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Principia Discordia
Hail Eris! All Hail Discordia!
This little book is the bible of Discordianism... the worship of Eris, the goddess of Chaos. Many have said that the Principia Discordia is impossible to find. But if that's true, what are you looking at, a cabbage?
Question authority. All Discordians are prohibited from believing anything they read. Including this. Learn about The Law of Fives, The Gospel According To Fred, The Epistle To The Paranoids, St. Gulik, The Sacred Chao, The Book of Uterus, The Curse of Greyface, and how to start your own Discordian cabal. Fnord.
This great "cult classic" originally appeared in 1965. This news edition was published by Steve Jackson, creator of the Illuminati game, as a tribute to the first Discordians. It adds 20 pages of new material, as revealed by Eris to her faithful worshipers when they probably should have been mowing the lawn or something.
WARNING: This book contains subversive truths, absurd lies, guerrilla philosophy, and several very naughty words. Open mind before reading!
Q: Is Eris true?
A: Everything is true.
Q: Even false things?
A: Even false things are true.
Q: How can that be?
A: I don't know, man. I didn't do it!
This little book is the bible of Discordianism... the worship of Eris, the goddess of Chaos. Many have said that the Principia Discordia is impossible to find. But if that's true, what are you looking at, a cabbage?
Question authority. All Discordians are prohibited from believing anything they read. Including this. Learn about The Law of Fives, The Gospel According To Fred, The Epistle To The Paranoids, St. Gulik, The Sacred Chao, The Book of Uterus, The Curse of Greyface, and how to start your own Discordian cabal. Fnord.
This great "cult classic" originally appeared in 1965. This news edition was published by Steve Jackson, creator of the Illuminati game, as a tribute to the first Discordians. It adds 20 pages of new material, as revealed by Eris to her faithful worshipers when they probably should have been mowing the lawn or something.
WARNING: This book contains subversive truths, absurd lies, guerrilla philosophy, and several very naughty words. Open mind before reading!
Q: Is Eris true?
A: Everything is true.
Q: Even false things?
A: Even false things are true.
Q: How can that be?
A: I don't know, man. I didn't do it!
116 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1965
About the author
Gregory Hill
1 book50 followersThere is more than one author with this name
Gregory Hill, also known by the pen name 'Malaclypse the Younger' (Mal-2), was one of the two writers of the Principia Discordia, along with Kerry Wendell Thornley (aka Lord Omar Khayyam Ravenhurst). He was also adapted as a character in The Illuminatus! Trilogy. During the early years of circulation of the Principia Discordia, rumors claimed that the author of the book was Richard Nixon, Timothy Leary, or Robert Anton Wilson; or that the book and Malaclypse the Younger were both fictional inventions of Robert Anton Wilson, as with Abdul Alhazred's Necronomicon.
Robert Anton Wilson stated, in the lecture "The I in the Triangle" from 1990, that Greg Hill was at the time the head of a large computer facility owned by one of the largest banks in the United States.
Greg Hill described Mal-2 as a spirit sent into him by Eris that helped him write the Principia Discordia over the course of ten years in his early adulthood. An interview included in the fourth edition of the Principia Discordia by Loompanics Press reveals that Mal-2 left once the book was finished. He claims Mal-2 returned to leave a fifth and final edition consisting solely of a Western Union telegraph form filled with the letter "M". Greg Hill also reveals that he had access to Western Union forms when he worked at Western Union.
Gregory Hill, also known by the pen name 'Malaclypse the Younger' (Mal-2), was one of the two writers of the Principia Discordia, along with Kerry Wendell Thornley (aka Lord Omar Khayyam Ravenhurst). He was also adapted as a character in The Illuminatus! Trilogy. During the early years of circulation of the Principia Discordia, rumors claimed that the author of the book was Richard Nixon, Timothy Leary, or Robert Anton Wilson; or that the book and Malaclypse the Younger were both fictional inventions of Robert Anton Wilson, as with Abdul Alhazred's Necronomicon.
Robert Anton Wilson stated, in the lecture "The I in the Triangle" from 1990, that Greg Hill was at the time the head of a large computer facility owned by one of the largest banks in the United States.
Greg Hill described Mal-2 as a spirit sent into him by Eris that helped him write the Principia Discordia over the course of ten years in his early adulthood. An interview included in the fourth edition of the Principia Discordia by Loompanics Press reveals that Mal-2 left once the book was finished. He claims Mal-2 returned to leave a fifth and final edition consisting solely of a Western Union telegraph form filled with the letter "M". Greg Hill also reveals that he had access to Western Union forms when he worked at Western Union.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 317 reviews
May 24, 2012
ERIS DISCORDIA, WHEN I SEE YOU AT SUMMERSLAM YOU'RE GONNA TAKE A BITE FROM THE APPLE OF COMBAT, BROTHER! WHAT DOES IT TASTE LIKE? IT IS A FLAVOR OF SORROW, DEEPER THAN THE CHASMS OF THE ELDER BEASTS! YOUR PHILOSOPHY IS AN EMPTY SKULL THAT I SHALL TRANSFORM INTO MY CHALICE, ERIS DISCORDIA! YOUR BEADED CURTAIN FOLLOWERS SHALL TREMBLE AT THE MIGHT OF THE WARRIORS! ORDER? DISORDER? THERE IS ONLY THE ENDLESS BATTLE FROM WHICH RESPITE IS NEVER GIVEN! IN ONE MUSCLE OF MY BODY THERE IS A THOUSAND TROJAN WARS RAGING! YOU WILL NOT WREST THE INTERCONTINENTAL CHAMPIONSHIP BELT FROM THE ULTIMATE WARRIOR'S WAIST! YOU CAN BRING IN YOUR MINIONS AND THEY WILL BE AS BEES IN THE GARDEN OF STEEL THAT I ERECT! MALACLYPSE THE YOUNGER? YOUR WHIMSY IS A BREEZE AGAINST THE CYCLONE OF MY FISTINATION! MY BRAIN IS WIRED TO THE SIGNALS OF THE TEMPLES OF THE CRIMSON PLANET! THEY ARE THE CAT STEVENS 8-TRACK THAT I WOULD PULVERIZE WITH A SINGLE BLOW! AS THE AGE OF THE SUMMERSLAM APPROACHES AND THE CLOUDS GROW FAT LIKE A STARSHIP EXPLODING IN THE INFINITE VACUUM OF SPACE, YOU WILL LEARN THE MEANING OF TREMBLING, ERIS DISCORDIA! WHEN WE MEET IN THE RING, YOUR DICTIONARY WILL BE SCRAWLED INSIDE WITH TEN THOUSAND NEW WORDS FOR DEFEAT! AND THE PEN THAT WRITES IT WILL BE MY FINGER AND THE INK WILL BE THE SWEAT OF MY VICTORIOUSNESS!
February 9, 2017
"All things happen in fives, or are divisible by or are multiples of five, or are somehow directly or indirectly appropriate to five." Principia Discordia, p. 16
When I was five I won a toy car at a carnival. The car had the number 23 painted on the side. The numbers of my birth year add up to twenty. I was born in the fifth month of the year. It's 5:13 as I'm typing this. Coincidence? No, my fine friend, I think not.
When I was five I won a toy car at a carnival. The car had the number 23 painted on the side. The numbers of my birth year add up to twenty. I was born in the fifth month of the year. It's 5:13 as I'm typing this. Coincidence? No, my fine friend, I think not.
June 15, 2008
If I could give this a 1,000 out of 5, I wouldn't.
-The introduction alone will have you a devout follower of Eris.
-HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
-REMEMBER: King Kong died for our sins.
- ~~ OLD POEE SLOGAN ~~
When in Doubt, Fuck it.
When not in Doubt... get in Doubt!
A telegram sent to God:
-Dear God;
This is to inform you that your current position as deity is herewith terminated due to gross incompetence STOP Your check will be mailed STOP Please do not use me for a reference
Respectfully,
Malaclypse the Younger/Omnibenevolent Polyfather
POEE High Priest
-The introduction alone will have you a devout follower of Eris.
-HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
-REMEMBER: King Kong died for our sins.
- ~~ OLD POEE SLOGAN ~~
When in Doubt, Fuck it.
When not in Doubt... get in Doubt!
A telegram sent to God:
-Dear God;
This is to inform you that your current position as deity is herewith terminated due to gross incompetence STOP Your check will be mailed STOP Please do not use me for a reference
Respectfully,
Malaclypse the Younger/Omnibenevolent Polyfather
POEE High Priest
September 26, 2010
It looks like I am alone in really hating this odd little publication. Actually, I don't hate it, as I understand its purpose and value to some, and I understand why so many people dig it. And yet, it really makes my skin crawl. I didn't grow up under the yoke of any religious dogma, so I don't have the need to make all esoteric writings ridiculous. Believe me, I am a fan of the odd and nonsensical and I know this pasted together missive has been around since the 60's, and yet, it is empty. It's a one trick pony, being beaten over and over and over and it bored me to tears. Yes, you've established your Discordian Utopia. What's next? Oh that's it? That's all you've got? Boring. Make your own revolutionary booklet. I bet it would be better than this one.
August 19, 2008
it is difficult for me to rate this "book." it is like asking a christian to rate the bible. but it actually isn't. like the Necronomicon, this book is also true. if you do not believe then you are certainly one of Gruad's ophidian henchmen and should be fed to Leviathan post-haste.
May 12, 2009
This, as everyone knows, is the Bible of Discordianism. Fnord. It tells everything a devout Discordian should not do in order to not be a non-Discordian. Fnord. It also contains much combined wisdom and lore, which should be ignored. Fnord. It was written by a man who lived inside a Post Office Box, before all Discordians migrated into Cyberspace. (Do you believe that?). It may be funny, but is it really a joke? Fnord. Fnord. Fnord.
I believe that Discordianism was a transitional stage between the avant-garde art movements of the early twentieth century and the "zine revolution" of the 1980s. A group of brilliant and original people exchanged collages, ideas, stories, parables and jokes through the mail, ultimately photocopying it on one of the earliest Xerox machines (allegedly owned by DA Jim Garrison, in the years before his obsession with the Kennedy assassination), and producing this text. Much of the artistic style that would later define the Xeroxed zine was established in the _Principia_, as was a certain irreverent playfulness that would haunt the zine world as well.
As to the spiritual side of th subject matter, it largely pre-saged the renewed interest in Goddess worship and post-modern Magic(k). Gardiner, Crowley, and others had come earlier, but their work was hard to find and there was no easy access to the networks of neo-pagans and Magic(k)ians through occult shops or public meetings. The idea that religion or Magic(k) could include humor was also fairly unique at the time, although it would be taken to different extremes by the Church of the Subgenius, the Illuminates of Thanateros, and other groups in subsequent decades.
For me, reading the _Principia_ was a wonderful liberation, a kind of geeky subcultural escape from the deadly seriousness of many of my generation. I needed some chaos in my life at the time, and it opened a world of possibilities that has yet to be exhausted.
I believe that Discordianism was a transitional stage between the avant-garde art movements of the early twentieth century and the "zine revolution" of the 1980s. A group of brilliant and original people exchanged collages, ideas, stories, parables and jokes through the mail, ultimately photocopying it on one of the earliest Xerox machines (allegedly owned by DA Jim Garrison, in the years before his obsession with the Kennedy assassination), and producing this text. Much of the artistic style that would later define the Xeroxed zine was established in the _Principia_, as was a certain irreverent playfulness that would haunt the zine world as well.
As to the spiritual side of th subject matter, it largely pre-saged the renewed interest in Goddess worship and post-modern Magic(k). Gardiner, Crowley, and others had come earlier, but their work was hard to find and there was no easy access to the networks of neo-pagans and Magic(k)ians through occult shops or public meetings. The idea that religion or Magic(k) could include humor was also fairly unique at the time, although it would be taken to different extremes by the Church of the Subgenius, the Illuminates of Thanateros, and other groups in subsequent decades.
For me, reading the _Principia_ was a wonderful liberation, a kind of geeky subcultural escape from the deadly seriousness of many of my generation. I needed some chaos in my life at the time, and it opened a world of possibilities that has yet to be exhausted.
December 8, 2020
2020 Update:
I've only just noticed a lot of quotes from Prinicipia Discordia on old promotional posters for Stonehenge Free Festival, which in the UK died in 1985 at the Battle of the Beanfield. As far as I can see, the anarchist community in the UK seems to have ended then?
-------
This book has many 5 star reviews because it claims The Law Of Fives: "ALL THINGS HAPPEN IN FIVES, OR ARE DIVISIBLE BY OR ARE MULTIPLES OF FIVE, OR ARE SOMEHOW DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY APPROPRIATE TO 5" (p.00016 of 00074)
But only 'unelightened eristians' would conclude that this demands a 5* review. I'll give it one star for order and one star for disorder, there is nothing else here.
Speaking seriously now, though this is the dyslexic, disjointed and substanceless babble of an acid trip, I think it does occasionally have something maybe worth reading in jest as raising general problems for having religious or spiritual faith:
The revelation of discordianism in a bowling alley by a chimpanzee (00007), the curse of greyface (00042), historic cycles (00045), entropy (00047), the sacred chao (00049), negativism (00063), A Primer for Erisian Evangelists (00065).
But yeah, there are many other unnoteworthy jokes contained (such as how Mr Momoto seems to have eaten his or his brother's nose, which hopefully has an allusion which escapes me).
I would not recommend this to absurdists, but instead guide them toward a book I much more thorougly enjoyed referenced herein... the pseudospiritual teachings from a 'Brigadier Saint' of discordianism called Saint Bokonon (00060), who preaches Bokononism, which is in essence a more practical summary of and clear inspiration for this book—all of which is seen in 'Cat's Cradle' by Kurt Vonnegut.
I've only just noticed a lot of quotes from Prinicipia Discordia on old promotional posters for Stonehenge Free Festival, which in the UK died in 1985 at the Battle of the Beanfield. As far as I can see, the anarchist community in the UK seems to have ended then?
-------
This book has many 5 star reviews because it claims The Law Of Fives: "ALL THINGS HAPPEN IN FIVES, OR ARE DIVISIBLE BY OR ARE MULTIPLES OF FIVE, OR ARE SOMEHOW DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY APPROPRIATE TO 5" (p.00016 of 00074)
But only 'unelightened eristians' would conclude that this demands a 5* review. I'll give it one star for order and one star for disorder, there is nothing else here.
Speaking seriously now, though this is the dyslexic, disjointed and substanceless babble of an acid trip, I think it does occasionally have something maybe worth reading in jest as raising general problems for having religious or spiritual faith:
The revelation of discordianism in a bowling alley by a chimpanzee (00007), the curse of greyface (00042), historic cycles (00045), entropy (00047), the sacred chao (00049), negativism (00063), A Primer for Erisian Evangelists (00065).
But yeah, there are many other unnoteworthy jokes contained (such as how Mr Momoto seems to have eaten his or his brother's nose, which hopefully has an allusion which escapes me).
I would not recommend this to absurdists, but instead guide them toward a book I much more thorougly enjoyed referenced herein... the pseudospiritual teachings from a 'Brigadier Saint' of discordianism called Saint Bokonon (00060), who preaches Bokononism, which is in essence a more practical summary of and clear inspiration for this book—all of which is seen in 'Cat's Cradle' by Kurt Vonnegut.
December 17, 2015
'A Discordian is Prohibited of Believing What he Reads'
- The Five Commandments (The PENTABARF)
Read that quote a few times. Then read the book. You might understand what it's about.
There will be some people who take this book to be their holy book and will memorize paragraphs and quotes, take detailed notes, and bury $3000 in their backyards. They are big fucking idiots and missed the whole point of the book.
Others will read it and see it as a confusing joke book and completely dismiss it. They are also idiots.
Those who think of chaos and disorder as the inherent state of all existence and of existence itself as absurd are most likely to find meaning and brilliance in this book.
And if you don't care about the philosophical aspect of this book, still read it because the writing is fucking amazing. This is hilarious and was a very entertaining read. The introductions are 1/4 of the book. Read them after finishing the actual book though. Everything about this book was perfection.
And remember,
Jesus Saves! But Eris is a better lay.
May 8, 2020
Obviously just a satiric religion--similar to pastafarianism but not as inherently silly as alleging an inverse proportion of pirates to climate change or prophesying that one might be touched by the FSM's noodly appendage (still plenty silly however).
And yet there's a nucleus of Awesome here in the notion of Eris as the central deity, and that the cosmos is chaos worked over by contrary erisian and anerisian principles and forces. The philosophic core is difficult to dispute:
Another great moment is the answer to dogmatic heresiology:
Much of the internal artwork is clever, and it might be best thought of as an extended artistic intervention, which is how the authors thought of it eventually. Their symbol, two arrows coming together at the point, to signify strife, is beyond slick.
And yet there's a nucleus of Awesome here in the notion of Eris as the central deity, and that the cosmos is chaos worked over by contrary erisian and anerisian principles and forces. The philosophic core is difficult to dispute:
We look at the world through windows on which have been drawn grids (concepts). Different philosophies use different grids. A culture is a group of people with rather similar grids. Through a window we view chaos, and relate it to the points on our grid, and thereby understand it. The ORDER is in the GRID. That is the Aneristic Principle.That's just lovely, and consistent with basic ideology theory as well as the Anglo-American internal critique of empiricism. It furthermore makes manifest the heraclitean polemos, strife, as our ontological principle. That's great--but does it likewise make the heideggerian polemos central? Is the principle of differentiation itself apotheosized?
Western philosophy is traditionally concerned with contrasting one grid with another grid, and amending grids in hopes of finding a perfect one that will account for all reality and will, hence, (say unenlightened westerners) be True.
This is illusory; it is what we Erisians call the ANERISTIC ILLUSION. Some grids can be more useful than others, some more beautiful than others, some more pleasant than others, etc., but none can be more True than any other.
[...]
Reality is the original Rorschach.
Another great moment is the answer to dogmatic heresiology:
Should you find that your own revelations of The Goddess become substantially different than the revelations of Mal-2, then perhaps The Goddess has plans for you as an Episkopos, and you might consider creating your own sect from scratch, unhindered. Episkoposes are not competing with each other, and they are all POEE Priests anyway (as soon as I locate them). The point is that Episkopos are developing separate paths to the Erisian mountain top.I wish that more lefties had this sort of confidence that other interlocutors were in good faith. On the basis of these two passages, I think I must have always been a crypto-Erisian. Likely this can be made consistent with the stoic-buddhist-marxist ideas that I've come to adore.
Much of the internal artwork is clever, and it might be best thought of as an extended artistic intervention, which is how the authors thought of it eventually. Their symbol, two arrows coming together at the point, to signify strife, is beyond slick.
March 20, 2008
Hilarious. If you are religious, please read this book and get over yourself. If you're not religious, you'll appreciate the points it makes through satire and sarcasm. You can find it on the Internet for free.
January 23, 2018
Life-changing shit here, fnord. Every time I re-read this, I wonder why I don't do so more often. Unratable, for obvious reasons, but also a five-star book in clear accordance with The Law of Fives, praise be un5 Eris.
October 21, 2014
I was recommended this book by a person who I consider to be extremely intelligent. Having read it, I'm not sure why.
It might have hit a stronger chord in the 60's, before the idea of creating a new religion to shine light on the perversities of organized religion and human culture more broadly became relatively commonplace. I expect it *was* a shiny new notion back then, and I bet this book *did* ripple in the imaginations of the disenfranchised youth of the time. But to me, now, it read like the effortfully nonsensical ramblings of stoned college students, disillusioned by the wreck that is the world and wanting to escape it-- like a group of guys got together and riffed on one single interesting, though not particularly challenging, idea while high, expanding upon it later to exaggerate the wackiness and insightfulness of their trip.
Chaos is valuable and under-appreciated. Got it. Good. Next idea? Oh you don't have any? Well, why don't you just expound on that one in as silly a way as you possibly can and call it philosophical. Done.
It might have hit a stronger chord in the 60's, before the idea of creating a new religion to shine light on the perversities of organized religion and human culture more broadly became relatively commonplace. I expect it *was* a shiny new notion back then, and I bet this book *did* ripple in the imaginations of the disenfranchised youth of the time. But to me, now, it read like the effortfully nonsensical ramblings of stoned college students, disillusioned by the wreck that is the world and wanting to escape it-- like a group of guys got together and riffed on one single interesting, though not particularly challenging, idea while high, expanding upon it later to exaggerate the wackiness and insightfulness of their trip.
Chaos is valuable and under-appreciated. Got it. Good. Next idea? Oh you don't have any? Well, why don't you just expound on that one in as silly a way as you possibly can and call it philosophical. Done.
November 25, 2020
Discordians, get your jump ropes ready!
Gruad the Greyface,
Stealer of fun!
He makes work
for everyone!
How many good times has he wrecked?
1, 2, 3, 4, 5...
Gruad the Greyface,
Stealer of fun!
He makes work
for everyone!
How many good times has he wrecked?
1, 2, 3, 4, 5...
June 27, 2012
This book reads either as a hilarious satire of new age religion, a hilarious mockery of traditional religion, or a hilarious collection of really stupid things.
In any case, it's hilarious. And a quick read.
In any case, it's hilarious. And a quick read.
November 9, 2021
Absolute garbage. The worst thing I've ever read.
August 26, 2015
"Everything is true."
"Even false things?"
"Even false things are true?"
"How can that be?"
"I don't know man, I didn't do it."
This excerpt from a supposed interview with Malacylpse the Younger" (aka Gregory Hill), the co-author of this wonderful book, expresses the ideas presented in the Principia Discordia better than any review could.
What is the Principia and why has a game company published it? In the early seventies, conspiracy buff Kerry Wendell Thornley (who served in the Marine Corps with Lee Harvey Oswald) and Gregory Hill decided to express their thoughts on religion, secret societies, and life in
general in book form. The result, penned by the pseudonymous "Omar Khayyam Ravenhurst" and "Malacylpse the Younger," is the Principia. Their book is presented as the "magnum opiate" of Discordianism, a religion and secret society devoted to the worship of Eris, the Greek goddess of chaos.
Now, twenty years later, the folks at Steve Jackson Games have done Discordians everywhere a service by publishing a new edition of the Principia. The Principia is important to boardgamers because, to put it plainly, Steve Jackson Games' Illuminati card game would not exist
without it. The Principia inspired Robert Anton Wilson and Robert Shea to write the ultimate conspiracy novel, the Illuminatus! trilogy.
Illuminatus!, along with the Principia, inspired Jackson to design Illuminati. (Never mind that the Principia also directly inspired such high weirdness as the Church of the SubGenius and their infamous
tome, The Book of the SubGenius. You are not cleared for
that information anyway, Pink Boy.)
As Jackson points out in his introduction to this edition, the Principia is a notoriously-difficult book to find. Loompanics Unlimited, a low-tech Amazon.com, offers an edition, as does Thornley, through his web site. This Steve Jackson Games edition is by far the nicest-looking and easiest-to-find, and Jackson's introduction and
supplemental material are welcome chrome.
Jackson is clearly a lover of this odd little book, and if you are
interested in conspiracy, religion, or thought in general, you will find yourself consuming it in one sitting.
The Principia is in the public domain, and Jackson even encourages readers to publish their own edition! You will be hooked upon reading the supposedly-true account of how Discordianism was revealed in a bowling alley by an upright-walking monkey. You may even wish to use the Principia as a prop in a role-playing campaign; I can only imagine the fun should a group of GURPS Illuminati or Call of Cthulhu adventurers stumble upon a Discordian cabal.
I would give this edition an A+ if it weren't for the ever-so-slightly-self-serving Steve Jackson Games product placements that Jackson manages to insert at the beginning and end of the book. It's like putting up Coca-Cola billboards at Woodstock, man... But never mind, Jackson is to be commended for bringing more worshipers into Eris's
fold. Buy this book, read it, and enjoy it. You'll be' seeing the fnords in no time ...
"Even false things?"
"Even false things are true?"
"How can that be?"
"I don't know man, I didn't do it."
This excerpt from a supposed interview with Malacylpse the Younger" (aka Gregory Hill), the co-author of this wonderful book, expresses the ideas presented in the Principia Discordia better than any review could.
What is the Principia and why has a game company published it? In the early seventies, conspiracy buff Kerry Wendell Thornley (who served in the Marine Corps with Lee Harvey Oswald) and Gregory Hill decided to express their thoughts on religion, secret societies, and life in
general in book form. The result, penned by the pseudonymous "Omar Khayyam Ravenhurst" and "Malacylpse the Younger," is the Principia. Their book is presented as the "magnum opiate" of Discordianism, a religion and secret society devoted to the worship of Eris, the Greek goddess of chaos.
Now, twenty years later, the folks at Steve Jackson Games have done Discordians everywhere a service by publishing a new edition of the Principia. The Principia is important to boardgamers because, to put it plainly, Steve Jackson Games' Illuminati card game would not exist
without it. The Principia inspired Robert Anton Wilson and Robert Shea to write the ultimate conspiracy novel, the Illuminatus! trilogy.
Illuminatus!, along with the Principia, inspired Jackson to design Illuminati. (Never mind that the Principia also directly inspired such high weirdness as the Church of the SubGenius and their infamous
tome, The Book of the SubGenius. You are not cleared for
that information anyway, Pink Boy.)
As Jackson points out in his introduction to this edition, the Principia is a notoriously-difficult book to find. Loompanics Unlimited, a low-tech Amazon.com, offers an edition, as does Thornley, through his web site. This Steve Jackson Games edition is by far the nicest-looking and easiest-to-find, and Jackson's introduction and
supplemental material are welcome chrome.
Jackson is clearly a lover of this odd little book, and if you are
interested in conspiracy, religion, or thought in general, you will find yourself consuming it in one sitting.
The Principia is in the public domain, and Jackson even encourages readers to publish their own edition! You will be hooked upon reading the supposedly-true account of how Discordianism was revealed in a bowling alley by an upright-walking monkey. You may even wish to use the Principia as a prop in a role-playing campaign; I can only imagine the fun should a group of GURPS Illuminati or Call of Cthulhu adventurers stumble upon a Discordian cabal.
I would give this edition an A+ if it weren't for the ever-so-slightly-self-serving Steve Jackson Games product placements that Jackson manages to insert at the beginning and end of the book. It's like putting up Coca-Cola billboards at Woodstock, man... But never mind, Jackson is to be commended for bringing more worshipers into Eris's
fold. Buy this book, read it, and enjoy it. You'll be' seeing the fnords in no time ...
April 4, 2016
If you haven't read this: Why haven't you read this book?
If you have read this: Why aren't you quoting it right now?
If you are quoting it right now: Why are you quoting it to me? I've already read the book.
If you have read this: Why aren't you quoting it right now?
If you are quoting it right now: Why are you quoting it to me? I've already read the book.
February 18, 2011
I loved Loompanics, and it really depresses me to know they're not around anymore. This was one of the first books I bought from Loompanics. I didn't enjoy it as much as the others I purchased, but I really attribute my apathetic nature towards this book to my expectations. I had read Gleik's Chaos and really thought this was going to bring my understanding of chaos to a new level. Instead I found an absurdist approach utilized in the text, with a lot of random imagery scrawled in the corners of the pages and chaotic collages. I suppose that in this respect it was an appropriate depiction of chaos. This book definitely was chaotic, but it just struck me as being too playful. I was really looking for something concrete, but I suppose that expectation was misguided.
I don't necessarily think that a text about such a phenomenon has to be characterized by its adherence to the phenomenon. There could be an orderly text which elaborates upon discordia and notions of chaos. Of course, as soon as we try to embrace or understand chaos it is no longer chaotic. However, even this book resulted in a personal interpretation, and I nestled it comfortably between my previous knowledge of chaos and expectations.
We all impose order on this text, or embrace it as it is without trying to acquire a meaning from it, which results in no knowledge being conveyed to us. So either we gain something from this text by trying to make sense of it, or we gain only validation of discordian principles, but do not necessarily expand our horizons or learn more about discordia. It teaches us what we already know, or we formulate a response and attempt to make sense of it, which strips the book of its discordian nature. This is one of the things about the book I liked, but I feel like this phenomenon could have been encapsulated by a single surrealist image. It didn't need a whole book. Of course, in the historical context, I appreciate what this collection did when it was originally distributed. It kept people already interested going, and got new people interested.
I don't necessarily think that a text about such a phenomenon has to be characterized by its adherence to the phenomenon. There could be an orderly text which elaborates upon discordia and notions of chaos. Of course, as soon as we try to embrace or understand chaos it is no longer chaotic. However, even this book resulted in a personal interpretation, and I nestled it comfortably between my previous knowledge of chaos and expectations.
We all impose order on this text, or embrace it as it is without trying to acquire a meaning from it, which results in no knowledge being conveyed to us. So either we gain something from this text by trying to make sense of it, or we gain only validation of discordian principles, but do not necessarily expand our horizons or learn more about discordia. It teaches us what we already know, or we formulate a response and attempt to make sense of it, which strips the book of its discordian nature. This is one of the things about the book I liked, but I feel like this phenomenon could have been encapsulated by a single surrealist image. It didn't need a whole book. Of course, in the historical context, I appreciate what this collection did when it was originally distributed. It kept people already interested going, and got new people interested.
March 3, 2012
Actual rating: 2.5
My most darling love muffin read this book and loved it and immediately gave it to me to read... and much like the other books she's passed on to me to read, I unfortunately wasn't digging it. However, unlike the previous books she's lent me *cough Waterdeep cough* this one wasn't bad... the reason I couldn't get into it was because half the time I had no idea what the h I was even reading. It just all seemed too disconnected (which, I KNOW is the point) and I couldn't really understand exactly what I was supposed to be reading (which was probably also the point). And that, dear friends, is why I'm giving this book a lower rating. I was just too confused most the time to really get into it and enjoy it (so I suppose I could be an Erisian because the chaos and confusion didn't work for me).
I will, however, say there were a few times I chuckled while reading and there were some great quotes from the book you can read below. I really like the idea for this book, but unfortunately the confusion just didn't allow me to really enjoy it.
Memorable quotes:
To diverse gods
Do mortals bow;
Holy Cow, and
Wholly Chao
(this Chao is pronounced just like cow XD )
“The Initiate must be totally naked, to demonstrate that he is truly a human being and not something else in disguise like a cabbage or something.”
"Bullshit makes the flowers grow and that is beautiful."
"If you are not hot for philosophy, best just skip it."
"It is then repeated indefinitely, or for the first two thousand miles, which ever comes first."
My most darling love muffin read this book and loved it and immediately gave it to me to read... and much like the other books she's passed on to me to read, I unfortunately wasn't digging it. However, unlike the previous books she's lent me *cough Waterdeep cough* this one wasn't bad... the reason I couldn't get into it was because half the time I had no idea what the h I was even reading. It just all seemed too disconnected (which, I KNOW is the point) and I couldn't really understand exactly what I was supposed to be reading (which was probably also the point). And that, dear friends, is why I'm giving this book a lower rating. I was just too confused most the time to really get into it and enjoy it (so I suppose I could be an Erisian because the chaos and confusion didn't work for me).
I will, however, say there were a few times I chuckled while reading and there were some great quotes from the book you can read below. I really like the idea for this book, but unfortunately the confusion just didn't allow me to really enjoy it.
Memorable quotes:
To diverse gods
Do mortals bow;
Holy Cow, and
Wholly Chao
(this Chao is pronounced just like cow XD )
“The Initiate must be totally naked, to demonstrate that he is truly a human being and not something else in disguise like a cabbage or something.”
"Bullshit makes the flowers grow and that is beautiful."
"If you are not hot for philosophy, best just skip it."
"It is then repeated indefinitely, or for the first two thousand miles, which ever comes first."
October 7, 2012
This book is a wild ride. If I wasn't the person I am, I would have chalked this book up to being just totally out there in left field. But the writer has a method to his madness. You just have to wait for it.
There's a thin line running here between genius and insanity, and he gets dangerously close to falling over both sides at the same time. Don't ask me to be more specific about what I'm talking about with this book. You'd be wasting your time.
Yeah, it's that random. That Deliberately random.
There's a thin line running here between genius and insanity, and he gets dangerously close to falling over both sides at the same time. Don't ask me to be more specific about what I'm talking about with this book. You'd be wasting your time.
Yeah, it's that random. That Deliberately random.
October 15, 2015
There's a fun satire of religion in here, mixed with a bunch of other junk alternatingly funny, dated, and bizarre. I asked my pineal gland what was up, and it looked at me sternly and asked if I really thought I was a Cartesian. So screw that. I'm going to go have a hot dog, because screw Discordianism.
HAIL ERIS
HAIL DISCORDIA
HAIL HAIL
HAIL YES
HAIL ERIS
HAIL DISCORDIA
HAIL HAIL
HAIL YES
February 11, 2008
An interesting breakdown of chaos magick. Reads like crazy person ranting on the street and a sleezy guy with a greasy ponytail, wearing a black velour button-up trying to get you to participate in his Sunday night basement ritual under the pretext of "building cones of power".
January 23, 2017
When in doubt, fuck it. When not in doubt, get in doubt.
Discordia schmiscordia...
I laughed out loud. Yawned loudly too.
Discordia schmiscordia...
I laughed out loud. Yawned loudly too.
March 20, 2018
This book is what "Be Here Now" would've turned out as if Ram Dass had taken a bad batch of LSD and lost his mind.
June 13, 2018
Super funny and gives you a lot to think about.
It presents an interesting philosophy witch I am defiantly going to get deeper into.
It presents an interesting philosophy witch I am defiantly going to get deeper into.
April 23, 2022
Aborrecido
December 30, 2008
I'm actually still reading this in bits and pieces (it's kinda impossible to read a bible like this all at once) but it seems fitting of the spirit of the book to say I've read it when I'm not done yet, since "all is allowed" is one of the rules of Discordianism, the
"religion" of which this book forms the Bible, and even run-on sentences are not eschewed; nay, they are another way of expressing the inherent Disorder (Praise Eris, Goddess of Disorder!) in the Universe.
Every "ha-ha, only serious" so-called "joke" religion can trace its origins back to this photocopied pamphlet created by students on drugs and enlightenment in their heyday. Yet the philosophy described here makes a lot of sense, and seems to have been subsumed into the general culture so slowly that no one has really noticed it. I read the ideas in here and think that I've known them all my life, but that's only because the people who originally created and read and passed around this book by photocopy are the ones who went on to create so much of the technology of today's world, and their design choices and philosophy can't help but influence the way people think today.
"religion" of which this book forms the Bible, and even run-on sentences are not eschewed; nay, they are another way of expressing the inherent Disorder (Praise Eris, Goddess of Disorder!) in the Universe.
Every "ha-ha, only serious" so-called "joke" religion can trace its origins back to this photocopied pamphlet created by students on drugs and enlightenment in their heyday. Yet the philosophy described here makes a lot of sense, and seems to have been subsumed into the general culture so slowly that no one has really noticed it. I read the ideas in here and think that I've known them all my life, but that's only because the people who originally created and read and passed around this book by photocopy are the ones who went on to create so much of the technology of today's world, and their design choices and philosophy can't help but influence the way people think today.
November 8, 2015
Admittedly, I picked this up on a lark when it hit the bookshelves (big fan of Steve Jackson Games) and for most of the book I was annoyed and amused by what appeared to be a slapdash production. I really wasn't sure why it was so popular.
The last sentence should prove why I'm an idiot.
Woven within a number of slaps and derision at modern culture is a remarkably thorough philosophical base and a great (and definitely different) take on how the universe works. Placing another axis on 'morality' and then showing its application to the world is bloody brilliant and I found that the more I read it, the more I laughed along with the authors.
All said then, Hail Eris! And long live the Trickster archetype.
The last sentence should prove why I'm an idiot.
Woven within a number of slaps and derision at modern culture is a remarkably thorough philosophical base and a great (and definitely different) take on how the universe works. Placing another axis on 'morality' and then showing its application to the world is bloody brilliant and I found that the more I read it, the more I laughed along with the authors.
All said then, Hail Eris! And long live the Trickster archetype.
December 5, 2007
That was merely illustrative. The real review is FIVE TONS OF FLAX!
January 22, 2018
This book is my guide in all things. What more can I possibly say?
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