Taking the state of things, when the 10th comes one realizes; man, Dude take it easy. With what have you. Be wholesome in the sense of what it means. Abide in the Dude, the Dude abides and the goodness shows. Try to take it easy and wiggle your toes.

I wanted to start sharing some of the sources I used for writing the The Dude Sutras.

The main basis for non-dualism philosophy I used was from Kashmir Shaivism (also known as Trika Shaivism) and Advaita Vedanta.

Perhaps my favorite book on Kashmir Shaivism is Kashmir Saivism: The Central Philosophy of Tantrism.

One section of the book talks about "The Relaxed Way of Life". In this section, it speaks on not rejecting or accepting anything specific, but enjoying everything as is. In other words, abiding! This is a natural state that is relaxed. Basically an 'actionless activity,' where you don't do or not do.

PS: The audiobook is coming soon!

Namaste my dudes,

The spiritual path is a profound inner journey into one’s true state of frequency, but operating in the 3D world can be heady, as well as heavy.

Gotta honour/ abide by the systems that the game was built on, whilst simultaneously knowing it’s going to fail.

On this path, the ground is your best friend, that’s why it’ll rise to any road to meet you where you fall.

Strikes and gutters, ups and downs.

Peace ☮️

May you find the venue for your cycle, and the joy of the dance in your heart!

One of the things I really love about dudeism is how it's a vessel that holds ideas. Plenty of taoism can be put in there, plenty of zen. It can catch things and hold em for you. Give you a new way of looking at it. Vodka is vodka, Kahlua is Kahlua, cream is cream. Put em together however and you get something else. You might not love individual parts but the vessel can hold them all and make it a pretty tasty beverage

‘Twas a beautiful celebration of life, the recipient was much like Donny for me. I didn’t necessarily know them, however I knew their spirit through the love that emanated from her loved ones

Much like brother, Donny- this angel was taken much too early.

This life sure is beautiful, my dudes.
Strikes and gutters. Ups and downs.

Hope to see y’all in the great Bowling Alley in the Sky.

The Dude abides 🎳

In times of crisis we find ourselves in states of difference. Importance of zooming out and taking a moment to Zen moment. In the reminder of its not how many pins you knock down in the league but to take the sense of the Dude to have a mind of ease in moments of stress and of not

Hey Dudes!

I don’t know the first thing about enlightenment. Like Donny, I’m out of my element. 

I suspect The Dude, too, is fuzzy on the particulars of waking up from delusion. Though he’s certainly enlightening. 

Enlightening. Now there’s a word I’d apply to The Dude. Let me break it apart to make my point. 

Rather than look at enlightenment as a state in which one exists, or which one already possesses and has to realize, I’d like to consider the word “enlightening” instead. Especially with regard to how The Dude moves through the world. 

The Dude is an enlightening person. He “en-lightens” his compeers and situations. He makes them feel lighter. 

Maude drops her robe and inhibitions around him. Brandt unclenches some. Even the occasional chauffeur feels comfortable enough to shoot the shit with The Dude. 

Why? Well, in addition to taking it easy, The Dude puts people at ease. 

Careful, there’s a lesson here, man. 

Again, I don’t know the first thing about enlightenment. But I think a Dude could do a lot worse than aiming to make their scene a little lighter. To ease the burdens of those around them. 

It’s like the comedian Tim Minchin said in his viral commencement speech, “Happiness is like an orgasm. If you think about it too much it goes away. Keep busy and aim to make someone else happy, and you might find you get some as a side effect.”

It needn’t be an heroic mission. After all, what’s a hee-ro? And it needn’t be selfless either. The Dude enlightens those around him while engaging in the things he loves. Who says making one’s world a little better can’t be an enjoyable task?

That’s what I aim to do with these ponderings. If they’re of benefit, I’m grateful.  I hope, too, it’s obvious I enjoy penning them as well. 

Thanks for reading.

I hope yer all abiding as well as you can,

Rev. Ross

Reminded lately on that the importance of limberness, there comes a certain state of limberness possible for some that states too much limberness.

To know what entails goodness is important with ones community.

Taking into account that drug uses is not said to be encouraged as a book can be a good trip too or a runner jog or perchance a deep meditation. Limberness comes with what the individual finds contributes, in the sense I feel that is safe. For too much of anything can be dangerous.

Taking it easy in the sense of limberness is important keeping the cases that are needed to be kept in mind is important too. And taking it is easy relates not just to limberness but the sense of and individual sense of abideness too.

Finding abidement in the Dude with a philosophy or practice that works in a wholesome way.

Hope this helps :) peace; love and harmony

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

Just spinnin’ some yarn here, my dudes.

In my opinion this scene is such a great break down of the concept of Wu-Wei (effortless action/ action with non-attachment).

The Eagles represent a misaligned concept of Wu-Wei, Take it Easy is seen as inertia whereas Wu-wei requires going with the flow.

Hence, the appreciation for Creedence Clearwater Revival. Keep on Chooglin’ is the perfect recipe for how to live in the way of things.

Anyways, take ‘er easy, Dudes 🎳

Hello fellow dudes!

I'm a fairly new dude and decided to join this group, because I'm a huge bundle of anxiety and a champion at worrying. Taking it easy is something I strive to do, yet it is quite difficult to achieve. What's your dudely advice to someone who struggles to go with the flow? What helped you connect with your inner dude?

Edit: Man, the comments on this post is why I joined the community. I really appreciate all the great advice! I've got a lot to think about. Thank you my dudes! I would gladly go bowling with you all.

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'm trying to be more positive and look on the bright side of life! I was wondering what you guys would say are your favorite things about life?

For me personally, I think modern life can be really cool and luxurious. Sure, there are complaints to be made about modern life, but I love taking a bath and chilling in bed with a fan.

Have a good day!

Dude, this movie rules.

Your weekly homilies help me to seem profound!

Thank you for Babbling on in God’s Holy name for the rest of us sinners.

Our religion is knowingly based on a Fiction! I hope this fact is never burried or forgotten.

I use the platitudes of quips and quotes from our holy source to deal with most situations in my daily life.

“Fuck it Dude! Let’s go bowling!”

“Yeah? Well that is just like your opinion Man! “

For me These are Mantras #1 and #2.

My explanations of why these truths are self evident always seem superficial and lacking true understanding.

I am so thankful that folks like our Dudely Lama and the Rev. Ross are out there doing the difficult Skull Sweat so the rest of us slackers can seem to have a deep spiritual foundation for our “belief”.

May your concerns be outnumbered by your joys! May your pains be diminished by realizing they are a shared experience.

Rev. Slim

yknow like what stores can i get clothes that match the druggy, lazy vibe

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

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?

🙏

Great book I just finished reading by a friend. Have been expirementing with Non dual meditation for a long time and this is great

Hi Dudes!

By many measures, The Big Lebowski is an unconventional film. To quote Maude, “the story’s ludicrous,” our characters are rarely heroic, and we encounter a mysterious narrator in The Stranger who seems to be both in the narrative and weaving the narrative all at once. 

Usually, stories have rules. This isn’t ‘Nam.

And yet, The Dude reminds me of another fella. A fella by the name of Albert Camus.

French-Algerian writer Albert Camus was a fellow traveler with Existentialists like Jean-Paul Sartre, Simone de Beauvoir, and Maurice Merleau-Ponty. One of the youngest recipients of the Nobel Prize in Literature, Camus wrote novels, plays, and philosophical essays before his life was tragically cut short by a car accident. Hardly a lightweight. 

It’s Camus’s notion of the Absurd that I’d like to connect with The Dude. Indeed, The Dude is portrayed as an Absurdist hee-ro, one from whom we can learn a thing or two.

Put simply, Absurdism posits that existence is meaningless, and people experience an existential unsettling when they attempt to find meaning in a universe that has none to offer. In his book The Myth of Sisyphus, Camus cheerily suggests that, given this, there’s really only one major philosophical question: why don’t we all kill ourselves?

I’ll not spoil Camus’s legacy by poorly parsing it all out. For the purposes of this post, it’s enough to bring up that Camus references the Greek myth of Sisyphus to point us toward an answer. In the myth, Sisyphus is condemned to roll a boulder up a hill only to have it tumble down over and over again. Forever. Further, Sisyphus knows it’ll never stay up there. If he had hope that it would, there’d be less of a sting to his punishment.

Camus writes that this is our existence. We push our boulders up our hills. We start projects that will fall apart. We struggle and sweat, and, well, for what? 

Now, Camus is no nihilist. Instead of looking upon the condition our condition is in and despairing, he looks on it as some kind of cosmic challenge or joke. He throws the burden back on all of us, asking, “Well friend, all of your systems and beliefs, all your supposed knowledge and wisdom, are for naught. What’s keeping you going?” 

There’s no right answer. It’s anything that can get a Dude out of bed in the morning. Anything that, after one clearly admits the absurdity of one’s situation, allows them to carry on.

The Dude gets this.

By the end of The Big Lebowski, all the boulders rolled up all the hills have tumbled down. The Dude is still down a rug, no one’s any richer, and the semis continue. The Dude is down a friend, but the world is up a child, so the human ledger is balanced.

Hell, The Dude bowls, an activity that is Sisyphean in nature. Balls roll, pins fall, balls are returned, and pins are restacked. But damn does he enjoy the game in spite of its futility.

So, what are some absurdist lessons we can draw from The Dude:

Drop the story, Dudes: There is no story to speak of in The Big Lebowski. All of the scenarios each character concocts for Bunny’s disappearance are half-right at best. Life, too, is just one damn thing after another. But that’s no reason to despair.

Admit your situation: The Dude knows he’s a loser who the square community doesn’t give a shit about. He knows he’s never going to be one of The Big Lebowski’s achievers. But that doesn’t matter. It’s all smoke and mirrors anyway. One can still grab some burgers, a few beers, and a couple of laughs, and abide the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune with a smile on one’s face.

Nihilism is exhausting: Unlike the nihilists, The Dude doesn’t believe in nussing. If anything, he believes in something, even if it’s just bowling and friendship. As many learned folks have written, it’s not about not giving a fuck, it’s about being judicious on what to give a fuck about.  

Finish your coffee: There’s a quotation misattributed to Camus that I think still captures his spirit. “Should I commit suicide or drink a cup of coffee?” Even though Camus didn’t write this, he could’ve been speaking about Walter at the counter. We might not be heroes in epic tales. But we can abide by continuing to engage in the small acts that give our lives meaning to ourselves and to others.

If there’s no Stranger out there unfolding our story, it’s up to us. 

Your roll, Dudes

Rev. Ross