No Frame of Reference #4

No Frame of Reference?Musings from the Arch Dudeship

By Rev. Dwayne Eutsey

Hola, Dudes. I hope this latest musing finds you takin’ ‘er easy where ever you are in the the strikes and gutters of life. If not, well, I hope you find some comfort in knowing that we here at St. Da Fino’s Virtual Shrine of Our Special Lady are doing what we can to just take it easy for you, man.

That’s why we’re here, after all. I mean, I know some may see us as just deadbeats that the square community doesn’t give a shit about. But is that all we are?

Well, yeah, in some respects. But there is more to us than that. A lot more. At St. Da Fino’s, we have devoted our lives to abiding with all Dudeists of promise but without the necessary means for a, necessary means for a sense of community in an un-Dude world.

And it’s getting un-Duder and all the time, it seems.

Real reactionaries are out there fucking things up for everyone; people whose thinking has become too uptight are going way over the line. The financial news keeps triggering occasional economic flashbacks to 1929. It’s enough to make you wonder along with the Walterist school of social analysis: “Has the whole world gone crazy?”

Times like These Call for a Big Lebowski Community

That’s why we here at St. Da Fino’s do what we can to cultivates a literal connection for Dudeists, especially through a new technology that permits us to do very exciting things in interactive prayer software. Fabulous stuff, man. So far, there’s been a purty good response from Dudes around the world who, until recently, felt they haven’t had a prayer.

In fact, I just checked with the boys down in the Prayer Lab, and learned they’re working in shifts to process all the requests we’re receiving. They even tell me they have some leads on what the top prayer concern happens to be at the moment: work, jobs, pimping your soul for the man, or whatever you call it.

That’s not surprising. Like most people these days when it comes to employment, a lot of Dudes are feeling fragile, man. Very fragile. Lotta concerns that their jobsons will be cut off. Conversely, some Dudes can’t even find a job that ties their lives together. Then there are those who feel like they may end up face down in the muck of a dead-end job they’ll never chopper out of.

Making matters even worse are all these rich fucks and phony, goldbrickin’ asses waltzing around town looking for handouts and leaving members of the US Congress asking, “Where?s the fucking bailout money, shitheads?”

It is, indeed, a bummer, man. But we’re not here to dwell on the negative energy, man. What?s the Dudeist perspective on all this?

Well, the Dudely Lama has some sage advice on Dudeists choosing vocational paths that will help you westward your career wagon. But I’m talking here more about the employment stress many Dudes are feeling: losing a job, finding a job, keeping it real in an un-Dude job.

Given the circumstances, it won’t do any good to resort to time-honored Dudeist proverbs like “You can’t worry about that shit,” or “Life’s too short.” Although valid and true, sometimes platitudes like these are dead in the water when applied to life’s more daunting questions.

Like the Dude when his head was dunked in the baptismal toilet, we have to plumb the depths a little more here because the answer’s down there somewhere.

Are You Employed, Sir?

I suppose first it’s good to get down to cases. What do we mean by the word “employ”? Well, the dictionary says it means “to make use of; to keep busy or occupied; take up the attention, time, etc. of.” Now, that’s interesting, man, that’s fucking interesting. So, if I understand it correctly, working is basically a scheme where employers use you, keep you busy by distracting your attention, and then gobble up much of your time here on earth.

I don’t know about you, but I don’t take comfort in that. It’s no wonder that the Dude isn’t interested in being employed. It’s not that he can’t achieve on a level field of play; it’s that he rejects the whole game. It’s him drawing a line in the philosophical sand.

As Dudeist compeer and loafer extraordinaire Utah Phillips once said:

You’ve got to own what you do, rather than work and let somebody else make the profit off of it. And you’ve got to fight in this culture to hang on to your own soul, to hang on to your own creativity? — I looked back on my years of employment with absolute horror. It was bondage, wage slavery. Sure, if somebody else is making the rules every day, it’s a little bit easier, and you can turn your mind off. But none of my parts — my intellect, my curiosity — was being served by that experience.

This is Our Concern, Dudes

However, not all of us have achieved the level of sublime Dudeness (or Utahness) where we can be so gainfully unemployed.

So, what’s a Dude to do when it comes to paying the Marty when the rent comes due? Knowledge is power. You might want to check out resources like “Creating Livable Alternatives to Wage Slavery” (CLAWS). They’ve got the whole rethinking-what-it-means-to-work thing going on, and that’s cool. If you want help to stop worrying about that shit, check out Anxiety Culture, a repository of anti-work philosophy, among other things.

But generally, in these tough economic times when meaningful job prospects are dark’n a black steer’s tookus, there really aren’t many easy solutions.

There is, though, the Dudeist soul-ution. No matter what job (or lack of job) situation you find yourself in, you?ve gotta “fight to hang on to your own soul,” as Utah says. Unfortunately, way too many bright, flowering young men and women in our generation enter the work world only to have the employment bear eat them.

It may be just my opinion, man, but what helps Dudes abide in shitty job situations and eventually even eat the bear is remaining true to what they love to do most. The bear, well, he’s strengthened by feeding on your fear, but your soul is nourished by continuing to do what you love even when you don?t have a job or one that sucks.

Dudeist prophet Bill Hicks observed that everything comes down to one choice, Dudes: “No effort, no work, no savings and money. A choice, right now, between fear and love.”

No matter what your current circumstances may be, always choose to find some way to do what you love, man. That’s what really ties your life together.

Because even at those times when you feel you haven’t got a prayer, if you embrace what you love and refuse to let it go, you can’t help but enjoy the ride no matter how rocky it may get.

Abidingly,

The A-D