The Big Lebowski is my favorite movie. Now, lots of people have
favorite movies, so why am I bothering to even write this here? I am
writing because watching The Big Lebowski was a life-changing
experience for me, an epiphany, if you will. Contrary to the
impression one might get from The Big Lebowski Phenomenon my
epiphany occurred immediately after my first viewing of the film.
When I came out of the movie theater that night it hit me. I had
been "way too uptight" about life. I was always trying to figure out
how to get from here to there in this journey of life, always making
mental lists of goals, always trying to move towards them, and getting
really stressed if I wasn't making visible progress. Now I don't know
if this was the "intended message" of The Big Lebowski, but what it
made me realize is that life is crazy.
Essentially, the whole story in The Big Lebowski is driven by
The Dude's quest to get his rug back/replaced. How simple can it
be? Yet this simple quest starts a chain of events precipitated by a
convoluted web of interests and parties that none of the characters,
or the audience could have predicted. And isn't that how life is?
Even when doing the simplest task, circumstances you are unaware of
are influencing you in subtle and not so subtle ways (see chaos
theory).
At that very moment that I realized this, I was transformed. Life
is complicated and unpredictable enough without us making it even more
so. So just chill out and try your best to get your rug back, but
don't be surprised is some crazy shit happens along the way.