In Cat's Cradle, Vonnegut hilariously invents and describes a religion, Bokononism. This religion exists on an island of the Caribbean, and it is based on The Books of Bokonon. The first sentence in the book is genius, as a satire of religion: "All of the true things I am about to tell you are shameless lies".
One of the most important concepts in this religion is the karass, described by Bokonon in this way: "If you find your life tangled up with somebody else's life for no very logical reasons, that person may be a member of your karass". For true love, Vonnegut describes an special karass, made up of only two people: a duprass. I like the idea of a karass: we all meet those people, once in a while, with which we feel a strange connection, a deep link, even if we only meet for an evening, for a week, for an hour, members of our particular karass, which then disappear in time as lightly as they came by.
But an even more revealing concept within Bokononism is that of Granfalloons: "it is a false karass, a seeming team that is meaningless in terms of the ways God gets things done. Other examples of grandfalloons are the Communist Party, the Daughters of the American Revolution, The General Electric Company, the International Order of Old Fellows - and any nation, anytime, anywhere.". So a Grandfalloon is a group of people that believe that they belong to something, while this something is just not there, it's an illusion. As I was saying, Grandfalloons everywhere.
One of the most important concepts in this religion is the karass, described by Bokonon in this way: "If you find your life tangled up with somebody else's life for no very logical reasons, that person may be a member of your karass". For true love, Vonnegut describes an special karass, made up of only two people: a duprass. I like the idea of a karass: we all meet those people, once in a while, with which we feel a strange connection, a deep link, even if we only meet for an evening, for a week, for an hour, members of our particular karass, which then disappear in time as lightly as they came by.
But an even more revealing concept within Bokononism is that of Granfalloons: "it is a false karass, a seeming team that is meaningless in terms of the ways God gets things done. Other examples of grandfalloons are the Communist Party, the Daughters of the American Revolution, The General Electric Company, the International Order of Old Fellows - and any nation, anytime, anywhere.". So a Grandfalloon is a group of people that believe that they belong to something, while this something is just not there, it's an illusion. As I was saying, Grandfalloons everywhere.
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