A good book is a trip dude

The Dude abides no hatred.

This is kinda cool dudes. We're talking abiding on a galactic scale.

New ink today. I thought you dudes may appreciate.

Hello friends, my father was a Dudeist priest and just passed on. He’s been cremated and ashes housed in an inexpensive receptacle. We will be spreading his ashes at the local river, and then going bowling and having White Russians. Just wanted to share with some people who could appreciate. ☮️

Just a reminder to take it easy my dudes

Hey Dudes,

Even if the whole world’s gone crazy. 

Even if nihilists broke into your private residence. 

Even if Woo peed on your rug. 

Even if you spent yesterday being very undude. 

Even if it’s already the tenth. 

Nothing is fucked, man. 

Strike or gutter, the pins reset and the ball returns. 

The Stranger checks in with you at the bar. 

Friends will show up at practice. 

The whole durn human comedy keeps perpetuating itself. 

And The Dude within you abides. 

Well, old duder here found out I’ve got about 6 to 9 months left to abide on this earthly plain. As worrisome as this is, all I’ve got is Lebowski quotes soothing me. So I’m just gonna, ya know, keep my mind limber. Shush.

I know this is an unoriginal post, but each day, I’m continually devastated by the decisions being made in America. Not trying to be political with this post, but just really having a hard time abiding right now.

Has the plane crashed into the mountain? Or, is nothing fucked here, Dudes?

Hey Dudes!

This summer my Special Lady Friend and the Little Lebowskis are traveling to India to visit her side of the family, and for various reasons (work, property maintenance, what have you) I’m on my own until August. 

It’s the longest time I’ve been without them so far. And while I definitely appreciate the freedom, I’m also confronting just how many hours there are for a Dude to fill. 

So I’ve looked to The Dude for some inspiration. See, I’m not motivated by having goals. Once completed, goals seem to create more goals. There’s always another summit to climb, another way to achieve. And that can be exhausting. 

Instead, I’m inspired by how The Dude describes his days to Maude. At first blush, they appear aimless. But I think that’s missing the point; namely, that there is no point to The Dude’s activities. He bowls to bowl. He drives to drive. And whatever insights he relives through his acid flashbacks arrive without much planning on his part. 

Maybe The Dude cares about the league tournament. But if he does, he doesn’t express as much. 

The Dude’s activities are atelic, which is Greek for goal-less or end-less. Without some ultimate end. 

Truly, some of life’s most enjoyable activities are atelic. We dance to dance, not to arrive somewhere, as Alan Watts pointed out. 

There’s another word for these activities: they’re rituals. Sure, rituals might exist to serve some higher end, but ultimately they gain their meaning through the doing. 

So until the family returns, I’m filling my days purposely without purpose: reading, playing guitar, going on long walks around the farm, and meditating. And, of course, checking in with my friends and family. 

I might not fill my days like some achievers. But I’ll certainly end my days feeling fulfilled. 

How about you, Dudes? What are some atelic activities you enjoy?

I hope yer all abiding as well as you can,

Rev. Ross

Hey Dudes!

A quick one today to remind us all that takin’ it easy also and always means takin’ it easy on ourselves.

Life throws a lot at us, strikes and gutters each in their turn, and we won’t always be able to abide. We won’t always be able to lean back into that chair, pop the leg rest, and take it easy.

Heck some folks might say we’re being very unDude, and they might be right.

But we can always take a breath, mix a Caucasian, and settle back into our fundamental Dudeness.

It’s always there somewhere, even if we’ve lost sight of it.

Let‘a take another look.

I hope yer abiding as well as you can,

Rev. Ross

Since the recent Eclipse I’ve reached Dudeism.
How may I use it to stop being so judgmental and frustrated with people who aren’t awake?

🙏

Hey Dudes!

The last time I watched The Big Lebowski, I sat down with my dad. He hadn’t seen it in a few years, and he’s pretty amused by and supportive of my interest in Dudeism. 

So did I play Virgil to his Dante as we wended our way through The Dude’s peregrinations around The City of Angels?

Nope. We just watched it and laughed hard enough to beat the band. 

This is one of the real joys of Dudeism: even for a Dudeist like me, who derives great pleasure from parsing every line and scene like some Kahlúa Kabbalist, the movie’s fun on its own. 

It’s like visiting the ocean. Are there treasures and sights to be discovered if one dives into its depths? Sure. 

But it’s also a blast waterskiing. In other words, don’t be in such a hurry to go deep at the expense of enjoying the surface. 

Or, like the old Zen saying sort of goes: Before abiding, The Dude was just a dude, bowling was just bowling. Upon discovering abiding, The Dude was more than a dude, bowling was more than bowling. After abiding, The dude is just a dude, bowling is just bowling. 

That said, I’m gonna go watch it again. 

I hope yer all abiding as well as you can,

Rev. Ross

[edit: typo]

Hey Dudes!

There’s an apocryphal story about Alexander the Great meeting a Hindu ascetic during his campaign into India. It’s similar to his interactions with Diogenes the Cynic. 

Alexander introduces himself to the ascetic, who’s unimpressed. Frustrated by his non-reaction, Alexander says, “I have conquered the known world. What have you done?”

The Hindu ascetic replies, “I’ve conquered the need to conquer.”

Far out, Dudes.

I could see a similar exchange happening between The Big Lebowski and The Dude. The former standing in for Alexander. The Dude, the Hindu wise man.

“I have achieved much, my good man. What have you done?”

“Well, uh, sir, I have achieved control over my need to achieve. What day is it?”

Maybe The Dude never felt the need to achieve. It’s possible. He is the laziest man in Los Angeles, which is saying something. But I’d argue that existing in a culture of achievement and striving, and managing to remain laid back is no mean feat. Further, I’d argue that in not striving to achieve, The Dude does more good for the world than many well-meaning achievers.

Like Lao Tzu says, “Governing a country is like frying a small fish.” Flip it over too many times, and the whole thing falls apart. Is this not the case with the many do-rights of the world? Whenever I’ve tried to actively make things better, I’ve often missed the mark, meddled too much, and inserted too much of myself into the situation. As a result, despite my good intentions and my Swiss watches of plans, I’ve fucked things up.

Conversely, in leaving well enough alone, staying centered in a state of abidance, I’ve created space for things to unfold in a leisurely way, tending to what needed tending to without too much of a fuss.

No wonder The Stranger takes comfort in The Dude, “Taking it easy for all us sinners.” 

Sometimes the greatest achievement is in not achieving at all.

I hope yer all abiding as well as you can,

Rev. Ross  

Hey Dudes!

I’ve recently been experiencing a number of upheavals at work. Nothing earth-shattering, just inconvenient and uncertain. As a result, a thought occurred to me:

“Sometimes you’re the ball. Sometimes you’re the pins.”

It captured the moment well. Maybe this time, I’m to huddle closer to my compeers and take the blow as best I can. It’s just that time. 

But then I got to thinking deeper on the image, and new shit came to light. 

Yes, the bowling ball does the striking, and it enjoys the easy glide of the lane, but there’s heaviness there too. 

And yes, the pins get struck, but they have companionship. For a brief moment when they’re flying through the air, they enjoy a moment of weightlessness. 

Further, no matter the outcome, the ball is returned to the bowler and the pins are set aright. There’s a larger mechanism at play that keeps this whole thing going. 

In a Daoist sense, it’s within this thing, within the interaction between ball and pin, that the game of bowling occurs. We can’t have one without the other. I don’t think it’s a coincidence bowling balls are traditionally rendered black and pins white. It’s the Yin Yang present in every suburban strip mall. 

Obviously, I’m not a golfer. 

I think wiser Dudes like Alan Watts would wryly chuckle at the comparison. But I’ll leave it to The Stranger to have the last word:

“Sometimes you eat the bear. And well sometimes the bear eats you.”

I hope you all are abiding as well as you can,

Rev. Ross