The Tenets of Dudeism

[Rev. Ed C]

To quote Jane from Firefly "I never started a fight I didn't think I could finish!"

You and your agressive mercenary attitude

I've always been told that I'm Wash.  In fact, for a longer time I've been told I'm more specifically Alan Tudyk.  A few friends of mine, many... many years ago, went to see A Knight's Tale, and when they came back they all agreed I was in the film, a character that later turned out to be played by... Alan Tudyk.  So I'm afraid my solution to fights is, don't start them, play with toy dinosaurs instead!

...

Back on track with the discussion, I do think before we incude "Abiding" as a tenent or aspect or whathaveyou of Dudeism, we need to finish definining it properly.  Once again, it doesn't need to be a dictionary definition, but it does need to explain our interpritation in broad, fuzzy terms that still make anyone new to our way of thinking understand the use of this word in context.

But that, of course, as Meekon points out, is the work of the other thread
http://dudeism.com/smf/index.php?topic=171.msg21196#msg21196

[Andrea Da Fino]

No problema man, no reason to fight,  but actually your fighting attitude is pretty correct. 

Dudes, I've read the other thread and think that having a basically no harm attitude is good, only that it should be always backed up by a redy to use bowling ball to be used when you want to do no harm but someone wants to harm you. As I said in Tibet they were cool people but this haven't saved them from being invaded by China.

Imho abiding is, and must be, a fundamental part or whatever of dudeism and it simply means going on anyway or enduring with serenity, or a similar meaning.

Your water way explanation is the clearest one. And easiest to remember. Actually it has two meanings: one is the water finding always a way to go from the mountains to the sea and then performing again the full circle (which can also be seen as the circle of existence for human beings, life-live-death-life-live-death and so on) and it can also be seen from the point of view of a rock in the torrent who abidingly sustains all that f****ng water. 

[Andrea Da Fino]

Anyway I think we're more or less there as regards additional concepts to add to the basic three, we just need a bit more of nail polish. Then we can go on with explaining further what each concept means.

Actually I think respect, be kind and smile could be to considered. What means respect we've already said, be kind means being not harsh and to be gentle, but not a sap, and smile relates to the seriously silly attitude.

GLT, great limber thinkers stuff. 

[DigitalBuddha]

How about us janitors? 

[meekon5]

I want my Tenet to be a Yurt (if only it wasn't for the smell of dead Yak).

[DigitalBuddha]

I want my Tenet to be a Yurt (if only it wasn't for the smell of dead Yak).

Actually, you bring up a good point, M5. I was thinking that perhaps the "Tenets of Dudeism" could be different for different background beliefs and practices. That is to say that a Catholic dude would have a unique set of "Tenets of Dudeism" that would differ somewhat for you as a Pagan.

Much would overlap, but much could be unique thus catering to the needs of various religious or non-religious points of view. A sort of way of keeping Dudeism limber but still have a good enough recognizable structure for all peoples to involve themselves in if they wanted to. Dudeism could indeed have a lot of very interesting ins and outs that are as colorful as the types of people who are dudes.

.....just a thought.

[cckeiser]

I want my Tenet to be a Yurt (if only it wasn't for the smell of dead Yak).

Fuckin'-A dude...Yurts are cool!
Thankee!

[Andrea Da Fino]

Tipis and wigwams too! 

M5 you're now an administrator, far out dude, well deserved.

DB you're probably right, depending on the background everyone can have different tenets, but digging through the tree of knowledge we can arrive at its roots. Much like what Taoism did. It's just a matter of finding the right formula which can act as a common rug for everyone who calls himself a Dudeist. To make a great caucasian we need to know both the ingredients and their percentage. A bit of trial and errors, and debates, until we arrive at the right formula; we're already near the solution though. 

[cckeiser]

Tipis and wigwams too! 

M5 you're now an administrator, far out dude, well deserved.

DB you're probably right, depending on the background everyone can have different tenets, but digging through the tree of knowledge we can arrive at its roots. Much like what Taoism did. It's just a matter of finding the right formula which can act as a common rug for everyone who calls himself a Dudeist. To make a great caucasian we need to know both the ingredients and their percentage. A bit of trial and errors, and debates, until we arrive at the right formula; we're already near the solution though. 

Sorry Andrea Da Fino...but I think your a barking uo the wrong tree here. The tenet of Dudeism is ...just take it easy man.
If you need somethink more "christian" like...more formal with rules and dogma...That is what Abideism is for...that the religion with more Tao and less Lebowski...that and a pair of testaments.
It's down at the bottom of the forum dude for a reason dude...so people would NOT get it confused with Dudeism. Dudeism is just fine the way it is dude...it abides.

[forumdude]

I think part of the problem is that we're all like the blind men from the Hindu parable trying to describe Dudeism - one of us touches the trunk and says it's like a big snake, another touches the leg and says it's like a tree, another touches the asshole and says it's shitty. Meekon has said (repeatedly, I think) that what he objects to is people trying to tell him (and everyone else) what Dudeism is.

But herein gets laid the conundrum. This is a forum so we're bound to discuss what Dudeism means to us, or maybe where we think it might go and maybe what it "is like". So some people find connections with Christianity, some with pacifism, some with Zen, some with Taoism. But as soon as the statement is made, a sort of door is in danger of closing, often upon the fingers of another who would rather keep it open.

Of course, this should be obvious to most of us, yet sometimes it's clearly not - people take offense when none need be taken, and other times people get dogmatic and they need to be loosened up.

I figure that these sorts of exchanges will continue - how can they not? The collision between mysticism and language is well documented. And until some post-Jobsian comes up with an iIntuit machine we're going to have to rely on these goddamn letters and codes to try to eff the ineffable. Effin A, man.

And that's cool, that's cool. Just remember that any statements about Dudeism must be preceded by an implicit "IMDO" (In My Dudely Opinion) - that is, something we are having fun with but don't necessarily hold to be sacred or even correct or well thought out. On the whole I'm continually impressed by how disagreements here almost never turn into people killing each others' cars.

Also, what's really humbling and fucking far out is just how almost everyone seems to grok in their hearts what Dudeism is. They may not be sure about the particulars but in general there seems to be a real sense of a center of gravity here. Hopefully the pattern will remain constant as it is played with and defined and fleshed out. That is to say, of course, that it will abide.

[forumdude]

By the way, in reading that last post over, I don't mean that our opinions are or should be arbitrary. The reason we are "having fun" with all this jibberjabber because it's close to the truth.

We're not Nihilists. I think that's what Andrea means when he suggests that there might be some structure to Dudeism. Even if that structure is provisional, it needs to be there to allow communication to take place. But it's necessary to see the structure as scaffolding, not substance. Am I wrong?

[forumdude]

sorry if any of that sounded presumptuous, by the way. i'm only guessing at what any of you fellers are blathering about. and vice versa most likely. innit?

[DigitalBuddha]

i'm only guessing at what any of you fellers are blathering about. and vice versa most likely.

Sounds like me, so I just get a lane roll with it.    Another oat soda, Gary.

[Andrea Da Fino]

"Sorry Andrea Da Fino...but I think your a barking uo the wrong tree here. The tenet of Dudeism is ...just take it easy man.
If you need somethink more "christian" like...more formal with rules and dogma...That is what Abideism is for...that the religion with more Tao and less Lebowski...that and a pair of testaments.
It's down at the bottom of the forum dude for a reason dude...so people would NOT get it confused with Dudeism. Dudeism is just fine the way it is dude...it abides."


Well Dude, I just don't know. Let me try to say it in a different way, obviously Imdo.

Christian thing: you say Christian and I say Roman Catholic and its offsprings. I'm not for transforming Dudeism in Christianism but I see many common points between them keeping in mind that being a Christian means just and only following the two tenets stated by JCD. What I find instead pretty uptight and undude is that everytime the word Christian or better Catholic comes out a wall of shields istantly appears. I guess if I say "I'm a satanist" many more would say just "well, that's cool" while if I say I dig the real JCD style the same would say something like "poor little stupid". Everything is cool except being from a Christian or even Catholic background. That's not dude. Christians and Catholics are not the only wrong on Earth. There could even be worse religions that we just don't know because we know only about  those two. Actually I'm pretty critic against the men with the black coat but that doesn't mean that they are all bad otherwise I would behave and think like one of those TV preachers who call themselves Christian when they are not. Real Christians are as dude as we are while it seems that they cannot be dude because they are Christians. Again that's wrong, uptight and undude. If Dudeism welcomes everyone except Christians and Catholics, well, sorry but I think everyone who thinks this misses the point on Dudeism much more than I do. Now, I know Dudeism doesn't but a lot of dudeists seem to do it.
Dudeism is a universal concept but if it doesn't comprise also Christians it's no more universal. Again, Christians are not those who want to flame anything and board anyone.


Abideism and Rules: I don't like rules as everyone else but I understand that our three core concepts(politically correct nomenclature) are not enough to define a dude. Example: I earn my money selling dangerous substances to minors, yet I abide, take it easy and avoid being uptight. Am I a Dude? And what if I organize dog fights? Or trade weapons in the black market? Or scam older people? And if I throw poisons in the water for money? Provided I follow the three concepts I can do any of them and still be a dude. No. That's why a bit more concepts are needed for an everyday definition of what a Dude is. In real life there is the need for a bit more explanations of what being a dude means.
I don't need Abideism as well as I don't need Lebowskism, Dudeism is more than enough but to play in the real world and be useful for a lot of people out there and stop being considered just a bunch of amateurs internet movie fan club we should be able to provide answers to those who ask. That's imdo the task of being a Dudeist Priest. Not going around showing my patch but providing answers on how to live a better, fulfilling life and given that the first question usually is what is a dude and how to live a dudely life, well, we should give a definite commonly accepted answer. To do this we need a clearer definition of what a dude is, and not based on the movie but on real life where you have children to feed, bills to pay and maybe and under-paid job with an asshole boss and a sick relative.

Then, just to try to explain better my point of view, look at the human body. To stand straight and move around we need bones and a spinal column, without them we would just be a bag of meat unable to move. It might work for unicellular creatures but as human beings we need bones. We could prefer to have a simple stucture like a snail but without a strusture we can arrive nowhere. And like our Taoist compeers  say life is movement.

Probably it's my fault because I don't see Dudeism as a movie fan club, nor a joke, nor an anti-Christian fake religion, etc,. but as a philosophy organized in a religion which can help people to live better and deal well with the human comedy but to to this Dudeism needs, imdo, to expand a bit the concept of what Dudeism is and what a Dude, or/and a Dudeist Priest, is. And this is Olly job as Dudeism as a religion has a "leader" and his is the final word on everything related to Dudeism. Every church or organization needs a leader and if someone doesn't agree can always starts his own religion. We can give hints and opinions but he is the one who can say what Dudeism is. He had the idea and I won't steal, so to speak, Dudeism from him. Or the Dudeist Church if you prefer.


Dogma, well, I don't like it but I believe that it's possible to distill things until come out general rules always appliable, the root of the tree. Our Taoist compeers did it with Tao, Yin and Yang and I guees we can do the same. Then, once we have distilled the core of Dudeims it should become a kind of permanent thing, just to avoid that in the future Dudeism can become something screwed like Christianism became Roman Catholicism. I gues JCD didn't like it but that what happened without clear definitions and permanent rules.


Lastly, given that I'm ranting it's better to rant 'til the end  , I feel that Dudeism should go from being a concept to down to earth, practical advices on living life. This is not dogma or being uptight, or complicating things but it's  having Dudeism to provide real answers to real people in the real world.

If someone has just lost his only child can I go and say to him "Well dude, just abide, take it easy and keep your mind limber; or just say fuck it. Few beers, some burgers, some friends and all the troubles are over???

Is this Dudeism? Answering in lines from the movie?

Sorry for the rant dudes, no intention to harm anyone here, which is a pretty Christian concept though.     

[cckeiser]

That's just like your opinion dude...and the reason you think the way you do is you have been mind fucked by the fuckin' church. You think what you wrote here sounds rational...The church has bent your mind so badly you cannot rationalize without their mind fucking getting in you way. You even call them "Christian Concepts"!...dude...do no harm and helping one another predates the Church by thousands of years. It is how we all got along and survived Before The Church came along and fucked things up.

I will offer you the same advice I offered thinkingdude...free your mind from the brainwashing of the church. You have been mind fucked and don't even know it.
But I will promise you this...once you free your mind of their mind fucking...you are going to be pissed as hell for what they did to you.

What meekon5 has taught me is...We cannot put a name to Dudeism any more than we can put a name to Tao...if we try to name either they are neither Dudeism nor Tao.

Get your minds free dudes.