip art, stamps, seals and hand scrawled quotes. Sometimes important philosophical ideas are crammed into the margins and barely legible. Get it online [[http://www.principiadiscordia.com/index.php here]].
17	----
18	!!Contains:
19	%%
20	%% Zero Context Examples have been commented out. Please provide context before uncommenting.
21	%%
22	* AliensInCardiff: According to the ''Principia'', Eris first made herself apparent to Malaclypse and Omar in... a long-since-defunct bowling alley in Whittier, [=CA=], a suburb of UsefulNotes/LosAngeles.
23	* AlternativeCalendar: The Principia presents a calendar divided into five 73-day months (Chaos, Discord, Confusion, Bureaucracy, and Aftermath), with a five-day week (Sweetmorn, Boomtime, Pungenday, Prickle-Prickle, and Setting Orange). This has the advantage of making each day of the year fall on the same day of the week every year (e.g., 34 Discord - 17 April - will always fall on a Boomtime). Leap years are the same as in the Gregorian calendar, and the Discordian leap day, St. Tib's Day, is considered to exist outside the normal five-day week. Year 1 of the calendar corresponds to 1166 BC, making 2011 AD Gregorian correspond to 3177 YOLD (Year of Our Lady of Discord).If you're curious, you can use the Gregorian-to-Erisian Date Converter [[http://jubal.westnet.com/hyperdiscordia/dateconvert.html here]]
24	* AncientConspiracy: The Bavarian Illuminati.
25	* ArcNumber: 5 and 23. Though this is really a subversion, given the intent of the Law of Fives.
26	* ArsonMurderAndJaywalking: This quote from the Book of Honest Truth, Predictions 19:10:
27	-->The Earth quakes and the heavens rattle; the beasts of nature flock together and the nations of men flock apart; volcanoes usher up heat while elsewhere water becomes ice and melts; and then on other days it just rains.
28	%%* BlatantLies
29	* {{Calvinball}}: "Sink", a game played by Discordians and people of much ilk, in which the goal is to sink any type of object, by any means, into any medium into which things can be sank, with turns progressing in order of "who somever gets the junk up and in the air first", with the players encouraged to loudly proclaim that they have sunk something and to give it an amusing name while doing so (the Principia provides the example "I sunk Columbus, Ohio!")
30	* CrazySane: In a word, the Discordian ideal. ''The'' classic example of this, [[UsefulNotes/EmperorNorton Emperor Joshua Norton]], is the only Discordian saint who was an actual person.
31	* EasyEvangelism: In [[http://principiadiscordia.com/book/72.php seven easy steps]]!
32	* FalseDichotomy: ''Every'' dichotomy, but especially [[OrderVersusChaos Order versus Disorder]]. On the other hand, [[GivingUpOnLogic everything is true, even dichotomies]].
33	%%* IceCreamKoan: Some borrowed directly from Zen, others created by the authors.
34	* LampShade: The Law of 5s is explicitly true [[ConfirmationBias because Discordians believe in it and look for 5s all around them]]. They know this is how it works, that's the point.
35	* LogicBomb: "A Discordian is Forbidden of Believing what he Reads."
36	%%* MindScrew: In fact, the whole thing is (possibly) intended as a MindScrew. There is a religion based on it.
37	* OutOfCharacter: For the Author. Most all of the ''Principia'' is steeped in SurrealHumor, so [[MoodWhiplash one will take note]] when it elaborates on its underpinning [[PostModernism cultural relativist]] philosophy and is, [[ThePhilosopher for several paragraphs,]] [[PlayedStraight completely lucid.]]
38	* PinealWeirdness: The way one talks to Eris.
39	* PublicDomain: The disclaimer on the final page of the Fourth Edition reads "[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_rights_reversed All rights reversed]] - print what you like" also known as [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyleft Copyleft.]]
40	%%* PungeonMaster
41	* SelfDeprecation: A Discordian is instructed to remonstrate against all the common religions of the land, ''including'' Discordianism. The initiation rite into Discordianism requires you to eat a hot dog in a bun on a Friday, violating the tenets of all three Abrahamic religions (no meat on Fridays, no pork) ''and'' Discordianism itself (no hot dog buns).
42	* SpinOff: Lots and lots of spinoffs. You can find them online, at Amazon, at Scribd, at Cafe Press, etc.
43	** ''23 Things to Amuse Yourself While You Wait'' [[http://www.scribd.com/doc/14860822/23-Things-to-Amuse-Yourself-While-You-Wait Scribd]]
44	** ''Aeturnus Ille Discordia'' [[http://www.amazon.com/Aeturnus-Discordia-Essential-Discordian-ebook/dp/B003V8BT8K/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1334328603&sr=1-1 Amazon]] [[http://www.scribd.com/doc/3925272/Aeternus-Ille-Discordia Scribd]]
45	** ''Apocrypha Discordia'' [[http://appendix.23ae.com/apocrypha/ Site]] [[http://www.cafepress.com/discordianist.16077076 Cafepress]] [[http://www.scribd.com/doc/6007487/Apocrypha-Discordia-2nd-Edition Scribd]]
46	** ''Black Iron Prison'' [[http://www.principiadiscordia.com/bip/1.php BIP page of PD site]] [[http://www.scribd.com/doc/25101030/The-Black-Iron-Prison Scribd]] [[http://www.scribd.com/doc/6150789/Black-Iron-Prison Scribd]] [[http://www.scribd.com/doc/52856093/Black-Iron-Prison-July2007-Booklet Booklet]] [[http://www.scribd.com/doc/9394082/Black-Iron-Prison-Booklet-20 Booklet 2]]
47	''Book 5 (The Zenarchist's Cookbook)'' [[http://search.yahoo.com/r/_ylt=A0oG7mtJR4hP4BIAfYZXNyoA;_ylu=X3oDMTE0bjAwOTA2BHNlYwNzcgRwb3MDMQRjb2xvA2FjMgR2dGlkA1FJMDA3XzE4Nw--/SIG=126er4f5f/EXP=1334360009/http%3a//files.diydharma.org/Zenarchist_Cookbook.pdf PDF]]
48	** ''The Big Book of Chaos'' [[http://www.amazon.com/The-Book-Chaos-Lucas-Thorn/dp/1451525257/ref=sr_1_16?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1334328674&sr=1-16 Amazon]]
49	** ''The Book of the Apocalypso''
50	** ''The Book of Chaos'' [[http://www.scribd.com/doc/48070432/The-Book-of-Chaos Scribd]]
51	** ''The Book of Chaos and its Virtue'' [[http://www.scribd.com/doc/8607228/The-Book-of-Chaos-and-Its-Virtue Scribd]]
52	** ''The Book of Eris'' [[http://www.cafepress.com/erisianist.16113621 Cafepress]] [[http://www.scribd.com/doc/3925136/Book-of-Eris Scribd]]
53	** ''The Book of Inconveniences''
54	** ''The Book of Life'' [[http://www.scribd.com/doc/8607238/The-Book-of-Life Scribd]]
55	** ''The Sacred Chao Te Ching'' [[http://www.scribd.com/doc/14714852/Sacred-Chao-Te-Ching Scribd]]
56	** ''Discordia: A Little Game about a Lot of Chaos'' [[http://www.scribd.com/doc/50408325/Discordia-A-Little-Game-about-a-Lot-of-Chaos Scribd]]
57	** ''A Discordian Coloring Book'' [[http://www.amazon.com/Discordian-Coloring-Book-Laramie-Sasseville/dp/B000RFRC4K/ref=sr_1_11?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1334328634&sr=1-11 Amazon]] [[http://www.cafepress.com/dreamspell/866146 Cafepress]]
58	** ''Discordian Meme Bomb Posters'' [[http://www.scribd.com/doc/46210352/Discordian-Meme-Bomb-Posters Scribd]]
59	** ''Discordianism Brochure'' [[http://www.scribd.com/doc/8607038/Discordianism-Brochure Scribd]]
60	** ''Discordia Prophetica''
61	** ''Ek-sen-trik-kuh Discordia: The Tales of Shamlicht'' [[http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1937536181/ref=ox_sc_act_image_3?ie=UTF8&m=ATVPDKIKX0DER Amazon]]
62	** ''Erisiana'' [[http://www.scribd.com/doc/26353203/Erisiana Scribd]]
63	** ''Et Cetera Dsicordia'' [[http://www.scribd.com/doc/45746047/et-cetera-discordia Scribd]]
64	** ''The Honest Book of Truth''
65	** ''Infinite Conception''
66	** ''Jonesboria Discordia'' [[http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/141168320X/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?ie=UTF8&m=A1XVVMYNKVX00Y Amazon]] [[http://www.scribd.com/doc/9394755/Jonesboria-Discordia Scribd]]
67	** ''Liber Malorum: Children of the Apple'' [[http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/095579840X/ref=ox_sc_act_image_6?ie=UTF8&m=A2Y81BCURRF95N Amazon]]
68	** ''Metaclysmia Discordia: The Chaonomicon'' [[http://www.amazon.com/Metaclysmia-Discordia-KSC-Rev-Synaptyx/dp/B002ACNK0I/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1334328518&sr=8-2 Amazon]] [[http://www.scribd.com/doc/3925091/Metaclysmia-Discordia Scribd]]
69	** ''Novus Ordo Discordia: The Gospel of Saint Pesher, the Gardener''
70	** ''Principia Entropius'' [[http://www.scribd.com/doc/3925211/Principia-Entropius Scribd]]
71	** ''Principia Harmonia''
72	** ''Summa Discordia'' [[http://www.cafepress.com/summadiscordia.16570013 Cafepress]] [[http://www.scribd.com/doc/3925021/Summa-Discordia Scribd]]
73	** ''The Shamlicht Kids Club Handbook''
74	** ''Voices of Chaos'' [[http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1461175712/ref=ox_sc_act_image_4?ie=UTF8&m=ATVPDKIKX0DER Amazon]] [[http://www.scribd.com/doc/61889499/Voices-of-Chaos Scribd]]
75	** ''West End Trash''
76	** ''The Wise Book of Baloney'' [[http://www.scribd.com/doc/3925190/Wise-Book-of-Baloney Scribd]]
77	** ''Zenarchy Unapologia'' [[http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0557383730/ref=ox_sc_act_image_5?ie=UTF8&m=ATVPDKIKX0DER Amazon]]
78	** ''Zen Without Zen Masters'' [[http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1561840734/ref=ox_sc_act_image_7?ie=UTF8&m=ATVPDKIKX0DER Amazon]] [[http://www.scribd.com/doc/79119783/Zen-Without-Zen-Masters-by-Camden-Benares Scribd]]
79	%%* SurrealHumor
80	%%* TakeAThirdOption: More like Take a Fifth Option, but yes.
81	* WorthlessYellowRocks: In the story of how the ''Honest Book of Truth'' was discovered, Lord Omar is told by a servant of Eris to go to a sacred mound and dig up the book there. He digs for five days and five nights and finds no book, so he decides to take a rest, using a giant golden treasure chest he found on the first day as a pillow.

Context Literature / PrincipiaDiscordia