Bokononism

Bokononism came to us from Kurt Vonnegut’s novel «Cat’s Cradle».

You can order the book here

1

There is no truth in this book, but "this truth is a foma, and it will make you kind and brave, healthy happy".

"The Book of Bokonon" 1:5 "A harmless lie is a foma"

4

The first sentence in _The Books of Bokonon_ reads like this:

"All of the true things I am about to tell you are shameless lies".

For my part, as a Bokononist, I warn you: Anyone who cannot understand how a useful religion can be founded on lies will not understand this little book either. So be it.

8

- There is no generosity in this. New knowledge is the most precious thing in the world. The more truths we uncover, the richer we become.

Had I already been a follower of Bokonon then, these words would have made me howl outright.

10

Of course, being a Bokononist, I would gladly have agreed to go anywhere at anyone’s request.

The offer of unexpected travel is a dancing lesson taught by God

- teaches us Bokonon.

16

This was a paraphrase of the Gospel words: "Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s". In Bokonon’s version, these words read like this:

Pay no attention to Caesar. Caesar has no idea whatsoever what is really going on around him".

28

I did learn a thing or two, but it helped me little. For example, I became acquainted with the Bokononist cosmogony, in which _Borasisi_, the Sun, embraced _Pabu_, the Moon, in the hope that Pabu would bear him a fiery child.

But poor Pabu gave birth only to cold children, who gave off no warmth, and _Borasisi_ threw them away in disgust. They became the planets, which circled their fearsome parent at a respectful distance.

And soon poor Pabu was driven out too, and she went to live with her beloved daughter, Earth. Earth was the darling of the Moon, _Pabu_, - because people lived on Earth, they looked at _Pabu_, admired her, and pitied her.

And what did Bokonon himself think of his cosmogony? - _Fo'ma_! A lie, he wrote. Nothing but _fo'ma_!

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- Are you a Bokononist too? - I asked. - I agree with one idea of Bokonon’s. I agree that all religions, including Bokononism, are nothing but lies

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As Bokonon tells us,

Words of farewell can never be a mistake

41

I turned to the books of Bokonon, still thinking in my ignorance that I would find consolation in them. I hastily skipped the warning on the title page of the first volume:

Don't be a fool! Close this book right now! It is all - nothing but fo'ma!

Fo'ma, of course, means a lie. And then I read the following:

"In the beginning God created the earth and looked at it from his cosmic loneliness. And God said: "Let us make living creatures out of clay, let the clay look at what we have made".

And God created all the living creatures that still move over the earth, and one of them was man. And only this lump of clay, which had become man, could speak.

And God leaned closer, when the man made of clay half rose, looked around and spoke. The man winked and asked politely:

"And what is the meaning of all this?"

- Must everything have a meaning?

- asked God.

- Of course,

- said the man.

- Then I leave it to you to find that meaning!

- said God and withdrew".

I thought: what nonsense is this?

"Of course it is nonsense", writes Bokonon.

44

"Beware of the man who works hard to gain knowledge, and having gained it, finds that he is no wiser at all,-

writes Bokonon.

- And he begins to hate mortally those people who are just as ignorant as he is, but who made no effort at all to become so".

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Bokonon put forward the paradoxical idea that there is a sad necessity to lie about real life and an even sadder impossibility of lying about it.

References to Bokononism

Article author: Andrei Olegovich