Dude Where's my Karma?

The Symbol for Dudeist Thinking - Pic courtesy of Wikipedia

by blogSpotter
This week, I’ve been confronted with my inherent lack of inspired goal-setting. Some might even call it laziness... A recently retired coworker in his late 40’s is working on two venture capital investment projects, even being paid in stock for his contributions. Another coworker in his early 30’s is going to night school, studying genetic engineering. Night school might be a challenge to me if I were studying basket weaving -- my mind could not grasp anything approaching genes or nucleic acids. I’m impressed by the mojo of my friends and equally impressed by my own apparent indolence.

My leisure time activities are somewhat epicurean … I like good healthy food, music and entertainment, aromatherapy, long naps, shopping, and movies. I actually shouldn’t limit my list to hedonistic indulgences -- I also like to read nonfiction, tinker with gadgets, and work out four times a week. If you drive near White Rock Lake, you might see me taking one of my 3-mile trail hikes.

As far as advancing my finances -- I’ve tackled it with the ferocity of a slug. I log on to look at my 401K account maybe twice a year; I’m a financial couch potato with a couch potato fund mixture. My investments are conservative and boring (a lot of bonds, CD’s, and index funds). I’d rather have a low maintenance mix with less of the roller coaster effect. My 50-something heart can no longer take the excitement of a financial thrill ride. Slow and steady works just fine for me.

I’ve actually thought about going back to school, but not to make a million or start a second career. I’d like to take some Fun Ed type courses: Spanish 101, Creative Writing, Radio-TV-Film and Architectural History. I’d enjoy taking a lot of the Liberal Arts fluff that seemed so terribly impractical in college -- when my course load was determined by an all-consuming lust for a rocket-to-the-moon techie career. For all that I now move slowly, I’d like to take a giant chill pill and slow down even more. To borrow from the cliche line, I’d like to stop and smell the roses.

DUDEISM

This leads me to declare my allegiance to Dudeism, a 21st century, American reinterpretation of the ancient Chinese Taoist philosophy. Founded in 2005 by journalist Oliver Benjamin, Dudeism borrows from Taoism and bases much of its overriding attitude on Dude, the laid back, hippie character in 1997’s “The Big Lebowski” (played by Jeff Bridges). A couple of the major premises of Dudeism is that we bring out the very worst in ourselves when we overemphasize career ambition and material excess. According to Dudeism, every day pleasures like bathing, bowling and hanging out with friends are far better tickets to spiritual fulfillment.

Dudeism started out as something of a gag, but now has thousands of followers -- in fact several thousand Dudeist priests have been ordained. Oliver Benjamin is a latter day Buddha, writing a series of Tao books to advance his Dude philosophy.

Is there anything likely to shake me loose from my Dudeist leanings? It’s highly doubtful in this 4th quarter of my life. Like the proverbial dog who catches the car, I’m not sure what I’d do with it if I caught it. I’m pretty sure I could use some conversational Spanish and I could express myself with some bad poetry. If you get the chance, watch “The Big Lebowski” and see why it has a cult following. And if life’s pressures are giving you ulcers and resentments it might be time to consider a Dudeist adjustment to your own routine.

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