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

--Bokonon

Bokononism is the fictional religion practiced by many of the characters in Kurt Vonnegut's novel Cat's Cradle.

It is based on living by the untruths that make one happy, called foma. Bokononistic sex is a union of two souls achieved by placing the soles of two people's feet together.

Bokonon is the founder of the religion. He was born Lionel Boyd Johnson. "Bokonon" was the way the natives of San Lorenzo, the tropical island where the shipwrecked Johnson started his religion, pronounced his family name.

See also

• foma
• granfalloon
• karass
• wampeter