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The most famous Discordian works are probably Principia Discordia, first published in 1965 (which includes portions of The Honest Book of Truth); and The Illuminatus! Trilogy, which had its first volume published in 1975. There is also Zen Without Zen Masters, which looks at Zen and Discordianism, by Camden Benares. But a number of Discordian works have followed, particularly in the 21st Century. These recent works include Book 5 (The Zenarchist's Cookbook), The Book of the Apocalypso, The Book of Chaos and It's Virtues, The Book of Eris, The Book of Inconveniences, The Book of Life (Discordianism), Jonesboria Discordia, Metaclysmia Discordia, Novus Ordo Discordia, Principia Entropius, Principia Harmonia, and Summa Discordia. There is even A Discordian Coloring Book. Probably the most famous of the newer works are Apocrypha Discordia and The Tales of Shamlicht, which are also known as “The Two Apocrypha Discordias.”

But the first Discordian work may have been Summa Universalia, which is mentioned in the first edition of Principia Discordia.

Summa Universalia

While Principia Discordia is often said to be the seminal Discordian work, the book itself disagrees, at least in its first edition. That claims to have taken material from an earlier work, Summa Universalia. (This includes the famous and long-missing The Myth of Ichabod, more popularly known as The Myth of Starbuck, which was recently uncovered in the John F. Kennedy archives). The work isn't mentioned at all in the Fourth Edition of Principia Discordia, the only edition in common distribution (other than the one-page "fifth edition" included in some versions of the fourth edition). It's unknown whether this is an actual work, or was an early Discordian concept that was never completed.

The Two Apocrypha Discordias

The concept for a sequel to Principia Discordia came as Steve Jackson Games was preparing its 1994 edition of the work. According to that edition's introduction, someone on the net (Russel Dalenberg on the usenet group rec.games.board) suggested they publish an Apocrypha Discordia if they got enough material in the true Discordian spirit. Several people sent submissions, including Reverend Loveshade, but the company never published the book.

But the title was used by two collections, one compiled by Rev. DrJon Swabey, and the other edited by Reverend Loveshade and BloodStar, who disappeared in late 2001. Swabey’s collection was completed in 2001. Material from the other collection, which was sometimes called the Non-Existent Apocrypha Discordia, was incorporated into Reverend Loveshade’s Ek-sen-trik-kuh Discordia in late 2005. In May 2006, the subtitle The Tales of Shamlicht was added to the title. While a number of other Discordian works have appeared since 2001, based on Internet searches these two are the most popular to appear in the 21st Century.

Ek-sen-trik-kuh Discordia: The Tales of Shamlicht

The collection Ek-sen-trik-kuh Discordia: The Tales of Shamlicht was previously known as Apocrypha Discordia, the Non-Existent Apocrypha Discordia, and Ek-sen-trik-kuh Discordia (without the subtitle). It is an evolving Discordian and personist work written primarily by Reverend Loveshade with members of the Discordian Division of the Ek-sen-triks CluborGuild and the Mythics of Harmonia, who created Principia Harmonia. It mixes humor and absurdism with serious philosophy, promotes freedom including nudism and sexual freedom, and stands against various forms of prejudice and discrimination including sexism and, controversially, ageism. The collection features factual articles about topics including animal sex, myths, humor, artwork, poetry, the Smagmoid Kids Club, songs, quotes, and other material.

Whereas the 2001 Apocrypha Discordia is a collection of pieces from various sources, most of the material in the Ek-sen-trik-kuh was created specifically for the work. The book claims its inspiration came from a dream-vision that featured Goddess Discordia, her sister Goddess Harmonia, and their daughter, the naked Cherub Princess Shamlicht, who had hundreds of monkeys flying out of her butt. These were actually Bonobo apes, who gave their tales to Loveshade to first digest, and then to “spread them far and wide, for digested flying monkey tales make great fertilizer.”

One of the included pieces is “The Myth of Starbuck” (originally called “The Myth of Ichabod”) from the long-missing first edition of Principia Discordia. Ironically, it was Swabey, who also features it on his site, who worked to get the story released.

While "Reverend Loveshade" has been used as a penname by Robert Anton Wilson, this Reverend Loveshade's [http://discordia.loveshade.org/ek-sen-trik-kuh/revbio.html biography implies he is a different person.

He, She, or E?

The work promotes personism by the use of the word “e” and its various forms as a genderless substitute for “he” or “she.”

e (pronounced the same as letter “e;” rhymes with “she” and “he”): Used instead of “she” or “he.” A person. Examples: E went to the store and bought a pineapple.

es (usually said to rhyme with “his,” but can be pronounced “eez”): Used instead of “her” or “his” as a possessor or agent. Example: Who tried to steal es pineapple?

em (rhymes with “him” or “m”): Substitute for “her” or “him;” pronoun objective case. Example: When The Agents of Greyface tried to take it from em, e hit them with five tons of flax.

emself (rhymes with “himself,” or can be pronounced to rhyme with the letter “m” and “self”): Substitute for herself or himself; used reflexively, in absolute constructions and for emphasis. Examples: Did e throw the five tons all by emself? No, fool, e didn’t do it emself; e had help from a strong head wind.

Five Basic Beliefs

The work adopted the “Five Basic Beliefs” of The Loveshade Family. These are:

ONE: We believe in personism, in the rights of an individual to be treated as an individual by society.

TWO: We believe in the responsibility of the individual to society.

THREE: We believe in the rights of a child to be raised in a loving, supportive and disciplined manner to prepare that child for life, and in the responsibility of caregivers to provide that environment.

FOUR: We believe in personal freedom, in a free society, if it harms no one.

FIVE: We believe in the principle of discordia concurs or “harmonic discord,” that accepting differences and conflicting elements to achieve harmony is greater than excluding differences to achieve unity.

Five Blind Men and an Elephant

Perhaps the best known piece in the collection is Reverend Loveshade's "Five Blind Men and an Elephant." This is a Discordian version of an old Indian tale, and appears in the 1995 online Non-Existent Apocrypha Discordia, the 2001 Apocrypha Discordia (a distinct work--this story is the only piece found in both versions), Apocrypha Diskordia (German translation of the 2001 version), The Book of Eris, Principia Harmonia, in addition to Ek-sen-trik-kuh Discordia: The Tales of Shamlicht.

In this story, five blind men examine an elephant, but each feels only one part. The tusk-toucher says the elephant is like a spear, the leg-feeler says it's like a tree, etc. A blind, self-proclaimed Discordian oracle feels the entire elephant, and plans to profit from the mens' foolishness. (See the whole story at Five Blind Men and an Elephant.)

Child pornography, illegal drugs and terrorism

According to several websites (some of which are listed below), an early version of the work was seized by authorities, and the Discordian Division of the Ek-sen-triks CluborGuild that created it was the subject of a national and possibly international investigation by the American Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and several other law enforcement and government agencies. This was for alleged crimes ranging from promoting child pornography and illegal drugs to sexual predation to consorting with terrorists. According to the work’s official website, the investigation stemmed from information on terrorism and the American government that the group gathered surreptitiously; postings and letters made after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attack in America that claimed governments were a bigger threat to freedom than terrorists (including “Stripping Away American Freedom: A Call to Action);” the group’s promotion of nudism for all ages, including children; and their stand against ageism. The group and their work opposes using “an arbitrary age” to determine when a person is too old to have the right to work and other rights, and too young to drink alcohol, drive, raise children, and most controversial of all, engage in sexual activity (most of these concepts are featured in "The Myth of the Adulthood Fairy"). The site claims all investigations were eventually dropped, and all seized material was eventually returned by the FBI and other agencies.

An index search of several websites do have a verifiable date stamp showing that discussions of the group's legal problems go back to December of 2001 ("Stripping Away American Freedom") and January 30, 2002 (Illuminatus Inner Sanctum). (While the dates listed on posted items can be faked, the date stamp appearing in a website's index can be used as admissible evidence in international courts--for example, to prove who first claimed a domain name). Whether the legal problems are real or part of a hoax is uncertain.

Novus Ordo Discordia

Novus Ordo Discordia, or The Gospel of St. Pesher, The Gardener, was created by writer and roleplaying game creator S. John Ross under the penname Wilhelm Leonardo Pesher. It's a short work of under 4,000 words, but contains several sections. Among these are About The Big Erisian Ministry, The Mobile Illuminated Chapel of Discord, and The Garden of the King/Rain of Flowers, which is a story about St. Pesher the Gardener.

The story begins

Pesher lived in a City, a dreary maze of concrete and glass where the legacy of Greyface was ubiquitous.

Pesher was a gardener for the City's King, a bitter and pained champion of all that is old and tried and in accordance with things that are also old and tried. Pesher the Gardener had been hired because he had a magic with growing things, and could make them green, when all the King could do was make things become ashen and die.

The conflict between Pesher, the poor man who brings beauty, and the King, a rich man who brings death, leads to an ironic twist and a moral seen in the fate of the garden.

The work contains another moral in the form of a quote:

Don't Wake Up, If You Aren't Finished With The Dream. - St. Pesher

A Discordian Coloring Book

A Discordian Coloring Book by Laramie Sasseville is a coloring book first published in 1982 which contains images inspired by the Discordian Religion and other Discordian icons; such as:

The first print run of A Discordian Coloring Book was limited to 1000 copies but there is a second edition available in print on demand format from cafepress.

Book 5 (The Zenarchist's CookBook)

Book 5, also called the Zenarchist's CookBook, is a Discordian text created to relay the idea of Zenarchy to followers of Discordianism. Its authorship is unknown, though the text claims it "has been prepared by the Paratheoanametamystikhood Of Eris Escteric (POEE) Council of the Twenty-Third Degree, for the jurisdiction of The Legion Of Dynamic Discord, and of the House Of The Apostles Of Eris, by the Pope and Poo-Bah-Pontif, under the grand command of the office of his High Reverence, the Benevolent Polyfather." Like many Discordian texts, is it Kopylefted, enabling any part of the text to be copied, changed or published.

About the title

Zenarchist's CookBook is a play on the title Anarchist's Cookbook. The book is meant to be somewhat of a manual on zenarchy, just as the Anarchist's Cookbook is a manual on anarchy. (Zenarchy, which is a book and concept created by Discordianism co-founder Kerry Thornley, is a belief that widespread enlightenment would lead to dissolution or loss of power of the state.) Like Principia Discordia, it also focuses on the distinction between destructive chaos verses constructive chaos. The book claims anarchy is destructive chaos while zenarchy embodies constructive chaos. Book 5 refers to the Discordian Law of Fives which states that "all things happen in fives."

Contents

The Zenarchist's CookBook is divided into 5 parts:

  • Part I - "HotDogs and Catma", the book's introduction.
  • Part II - "Zenarchy Nutshell", the main section which defines zenarchy and a Discordian view of zen.
  • Part III - "The Book of Phibs (Phalsely Called Phakes)" has three sections. The first tells about the Five elements (Chinese philosophy); the second, Alchemy, tells how to make a hallucinogenic ceremonial drink using rum and marijuana; and the third, Tarot, talks about card tricks.
  • Part IV - "Fragments From Forgotten Sermons" contains several previously unpublished Discordian pieces.
  • Part V - "The Starseed Trance-Mission" is a poem, allegedly channeled from a cosmic intelligence.

See also

External links

Discordianism | Joke religions | New religious movements

 

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "Discordian Works".

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