Works by members of the original Discordian Society.
Principia Discordia Principia Discordia is a
Discordian religious text 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 in a limited edition of five copies in 1965.
The Illuminatus! Trilogy One of the most influential of all Discordian works,
The Illuminatus! Trilogy is a
series of three novels written by
Robert Shea and
Robert Anton Wilson purportedly between 1969 and 1971, and first published in 1975. The trilogy is a
satirical,
postmodern,
science fiction-influenced adventure story; a drug-, sex- and magic-laden trek through a number of
conspiracy theories, both historical and imaginary, which hinge on the authors' version of the
Illuminati. The narrative often switches between
third and
first person perspectives and jumps around in time. It is thematically dense, covering topics like
counterculture,
numerology and
Discordianism. In a 1980 interview given to the science fiction magazine
Starship, Wilson suggested the novel was an attempt to build a myth around Discordianism:
Zen Without Zen Masters Zen Without Zen Masters is a book by Camden Benares (The Count of Five), published in 1977, of
koans, stories and exercises of a Discordian nature. It includes tales of several early Discordians including Hill (as Mal) and Thornley (as Omar and Ho Chi Zen). "Enlightenment of a Seeker" from this book is also present in
Principia Discordia as "A Zen Story". There are references to this story in
The Illuminatus! Trilogy, as well.
Zenarchy Zenarchy was first self-published by Thornley, under the pen name Ho Chi Zen, as a series of one-page (or
broadsheet) newsletters in the 1960s,. A selection of the material was later reedited and expanded by Thornley and republished in paperback by IllumiNet Press in 1991. The book describes Thornley's concept of Zenarchy "a way of Zen applied to social life. A non-combative, non-participatory, no-politics approach to anarchy intended to get the serious student thinking."
Summa Universalia Summa Universalia was another work by
Malaclypse the Younger, purported to be a summary of the Universe. It was excerpted in the first edition of
Principia Discordia but never published. It was mentioned in an introduction to one of the
Principia editions, and the work was quoted from in the first edition. The longest known fragment of the text is the
Myth of Ichabod (alluded to as the "Myth of Starbuck" in the 4th edition of the
Principia) which was circulated independently.
The Honest Book of Truth In addition to
Summa Universalia,
Principia Discordia also included selections from
Kerry Wendell Thornley's writings, which he named
The Honest Book of Truth. These sections are clearly marked, and are subtitled in
parody of the
bible's books.
The Honest Book of Truth was for a long time not available to the general public, but a copy of it was published in
Historia Discordia. Selections from this work can also be found within
The Illuminatus! Trilogy.
''Natural Law, or Don't Put a Rubber on Your Willy and Other Writings from a Natural Outlaw'' ''
Natural Law, or Don't Put a Rubber on Your Willy, by Robert Anton Wilson, originally appeared in 1985 as an essay in New Libertarian.
It was subsequently released as a standalone pamphlet in 1987. A small paperback containing the essay and other works was also published in 1987 by Loompanics. In 2022, Natural Law, or Don't Put a Rubber on Your Willy and Other Writings from a Natural Outlaw
was released. The collection features the original Natural Law
article,
but also includes an additional 12 Wilson writings: essays, interviews and a short story, all expounding upon the themes in Natural Law''. == Later Discordian works==