A collection of ideas promoted by Alfred A. Lawson, which he believed provided an overarching theory for virtually everything. Lawson dismissed current orthodox theories as the work of incompetents and replaced them with an entirely new set of principles and concepts. He thought that mechanics were governed by penetrability, suction and pressure, and “zigzag-and-swirl”; for Lawson gravity was nonexistent and its effects were attributed to Earths suction. The functions of the human body were attributed to the actions of thousands of little suction and pressure pumps. The universe is occupied by regions of different density, and movement takes place by pressure and suction, governed by Lawson’s Law of Penetrability. Bodies do not move in straight lines or simple curves but along complicated paths according to the principle of zigzag-and-swirl. The activities of the human brain are the work of billions of mental organizing particles, menorgs in conflict with disorganizing particles, “disorgs.” When thinking, a human being marshals the vast army of menorgs to battle against the disorgs. Lawson expounded his ideas in many books, including the three- volume Lawsonomy (1935-39), and Penetrability (1939).
In 1942 Lawson opened the Des Moines University of Lawsonomy. As its name implies, it taught Lawsonomy and only Lawsonomy, to the exclusion of anything not sanctioned by Lawson and recorded in his writings and speeches. The teachers were Knowlegians, top teachers were Generals, and Lawson himself was Supreme Head and First Knowlegian. Students paid no fees but were expected to work on campus.