The Dudeism Forum

Deconstructing Lebowski => Lebowskian Philosophy => Topic started by: triviadude on January 26, 2010, 02:00:57 AM

Title: Can anything really tie the room together?
Post by: triviadude on January 26, 2010, 02:00:57 AM
In Dudeism, what is the meaning of the rug?  Can any one thing, ever really tie the room/universe together?   And if it can, is it inevitable that this rug will be miterated upon, thus fracturing the fragile unity? 

If your room loses it's tied togetherness, is it better to just try and abide?  Or try and restore it? Are rooms like Humpty Dumptys that can never really be tied back together again?

By the way, in a very undudelike moment of internet research, as far as I can tell the word miterate is not a real word (well, it wasn't until The Big Lebowski brought it into being). 
Title: Re: Can anything really tie the room together?
Post by: not_exactly_a_lightweight on January 26, 2010, 08:35:03 AM
Quote from: triviadude on January 26, 2010, 02:00:57 AM
In Dudeism, what is the meaning of the rug?  Can any one thing, ever really tie the room/universe together?   And if it can, is it inevitable that this rug will be miterated upon, thus fracturing the fragile unity? 

If your room loses it's tied togetherness, is it better to just try and abide?  Or try and restore it? Are rooms like Humpty Dumptys that can never really be tied back together again?

By the way, in a very undudelike moment of internet research, as far as I can tell the word miterate is not a real word (well, it wasn't until The Big Lebowski brought it into being). 

I believe you mean "micturate", which like vagina is not heard very often. vagina.

What was your question?
Title: Re: Can anything really tie the room together?
Post by: Bartender on January 26, 2010, 04:03:43 PM
Quote from: not_exactly_a_lightweight on January 26, 2010, 08:35:03 AM
vagina.

I'm quite surprised by how uncomfortable this word makes me.
Title: Re: Can anything really tie the room together?
Post by: not_exactly_a_lightweight on January 26, 2010, 06:56:27 PM
'you mean beaver?
Title: Re: Can anything really tie the room together?
Post by: Bartender on January 26, 2010, 08:17:23 PM
Quote from: not_exactly_a_lightweight on January 26, 2010, 06:56:27 PM
'you mean beaver?

Yes.  I don't like saying it.
Title: Re: Can anything really tie the room together?
Post by: DigitalBuddha on January 27, 2010, 12:27:28 AM
Quote from: Bartender on January 26, 2010, 08:17:23 PM
Quote from: not_exactly_a_lightweight on January 26, 2010, 06:56:27 PM
'you mean beaver?

Yes.  I don't like saying it.

But you will talk about your rod, or dick, or johnson?


Yes, you don't like hearing it and find it difficult to say. Whereas without batting an eye you will refer to your "dick" or your "rod" or your "Johnson".
Title: Re: Can anything really tie the room together?
Post by: not_exactly_a_lightweight on January 27, 2010, 01:24:18 AM
Quote from: digitalbuddha on January 27, 2010, 12:27:28 AM
Quote from: Bartender on January 26, 2010, 08:17:23 PM
Quote from: not_exactly_a_lightweight on January 26, 2010, 06:56:27 PM
'you mean beaver?

Yes.  I don't like saying it.

But you will talk about your rod, or dick, or johnson?


Yes, you don't like hearing it and find it difficult to say. Whereas without batting an eye you will refer to your "dick" or your "rod" or your "Johnson".


hold on there DB, you are assuming Bartender is a male.

What makes a man, Mr. Lebowski?
Title: Re: Can anything really tie the room together?
Post by: Bartender on January 27, 2010, 12:23:16 PM
I have a pair of testicles and I think that makes me a man.

Johnson?
Title: Re: Can anything really tie the room together?
Post by: not_exactly_a_lightweight on January 27, 2010, 09:17:34 PM
Do you know, mathematically, worldwide, on average, each person has one testicle?
Title: Re: Can anything really tie the room together?
Post by: Rev. Petra on March 11, 2010, 01:24:12 PM
What room?
(The word is micturate).
Title: Re: Can anything really tie the room together?
Post by: not_exactly_a_lightweight on March 11, 2010, 09:37:17 PM
I think you are looking too deep into the darkness Rev.
micturate on it man,
micturate up a rope,
micturate into the wind

and I did not mean to micturate you off
Rt. Rev. Neal
Title: Re: Can anything really tie the room together?
Post by: The Strumpet on March 15, 2010, 06:32:17 PM
Quote from: not_exactly_a_lightweight on January 27, 2010, 09:17:34 PM
Do you know, mathematically, worldwide, on average, each person has one testicle?

Moorehead was like that.
Title: Re: Can anything really tie the room together?
Post by: TheManForHisTimeAndPlace on April 06, 2010, 05:35:09 AM
Man, a rug really can tie a room together. It fills the empty space.

(anyone that's interested, Wal-Mart sells rugs like the one he stole from The Big Lebowski in various sizes pretty cheap, getting one when I move)
Title: Re: Can anything really tie the room together?
Post by: Da Stranger on August 28, 2010, 03:09:50 PM
Of course the rug ties the room together, but, man, any rug in the house can tie the room together, its not a humpty dumpty scenario. As long as you got a soft rug to put on a hard floor so u can do your tai chi and stretch out and listen to the meditative sounds of bowling in your walkman or discman or mp3 player or ipod or what have you....um...thats cool man! Just take it easy, nothing is fucked here.
Title: Re: Can anything really tie the room together?
Post by: Zen Dog on February 14, 2011, 03:23:06 PM
Well I think the rug is a metaphor.It is the essence that bonds things.If The Dude and Walter were the Yin and Yang of the bowling ball (c'mon,their characters were opposites) then Donny was the Rug.Every ball a strike,untill......... .
Never let anyone get away with peeing on your rug.The perfect rug is hard to replace,as demonstrated.
Title: Re: Can anything really tie the room together?
Post by: DigitalBuddha on February 14, 2011, 04:37:53 PM
Quote from: Bartender on January 27, 2010, 12:23:16 PM
I have a pair of testicles and I think that makes me a man.

Johnson?

Those testicles really tie the dude together, do they not?  ;D
Title: Re: Can anything really tie the room together?
Post by: Basil on February 17, 2011, 07:29:48 AM
Dude! the rug is Lao Tzu's ox
Title: Re: Can anything really tie the room together?
Post by: meekon5 on February 17, 2011, 08:35:13 AM
Quote from: Basil on February 17, 2011, 07:29:48 AM
Dude! the rug is Lao Tzu's ox

An interesting point.

but is that the Ox he left china on?
Title: Re: Can anything really tie the room together?
Post by: Basil on February 17, 2011, 08:38:55 AM
where else would it go? it was his ox
Title: Re: Can anything really tie the room together?
Post by: meekon5 on February 17, 2011, 08:45:07 AM
Not one of the ten.
Title: Re: Can anything really tie the room together?
Post by: Basil on February 17, 2011, 09:10:55 AM
the ten are one
Title: Re: Can anything really tie the room together?
Post by: meekon5 on February 17, 2011, 09:40:55 AM
there is no ox.

there is no rider.
Title: Re: Can anything really tie the room together?
Post by: Basil on February 17, 2011, 05:16:41 PM
: )
you are wise
Title: Re: Can anything really tie the room together?
Post by: not_exactly_a_lightweight on February 17, 2011, 11:59:27 PM
This disturbs
me and dead
Donny / can
Title: Re: Can anything really tie the room together?
Post by: justjake on February 21, 2011, 01:08:45 AM
Like Zen Dog, i think the rug represents inner peace, balance, or just a state of abiding for the dude. But i believe this peace was shattered not when the "china-man" urinated on his rug but when Walter noted on the rugs absence. That's when the dude lost the peace, and choose to seek out the Big Lebowski. There is a concept in Taoism, "pu'u the Uncarved block". Basically all its an ideal state or being, which is "uncarved" or unaltered. No worries, no stress, no negative, because just like the Uncarved block you're stone (and maybe a little stoned) you know who you are and abide. I view Donny (and dude in many instances but not all) to be near this state. Yet like the dude, Donny lost it and in turn lost everything. so if you lose your rug...just take it easy, hopefully a new rug with no sentimental value to another will find its way to your door step.
But then again that's just like my opinion man. First post btw. Great forum here.
Title: Re: Can anything really tie the room together?
Post by: cckeiser on February 21, 2011, 01:41:03 AM
Quote from: justjake on February 21, 2011, 01:08:45 AM
Like Zen Dog, i think the rug represents inner peace, balance, or just a state of abiding for the dude. But i believe this peace was shattered not when the "china-man" urinated on his rug but when Walter noted on the rugs absence. That's when the dude lost the peace, and choose to seek out the Big Lebowski. There is a concept in Taoism, "pu'u the Uncarved block". Basically all its an ideal state or being, which is "uncarved" or unaltered. No worries, no stress, no negative, because just like the Uncarved block you're stone (and maybe a little stoned) you know who you are and abide. I view Donny (and dude in many instances but not all) to be near this state. Yet like the dude, Donny lost it and in turn lost everything. so if you lose your rug...just take it easy, hopefully a new rug with no sentimental value to another will find its way to your door step.
But then again that's just like my opinion man. First post btw. Great forum here.

Excellent First post dude! ;D
Welcome to our little beach community! 8)
Title: Re: Can anything really tie the room together?
Post by: Rev. Gary (revgms) on February 21, 2011, 10:45:29 AM
Quote from: cckeiser on February 21, 2011, 01:41:03 AM
Quote from: justjake on February 21, 2011, 01:08:45 AM
Like Zen Dog, i think the rug represents inner peace, balance, or just a state of abiding for the dude. But i believe this peace was shattered not when the "china-man" urinated on his rug but when Walter noted on the rugs absence. That's when the dude lost the peace, and choose to seek out the Big Lebowski. There is a concept in Taoism, "pu'u the Uncarved block". Basically all its an ideal state or being, which is "uncarved" or unaltered. No worries, no stress, no negative, because just like the Uncarved block you're stone (and maybe a little stoned) you know who you are and abide. I view Donny (and dude in many instances but not all) to be near this state. Yet like the dude, Donny lost it and in turn lost everything. so if you lose your rug...just take it easy, hopefully a new rug with no sentimental value to another will find its way to your door step.
But then again that's just like my opinion man. First post btw. Great forum here.

Excellent First post dude! ;D
Welcome to our little beach community! 8)
yeah this

Very thoughtful, any rug in the place Dude, they are all pee free.
Title: Re: Can anything really tie the room together?
Post by: JonseyMcFly on March 18, 2011, 06:06:44 AM
Quote from: Zen Dog on February 14, 2011, 03:23:06 PM
Well I think the rug is a metaphor.It is the essence that bonds things.If The Dude and Walter were the Yin and Yang of the bowling ball (c'mon,their characters were opposites) then Donny was the Rug.Every ball a strike,untill......... .
Never let anyone get away with peeing on your rug.The perfect rug is hard to replace,as demonstrated.
Holly shit dude...
Donny was the rug...
Title: Re: Can anything really tie the room together?
Post by: Maltshake on April 03, 2011, 05:23:31 AM
As I understand it, the Dude going out on a mission because he lost his rug is basicly a story of the perils of losing your dudelyness. It's like, just a rug man. There is no inherent value or nature to the rug, or what makes a room a room. The Dude got hung up on some idealization of what his room should be like for a few weeks but alas, he is the dude, in the end, he said, "fuck it, lets go bowling".

What I learned is that it is important to practice moment to moment dude, never forget that it's just a game man and chill out. Here's a koan that as I understand it, really captures the moral of this movie.

Your Light May Go Out

A student of Tendai, a philosophical school of Buddhism, came to the Zen abode of Gasan as a pupil. When he was departing a few years later, Gasan warned him: "Studying the truth speculatively is useful as a way of collecting preaching material. But remember that unless you meditate constantly your light of truth may go out."
Title: Re: Can anything really tie the room together?
Post by: Abideist on April 03, 2011, 11:13:23 AM
problem with buddhism is exactly what you described.

we forget easily.

The rug is just a symbol, just like everything you posess is a symbol of your personality. it's not a problem unless your posessions posess you.

'There are too many here among us, that feel life is but a joke, but you and i weve been through that, and this is not our fate,  so let us not talk falsely now, the hour is getting late.'  Jimi Hendrix

Buddah, Siddhartha realized that many people are born over and over again because they refuse to learn completely. They accept too easily.

To assume that we know everything is ignorant, yet we do it anyway. Even if eventually everything works out and good triumphs over evil, the rug will still be somewhere, it doesn't cease to exist. Because it originated in the mind. If it came from in us, does it make it a material posession or a 'hang up'? Material posessions, are materials that posess us, and there are certainly many of us that fall victim to it, just as the media posesses some and the idea of what we should be based on others is formed.

I really wouldnt worry about having a rug in your room, but if someone took my rug, you're damn straight i'm going to do what i can to get it back.

This aggression will not stand man. At least when it's justified.
Title: Re: Can anything really tie the room together?
Post by: Zen Dog on October 08, 2011, 08:46:22 PM
The rug micturation is a metaphor for antisocial aggression.
From the casual invasion of someones private residence to the casual invasion of someones country.
Hence the 'This aggression will not stand' reference to the invasion of Kuwait.
The Dude/Kuwait are at a loss as to what to do until Bush/Walter speak up and join in.
Donny/innocents die,nihilists/fundamentalists trash things,balls roll/oil flows and Iran/Jackie Treehorn sits gloating in the shadows because they have what the west desires.
Probably why there is no resolution at the end of the movie.
Title: Re: Can anything really tie the room together?
Post by: Elando on October 09, 2011, 05:24:49 AM
Quote from: Zen Dog on October 08, 2011, 08:46:22 PM
The rug micturation is a metaphor for antisocial aggression.
From the casual invasion of someones private residence to the casual invasion of someones country.
Hence the 'This aggression will not stand' reference to the invasion of Kuwait.
The Dude/Kuwait are at a loss as to what to do until Bush/Walter speak up and join in.
Donny/innocents die,nihilists/fundamentalists trash things,balls roll/oil flows and Iran/Jackie Treehorn sits gloating in the shadows because they have what the west desires.
Probably why there is no resolution at the end of the movie.

Minds where blown by this analogy...
Title: Re: Can anything really tie the room together?
Post by: a_bag_of_dude on October 09, 2011, 09:47:46 AM
Quote from: Zen Dog on October 08, 2011, 08:46:22 PM
The rug micturation is a metaphor for antisocial aggression.
From the casual invasion of someones private residence to the casual invasion of someones country.
Hence the 'This aggression will not stand' reference to the invasion of Kuwait.
The Dude/Kuwait are at a loss as to what to do until Bush/Walter speak up and join in.
Donny/innocents die,nihilists/fundamentalists trash things,balls roll/oil flows and Iran/Jackie Treehorn sits gloating in the shadows because they have what the west desires.
Probably why there is no resolution at the end of the movie.


Fuck me... Your interpretation is brilliant
Title: Re: Can anything really tie the room together?
Post by: Caesar dude on October 09, 2011, 05:17:08 PM
QuoteThe rug micturation is a metaphor for antisocial aggression.
From the casual invasion of someones private residence to the casual invasion of someones country.
Hence the 'This aggression will not stand' reference to the invasion of Kuwait.
The Dude/Kuwait are at a loss as to what to do until Bush/Walter speak up and join in.
Donny/innocents die,nihilists/fundamentalists trash things,balls roll/oil flows and Iran/Jackie Treehorn sits gloating in the shadows because they have what the west desires.
Probably why there is no resolution at the end of the movie.

I thought of that....no I think I thought of that....no I wished I'd thought of that....

Fucking A man YOU thought of that....

Genius.
Title: Re: Can anything really tie the room together?
Post by: Zen Dog on October 09, 2011, 05:21:28 PM
Thank you dudes
Strict regimen of coffee and kahlua
Title: Re: Can anything really tie the room together?
Post by: cckeiser on October 09, 2011, 05:59:54 PM
Quote from: Zen Dog on October 09, 2011, 05:21:28 PM
Thank you dudes
Strict regimen of coffee and kahlua

Wooha dude, that sounds awesome! 8)
Title: Re: Can anything really tie the room together?
Post by: milnie on October 10, 2011, 08:10:37 AM
Awesome flow Zen dog.
I had thought the jackie character was more like Isreal than Iran, because they appear to have the Police (USA) in their pocket and do what the fuck they want!