The Church of the Latter Day Dude

[Straw Dog]

I've grown increasingly fond of this "religion" that preaches non-preaching. It is essentially a form of modernized Taoism. I'm actually just finishing "The Abide Guide" written by the founders of the Church of the Latter-Day Dude. That book along with the "Dude De Ching" have become like companions to "the Tao of Pooh" in conveying certain Eastern ideas to a Western culture in my mind.

Dudeism has come to impress me more than I initially thought it would, given its symbolism is based off a Coen brothers film. One great thing about the film is that it's not that great of a film haha. Greatness is found in smallness. I wouldn't say the Dude is necessarily an ideal for which we should strive to achieve so much as a symbol for how to let go and abide in oneself. To actualize things as they are so to speak.

The real story in the Big Lebowski I feel is about the Dude loosing his original Dude-ness and becoming Jeffrey Lebowski. The uneventful climax is when he realizes that his thinking had become way too uptight about the case at hand. When he regained his Dude-ness, he was finally able to perceive how things all tied together again. It's as good of a religion as any really, and probably needed in the world more nowadays with our uptight societies. It's good to learn how to take it easy and abide through the strikes and gutters of life. That's just like my opinion, man.

 

[Twilight Hue]

My Bowling Ball is sixteen pounds. Am I a dude?

 

[Straw Dog]

Maybe there should be a forum for Dudeism, considering how it's already spread fairly rapidly around the world just within five years or so. I mean, it's not a parody religion or a joke. It is a modernized Western form of Taoism with some seriously laid-back philosophy behind it. I guess since it is essentially philosophical Taoism in new clothes, perhaps it would be redundant to an extent. It would be pretty awesome none-the-less, though.

 

[DreadFish]

I like this. Dudism seems to be a stripped down and plain representation of zen and tao philosophies. The dude is very zen in his behaviour, especially with "the dude abides"

 

[DreadFish]

What a nihilist! LOL

Nihilists are nothing to be afraid of. I mean, say what you want about the tenants of national socialism, at least its an ethos!

 

[Straw Dog]

I like this. Dudism seems to be a stripped down and plain representation of zen and tao philosophies. The dude is very zen in his behaviour, especially with "the dude abides"

Yeah, it's interesting to note that Jeff Bridges who plays Jeff Lebowski, the Dude, is a Zen Buddhist in real life. Apparently the character fits quite well with his real life personality. It seems Dudeism is more akin to Taoist philosophy then it is to Buddhism though, but obviously there's a great deal of overlap found in Zen between the two.

Most of the film (mythos) seems to be about the Dude trying to maintain his dude-ness in a world that has gone completely ******* crazy. Every time he regains his dude-ness to a degree, somebody (Walter, the nihilists, Treehorn's thugs, the Big Lebowski) pressures him out of it and he becomes Jeff Lebowski again. "I'm not Jeffrey Lebowski. You're Jeffrey Lebowski. I'm the Dude, so that's what you call me."

I dig the many different levels to the film. You definitely don't get the most out of the first viewing, especially with what you're led to think is the main point of the story and then it happens to not be much of a point about anything really haha. The Coen brother are known for their wide shots, both with their cameras and with their philosophies. All that exists and may exist is the tumbling of tumbleweeds.