Is Dudeism a religion? I think so...

[DigitalBuddha]

Is Dudeism a religion? I think so...



I've had many a discussion on whether or not Dudesim can be classed as a religion. Here is my argument as to why it is.

Some kind of Dudeism thing - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jaYVMFdhk7s&feature=endscreen&NR=1

[BikerDude]

It's difficult to get past what seems to me to be abundantly obvious irony in  Dudeism.
It looks to me like a parody of religion.
Drawing parallels to legitimate religions does not make Dudeism more of a religion as much as it mocks other religions.
A person could make a religion out of Gilligan's Island as well and could likewise brew up plenty of religious sounding parallels but it wouldn't make Gilliganism any more of an actual religion IMHO.

To me I have to wonder "Why do we care?"
Who needs a religion anyway?
Be a dudeist if you like and there is no need to call it a religion or a philosophy or anything else.
Why put a label on it?
Labels are UnDude.

[Hominid]

I'm with BD. To me, it is SO overtly a mock religion, created to mock other serious religions. It is SO tongue-in-cheek in that way... To take is seriously as a real religion means lumping it in with all other serious religions, which is NOT cool because of how undude they all are.

It's like saying being a Pastafarian is to be taken seriously. Really? The Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster?

[forumdude]

I think it's not a question of either/or but both/and. Truly cool things in life (like TBL and other great works of literature) are open ended and open for interpretation. That's what makes a lot of religions so irrelevant, dead and outdated. They are corpses trotted out on Sundays and holidays for all to try to clutch the past glories of.

As that nitwit (but great aphorist) Osho said (or was it Dick Van Patten?), religions kill religiousness. Keeping a sense of humor about the tropes of religion but still employing them to try and understand the religious (or philosophical, if you prefer) impulse is what Dudeism is all about, IMDO. In that way, we might be more "religious" than actual "religions" but of course that depends on how you define the terms. I define religion as a static ossification of a fluid impluse towards awareness-building (which could be termed religiousness, spirituality, philosophy, gestalt, emergent phenomena, or even just plain "learning"). The philosophical introduction to the Dao De Jing by Ames and Hall spells this out pretty amazingly.

Talking about this stuff this way always makes me feel like a bit of a shmo. It's hard to discuss without sounding more serious than I intend it to sound. Maybe it's the fault of the new ageists. We need a new vocabulary to discuss stuff like this so we don't sound wishy washy or pedantic. Or at least, I do. Anyway, I think it all comes down to the limitations of words to describe abstract impressions. Again, the Tao Te Ching starts off by saying "The Tao which can be named is not Tao." That pretty much says it all.

[Hominid]

 "The Tao which can be named is not Tao."

By that definition, (correct me if I'm outa line here...) religion IS named, so it doesn't even deserve mention in dudeism. I disagree that religion is a static ossification of a pursuit of self-awareness.. that's what Buddhism tries to solve, not religion. IOW - philosophy is so far ahead of religion it's not funny...

So ya, maybe we need to redefine terms, but for the most part, (IMDO) - most of us know religion to be old-school ritual bullshit. At least in my little world. Philosophy on the other hand helps us explore the meaning of life without any such trappings.

Hey, we all have baggage here; it's a great thread - keep it going!

[DigitalBuddha]

As fluid as Dudeism seems to be (by fluid I mean open and developing as time goes by); it would seem to me that the term "religion" is a good one (depending on what you mean by religion) so long as it doesn't speak of authoritative dogma and many of the other negative historic connotations of "religion." I doubt that this would happen in Dudeism; could you imagine the experienced slackers around here getting uptight over some dick demanding we follow his or her dogma? We would hear a strong chorus of "well, yeah, but that's just like your opinion, man" or "ahhh, what day is this?" and possibly "is that some kind of dogmatic thing?"

In other words, structure and authority are not high on the Dudeism agenda to say the least!

And, IMHDO, it shouldn't be. Any undude who tried to demand a rigid set of "dudeism doctrines" would be likely labeled "your just an asshole" and with a "would you just take it easy, man" tossed in to shore up the sentiment.

As a point of history; religion has primarily survived by establishing a wall of dogma (and by "wall" I mean a vehicle of survival, profit and control) which would simply not work in Dudeism. One thing I love about Dudeism is the utter lack of a need for a central authority to "govern" Dudeism, and how dudes have proven to not need one to all get along.

Case in point; the very dude-like postings on guns we have seen in the past couple of weeks. This is an area where feelings run deep both pro and con, but unlike other arenas of public debate, we saw informed and laid back intelligent conversations on the issues with a lot of good points made on all sides; all in dudely decency and surprising politeness. I'm proud!

So, we are faced with having to come to perhaps some kind of Dude-like definition of "religion." For my part, and until I can find one (or think one up in a drunken stupor), I am presently satisfied with calling Dudeism a "religion of no religion," one that is open to all who wish to join our...our what?

IMHO...

Am I wrong, or just an asshole?

PS, does any dude here no who the dude in the video is? Is he on the chat board here?

[RighteousDude]

So, we are faced with having to come to perhaps some kind of Dude-like definition of "religion."

My definition, which I do not wish to push into the psyche of any other: It is an Abiding Way Of Being.

[DigitalBuddha]

So, we are faced with having to come to perhaps some kind of Dude-like definition of "religion."

My definition, which I do not wish to push into the psyche of any other: It is an Abiding Way Of Being.

Yeah, that's a good one.

[Zen Dog]

Just thinking out loud here dudes.I'm wondering what to fill in on censuses and what have you.If Dudeism is more a phylosophy than a religion then the obvious answer is to write 'no religion'.But if it is a good thing to encourage others to abide then it would seem right to be relaxed about the definition and write 'Dudeist'.Could saying to someone 'Take it easy' be construed as a form of proseletysing? I haven't done so much deep and meaningful thinking since I bought my grandkids xmas presents so I'm going to the pub to take it easy.

[forumdude]

Again, the problem here is a semantic one I think. There are two reasons why I think it behooves us to call Dudeism a religion.

1) It sounds cooler.

2) Because philosophies generally aren't particularly good at gathering people together. Maybe in Ancient Greece and Rome there were groups of Epicureans and Stoics and the like but today it just doesn't work. Maybe that's because most philosophies deal with specific aspect of life and not the whole shebang. One might be a post modernist artist at work and an Ascetic in the kitchen and a Humanist at the bar and a Sadomasochist in the bedroom. I like to think of Dudeism as more all-encompassing, kind of "your answer to everything." At least in theory. Life is so fragmented that it would be nice to have a sense that there was a "center" to fall back upon. But maybe that's just wishful thinking.

3 - Special bonus reason: Because it makes it easier to be an Atheist in America, where many people take umbrage when you tell them you're an Atheist. I mean, it's not like we should care, but it's easier to pull a bit of Dude Jitsu on them this way.

[DigitalBuddha]

Again, the problem here is a semantic one I think. There are two reasons why I think it behooves us to call Dudeism a religion.

1) It sounds cooler.

2) Because philosophies generally aren't particularly good at gathering people together. Maybe in Ancient Greece and Rome there were groups of Epicureans and Stoics and the like but today it just doesn't work. Maybe that's because most philosophies deal with specific aspect of life and not the whole shebang. One might be a post modernist artist at work and an Ascetic in the kitchen and a Humanist at the bar and a Sadomasochist in the bedroom. I like to think of Dudeism as more all-encompassing, kind of "your answer to everything." At least in theory. Life is so fragmented that it would be nice to have a sense that there was a "center" to fall back upon. But maybe that's just wishful thinking.

3 - Special bonus reason: Because it makes it easier to be an Atheist in America, where many people take umbrage when you tell them you're an Atheist. I mean, it's not like we should care, but it's easier to pull a bit of Dude Jitsu on them this way.

And.......

4 - Female forms dig religious dudes; you know, the whole "church girls do it better" thing going on

[A Stoned Buddha]

Shemantics aside, What makes a religion? Is it the willingness to do the rituals, whatever the cost? A pair of testes? To me, it means a shared understanding amongst a group people of something that goes our beyond normal understanding. Words are weak tool to only use in conveying this. We all know this. Words are linear symbols. One at a time, in lines upon lines, in books upon books, and libraries upon libraries would never be enough express the depth of the universe. Jesus couldn't do it, nor Mohammad or even the Buddha. Words fail everyone in this regard. But, physically coming together, uniting in one space and forming a sort of shield (however temporary) against the cold darkness is why people feel their religion is right, even if the words don't make logical sense. They feel the touch of god and that is enough for most people. I'm sure we have all felt similar things at great concerts and at other big moments of our lives like funerals, drum circles, weddings, births and so on. People coming together and sharing a common experience is unifying in a way no book or internet forum will ever match. This is what Dudeism needs most of all if it wants to call it self a "Religion". A common shelter from the storm of the world. Obviously, we don't need tax free buildings with guilt trips to the sky ruining a perfectly good Sunday morning to be relevant, but more of an effort to bring our Dudeness together, would go a long way towards establishing "Religion" status with The Big Lebowski's out there. If that matters to anyway. Look at me, enjoying my coffee and rambling on. Well,I guess that about wraps'er up for me for now. Take'er easy Dudes. 

[forumdude]

you are correct, sir! actually today a guy who is working on an important piece of software contacted me - his tech will allow the dudeist social network to come to fruition and we'll be able to find other dudeists in our area via a location search, plus set up groups with a location. as soon as this is all ready, i hope that dudeists will start to meet up in real life and not just on the net!

[A Stoned Buddha]

you are correct, sir! actually today a guy who is working on an important piece of software contacted me - his tech will allow the dudeist social network to come to fruition and we'll be able to find other dudeists in our area via a location search, plus set up groups with a location. as soon as this is all ready, i hope that dudeists will start to meet up in real life and not just on the net!

Lotta potential in this idea. I love it. Who knows how many Dudes are within arms reach that I wouldn't know otherwise. It'd be good for our families and kids to be involved, really tie the whole thing together, ya know.

[Hominid]

So, again, I ask: was the original (and continuing) intent of Dudeism to be a mock religion like the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster (i.e. not to be really taken all that seriously even though it has a central ethos), or is the intent to be taken as a serious philosophy/"religion without religion"/non-preachy sort-of-religion? 

I ask because it initially comes across as a tongue in cheek parody of religion. That is certainly the first impression anyone gets when visiting the web site for the first time. All the puns, all the comedy...

Or is it all these things?