Discordian Q & A

[Malaclypse 666]

Dear sir, how can i further eris through my personal actions??

[snapback]47612[/snapback]

A very good question, young sir, with many possible answers.

However, I will answer your question, and at the same time we will have an opportunity to review an earlier lesson, and to introduce a new "Discordian" word into your vocabulary. The word is "Sombunall".

In a previous lesson, we learned about the "Curse of Isness". Briefly, you were cautioned that if an authority figure tells you that something "is" this way, or "is not" that way, then that authority figure is trying to convince you that what he says "is" a universal truth, and not to be questioned. The lesson hoped to teach you to use more objective terms, such as "seems to be", or perhaps "In my opinion..." to describe your very rich but limited experience of the reality around you.

In the same spirit, consider the following statements:

"All pirates are bad!"
"All religions are horse hockey, except My Religion!"
"All figures of authority know what is best for my own good."

Now, we not only must be cautious of the verb "is/are", but we have another word which should immediately cause your Pineal to itch, and the fnords to start becoming visible: "All". To avoid the pitfalls presented by this scenario, the ancient Saint/Bard Wilson created a word, which is really a contraction of the many-valued-logic phrase "Some, but not all.." Ergo, "Sombunall".

As some of your eyes are already glazing over, I shall quickly answer the young man's query: You can further the concepts which Eris represents by questioning authority and dogma. For example, when you hear someone say, "All pirates are bad!", try immediately rephrasing the statement in your mind, to "Sombunall pirates are bad." This exercise serves the dual purpose of questioning the authority and "truth" of the statement, and also causing your own Pineal to consider the possibility that "sombunall" pirates may actually not be quite so bad.

All Eris wants of you is to use that marvelous instrument called the brain for its intended purpose: To investigate, explore, question, and even to create, the reality which appears around you. "Who is the master who makes the grass green?" I'll tell ya.. it ain't the person who proclaims as gospel that the grass is, was, and and always will be chartreuse.

Well, acolytes, that's quite a lot for now. What say we take a break and go play in the ..em.. multi-colored grass.

---