Discordianism

Alternately characterized as a religion and a philosophy, Discordianism is a belief system that promotes chaos as a path to creative and spiritual liberation. It was co-founded by Gregory Hill (1941–2000) and Kerry Wendell Thornley (1938–1998) through their text Principia Discordia, which was conceived in the late 1950s and first published in 1965. Working under the pen names Malaclypse the Younger (Hill) and Lord Omar Khayyam Ravenhurst (Thornley), the pair introduced Discordianism to the 1960s American counterculture.

Discordianism went on to enter the mainstream via its prominent place in Illuminatus!, a popular satirical trilogy of speculative fiction written in the late 1960s and published in 1975 by authors Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson. Observers have also noted crossovers and similarities between Discordianism and other anti-establishment movements, including Situationism, Dadaism, and the Beat culture of the 1950s.

Background

Hill and Thornley met in the 1950s when they were both students at East Whittier California High School. The pair first began discussing ideas that would later form the basis of Discordianism in the late 1950s. During their lifetimes, Thornley and Hill related anecdotes of sharing a profound spiritual experience while at a Whittier bowling alley in the spring of 1959, which cemented the philosophical bond between the two young men. Thornley went on to enlist with the United States Marine Corps, and after his 1960 release from active duty, he and Hill reconnected and relocated to New Orleans. There, Thornley began authoring experimental manuscripts, many of which focused on themes of cultural criticism.

In February 1962, Thornley wrote a work titled The Idle Warriors, which is believed to be the only book about Lee Harvey Oswald written before Oswald infamously assassinated President John F. Kennedy. Thornley’s anecdotes claim the distinction brought him in contact with Kennedy assassination investigators, who were scrutinizing possible connections between him and Oswald.

Meanwhile, Hill became a computer scientist. After co-authoring Principia Discordia with Thornley, Hill went on to spend much of his adult life in the San Francisco area working as a programmer for the Bank of America. The pair issued the first edition of Principia Discordia in 1965, with Hill, Thornley, and third-party sources corroborating that the initial print run of the self-published work consisted of only five photocopied manuscripts. Several revised versions followed, with the work’s fourth edition gaining traction in the late 1960s counterculture and becoming the canonical founding text of Discordianism. With Discordian ideas playing a prominent role in the plot and narrative world of the popular Illuminatus!Trilogy, Hill and Thornley’s ideas reached a wide audience, helping their popularity extend into the 1980s and beyond, before declining and then resurging in the 2010s due in large part to Internet subculture.

Overview

The Discordian tradition views the dogmatic belief systems of standard religions as mechanisms to impose order on the world, a concept that Discordianism fundamentally rejects. Instead, it embraces chaos, disagreement, and randomness as essential balancing elements in the universal order, and suggests that ordered systems incorrectly marginalize these forces when they actually have the power to yield profound creative and spiritual truths. Discordianism’s worldview considers humankind an accident and a product of chaos, and concludes that chaotic forces should thus be embraced. Beyond these core values, Discordianism has no codified beliefs, hierarchy, or power structure, instead emphasizing that rules do not apply to it. Discordians, therefore, have the freedom to integrate as many or as few beliefs from other religions and philosophical systems as they like, and can actively follow and participate in any other religious or spiritual tradition.

Discordianism adopts Eris, the ancient Greek goddess of chaos, as its central figure. For this reason, Discordians are alternately known as Erisians. The group’s primary symbol is known as the Hodge-Podge or Sacred Chao. The Hodge-Podge has drawn comparisons to the Taoist yin-yang icon, as it is divided into two symmetrical halves that each contain elements of the other. It is circular, with a fluid line bisecting it; one half contains a pentagon and the other contains a golden apple. The pentagon and golden apple represent order and chaos, and the symbol itself signifies the union of the opposing concepts.

Adherents of Discordianism also frequently use the expression “Hail Eris! All hail Discordia!,” especially in written communications and printed materials. The nonsense word fnord also plays a prominent role in the Discordian lexicon; Discordians use the meaningless term at random, and it has gained popularity in contemporary Internet subculture. In the Illuminatus!Trilogy, which prominently weaves Discordian ideas into its narrative, people have been socially conditioned to react fearfully to the word fnord. In some circles, the term is also sometimes used as a humorous synonym for a conspiracy theory. Hill and Thornley were strong proponents of conspiracy theory, largely due to its utility as a way of mocking and subverting ordered thinking and conventional beliefs.

Given its preoccupation with chaos and disorder, Discordianism has long defied classification by observers or adherents. Some consider it a philosophical system, while others call it a religion. It is also frequently characterized as a parody religion or anti-religion, and the lack of consensus surrounding its classification reinforces Discordianism’s thematic preoccupation with disagreement and turmoil. These attributes have led to comparisons between Discordianism and Dadaism, an early-twentieth-century artistic and cultural movement that ridiculed modernity. It has also been likened to Situationism, a radical European intellectual tradition of the late 1950s and early 1960s that encouraged awareness of how a person’s individual actions are capable of shaping the reality experienced by others. Commentators have also identified philosophical similarities between Discordianism and the anti-establishment sentiments of the 1950s Beat movement.

During the late 1960s, Discordianism came into vogue in youth counterculture, and it inspired the ritualistic use of LSD and other drugs. The Illuminatus!Trilogy helped Discordianism maintain its cultural relevance through the 1970s and into the 1980s, but it largely declined into obscurity until the Internet helped unite the small global Discordian community, igniting a resurgence that gained momentum in the mid-2010s and returned Discordianism to the fringes of the cultural mainstream. Because Discordianism is largely shared and popularized online, it is considered a virtual religion, which makes it difficult to determine the number of individuals who observe these beliefs.

Bibliography

Beyer, Catherine. “An Introduction to Discordianism.” Learn Religions, 28 Feb. 2019, www.learnreligions.com/discordianism-95677. Accessed 20 Nov. 2024.

Cusack, Carole. “Discordianism.” World Religions and Spirituality, wrldrels.org/2016/10/08/discordianism. Accessed 20 Nov. 2024.

Cusack, Carole. Invented Religions: Imagination, Fiction, and Faith. Routledge, 2016.

Hill, Gregory, and Kerry W. Thornley. "Principia Discordia, or How I Found the Goddess and What I Did to Her When I Found Her." Carnegie Mellon University, 21 Apr. 1997, www.cs.cmu.edu/~tilt/principia. Accessed 20 Nov. 2024.

Oliver, Scott. “Inside the Resurgence of Discordianism—The Chaotic, LSD-Fuelled Anti-Religion,” Vice, 16 Jun. 2016, www.vice.com/en‗au/article/qbn483/the-discordian-revival-chaos-festival. Accessed 20 Nov. 2024.

Panovski, Antonio. "Discordianism: 4 Facts about the Bizarre Religious System." The Collector, 16 Sept. 2023, www.thecollector.com/discordianism-bizarre-religious-stystem-facts. Accessed 20 Nov. 2024.

Ray, Josh. “Embracing the Chaos: Discordianism and the Counterculture.” Super Weird Substance, 2016, www.superweirdsubstance.com/embracing-chaos-discordianism-counterculture. Accessed 20 Nov. 2024.

Shea, Robert, and Robert Anton Wilson. The Illuminatus! Trilogy. Random House, 2010.

“Yes, Virginia, There Is a Greg Hill (Or There Was).” Kerry Thornley, 2011, www.kerrythornley.com/greghill. Accessed 20 Nov. 2024.