The Dudeism Forum

Should dudes be like laid back versions of Clint Eastwood or John Wayne? Grit your teeth and hang out at the bowling alley to avoid gritting your teeth more? What would you tell some dude like that?

I don't think a dude should ever try and be like somebody else. Be yourself on a good day, as many days of the week as you can, and to the rest say fuck it.

Just my opinion, man.

I totally copy Mr Paddy: a dude should not try to be like someone else, or to copy others. Just be what you want to be, do what makes you feel good, by yourself.

Think by yourself, avoid the impositions of other minds, without imposing your mind to others. It is hard to explain. Stay free, but remember that others are free too.

If your naturally like Clint or the Duke, well that's one thing.  But to see them, then emulate them?  That's just kinda the wrong way to view it.  To be a Dude is just be yourself.  Be natural.  The person you are at home or with your closest long time friends/family/Special Ladyfriend is the way you should be normally.  You shouldn't have to mentally switch your demeanor when stepping over the threshold of your house, it should just be the natural way you go about your life and business. 

But, that's just like, my opinion on it. 

I agree that there should be no forcing going on. If you're not Clint Eastwood, don't be Clint Eastwood. Be the Dude you are. However, I think that you can make positive changes. And by positive changes, I'm talking about this a here Dudeism we are following and discussing. We can always abide more. We can always take it a bit easier. We may do this in our own personal way, but we do change. And we are always changing, aren't we compeers? Sit for 5 minutes, listening to your thoughts. Yes, Dudeitate. Buddhists often call it the monkey mind. Thoughts swinging from branch to branch, possibly throwing feces, maybe sometimes relaxing in a hot spring... So maybe one moment you are like a Clint Eastwood, but then the next you will be like a Yakof Smirnoff.. I don't know where that reference came from. But you get the point.

And one more point that's been rolling around in my head lately is the myth of the individual. I don't think Clint Eastwood is as Clint Eastwood as some seem to think. Nobody is truly the lone, wandering cowboy, free of human relationship. I vaguely remember some speaker talking about the "lone cowboy" being related to the gunsmith, to the stable who raised his horse, to the cobbler who made his shoes... What is the saying, no man is an island? I will add a saying. No Dude can abide alone. The Dude is the Dude because he abides all sorts of different stresses and personalities in the Stranger's tale. Trying to remove relationships turns us into nihilists, not Dudes.  But I'm rambling again.

Dudes, I would never force an enema on anyone! My question is, should dudes let people force them on themselves? Really? What do you do when someone insists gritting their teeth and hanging out in the bowling alley is enough? Tell them it's enough? Like, be all existentialist and debate the finer points of the Matrix or what?

Still not sure I understand your question wu. When you say "enough", you mean enough to be a Dudeist? Or perhaps you mean enough in a more broad term? Unpack "enough"

My own view is what I call "virtuous ignorance" which is the virtue of the toddler naïve enough to still laugh at the slightest suggestion love, humor, ignorance, or the truth ever require the slightest justification or explanation. The toddler knows what is enough because too much bullshit just makes them laugh and inspires their own comedic responses.

Like a child wandering into a ...
Okay, so I am not sure I am following the conversation here (from Individualism and Clint Eastwood to a toddler's virtuous ignorance?) but I can definitely agree with embracing a child's mind no matter what our age. The epitome of that for me is Suzuki's The Beginner's Mind. I think your mind can get uptight when we attach a lot of meaning to an object / person / place as you get older. It is a matter of the preconceived I guess. A young trophy wife, we have our associations with that. A bum, we have other associations with that. But with the beginner's mind, as I see it, those preconceptions are put to the side for the moment and you can enjoy the wonder of an open mind, and of experiencing something new. All those nasty -isms, Sexism, Racism, Agism, etc. are dependent on ... well I guess to use the language of this thread, "destructive ignorance" which would be based on preconceptions. With the constantly changing world, and with the infinite variety of the human condition, everything really is new and to carry too many meanings with you takes away that newness. You have to ask yourself, do any of us really have a "good" frame of reference? Where did it come from? I like the ideas of virtuous ignorance, of simplicity, of a limber and open mind, and laughter. I can definitely abide with those things.

It is the gentle humor of the toddler-crone, the Ugly Duckling, and her quiet pretense of her knight in shinning armor, the grown Swan, rescuing her disguised as egotistical bullshit.

It explains egotistical bullshit as, in large part, a simple reactionary response that can easily be revealed for what it is by using the fuzzy systems logic of the Pakua. A demonstrably simple way of using humorous juxtapositions to reflect people's bullshit back at them if they want and help them relax. Modern systems logic applied to humor using perhaps the most ancient text known to dudes.

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I think the Dude version would be more like "Chill Individualism".
No?

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QuoteLimberness of body results from rigorous training, exercise, and discipline.  As is true with the body, so is true with the mind.

That sounds exhausting. Maybe im doing it wrong then? I dunno, I just started saying "fuck it" to more stuff, that seems to get me by. That keeps my mind limber. Also, incense. Some religions use 'em in temples for meditation. My bedroom is my temple, fuckin' eh.