Dudeism and Nihilism

[JamHead]

Good Evening, Dudes. I am a long time follower of Dudeism from birth. I have always lived with the ideas of taking it easy, not worrying about things you cannot control, and Mind if I do a J? I am also one of the newest Ordained Ministers for The Church of The Latter-Day Dude and I must say I cannot be happier or more proud to be part of this very Dude-like group.

There is one thing bothering me, however. Nihilism. As I'm sure with most people for years my only understanding of Nihilism came from "The Big Lebowski" and Walter's disdain for them. For a long time I never gave it much thought and just went with the idea that they believed in nothing. Until one day that idea kind of stuck with me. "We believe in nothing!" We believe in nothing? Nothing?!? It just did not make sense to me at all.  Even believing in nothing means that you believe in something and that something is nothing. So I decided that I would learn more about the subject.

I learned that it is nearly impossible to call yourself just a nihilist. There are a multitude of different forms of nihilism: Metaphysical, Epistemological, mereological, Moral, Political, and the one that really got me Existential. To me, Existential Nihilism is extremely Dude.

From Wikipedia:

"Existential nihilism is the belief that life has no intrinsic meaning or value. With respect to the universe, existential nihilism posits that a single human or even the entire human species is insignificant, without purpose and unlikely to change in the totality of existence.  According to the theory, each individual is an isolated being "thrown" into the universe, barred from knowing "why", yet compelled to invent meaning."

Is this not the fundamental principle behind Dudeism? I am hoping that you other Dudes can help me come to terms with the two seemingly similar yet arguing philosophies. Is it the fact that nihilism itself is a "Certainty" philosophy, has the entire thing just been a misunderstanding of nihilism of Walter's part, or is it just, like, my opinion, Man?

I'm going to go do a J, grab a Caucasian, and attempt to further wrap my head around this.

[RighteousDude]

Is this not the fundamental principle behind Dudeism?

The fundamental principles of Dudeism as I understand them, which might be not at all, are more Zen than nihilist. Existential nihilism holds that one is isolated and extends only so far as his physical senses, like a single marble in a can of marbles, whereas Zen holds that one is a manifestation of some aspect of the totality, no more isolated than is a drop of water in the ocean. Though a droplet of water is made of the ocean, the ocean is not made of droplets.

I think most of us could dig the first part of the cited definition, the part about insignificance, though I could  be wrong. The rub, for me at least, comes in the continuation of the definition,  first in the isolation, and second in the compulsion to invent meaning. I see myself as neither isolated nor in need of a sense of meaning.

has the entire thing just been a misunderstanding of nihilism of Walter's part, or is it just, like, my opinion, Man?

I've always taken it to be a mischaracterization of nihilism in the movie, as what is expressed by those characters is more solipsism than nihilism. But that's just like, my opinion, man. I believe they might have got many things wrong, the most glaring of which being The Dude's orbit intentionally intersecting those of Walter, The Big, or Maude. Those of dudely countenance of my acquaintance would purposefully avoid those of such selfish, manipulative natures. I surely do, at any rate, and always have.

[cckeiser]

http://dudespaper.com/about/

If you're wondering just what Dudeism is all about, you can visit the explanations on the official site. http://www.dudeism.com/
Of course, if you want a nutshell explanation now, here's one: Dudeism is a belief system that teaches us that the universe wants us to take it easy. Getting all worked up over nothing goes profoundly against the laws of nature, psychology, sociology, bowling and several tropical countries. It's about finding ways to maintain peace of mind in a world with too many ins-and-outs and strands to keep in your head. And it's about finding ways to keep your heart light when the bastards are trying to get you down. It's basically Taoism meets The Big Lebowski, plus a big scoop of Humanism and a sprinkling of Buddhism.
See, Dudeism is about lots of stuff. And that's why The Dudespaper is here – to discuss our philosophies from all angles and help promote the creed as a viable Art of Living, an ethos for its time and place.
If you feel like shuffling around, why not check out the explanation of our sections, or just go straight to our latest articles.
What's more, if you figure yourself for a Dudeist philosopher yourself and you've got something to share, please check out our contribute page for some suggestions and guidelines.
Thanks for stopping by.
The Dudely Lama

http://dudeism.com/whatisdudeism/

While Dudeism in its official form has been organized as a religion only recently, it has existed down through the ages in one form or another. Probably the earliest form of Dudeism was the original form of Chinese Taoism, before it went all weird with magic tricks and body fluids. The originator of Taoism, Lao Tzu, basically said "smoke 'em if you got 'em" and "mellow out, man" although he said this in ancient Chinese so something may have been lost in the translation.

Down through the ages, this "rebel shrug" has fortified many successful creeds – Buddhism, Christianity, Sufism, John Lennonism and Fo'-Shizzle-my-Nizzlism. The idea is this: Life is short and complicated and nobody knows what to do about it. So don't do anything about it. Just take it easy, man. Stop worrying so much whether you'll make it into the finals. Kick back with some friends and some oat soda and whether you roll strikes or gutters, do your best to be true to yourself and others – that is to say, abide.

Incidentally, the term "dude" is commonly agreed to refer to both genders. Most linguists contend that "Dudette" is not in keeping with the parlance of our times.

Yo JamHead....like welcome to the forum dude!

[MindAbiding]

That's fucking interesting, man, that's fucking interesting.  I myself dabbled in nihilism, not now of course.

I think you might be on to something, and maybe our thinking about this case has been too uptight.  It might be one of the ironies of our cinematic scripture that The Dude is the actual nihilist -- while the Nihilists are busy professing their belief in nihilism, the Dude's actually living it.

But I don't think the Dude adheres to an ethos -- he doesn't worry about whether shit lacks intrinsic meaning, and he seems to find meaning in life (he seems pretty sorry that they're gonna kill that poor woman and he doesn't really fuck the tournament), he just is -- so maybe the "existential" fits better than the "nihilist."

I dig your work, man!

From Wikipedia:

"Existential nihilism is the belief that life has no intrinsic meaning or value. With respect to the universe, existential nihilism posits that a single human or even the entire human species is insignificant, without purpose and unlikely to change in the totality of existence.  According to the theory, each individual is an isolated being "thrown" into the universe, barred from knowing "why", yet compelled to invent meaning."

Is this not the fundamental principle behind Dudeism? I am hoping that you other Dudes can help me come to terms with the two seemingly similar yet arguing philosophies. Is it the fact that nihilism itself is a "Certainty" philosophy, has the entire thing just been a misunderstanding of nihilism of Walter's part, or is it just, like, my opinion, Man?

I'm going to go do a J, grab a Caucasian, and attempt to further wrap my head around this.

[Hominid]

Ascribing meaning to any philosophy makes us guilty of - well - applying meaning to a philosophy. You know, if it's all just arbitrary, then we're all essentially nihilists really. Unless someone wants to put their foot down and claim otherwise. "Meaning" is something we've only done in the last few centuries or so, when certain portions of society (read: "elite") have had the luxury of not having to kill their next meal with their bare hands. The rest of us just live, go bowling, and enjoy life.

*Sigh* - yes, I have been drinking....

[DigitalBuddha]

Good Evening, Dudes. I am a long time follower of Dudeism from birth. I have always lived with the ideas of taking it easy, not worrying about things you cannot control, and Mind if I do a J? I am also one of the newest Ordained Ministers for The Church of The Latter-Day Dude and I must say I cannot be happier or more proud to be part of this very Dude-like group.

There is one thing bothering me, however. Nihilism. As I'm sure with most people for years my only understanding of Nihilism came from "The Big Lebowski" and Walter's disdain for them. For a long time I never gave it much thought and just went with the idea that they believed in nothing. Until one day that idea kind of stuck with me. "We believe in nothing!" We believe in nothing? Nothing?!? It just did not make sense to me at all.  Even believing in nothing means that you believe in something and that something is nothing. So I decided that I would learn more about the subject.

I learned that it is nearly impossible to call yourself just a nihilist. There are a multitude of different forms of nihilism: Metaphysical, Epistemological, mereological, Moral, Political, and the one that really got me Existential. To me, Existential Nihilism is extremely Dude.

From Wikipedia:

"Existential nihilism is the belief that life has no intrinsic meaning or value. With respect to the universe, existential nihilism posits that a single human or even the entire human species is insignificant, without purpose and unlikely to change in the totality of existence.  According to the theory, each individual is an isolated being "thrown" into the universe, barred from knowing "why", yet compelled to invent meaning."

Is this not the fundamental principle behind Dudeism? I am hoping that you other Dudes can help me come to terms with the two seemingly similar yet arguing philosophies. Is it the fact that nihilism itself is a "Certainty" philosophy, has the entire thing just been a misunderstanding of nihilism of Walter's part, or is it just, like, my opinion, Man?

I'm going to go do a J, grab a Caucasian, and attempt to further wrap my head around this.

Yo, JH, or JamHead, if you're not into the whole brevity thing; welcome to dudetopia and our beach community! Good to have you here, mang! Pull up a rug and abide, dude. Bar's over there, help yourself.

[Boston Rockbury]

I think that Nietzsche explains nihilism best. It is the point where knowledge destroys meaning. For example knowledge of evolution destroying the apparent meaningfulness of a lot of Christian fundamentalist doctrine. Nihilism is inevitable as understanding grows, but only in relation to each increasingly sophisticated formulation of meaning. A general attitude of nihilism, as depicted in the BL 'nihilists', neitzsche regarded as a dangerous passivity, negativity and listlessness. The challenge is to constantly create more advanced forms of meaning (which will always eventually be deconstructed). Nihilism is not an outcome, an end-point or a desirable state but a necessary part in the dialectic of building better meaning from the ashes of the old. Nietzsche referred to this process as the 're-valuation of all values'.

[milnie]

This kind of discussion is why I come here dudes :)