The Perks of Believing Lies

Throughout the whole novel Jonah explains that he is a Bokononist; yet he also constantly reminds the reader that Bokononism is merely a series of “bittersweet lies” (2). So why then, after having lived through the apocalypse as a member of the Christian faith, does he suddenly exchange his religion in favor of one that he knows to be untrue?

It seems to me that Vonnegut creates this inconsistency on purpose, using Jonah's acceptance of Bokononism to comment on the utility of contrived religion. After watching the effective end of the world, it would be easy to understand why Jonah would turn to atheism—in the face of hardship and disaster (or in this case, the apocalypse), it becomes harder and harder to believe in a loyal and just God. However, Jonah does not turn away from spirituality entirely, rather he picks up on a religion that he knows is completely false. At the end of the novel Jonah meets, who we assume is, Bokonon. Bokonon effectively tells Jonah that there is no God, no wampeter around which people's destiny revolves. Even still, months (years?) later when Jonah writes his novel, he still has faith.

So if Jonah recognizes that his religion is a lie, then he is self-aware: he understands that his beliefs are unfounded, yet he chooses to believe them anyway. I think that this ties into what we were talking about last class when we said that a piece of Vonnegut's commentary on religion is that being religious includes being aware of the artificiality of religion. Jonah has faith, which allows him something to believe in (a very powerful mechanism in and of itself), but he is also cognizant that his faith is not equated with the truth. This labyrinthine mode of being aware of the lies he tells himself allows Jonah to do what Newt couldn't: he is able to see the cat and see the cradle. In other words, by understanding that science and religion are human constructs rather than exhibitions of fact, Jonah is able to derive meaning from his life at his own accord—after all, the perks of believing in a made-up religion is that you get to make up whatever you believe in.