... of beautiful tradition?

[SpaceDog]

So, I've been away for a while ...
And I was thinking - Dudeism - I mean, what does it have, man?
I mean "tradition", or to be more precise, the building of one up.

Now, maybe I'm just throwing rocks here but ...

I see lots o' ins and outs and lots of philosophical plagiarism - Zen Dudeism, Dudeist Yoga, Dudeist koans et al which is fine, which is fine but that set me thinking that maybe, just maybe, in order for this here bar not to eventually eat itself, it needs to develop its own unique practices and ideas.

Dudeism is, of course, a form of Taoist-influenced thought, but not exactly. It can't be.
Dudeism is influenced by the Greeks - Epicurus, dear old grumpy Heraclitus, Diogenes but we don't live back then.

Do we need to keep using iconography from other traditions when ours seems full of it?

Instead of The Tao, why not The Bar? (For example only)

We already have Abiding and Rolling. (How do you Roll?)

There are already pointers here -
The natural ease with which people (not only Dudeists) use TBL quotes to highlight a point, make a joke, or just get some critter thinking etc.
The seemingly natural way Dudeists have of enjoying the moment with the beverage of their choice and their buddies around them.
The all important use of "fuck it".
The fact that TBL was a mere comedy film and the simple sacred enjoyment of laughter.

This is not a question of what Dudeism is, but how to express it.

Like putting water in an oat soda, do we need to add to an already rich source?

Thoughts?

[Zen Dog]

If it ain't broke dude,why fix it? I don't have the energy to reinvent the wheel.The Dude himself borrowed from GB1,"This aggresion etc",so if a well known phrase or expression suits the time and place.......and another thing here dude,tradition, in this sense, sounds an awful lot like dogma to me.I think we should keep it simple here man.Just abide and take it easy.What else do we need?

[SpaceDog]

I think you may have misunderstood me, ZD.
That's cool, cos I don't know what I'm blathering about half the time too.

I was in no way implying "dogma", quite the fucking opposite.
I was thinking about how to escape the often misunderstood dogma of other traditions.
It's very easy to say The Tao of This and The Zen Of That, without actually really trying to understand what those words really mean and how our self-help/dumbed down/mashed up culture has actually reappropriated them into something different.
And if they are different, then why not give them a different name.
You dig?

Just a matter of semantics.

Anyway, fuck it. Keeping it simple is fine by me.

Nice to make your acquaintance, sir.

[Zen Dog]

I get yer now SpaceDog.I tried reading Zen and The Art of Motorcycle Maintenance once.It just seemed a very intense way of describing something simple,well to me anyway.I meet people all the time who when you point at something,look at your finger.The hard of understanding will always be there I think because they need a story to take comfort from but don't read to well. As long as they are not nihilists, rug pissers or reactionaries we should look kindly on them.Even when they try our patience.

[SpaceDog]

Indeedy! And simplifying one's ideas can be a way to cut through the increasingly complex marmot shit of modern life. Like finding that last nugget under the sofa pillow.