The prime law of all religions seems to be treat others as you wish to be treated....
I get abuse every day at work from "the public" cos they don't like what I've got to tell them.
Now I'm an extremely reasonable man and if you come at me with a smile and a sob story you will get far (but I aint no pushover, I've got a great BS radar!)
Other folks will start to swear at me and call me names because they think they are entitled to as they are "educated" (a lot of our employees are maybe not very intellectual but they are still human beings and have other different smarts) I point out the fact that I am actually an avionics engineer and just because I happen to be wearing an orange romper suit does not give them any right to treat me as less of a human being than anyone else.
I have been married twice man and during both of those disasters I was never called the names that I get in this job and I thought that would take some doing.
I have even been called scum...and get this... by an 82 year old woman! Why? because I didn't jump to her aid when she asked for help..I was in the middle of assisting another woman who was in a panic and needed immediate help....
First of all the old lady called me brainless....to which I replied "there's no need for that madam after all we're all human beings" she then looked me up and down, paused and came out with the immortal words...You are ALL scum to me....
Hey dudes, I tell yah, across the line! But I replied "thank you madam I'll take that on board!"
I left that situation with more dignity than she did due to my dudeism...Bless her.
In peace dudes.
Well done dude, if there was a Dudeism "Gold Star", you'd be in the semis for sure.
I am well chuffed by your comments sir. ( and in case you miss that in translation it means I am a happy man)
It's the small things in life, like finding that tiny bit of weed or that spare can of oat soda when you thought you'd ran out....or am I rambling again...anyhoo.... thanks for your understandings Reverend Neal. 8)
You get my blessings to, man! You take it easy with al these people giving you their shit, man! I like your style dude, you've got the whole "fuck it, let's go bowling" thing going!
Ceaser Dude, you are the mark of dudeliness. And I thought I was good at just letting people wash over me, you've really shown some new level of abide. To be honest, I could do what you described, but I think it would take a lot not to be hurt and disheartened by such an attack (although not truly personal, as these celft-a'holes don't know you well enough to do that).
I find most of those truly rude people are just not looking for help. They're looking to lord it over someone because they have a superiority complex. These people should not be hated, they should always be pittied. No matter how uptight and unhappy a person has ever been with me, I always know I've given them the best service possible, maybe ten time better than the next man, so I can feel good about myself. At the end of the day, it's their loss that they can't see that and take some kind of spiritual comfort from it. After all you've done for them, if they're still not happy, let em suffer in their discontent, and take your reward with that golden attitude of yours.
I salute you man, we all do here! 8)
I've just submitted my next Dudespaper article ot the Editorial We, and it's on a similar subject: "Levelling - In Pursuit of the Spiritual Bungalow". Look out for it in a few weeks time, it covers the issue of everyone being on a level playing field, just as you describe "we're all human beings". Your little story makes my own thoughts feel valid :)
ps, Although I think JC's words were hugely profound and something I've always tried to live by, "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you", that's fine if you accept that it'll turn all the masocists into sado-masocists ;)
QuoteYou get my blessings to, man! You take it easy with al these people giving you their shit, man! I like your style dude, you've got the whole "fuck it, let's go bowling" thing going!
Thank you Sir much appreciated.
QuoteCeaser Dude, you are the mark of dudeliness.
Thank you Ed, although I'm not sure I'm worthy of that remark. Just trying to get by here in this sometimes harsh world and this is the best way I know how. I've read your previous articles and look forward to the next one my friend. I'm sure it will be as relevant and up to your usual high standards.
Quoteps, Although I think JC's words were hugely profound and something I've always tried to live by, "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you", that's fine if you accept that it'll turn all the masocists into sado-masocists
Now that's fucking interesting man. 8)
Exemplary Dudeism Caesar dude.
I to have worked with the public in local government here in the UK. I ran the reception desk for the Housing department of the Portsmouth City Council for a while (Class comment being "You're as much use as a bloody chocolate fire guard this council is!", or the man that was seriously convinced that he was possessed by a demon that followed him around), and also worked in Pubs and restaurants (alcohol and the general public make for even more interesting confrontations)
I do have one problem. It's the Buddhist argument against "Do unto others as you would have done unto yourself". fine in principle, but what happens when you meet a masochist that believes this, they wish to be hurt or beaten up so by this principle they should hurt and beat up everyone else. Or perhaps a devotee of Sobek the Egyptian crocodile god, whose only purpose in life is to be sacrificed to Sobek, if they lived this way then they would continuously throw people to crocodiles.
I think it is better to live your life as an example. As you have done in your confrontation mentioned here.
Please don't get me wrong I'm not an "anti-christian". I'm not against Dudeist christians. I do continue to worry about the (unintentional) incursion of many christian ideologies. There are some very fundamental reasons I am not a christian and remain avidly and militantly a Dudeist Pagan.
Abide.
Hey Meekon,
I'm a pagan too my friend and as stated elsewhere, with some druidic tendencies thrown in. NOT a Christian in any shape or form but it aint just JC that said the do unto others thing.
I should have used the wiccan reed of "an it harm none do what thou wilt" Soz mate.
Oh and thank you for your kind words.
Rev. J.
I think wisdom is wisdom, no matter what doctrine it comes from, religious or otherwise.
As you can see, Meekon and I both seperately hit upon the masochist issue, that's universal wisdom in action!
ps, Meekon, nice to meet a fellow male receptionist, we seem to be so rare a breed. Last time I did that job it was down at Portsmouth Naval base, where I was thrown into cover without any real training, making me the chocolate fireguard ;)
Quote from: Ed Churchman on February 22, 2010, 09:52:20 AM
ps, Meekon, nice to meet a fellow male receptionist, we seem to be so rare a breed. Last time I did that job it was down at Portsmouth Naval base, where I was thrown into cover without any real training, making me the chocolate fireguard ;)
Lucky for me I'd spent years having people attempt to intimidate me in pubs so Housing reception was never any real problem. in fact the housing officers liked it when I did the desk because they got less shit through. ;D
Caesar Dude, you are one cool cat. Or, to put it another way, one hoopy frood (White Russians to all who get THAT!).
Yes, wisdom can come from any place. That's because truth is universal. Truth is, what you do will come back to you. That's in many religious faiths.
Treat others as you would be treated is the core of karma.
Yes, some will abuse you for it. Take advantage of you. But, rest assured, they are all bums, and the bums will always lose.
Keep abiding, Caesar Dude. It'll only bless you later.
QuoteOr, to put it another way, one hoopy frood (White Russians to all who get THAT!).
One of my favourite boooks of all time! Now it sure would be interesting to find out how many folks here have read the trilogy in 5 parts...(in fact six now because I believe Eoin Coiffer has just written a follow up in the same style)...I see there are already a few Pratchett fans here too....we dudes have much in common.
Thank you Reverend Rightous for your comments.
Peace.
Quote from: Caesar dude on February 23, 2010, 03:23:25 AM
QuoteOr, to put it another way, one hoopy frood (White Russians to all who get THAT!).
One of my favourite boooks of all time! Now it sure would be interesting to find out how many folks here have read the trilogy in 5 parts...(in fact six now because I believe Eoin Coiffer has just written a follow up in the same style)...I see there are already a few Pratchett fans here too....we dudes have much in common.
Argh the Coiffer volume is sacrilege!
I heard the radio version, I bought the records (yes vinyl), I bought the books, I bought the video (VHS, then DVD) of the TV series, and even own the film on DVD.
A sad loss to the world. I will always know where my towel is.
HHGTTG! I grew up on the TV series and the Radio series (1-2). My other half has read the books and I bought a big bible-like version of the original 5 I will get around to reading at some point. Saw the film recently, was far too detatched from the original for me. Coiffer is one of her favorite authors, so she'll probably read it, I won't.
Mark Wing-Davey is one of the original space-dudes. And Adams and Pratchett are certainly two of the great modern brit-dudes.
ps... DON'T PANIC! (aka, abide)
Caesar dude kudos to your dude attitude. I think I would have had some problems with that lady, you know, Walter crying to come out.
As regards the Golden Rule it is only half the rule, due to those Catholics reactionaries who needed to keep the population quiet and calm, especially in the Middle Age when Catholic Church ruled over Europe. The real Golden Rule is: Treat others as you would like to be treated, but if needed treat them as they treat you. That is if they try to cut your johnson you have the right to throw a bowling ball to their nuts. What is usually forgotten is that JC kicked paraquats in their asses, He didn't give them kisses and flowers. He was killed because He was a reactionary.
And let's not forget that the Dude himself was ready to fight with DaFino before knowing he was a compeer. ;D
Quote from: greatspiritmonk on February 24, 2010, 04:20:58 AM
As regards the Golden Rule it is only half the rule, due to those Catholics reactionaries who needed to keep the population quiet and calm, ......He was killed because He was a reactionary.
And let's not forget that the Dude himself was ready to fight with DaFino before knowing he was a compeer. ;D
So what your basically saying is:
"treat everyone as you would be treated unless you think you could get away with stabbing them in the back, or kicking them in the nads, with impunity"
Now that makes slightly more sense to me. ;D
You're a harsh pair, and make no mistake :o
You have to take this magically Golden Rule in the spirit of its meaning. That is to say, treat people well, always with best intent. Of course, yes, sometimes you'll have to be a little on the defensive and you might have to get rough. No one's saying you can't act in your own best interests in such circumstances, it would be lunacy to stand there and take it, but don't go over the top.
A recent story in UK news would highlight this:
A man's family was tied up whilst the the home was robbed. After the robber made off the man escaped and chased him down the road, caught up with him and, together with his brother, proceeded to beat the man. Members of the community then began to join in, leaving the robber a bloody pulp. The beaten man suffered brain damage and the poor chap whose family was tied up and terrorised has left himself open for prosecution.
The moral is, retribution should be measured, not unchecked. At the end of the day, if you hold back and make sure all is well, without crossing the line, you'll be in the right and can take that knowledge with you as you walk away. Crossing the line makes you in the wrong, maybe not as much as the other guy, but maybe more in the wrong.
Just use some judgement on the whole thing, is what I've tried to illustrated here. Don't be a sap, but don't be an arsehole either :P
An extension of the golden rule is "tit for tat", which in the game theory sense of the phrase isn't, as it was in the code of Hammurabi, "an eyeball for an eyeball".
For those not familiar with the scientific concept of tit for tat, here's the wikipedia entry:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tit_for_tat
it basically says, give the other fella the benefit of the doubt. if he continues to screw you over, bail. that is to say, don't retaliate, just don't cooperate with them any more.
nice to know that this rather dudeist modus operendi has some basis in science.
presumably, anyone who has ever studied martial arts (or the tao te ching) knows that force should be the last resort and retribution only fans the flames of the dilemma. it's so cool that the people that could really kick your ass are (or should be) the last ones to actually intend to do so. every martial artist i've ever known has borne peaceful mien generated from this training and also, their own resultant self-confidence.
that isn't to say that under severe threat one shouldn't get an army together and strike, only that it should be the last resort. again, the tao te ching propounds this eloquently.
the big lebowski movie presaged the whole 9/11-iraq invasion catastrophe so brilliantly (neo-con triumphalism and overwrought militancy) that it's almost mind-blowing.
look at what happened when clinton went and broke bread with that nation-fucker, kim jong il. that's what should be done in burma and zimbabwe as well. not lines in the sand and reactionary bombast.
one wonders, though, what should be done about iran. if they really get the bomb, is it incumbent upon the rest of the world to smother them? forget about al qaeda, hussein, afghanistan, burma, zimbabwe, etc. a nuclear iran is surely something to worry about. still, how can one say what is the right course of action in that case? tit for tat in that case would be a total disaster. you can't wait for someone to nuke you before you decide they're a prick.
i guess a lot of the golden rule/ tit for tat stuff doesn't apply on the macro level.
what do you dudes think?
I've long been an advocate of talking before actioning.
The most horrific notion I've come across in politics is the US Republican stance that Obama was wrong to want to sit down and have talks with other nations without preconditions. I mean, why would Iran want to sit down and talk with America if they had to jump through hoops first? They don't want to talk at all, so the best thing to do is coerce them. America is not in charge of the world, nor is it the police of the world, and Obama sees this. If Chaney his crew want to start up a worldwide fascist state, well, good luck in the next election boys.
The big trouble with world politics is that it's all built on war and secret fiddling. Iraq became a problem because of Hussain, who we (the UK) conspired to place in power in the first place, and were content to leave there again after the first Gulf War. Too many American politicans and business men have money tied up in the Junta, so Burma is out of touch. Zimbabwe isn't a threat to anyone, or of value to anyone, so we're just going to leave it to collapse in on itself. And, if I were to guess, everyone's waiting for ol' Mr Kim to shuffle into a modestly priced receptacle around the same time Castro does. Of course, Cuba's not a threat, or a problem, and in fact I think it should be a much admired nation, but, hey-ho.
Hey, how about after we've got this religion thing down we start a political movement? :) Ah, yeah, you're right. Sounds like too much work. Nevermind.
Tit for tat, that's an interesting concept, which I'll surely check.
I'd like to quote the book Secret Life of a Tao Master where when the student asks the master what he's going to do if attacked while meditating the master answers: I'll kill them and go back to meditation. That is to say wait until the last moment to rely on violence, but if you are on the right side and the need arise do what you have to do to remain alive.
At the end if some criminals try to fuck a stranger in the ass, and the stranger comes out to be Mike Tyson, well, that's their business. We can't know if in that moment we are an instrument of the Tao to regain balance hitting some assholes in their head. Maybe the assholes have exploited a lot of people and we are doing just the right thing. Everything is in the hand of the Tao. ;D
As regards Iran, not considering the economic implications like the fact that they want to have oil quoted in euro and not in dollars, which would be a problem for the Usa, who luckily attacked Iraq before they were able to do the same thing after having signed business papers with France and Italy, considering the problem from a theoretical point of view Iran is a sovereign country. This means that they have the right to do whatever they want in their garden. If China can have nuclear weapons and Israel can have them too than why Iran should not? I'm not an Islam fan, nevertheless a sovereign country has the right to take its own decisions, and deal with consequences. If the USA government wants really to act as the savior of the world why it doesn't looks at China where civil rights have no translation in Chinese language? Or in Tibet?
Whether in micro or macro terms it's difficult to say if it's better to act preventively or not, what it's needed is the certainty that the threat is real. If someone enters my home at night it's completely his business, but this doesn't mean that I can beat someone in the head because he entered my garden by error.
Probably is a matter of lines drawn, but there are tens and tens of places in the world where there is the need for a savior. Well, most of them have no natural resources though. ???