The Dudeism Forum

After giving it some serious thought, I have a major qualm with Dudeism in general that seems to make me think it's kind of a flawed religion.

It seems to be implied among Dudeists that if everyone were more dude, the world would be a lot better.  Of course no one is naive enough to think that "a world of dudes" could exist, but at the very least it seems to be an ideal that is strived for.

This notion seems to make pretty good sense at first--if someone gets pissed off, they're not gonna get violent.  People would take it easy, and therefore make the most our of their lives.  No one would take things too seriously, so war wouldn't exist, etc. 

But it occurred to me that if everyone valued laziness and "taking it easy" as much as the Dude, this could lead to a problematic society.  Who would do the work that no one wants to?  Would there be any construction workers?  Would there be any medical doctors?  Seriously, I don't think it's possible for a lazy person to muster the determination and hard work it takes to get through medical school and become a good doctor.  You might say, "It is possible to work hard and still be a dude," but let's keep it real...how many medical doctors do we have here in this little community of ours?

Then, with this society deprived of all the fruits of hard work, people would have a hard time getting clean water, food, medical care, etc.  As a result, people would get more and more desperate, primitive, selfish, and ultimately very undude.  It seems that being dude might just be a privilege that only belongs to a society wealthy enough to make it possible.  And we all know where wealth comes from...hard work.

This is all food for thought.  Something tells me I can't be the first one to bring this "challenge to dudeism" up around here, but I haven't seen any similar discussions yet.  I'm not sure what to make of it myself, but I'm curious to hear what you all think of my ramblings.

Hey dude,

Nice thoughts, mang. But, what if everybody were just 10% more Dude?

Yeah, I think it's obvious not everyone can be all dude all the time....nothing would ever get done! The Dude was not always all dude either....he was an activist and he had a job. It's later in life he seems to try and embrace his full Dudeship.

The world requires a balanced blend of Urban Achievers to go along with dudes to keep the whole human comedy tumbling along. Too much dude and we drift aimlessly about and get stuck in the mud along the side of the stream. Too much ambition and greed leads to inequities, poverty and war. Fascist and human paraquats fucking stranger in ass! 
But what we do not need are Dick Heads who want it All for themselves and have no social conscience at all.
As I wrote not that long ago on a different thread I worked 43 years before retiring at 62 to live the dude life.
I was an analytical chemist the last 39 years....and a really good one too.
When I turned 62 and paid off the last of our bills...and made sure we had enough to get by...I retired. Now I am living the dream dudes....just taking it easy and trying to abide whatever is thrown my way.
Not everyone can be all dude all the time, but if you try I think you will find you can always be a little more dude like.
I like the 3 "rules" we came up with for Abideism. Just like take er easy, try to Abide in everything, and above all Do Not Be a Dick!

Pretty much sounds like Taoism to me, and just maybe the best philosophy to live by I have come across.

Just like my opinion dudes.

Society derives value from many things.
Not just hard work.
Some things just lay there and tie the room together.

Quote from: MindAbiding on July 04, 2014, 09:56:55 AM
Hey dude,

Nice thoughts, mang. But, what if everybody were just 10% more Dude?

That's a good thought.

I think mountainDude makes some logical statements. There would be no society if it consisted only of Dudeists...

BUT

This leads us to the main question - who IS a dudeist?
IF it's a lazy guy who lives on welfare or won a lottery ticket or whatever source of income is implied, who doesn't care about much and does a J whenever he sees fit, then behold - we have a world full of dudeists.
IF however a Dudeist is someone who can take it easy and say 'fuck it' when it's easier to get pissed off at someone, who can tolerate different people no matter their character (Walter is very unlike the Dude after all) and, most importantly, not let the black stripes of life ruin your inner harmony, then being a Dudeist is something more than doing a J and slacking off.


Thing is, I assume that most (many? some?) of the inhabitants of this forum are employed hard working people. Some (many? most?) may not even smoke marijuana or drink White Russians or just generally exercise vastly different ways of spending free time than the Dude. What they find here is a small non-restrictive society that acknowledges the eventual need for slacking and finding a way to lose the burden of care about some issues that cannot be simply solved. Or, some might say, shouldn't be solved.

To crown it all, I'd say that a dudeist society is impossible, at least with the strict mascot attachment. It is, however, a great society within many other societies. And it makes every one of those societies a little bit better, even without them knowing it.

Employed: check
Hard Working: hope not. but typically yes. I'd rather stand around and scratch my nuts.
Smoke Mary Jane: I take the fifth. If they made it legal tomorrow I'd smoke a spliff as big as a Louisville Slugger.
Drink White Russian: No freaking way man. Yuck! Beer (Bourbon but I quit)

I guess if I had to sum up the dudeist thing I guess I'd say a start is not worrying about how society would be if bla bla bla. Smoke me if you got em. If you can just roll and drive around and have the occasional flashback then good for you. Don't sweat the effects. But yeah we all gotta feed the monkey.
That can be a bummer man.
That's a bummer.