“The Dude” shows us one type of minimalist living. However, forming a church is not part of minimalist living, really more of a con.

The Dude abides.

Oliver Benjamin, who founded the Church of the Latter-Day Dude in 2005 and co-authored The Abide Guide: Living Like Lebowski with the “Arch Dudeship” Dwayne Eutsey in 2011, has a theory about that.

“The Great Lebowski Re-evaluation gradually took root among the youth counterculture after the goddamn plane crashed into the building—exactly 10 years after the Dude buys a carton of half-and-half in the opening scene of the movie,” Benjamin wrote in an e-mail. And yes, it’s true: That half-and-half purchase, soundtracked by a televised George H.W. Bush speech about aggression and the “Eye-rackies,” gets paid for by a check dated September 11.

According to Benjamin, a Los Angeles native now living in Thailand, the film’s genius wasn’t appreciated back in 1998 because it had simply arrived ahead of its time.

“No one could really get on board with the idea that this lazy anti-hero, the Dude, might somehow be someone to look up to or emulate,” he said. The U.S. economy was in “full-achievement mode,” and people had faith in America’s financial and political institutions.

Still Abiding After 15 Years: The Laid-Back World of ‘Big Lebowski’ Worship

The Big Lebowski

Ozymandias

Unfortunately, it seems that the future Aldous Huxley predicted in 1932, in Brave New World, is arriving early. Mockery, truculence, and minimalist living are best, then enjoy the decline. However, we do need a Revolving Door Tax (RDT) and to prosecute politicians and staff and their “family and friends” who profit from insider trading.