THINK LIKE A KOAN! A Daily Meditation on Decoding The Big Lebowski.

[jgiffin]

The movie's message is clear: "Never base a major life decision on what a 2,000 year old fictional carpenter would do."

Well, that or: "Never order seafood from a restaurant known for its steak."

Rumor is they're both pretty central to the Gospel of John.

[DigitalBuddha]

Jesus, man, can you change the station?
I see absolutely no evidence in the above post to suggest, even remotely, that the Coens intended Donny to represent a Christ-like messiah figure.

PS. My 50th post, this calls for an oat soda.

Another round, Gary!

[Nolan Hofstadter]

Just out of curiosity, why does it have to be the Gospel of John?

Masked Dude,

I thought a lot about your question today. I had to think back to last year around the time prior to my first post, "A Midrash of The Gospel of John."  I had watched yet again The Big Lebowski, but this time just after having read The Existential Jesus.¹ This evening I found that reference, in the context as it was of the author's own midrash on the The Gospel of John:

These are the last words the Master speaks. The narrative ends with a two-headed reference.
Peter is instructed, 'You, follow me.' John is addressed obliquely, 'If I want him to abide until I come' (emphasis mine).
The Greek verb for 'abide'--meno--can also mean 'stay', 'tarry', 'wait', or 'stand fast' (p. 227).

I remember being surprised at twice coming across the word 'abide' in as many days. My curiosity peaked, I started scrutinizing the film.

Now as the short story goes: After endless hours I found more and more curious instances of thrices (things that happen in threes).  I eventually realized them to be 'significance codes.' So I started concentrating on the scenes in which they appeared (e.g., Donny's thrice uttered "I Am The Walrus.)" Ultimately this thrice led me to Lennon's "I Am The Walrus", the first line of which resonated with a passage from the Gospel of John. Later, I discovered The Stranger's 'sometimes-you-eat-the-bar and sometimes-the-bar-eats-you' resonated with a yet another passage from the Gospel of John. Finally, I found a number-coding system which related bowling lanes (amongst other things) to these same passages. I then found an even deeper number-code system, resonating etymologies, resonating props, so on and so on.

I reached a point where the movie would no longer let me alone. What I experienced was the quite unbelievable flood of analogies, allusions, and references coming up subconsciously, sometimes in my sleep. They continue to this day. Ultimately, I came to the realization that what I was finding was a whole second-level story structure of two tales, East & West. And that structure pointed to an even deeper story or possibly a Koan (which must be experienced for positive life effect). My intuition is that the deepest level of this story will serve, as grandiose as this sounds, as a type of sub-codex that informs character of The Dude.

So hey, what's this code bullshit? As I said, I will not cross the line into the third-level story. I leave that for the personal experiences of Dudes everywhere. Having said that, let me more appreciatively answer your question, Masked Dude.  The Apostle John echoes in The Dude. "The Dude, takin' 'er easy for all of us sinners."  I mean 'hamartia' baby.  In later posts, I will show that the hare of the Hare-mark in the Moon echoes in the Dude as well. Both stories--East & West--strands of narrative DNA.

Now I'm a Joseph Campbell type of guy. I'll end with a quote, "God is a metaphor for that which transcends all levels of intellectual thought. It's as simple as that." And in that, I guess I somewhat agree and somewhat disagree with Caesar Dude. Paradox . . .

__________________________________________________________________________________

¹REFERENCE: The Existential Jesus, John Carroll (2009 Counterpoint, Berkeley).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Carroll_(author)

[Nolan Hofstadter]

THE ARREST

WALTER'S FORESHADOW



"NO! WITHOUT A HOSTAGE THERE IS NO RANSOM."

CODED SIGNALS OF SIGNIFICANCE: THRICE: 3 Protagonists, 3 Antagonists, 3 Bikes. Yikes, here we go again.   

LEBOWSKI CODEX: Donny's heart has seized, a cardiac arrest. YES! NOW THERE'S A HOSTAGE. WE HAVE A RANSOM.

   

[Stumblin Stumbleweed]

Now here's a wiser feller than myself's take on this some kind of Middle Eastern thing:
Zizek on Atheism and Christianity

[Nolan Hofstadter]

Zizek! Fuck me!

[DigitalBuddha]

THE ARREST

Well, dude, we just don't know. In my humble estimation; you might fool the fucks in the league office, but you don't fool Jesus! It's bush league psych-out stuff! Laughable, man!



...IMHDO

[meekon5]

Actually this is just getting boring now.

[DigitalBuddha]

Actually this is just getting boring now.

[Nolan Hofstadter]

EUCHARIST

          . . . drinks my blood . . .

Walter (blood over mouth and chin): "I would call myself, but I'm pumping blood, might pass out." 

          . . . eats my flesh . . .

Dude "Man, don't you have something else, uh, we could put him in?" (The Dude then pops a mint into his mouth.)   

________________________

REFERENCE: Gospel of John 6:54
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John+6%3A54&version=DARBY

[Stumblin Stumbleweed]

I just noticed that "Jeffrey Lebowski" is an anagram of "Beer Sky Life of JW." I can't find any reference to this in any of the sacred manuscripts I have immediately to hand, so this must be a sign to explain the mysterious impregnation of Salian Frankish king Pharamond's wife by an aquatic quinotaur, thus founding the Merovingian dynasty. It would be unwise to attempt to deny or refute this.
Mind you, I also just noticed that the word "options" is an anagram of "spitoon," so perhaps not. Still, it's as plausible as anything else I've seen in this thread.

[meekon5]

NOW, I HAVE BEEN CRITICIZED FOR 'CHRISTIANIZING' THE BIG LEBOWSKI. SORRY, I DO NOT HAVE A DOG IN THAT FIGHT. I HAVE TO NO END ENJOYED THE FIRST-LEVEL-STORY OF THE FILM. THAT SAID, WHAT I AM ABOUT HERE IS EXPLICATING THE SECOND-LEVEL-STORY AND LEAVING THE INTERPRETATION OF THE THIRD-LEVEL-STORY TO THE DUDES AT LARGE.

So for a guy who claims not to be trying to Chritianise Dudeism there seems to be an awful lot of Bible quotes in your waffle, and lots of links to the gospel according to John.

"LEBOWSKI CODE: This "what-have-you" has something to do with the Gospel of John. "

Highly unlikely; in fact, probably bullshit. 

IMHO

Look mate congratulations you managed to read a book.

In fact you read a book about the Gospel of John and it's hidden meanings, well done again, not only have you read a book but it had big words and heavy symbolism.

The problem we have is this is not your personal blog site.

Your pearls are but dung to us.

At the moment you are the nutter on the box in Hyde Park Corner that everyone goes to laugh at on a Sunday.

You are perfectly entitled to your opinion, but much like your penis, don't be surprised if people get upset if you go around waving it in peoples faces.

You think there is a code in the film, we get that. What you don't seem to get is, we don't care!

You are preaching christianity to a bunch of Athiests, Taoists, and Buddhists, (and some christians) who just don't care.

In fact it's not the fact that you are preaching christianity to a bunch of Athiests etc, it is the fact that you are preaching.

Thank you for your point of view but we are not interested.

[DigitalBuddha]

NOW, I HAVE BEEN CRITICIZED FOR 'CHRISTIANIZING' THE BIG LEBOWSKI. SORRY, I DO NOT HAVE A DOG IN THAT FIGHT. I HAVE TO NO END ENJOYED THE FIRST-LEVEL-STORY OF THE FILM. THAT SAID, WHAT I AM ABOUT HERE IS EXPLICATING THE SECOND-LEVEL-STORY AND LEAVING THE INTERPRETATION OF THE THIRD-LEVEL-STORY TO THE DUDES AT LARGE.

So for a guy who claims not to be trying to Chritianise Dudeism there seems to be an awful lot of Bible quotes in your waffle, and lots of links to the gospel according to John.

"LEBOWSKI CODE: This "what-have-you" has something to do with the Gospel of John. "

Highly unlikely; in fact, probably bullshit. 

IMHO

Look mate congratulations you managed to read a book.

In fact you read a book about the Gospel of John and it's hidden meanings, well done again, not only have you read a book but it had big words and heavy symbolism.

The problem we have is this is not your personal blog site.

Your pearls are but dung to us.

At the moment you are the nutter on the box in Hyde Park Corner that everyone goes to laugh at on a Sunday.

You are perfectly entitled to your opinion, but much like your penis, don't be surprised if people get upset if you go around waving it in peoples faces.

You think there is a code in the film, we get that. What you don't seem to get is, we don't care!

You are preaching christianity to a bunch of Athiests, Taoists, and Buddhists, (and some christians) who just don't care.

In fact it's not the fact that you are preaching christianity to a bunch of Athiests etc, it is the fact that you are preaching.

Thank you for your point of view but we are not interested.

[Nolan Hofstadter]

"Nihilist and Christian: they rhyme in German, and they do more than rhyme...."¹

          Who's the fucking Nihilists
       around here, you bunch
       of fucking crybabies?

Ye Dudes of little faith. Have faith. What did you think the Nihilists were all about, in The Big Lebowski? They're Christian, man!

You're right about one thing, though. I really, really am . . . a Fellow Brother Shamus.
________________

¹REFERENCE: THE ANTICHRIST (Aphorism 58), The Antichrist by , F. W. Nietzche
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/19322/19322-h/19322-h.htm

[Stumblin Stumbleweed]

Nihilist and Christian: they rhyme in German...

No. No they do not rhyme in German; not according to the Oxford German-English dictionary here in the University library anyway. Have you considered a career in politics or advertising? They're looking for experienced purveyors of delusional hysteria, so I've heard.

Next.