I’ve long been an admirer of Jeff Bridges, not only for the impressive career that he’s built over the span of many years, but also for his beautiful, peaceful, and loving spirit. It’s taken Jeff his entire life journey to become the man, husband, and father he is today, so my love and admiration of Jeff is not without the understanding that he didn’t become who he is today overnight. It’s taken him a lifetime of hard work, patience, and thoughtful presence to become The Dude, and in recent years he’s been guided along that journey with the help of his Zen Master Bernie Glassman. Jeff and Bernie recently collaborated on the book The Dude and the Zen Master, where Glassman compares Jeff’s iconic role in The Big Lebowski to a Lamed-Vavnik: one of the men in Jewish mysticism who “are simple and unassuming, and so good that, on account of them, God lets the world go on.” Jeff puts it another way. The wonderful thing about the Dude, he says, is that he’d always rather hug it out than slug it out. Bridges and Glassman have been close friends for more than a decade now, and The Dude and the Zen Master captures their freewheeling dialogue about life, laughter, and the movies with a charm and bonhomie that never fail to enlighten and entertain. Throughout, their remarkable humanism reminds us of the importance of doing good in a difficult world. You can pick up your own copy of the book on Amazon, and check out their appearance below on the TODAY show this morning. For all FEELguide stories related to Jeff Bridges you can CLICK HERE.
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