Dudeism: The Big Lebowski, and the Dude, Abide

The cast of the 1998 movie, The Big Lebowski, recently held a reunion in the Big Apple, replete with all the stars, primarily to celebrate the film's Blu-ray release; partly because of a new book, The Abide Guide: Living Like Lebowski; and mostly because, after 13 years, fans still hanker for more of this beloved film written and directed by Joel and Ethan Coen.

Stars Jeff Bridges, John Goodman, John Turturro and Julianne Moore attended the New York event, where Bridges opined of fans in attendance, "They're so deeply into that movie, which is so wonderful. I don't have any fans quite as strong as the Lebowski fans."

That's an understatement. With the annual Lebowskifest coming up next week in Los Angeles, the movie — considered the “#1 Cult film of all time” (Boston Globe) and “The most worshipped comedy of its generation” (Rolling Stone) — and Bridges's character, The Dude, have spawned a cottage industry in t-shirts and other merchandise.

Not many movies, however, can boast that they've inspired a religion. Dudeism combines Chinese Taoism as outlined in Tao of Lao Tzu (6th century B.C.), concepts of Epicurus (341-270 B.C.), and — of course — the philosophy of "The Dude" himself.Continue reading...