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04 MAY 2006
Funny money: stable or unstable?
By definition funny money is worthless, issued at whim in any amount. If a stable economy were to develop out of this chaos, that would be a remarkable result. Would stability be serious? I think so, and it would threaten serious world. Funny money is likely to remain local, and no attempt to network or solidify is advised. But how to prevent it? Some will take the game seriously and make serious rules. The Inquisition will eat them for lunch.Funny money must stay true to its traditional definition. We must jealously guard the worthlessness of our currency.
11433
07 MAY 2006
Serious people have to explore farther into funny world
Funny people are content to stay near serious world. Serious people keep going until they find their funniness.
11448
07 MAY 2006
Funny money is our god
Who is god of funny world? Candidates include the Joker and the newest recruit and ourselves. Here's another one. Funny money is our god. Whenever we are tempted by some abstract definition of the funniest, we get back to making funny money.
11449
08 MAY 2006
Parsing must be funny
Many people object to must. It's a serious word, right there in the premise, the magic formula, and it's there for a reason.We're serious about being funny. To escape the traps of seriousness funny is compulsory. If we're even a little bit serious we're lost.
Must also gives mathematical and logical rigor and simplicity. Must be funny is a definite rule or algorithm to follow.
The formula also suggests deadpan seriousness as our funny role. We use what we know, and it keeps the joke going.
1145113 MAY 2006
Must be funny
MUST: To escape our prison of seriousness we follow the rule must be funny without any deviation or exception.BE: Our state of being or consciousness, to be transformed.
FUNNY: The higher state of consciousness we aspire to.
11466
13 MAY 2006
Seriousness and original sin
The whole world labors and suffers under the rule must be serious. So pervasive and all-encompassing is this rule that we never question it. We do not even know we're serious, can't imagine any alternative. Our very souls are in bondage to The Serious One, who holds us captive with chains we cannot see.Many of us go to church looking for relief. But all the churches and religions are serious and ruled by The Serious One. They'll say we're suffering from various sins, and even if we avoid those we're subject to original sin, which is a mysterious inherited condition.
That's getting close to the truth. Our original sin, passed down since the Fall of Man, is seriousness.
11467
14 MAY 2006
Redemption, forgiveness and remission of sins
Forgiveness or remission of sins says it's not our fault. We didn't know any better. We can start over and do it right. Except we can't. We're still serious and will fall into the same pattern. We need something stronger.Redemption means our seriousness is put to use and made funny. That's the powerful remedy required for our condition. Without changing ourselves, we can turn our seriousness from a negative to a positive.
One more element is required: faith. We are incapable of funniness by ourselves. But we believe we can be saved and become funny through some higher power bestowing its grace upon us.
As we follow this belief in our inept serious fashion a miracle occurs: we hear laughter. People are laughing at us! We're funny! Halleluia, we're saved! And the more serious we are, the more they laugh. Our original sin is no longer a liability but an asset.
11469
15 MAY 2006
Manual of faith and practice updating
In accordance with the principles of deadpan humor, the Manual is being rewritten to remove all jokes and vulgarity, to maintain a tone of high seriousness and revealed truth. New material will be added, and the changes are being made incrementally, now updated partway through Chapter One.
1147018 MAY 2006
The Inquisition
When we are new in the faith we will keep falling back into seriousness. The Serious One quietly takes us over, and we don't even know it. He doesn't say aha, I got you now! Later, when we cover games, we can play heretics versus Inquisition and call seriousness when we see it and win some funny money from the perpetrators. That's basic training in detecting, avoiding and escaping from seriousness, getting out of the clutches of The Serious One, and we make a game of it.Could there be a real-world Inquisition against funny people? Like our play Inquisition, they can only attack seriousness. They might think they're against funny, but it's not until we stick an arm or a leg back into serious world that they can grab us.
11475
22 MAY 2006
Funny sacrifice
We will be criticized for having a religion that's all fun and games. Where's our sense of discipline and sacrifice?We make a great sacrifice in giving up our seriousness. This will be tough for most of us, and we have to exercise discipline and vigilance to escape the clutches of The Serious One.
When we are caught committing sins of seriousness, our games have provisions for forfeits of funny money. We can also have funny penalties and rituals designed to make us ridiculous. Maybe we can bring in familiar penance and sacrifices from our legacy faith -- if we can make them funny.
There's the larger question of charity. Do we help people in need or raise money for social projects? Later we'll cover funny money matching funds and Time Dollars. We'll approach charity in our own way because the greatest temptation of The Serious One is doing good. The battle for the soul comes first. Our charity will flow from the abundance of funniness and not from serious obligation.
11484
31 MAY 2006
The funny faith
Funny is the goal, not energy. Make people laugh. Focus on others. Service, not selfish. A grail formula, with laughter to dissipate the energy.Funny is the highest, because it's more difficult than fun, or pure energy. It's a higher skill, and it's needed, though it's still a lie.
11499