Principia Discordia

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The Loompanics "Yellow Cover" combined 4th & 5th Edition Principia Discordia, (1979). Still in print for over 20 years.
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The Loompanics "Yellow Cover" combined 4th & 5th Edition Principia Discordia, (1979). Still in print for over 20 years.

Principia Discordia is a sacred text of the Discordian religion written by Greg Hill (Malaclypse The Younger) and Kerry Thornley (Omar Khayyam Ravenhurst). It was originally published under the title "Principia Discordia or How The West Was Lost With Explanations to Yellow Pages Use" in a limited edition of 5 copies in 1965.

The Principia describes the Discordian Society and its Goddess Eris, as well as the basics of the POEE denomination of Discordianism. It features typewritten and handwritten text intermixed with clip art, stamps, and seals appropriated from other sources, possibly in violation of copyright laws.

While the Principia is full of obvious self-contradictions and unusual humor, it contains several passages which propose that there is serious intent behind the work. Take for example a message scrawled on page 00075: "If you think the PRINCIPIA is just a ha-ha, then go read it again."

The Principia is quoted extensively in and shares many themes with the science fiction book The Illuminatus! Trilogy by Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson. While Wilson was not directly involved in writing the Principia, both the letter signed "Mad Malik" and the stamps used were his.

Notable symbols in the book include the Apple of Discord, the pentagon, and the "Sacred Chao", which resembles the Taijitu of Taoism, but the two principles depicted are "Hodge" and "Podge" rather than yin and yang, and they are represented by the apple and the pentagon, and not by dots. Saints identified include Emperor Norton, Yossarian, Don Quixote, and Bokonon. The Principia also introduces the mysterious word fnord, later popularized in The Illuminatus! Trilogy; the trilogy itself is mentioned in the afterword to the Loompanics edition, and in the various introductions to the fifth editions.

Contents

[edit] History

The "Black Cover" Edition of the Principia Discordia (1994), published by Steve Jackson Games.
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The "Black Cover" Edition of the Principia Discordia (1994), published by Steve Jackson Games.

The full title of the fourth and most popular edition is 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 Anything. Included on page 00075 is the following note about the history of the Principia:

This being the 4th Edition, March 1970, San Francisco; a revision of the 3rd Edition of 500 copies, whomped together in Tampa 1969; which revised the 2nd Edition of 100 copies from Los Angeles 1969; which was a revision of PRINCIPIA DISCORDIA or HOW THE WEST WAS LOST published in New Orleans in 1965 in five copies, which were mostly lost.

Additionally, the "contents of this edition" note in the Loompanics edition identifies the fourth edition as having originally been published by Rip Off Press of San Francisco, California.

A "Fifth Edition" consisting of a single Western Union telegram page filled with the letter M was published as an appendix to the Loompanics, Illuminet, and SJ Games re-printings of the 4th Edition.

The Principia includes a notice which purports to disclaim any copyright in relation to the work: "Ⓚ All Rights Reversed - reprint what you like." Regardless of the legal effect of this notice, the Principia has been widely disseminated in the public domain via the Internet and more traditional print publishers. Some re-publishers have claimed copyright in relation to the additional material included in their editions.

Known reprintings of the Fourth and Fifth Editions:

[edit] Quotes

  • "There are no rules anywhere. The Goddess Prevails" -The Discordian Society, page 00032
  • "To choose order over disorder, or disorder over order, is to accept a trip composed of both the creative and the destructive. But to choose the creative over the destructive is an all-creative trip composed of both order and disorder. To accomplish this, one need only accept creative disorder along with, and equal to, creative order, and also willing to reject destructive order as an undesirable equal to destructive disorder." -Greyface and Negativism, page 00063
  • "Erisians seldom pray, it is much too dangerous." -On prayer, page 00012
  • "[The Ancient Greeks] cannot be trusted with historic matters. 'They were,' She added, 'Victims of indigestion, you know.'" -Eris - What We Know about Eris (not much), page 00015
  • "There is serenity in Chaos. Seek ye the Eye of the Hurricane." -Page 00059
The following is page 00054 of the Principia Discordia, showing the typical elements that can be found throughout the book.
Principia Discordia, page 00054
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Principia Discordia, page 00054

[edit] Discordian Works

The religion begun by Principia Discordia has expanded with newer writings and illustrations found on thousands of websites. Some of this new material has been put into collections. These Discordian works include the Apocrypha Discordia, which contains various Discordian writings compiled by Rev. Dr. Jon Swabey; and Ek-sen-trik-kuh Discordia: The Tales of Shamlicht, an evolving work edited by Reverend Loveshade that combines Discordianism with the philosophy of personism. While not a "religious" work, The Illuminatus! Trilogy, speculative fiction novels by Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson, popularized Discordianism with various quotes and references from Principia Discordia.

On May 5, 2005 (5/5/5), roleplaying game author John Wick published Discordia!: A Little Game about a Lot of Chaos under his Wicked Dead Brewing Company banner. Wick credits the game's inspiration to the Principia Discordia and The Illuminatus! Trilogy. The game features the players as "Discordian Double Agents" infiltrating various conspiracy groups such as the Bavarian Illuminati, the Hashashin, and others.

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:
Wikisource has original text related to this article:

The Principia Discordia is widely available on the Web from these and other sources:

[edit] Translations

The following links lead to foreign language translations of the Principia. Note that at present the Polish edition appears to be a work in process.

French:

German:

Polish:

Portuguese:

Swedish:

In addition, the following non-English Wikipedia articles on Discordianism have portions of the PD translated within them:

And Discordianism and the Principia Discordia are mentioned in the following article in Finnish:

FNORD

Other Discordian works:

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