March 8, 2013

"Loosely based on Taoism, Dudeism aims to produce self-reliance and improve self-regard..."

"... so the congregational aspect of it isn't strongly emphasized anyway."
"The looser we keep it, the more 'Dude' it seems to be," Benjamin wrote. That may all change, though, when the Dudeist Social Network, a social media platform that will be pretty much exactly what it sounds like, goes live. "It'll be easier to disorganize some events without working too hard," he joked.
Benjamin is Oliver Benjamin, founder of the Church of the Latter-Day Dude and co-author of "The Abide Guide: Living Like Lebowski."

If you had to invent a religion based on a movie, what movie would you choose?

70 comments:

Revenant said...

If you had to invent a religion based on a movie, what movie would you choose?

Defending Your Life.

edutcher said...

Oy!

They'd be better off using 300 as a guide.

Or maybe The Ten Commandments.

That seems to have worked for about 4000 years.

Nonapod said...

Probably another Coen Bros. classic, Miller's Crossing. The central tenet of the religion would be about trying to keep things exactly neutral and in balance. Everything must even out in the end.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

I'd rather live like Jeff Bridges.

Anonymous said...

Let us now read from the Book of Duderonomy.

bagoh20 said...

"My Dinner with Andre" which would be an allegory of my religion's Hell.

George M. Spencer said...

2001

Worship the bone.

Here's a weird story. In December I saw this brief documentary —"The Overview Effect." It's about the effect of viewing the Earth from space on human consciousness. It's estimated that 10 years from now 100,000 people will have gone into space, and that this awe-inducing event will forever change human life.

Last weekend, I went to a coffee shop in a place I never visit. There utterly by chance I met one of the people involved in the making of this film.

Synchronicity. Spooky action.

SomeoneHasToSayIt said...

Harry Potter movies, with Professor Dudebeldore and the Hogwash School of Misery and Tragic.

Jason said...

Gibson's Passion of the Christ

Hey, why mess with a good thing?

Jason said...

There are people who consider their religion to be Jedi. Was a minor controversy some years back when some soldiers wanted to list Jedi as a religion on their dog tags.

bagoh20 said...

My own mention of "My Dinner with Andre" reminds me of a past time and this long lost character. Where art thou?

Anonymous said...

Man I dislike that movie. I have a chubby stoner friend who worships it.

Revenant said...

Or maybe The Ten Commandments. That seems to have worked for about 4000 years.

I dunno, the Jews DID spend approximately 98% of that time getting their asses kicked by people of other religions.

Ironically, they survived mainly by... abiding.

chickelit said...

Ironically, they survived mainly by... abiding

Juden Duden

bagoh20 said...

At one time, half my friends lived exactly like El Duderino.

Anonymous said...

I think I'd rather worship a band. At least that can be like psychological tourism with living dramas being played out on the archetypal level. There's music, outfits, sex, and 3-day festivals in the desert.

chickelit said...

"Repo Man" (1984)

Especially when Harry Dean Stanton gets done preaching his "Repo Man Code" to Charlie Sheen's brother, and, distracted, says :

Look at those assholes over there. Ordinary fucking people. I hate ‘em

Great soundtrack in that film, too.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

Mujeres Al Borde de un Ataque de Nervios

Bob Ellison said...

The Seven Samurai

Irene said...

Being John Malkovich.

edutcher said...

Revenant said...

Or maybe The Ten Commandments. That seems to have worked for about 4000 years.

I dunno, the Jews DID spend approximately 98% of that time getting their asses kicked by people of other religions.


They did?

I seem to remember guys like David and Joshua and Gideon...

bagoh20 said...

I think this has already happened with "An Inconvenient Truth".

Mark said...

Army of Darkness.

"Good. Bad. I'm the guy with the gun."

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
David said...

2001: A Space Oddessy.

Mysteries.

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Rosalyn C. said...

Groundhog Day. Life is about second chances and taking advantage of that opportunity for learning, discovery and change, or everyday is just like yesterday and an endless repetition.

Malesch Morocco said...

It's a Wonderful Life.

edutcher said...

bpm4532 said...

McClintock!

No, McLintock!

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

Women on the verge would be rh's Islam.

chickelit said...

edutcher said...
bpm4532 said...

McClintock!

No, McLintock!


No, No, No: McLitnock!!!

Anonymous said...

I stand corrected on the title.

McLintock!

Quotes:

"You know, if we had any moral character, we wouldn't be standing here covered with mud drinkin', when we should be washing."

"He can't help it - he's just ignorant. He doesn't know any better than to tell the truth. And I can't help this stupid look. I started acquiring it as you gained in social prominence!"

"Swell party, where's the whisky?"

"Agard, if you knew anything about Indians, you'd know that they're doing their level best to put up with our so-called 'benevolent patronage' in spite of the nincompoops that've been put in charge of it!?

Tim said...

"If you had to invent a religion based on a movie, what movie would you choose?"


Oh hell, that's easy: NFL Films' San Francisco 49ers' 1981 Season Highlights.

It has the added virtue of being completely true, too!

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

Thanks for posting that St George

Chip Ahoy said...

At Regis they taught us that Taoism is basically following the middle path, the way, the trail a snowball would follow the terrain rolling down a hill.

They were probably thinking of a cartoon snowball on a cartoon hill, or maybe a t.v. commercial about cars.

They have a text that instructs them on how to be an excellent person that was fairly memorized by the learned and upper classes. Wisdom so arcane that translations are unreliable due to language subtleties intended to be vague and that relied on knowledge of things known among elites long lost to modern researchers.

Still, the characters of that text are used today, say, on the South Korean flag, the trigrams drawn from the ba gua, Taoist symbols, that represent heaven and justice, fire and fruition, earth and vitality, water and wisdom. Interesting pairings, no?

You can access the wisdom of the Tao Te Ching randomly.

You take your three coins, or three sticks or three whatever and hold them in your cupped hands and meditate real hard about an important emotional issue. Best if it's emotional. Best to be clear as possible about the question you want answered. Such as, should I stay in this relationship, or should I leave this jerk? That kind of question.

Then shake the coins and drop them. Read the outcome, heads head, tails, whatever, then reference the random result in the Tao Te Ching trigram translation guide, match the results, and find the page to read. And you will be amazed how specifically the random answer addresses your specific question. It will be surprisingly not such a general statement as you see on astrological charts. And it's enough to make a Taoist out of anybody.

My professor said Taoism is probably the religion that suits me. But I was thinking, now see, right there is a group, so no, but I didn't say that.

Chef Mojo said...

I guess that's the way the whole durned human comedy keeps perpetuatin' itself.

Yeah, I'm up for The Big Lebowski as a basis for a religion.

Works as good as any other, I suppose. It would be a good religion, and thorough...

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

For a religion to have any kind of... gravitas? its has to have its own music... specially Dudeism.

From the Beginning

mccullough said...

The Outlaw Josey Wales

Crimso said...

Battlefield Earth.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

God Song

Ernst Stavro Blofeld said...

I'm convinced that if men didn't want to impress women they'd all live pretty much like The Dude.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

Wheel Of Fortune

Revenant said...

They did? I seem to remember guys like David and Joshua and Gideon...

Joshua and Gideon are mythological figures. The historical David appears to have been been a minor local ruler at a time when the region was dominated by Egyptians and Philistines.

The archaeological evidence is that the land of Israel spent virtually all of its history prior to 1948 either as a vassal state, as conquered territory, or inhabited by scattered warring tribes.

Also, the Ten Commandments are less than 3000 years old, at least in their written form. :)

Guildofcannonballs said...

Well since Mike and Pat are just like I am, i.e. part of the same hypocrisy, The Godfather makes a lot of sense here.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

Dont Cry

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

News From Babel

Smilin' Jack said...

Barbarella.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

From The Basement

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Anonymous said...

Duck Soup

Amexpat said...

If you had to invent a religion based on a movie, what movie would you choose?

"Life Of Brian". The ending says it all, always look on the bright side of life.

Unknown said...

Harvey

"'In this world, Elwood, you must be oh so smart or oh so pleasant.' Well, for years I was smart. I recommend pleasant."

Words to live by.

Unknown said...

Harvey

"'In this world, Elwood, you must be oh so smart or oh so pleasant.' Well, for years I was smart. I recommend pleasant."

Words to live by.

Howard said...

If you had to invent a religion based on a movie, what movie would you choose?

Battlefield Earth

campy said...

If you had to invent a religion based on a movie, what movie would you choose?

Django Unchained

Matt Sablan said...

The Brave Little Toaster. Think, it teaches us the importance of attachment to things not because they are things, but because of the meaning behind those things. It also teaches us the importance of friendship, bravery and the power of teamwork.

It makes a strong stand against the over-modernization of life, and it also instills in us an understanding that all things have spirits and souls.

Plus, devotional songs would -rock-.

Matt Sablan said...

"There's music, outfits, sex, and 3-day festivals in the desert."

-- Sounds like the Ted Neeley version of Jesus Christ Superstar.

Unknown said...

The Rocky Horror Picture Show.

Frank N. Furter died for your sins!

Astro said...

Unclebuckism.

Paco Wové said...

"You can access the wisdom of the Tao Te Ching randomly."

Kind of like the Great Gatsby.

Should I send my child to college, or give him $50K and tell him to make his way in the world?

(Rolls, checks, consults...)

"I’ll be the man smoking two cigarettes."

Perhaps you need a priest to decipher the more Pythian responses.

Rusty said...


If you had to invent a religion based on a movie, what movie would you choose?


Pi

tiger said...

Re: the article:

Well stupid people with low self-esteem always seem to find stupid ways to make themselves seem better than the rest of us.

Same goes for Jedists/Wiccans/Liberals...

This is just another example.

J2 said...

Rusty

I was going to mention "Session 9" but "Pi" is even better, but seriously:

Another Earth

Astro said...

Yeah, 'Pi' (The Movie) is a great choice.

And just to clarify, that's not 'Life of Pi'.

Sean said...

Say what you will about the tenets of Dudeism, at least it's an ethos...

Christy said...

Cabaret
What good is sitting alone in your room? Come hear the music play.

Baron Zemo said...

"King of Kings."

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