Laziness? At least it’s an ethos

In the book The Philosophy of the Coen Brothers, chapter authors Matthew Douglass and Jerry Walls* bestow upon the Dude four central tenets to his chosen ethos — laziness:

1. Reality is inherently chaotic and purposeless; yet the interactions between chaotic molecules creates a mighty force we cannot resist.
2. One should expend effort only on simple, short-term goals; since everything is chaotic and ever-changing, long-term planning is pointless.
3. Since one can do very little to affect this mixture of good and bad, one should accept life as it is and learn to be content. As successful dude can tell the difference between simple problems that can be solved and complex problems that take more effort than necessary to solve (and are, therefore, pointless).
4. The purpose of life is to be as happy as possible in any situation. The purpose of life must come from the inside the individual; it cannot come from anything external.

Hmmm. That’s interesting and all; at least it’s an ethos, I guess. But I wonder what the Dudeists at Dudeism.com (or at The Dude’s Paper) would say. Can someone check for me?

I’m feeling a little lazy. And I’m not sure that’s very Dude of me.

* Douglass, M.K. and Walls, J.L. (2009). “Takin’ ‘er easy for all us sinners,” in Conrad, M.T., ed. The Philosophy of the Coen Brothers, Lexington, Ky: The University of Kentucky Press. Their essay is pages 147-162.

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