Not too long ago I had the idea to bring different perspectives on recovery that may not be well known into this blog. However, I was stuck. I didn’t know where to start. Aside from current view points of addiction and mental illness that are well known to the treatment field, I didn’t know what I could present. Then I realized the answer had been in front of my face for the past couple years. In a philosophy, religion actually for some, that I have tried to incorporate more and more into my lifestyle. As a Dudeist Priest, or Cleric of the Church of the Latter-Day Dude (if you’re not into the whole brevity thing), I realized Dudeism could help provide this alternative perspective.
Yes. You read that right. Dudeism. Some of you may be saying “What in God’s holy name are you blathering about?” While others may be saying “A wiser fella once said, sometimes you eat the bear, and sometimes, well, the bear eats you.” According to dudeism.com, Dudeism is “the slowest growing religion in the world…an ancient philosophy that preaches non-preachiness, practices as little as possible.” Dudeism is a philosophy that recent has been organized into a religion (that’s just, like your opinion, man). It uses the movie The Big Lewbowski as a parable. Its roots lie in Taoism but it incorporates a number of other philosophies. I could spend a whole blog entry explaining Dudeism but instead why don’t you explore and learn for yourself here.
For those familiar with the movie, you would know there is a fair share of drinking, drug use, and other problematic behaviors. Despite this, others have been able to embrace Dudeist concepts and incorporate them into their lives without use of substances.
We are here to see some viewpoints of Dudeism and recovery. Though I could write on this myself, I thought it would be better coming from others. For this, I asked some members of Dudeism to share their experience and perspectives. Below are two of those contributions with more to possibly come soon. Click “continue reading” to see their entries.
-Chris Dorian, Founder of Know Your Why Recovery
