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Just what the heck is a Discordian, anyhow?
First off, if you've somehow managed to find yourself on a website called Discordian.com,
you probably already know what
Discordianism is. While each person's perception of Discordianism differs, if you've gotten
here at all, you probably have a
vague idea of what it means to you. However, for those of you who don't know what
Discordianism is, the Jargon File defines Discordianism
as:
Discordianism /dis-kor'di-*n-ism/ n.
The veneration of Eris, a.k.a. Discordia; widely popular among hackers. Discordianism was
popularized by Robert Shea and
Robert Anton Wilson's novel "Illuminatus!" as a sort of self-subverting Dada-Zen for
Westerners -- it should on no account be
taken seriously but is far more serious than most jokes. Consider, for example, the Fifth
Commandment of the Pentabarf, from
"Principia Discordia": "A Discordian is Prohibited of Believing What he Reads."
Discordianism is usually connected with an
elaborate conspiracy theory/joke involving millennia-long warfare between the
anarcho-surrealist partisans of Eris and a
malevolent, authoritarian secret society called the Illuminati.
There is, of course, a whole lot more to it than that. Discordian.com deals more with the
question of "So I'm Discordian - now
what?" For some more in-depth definitions of what Discordianism is to begin with, see these
sites:
The H2G2 entry on Discordianism
Disinfo.net's dossier on Discordianism:
A Religion Disguised As A Joke Disguised As A Religion
The Alfredian Discordian's page on Discordian
History
The Encyclopedia of Religious Movements' description of Discordianism
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