Manifesto IV

Some of the aforementioned Discordians are guilty of the publication of dour, humourless tracts that give turgid exhortations to the masses that they ought to think for themselves, as if that would work. No doubt these poor souls already think that they are thinking for themselves. This is a normal stage of development, and they will either become open Discordians or remain closeted, as everyone on Earth has their own role to play in This Great Drama.

Discarding the humor and hippie stuff to create a more Relevant 21st century Discordianism is, in our opinion, counterproductive. Enlightenment does not come from being told that you ought to be enlightened - if it did, everyone who had ever been to the New Age section of a B&N would be a Dharma Saint of the Divine Countenance or something. The humor and hippie stuff is a vehicle of illumination because it shows those of us who are ready to Know, that any one way of apprehending the Meaning Of It All works pretty much as well as any other - as long as you put a lot of belief-energy into it - because things are so confusing and we don't have enough information and most of this stuff is made up anyway.

Just the other day I read an essay in which the author was describing how the more he read the Bible, the more he knew it was True. Faith, he said, was given to people who invested time and effort in the art of belief.

Just like the Law of Fives: the more you are committed to something being True, the more evidence you see that it is. Our task is to be committed to believing in things that make us better, stronger, more compassionate and loving, funnier and healthier people.

We choose who to trust to reveal things to us and then we trust the revelation, which we trust because we trust the messenger, who seems trustworthy because the message is so darn plausible. Like it says In The Book - everyone I know who is right always agrees with me.