Dudeism’s central tenet may well be summarized as knowing that "you are the dude!" and Dudeism properly practiced is a pathway to help you discover your inner-dude, the dude within. That dude-in-waiting in you needs to come to the forefront of your life so that when someone ("a carpet pisser") tries to give you a hard time or knock you down you can be like”That’s just like, uh, your opinion, man.”
That may seem easy enough but it is one of the hardest lessons in life to learn. Although everything great in our world was founded by true dudes (both male and female), who were practicing Dudeists, whether they knew it or not, many people in our day and age are not dudes at all. Let’s face it, our world is facing a real dude shortage crisis.
Sometimes when they "piss on our carpets" we tend to take it very personally and get upset and uptight and act totally undudely ourselves. We can end up hiding our own true dude nature when we confront all the non-dudes out there. Even for devout Dudeists it can be hard to be a dude! But, as one great dude once said "Dude unto others, as you would have them dude unto you." This must be the mantra of every follower of Dudeism. No matter what happens, remember, just be the dude.
A lot of things can lead to our undudely outbursts. Take Walter Sobchak when the bowling league tournament was scheduled on Saturday. His response was "Saturday…is Shabbos, the Jewish day of rest. That means that I don’t work, I don’t drive a car, I don’t fucking ride in a car, I don’t handle money, I don’t turn on the oven, and I sure as shit don’t fucking roll!"
Walter lost control, and let go of his dudeliness. He took a day of rest and made it a cause of anger and aggression. He let someone else’s undudely act make him less dudely and that’s not cool, man.
If we can learn to be a dude-under-pressure, that is a dude under any circumstance we might find ourselves in, then we can truly live the life the Dudeiverse intended for us.
Dudeism as a religious experience
Dudeism represents a major contribution to the world’s philosophical and spiritual direction. Some of the greatest minds and souls of all time have realized that one of the hardest but most worthwhile things to accomplish in this life is reaching the level of being a dude.
Buddha referred to it as reaching”nirvana,” that is the ”blowing out the fires of hatred, greed, and delusion.” If you step back and meditate on it for a moment most of our troubles stem from exactly those three causes.
In popular culture, no verse of Jesus has been so quoted as the following line from the Beatitudes of the Sermon on the Mount, "How blest are those of gentle spirit. They shall have the earth for their possession." That is the translation of the text used in Monty Python’s The Life of Brian. The verse is also quoted directly or indirectly in Dead Poet’s Society, Little Shop of Horrors, HBO’s Carnivale, The Outer Limits, the television version of War of the Worlds and countless others no doubt because it’s unexpected truth resonates deeply with so many of us.
In the "Ethics of the Fathers" of the Jewish sages, what we refer to as Dudeism, is a re-occurring theme. Take, for example, the following teachings:
- There are four types of temperaments. One who is easily angered and easily appeased–his virtue cancels his flaw. One whom it is difficult to anger and difficult to appease–his flaw cancels his virtue. One who is easily angered and is difficult to appease, is wicked. One whom it is difficult to anger and is easily appeased, is a righteous one [a ”dude”].
- Who is wise? One who learns from every man. Who is strong? One who overpowers his inclinations.Who is rich? One who is satisfied with his lot. Who is honorable? One who honors his fellows.
- Do not scorn any man, and do not discount any thing. For there is no man who has not his hour, and no thing that has not its place.
- Which is the right path for man to choose for himself? Whatever is harmonious for the one who does it, and harmonious for mankind.
- All my life I have been raised among the wise, and I have found nothing better for the body than silence.
Dudeism as a Universal Truth
Great men and women throughout history have been dudes, inspired by other dudes and dudely teachings like the ones above. They come from all walks of life, all backgrounds including socio-economic, cultural and religious. No one has ever truly reached greatness who has not been a ”dude.”
Dudeism is a universal phenomenon that is equally as valid and true for any man, women, or child regardless of there place or date of birth. It transcends all borders, philosophical and geographical and pays no attention to color or creed.
Dudeism calls on you to be a dude whether you are at work, or at home, at a place of worship or at a sporting event. You are constantly presented with the chance to be dude or to be undude. That is the choice you must constantly confront in your daily life.
Dudeism is the Secret of Life
The secret of life is to learn to let the inner-dude take control and learn to ”take it easy,” one of the most important ethics of Dudeism.
When you master this simple but elusive principle your life will be totally transformed. You’ll be able to be the dude you really are. You’ll stop pretending or being ”forced” to be somebody else due to the circumstances life thrusts upon you. And you’ll discover the chilled out but intense, rich lifestyle you have always wanted.
The Dudeiverse has already blessed you and I with everything we need to be a true dude.
So let us go in to the world and do as dudes do.
As we do so, I bid you to remember…
You are the dude!
————–
Rev. High Dude Kevin Stillmock
Society of The Shomer Shabbos Dudes
“We don’t roll on Shabbos”
Kevin Stillmock is a producer based in New York and Los Angeles. www.kevinstillmock.com
Yeah man… that’s deep. That whole sermon there is just tyin’ my entire mental room together. Well spoke brother, well spoke.
A motivational poster where i work reads:
Who are you being
While you are doing
What you are doing?
Just noticed it today. Far fucking out!
Word, man. Word.
A fine sermon Rev,Kevin.In the words of a famous band of dudes.”Blessed are the cheesemakers!”.
Far fucking our brother! You hit the proverbial nail on the head.
It reminds me of just last week when a rug pisser of a woman pushed in front of me in the queue and was very rude about it.
I should have been more Dude but instead I found myself grazing her ankles with my sons push chair. It is tough being a Dude all the time.
Queue rug-pissers realy test your faith arch-dude!Amen to that!
I always feel like the rug pissers are trying to drag me into their untightness because we, as Dudes, show them another way besides the rug pissing.
I always have to remember to abide, Dudes!
Sometimes it ain’t easy, taking ‘er easy and all that. You no sooner take one thing in stride, and here comes along another rug pisser. We ain’t gonna run out of ’em, cuz there are a whole bunch, and most of ’em are staying up nights breeding more rug pissers. Fuck ’em all…nothing more satisfying than keeping your Inner Dude glowing in the face of all their shit. You choose your attitude…don’t let ’em do it for you. Keep on abiding, my Brethren.
Way to go, Rev. Kevin! You are clearly not “Over the line”, in the parlance of our times. It is not easy to “just take it easy”; after all, even The Dude could be, as Walter said, “very un-Dude” at times.
Really nice to see some more insights of Judaism thrown into the Dudaistic mix :) I’ve often found snippits of wisdom from the dudely Jewish scholars of old, but it’s great to have an ‘authority’ (if you don’t mind being known as such) in our midst.
You are indeed a Serious Man, sir :)
Reminds me of the movie “Billy Jack”. A movie before its time. Billy was a true dude, a pacifist who knew how to stand up to the aggressors then walk away and be back into his dudist self. Maybe he was a role model for the dude? The movie is worth watching for its message.
Remember, only you make yourself angry.
Great article!
Love those dudely jewish scholars.You just need somebody to love dudes!Finding someone is the realy serious test of a man.
I’ve been acting a little to much like walter instead of the Dude lately. I really needed to hear this. Instead of just going with the flow I have been trying to please everyone. What really sucks is when the rug pissers are family members.
Like you said “You are the dude!”
Fuckin A!
Thank you Rev. High Dude