Panama Canal-Caribbean Side
The Dude Abides
Cosmic Zen and the Art of Cruise Ship Enlightenment
There Are No Problems at Sea. Only Situations.
"The Dude Abides Principle" says there is this energetic force that has your best interest at heart, and you can tap into it any time you want...
Panama, The Dude, Permanent Travel, and LOST
Four images, one operating idea: loosen the grip, pay attention, and keep moving. Select any image to open the full original.
In The Zone
Panama Canal Crossing.
The Dude
The ultimate test of cerebral fitness.
Eat, Pray, Cruise
"The looser I keep it, the more 'Dude' I seem to be."
LOST and Found
Stunt-photo double for Terry O'Quinn (Locke from LOST). "Hair today. Gone tomorrow" — the best career move I ever made.
The Operating System of the Dude
Not a doctrine so much as a way of traveling: experiences over possessions, situations over problems, motion without clinging.
Achievement Meets Abiding
I do have a bit of The Dude in me. I consider myself kinda lazy but when I look in the rear view mirror, I have done a bunch of stuff, so I do not know how that all works out... On my recent Panama Canal Crossing I realized that.
Now that the U.S. economy is no longer in full and uber achievement mode and people have lost faith in AmeriCAN financial and political institutions... Heads Up! for the ultimate test of cerebral fitness.
No one could really get on board with my assertion that laziness is the religion of the 20th century. Furthermore, cruising is when it finds respectability. It is the new blue chip thing to do: Nothing.
Permanent Travel
I am happier when I spend money and time on experiences instead of material goods. I am living my dream of PT-Permanent Travel, also known as "Mini Retirements."
The Urban Monk is an attitude, no strings attached, living in this world but not of this world, telecommuting at location neutral, Hotel @nyware. Home is where my computer is. More than that, Be A Nobody. Of course you have to be a somebody before you can be a nobody.
No biggie I am just one of the 36 souls on the planet at any given moment who are pure, righteous, and mostly unaware that the fate of the world rests with them. Until now—wow what a responsibility brotherly love is.
The Mythology of Motion
As a Once and future dude, my epic, meandering tale(s), just might be like Sir Galahad's mission to retrieve the Holy Grail.
This ceaseless labor and cycle that never ends—the absurd repetition and meaninglessness of traveling around the world gets mined for—and sometimes creates—spiritual gold for me.
AmeriCANS repeat after me—I can achieve without a weave. Join the union. Be Brave and Shave your head! Bald is a hair color.
Traveling, nevertheless, is like shaving—if I do not do it every day I start to feel like a bum. Maybe I am a slacker and burnout—but the rest of the planet, Yo Heads Up—I agree with the FB comment of Gary Stroud, my high school English teacher: The Dude abides.
At Sea, Everything Is Weather
There are not any problems at sea, only situations. Cruising has not solved my "situations" it subsidizes them! Situations do not get solved. Things are always in flux—they are either coming together or falling apart.
You are the sky. Everything else—it is just the weather.
Am I eternally cursed like The Myth of Sisyphus, the Greek hero damned to endlessly toil by repeatedly pushing a rock up a hill... that ends up rolling back down again and again as I realize Success is continued enthusiasm despite failure after failure—because success without fulfillment is failure.
"People say that what we are all seeking is a meaning for life. I do not think this is what we are really seeking. I think what we are seeking is an experience of being alive." — Joseph Campbell
Still Abiding After All These Years
As a Once and future dude, my epic, meandering tale(s), just might be like Sir Galahad's mission to retrieve the Holy Grail. This ceaseless labor and cycle that never ends—the absurd repetition and meaninglessness of traveling around the world gets mined for—and sometimes creates—spiritual gold for me. Am I eternally cursed like The Myth of Sisyphus, the Greek hero damned to endlessly toil by repeatedly pushing a rock up a hill... that ends up rolling back down again and again as I realize Success is continued enthusiasm despite failure after failure—because success without fulfillment is failure.
Do the math: Happiness is not having what you want, but wanting what you have. Wanting what you have = gratitude. Having what you want = gratification.
The Dude Abides Through the Panama Canal
Six hours become sixty seconds. The canal becomes a machine for bending distance, and the voyage becomes a reminder that scale changes when you change the frame.
Warping Time / Speeding Up Life
A motion-capture time lapse compresses an epic six-hour Panama Canal crossing into sixty seconds. Inspired by a 2011 St. Louis Van Halen concert, it becomes a visual joyride.
Six Hours in Sixty Seconds
The long crossing, compressed into a single visual pulse.
The Most Expensive U.S. Project of Its Era
The construction of the Panama Canal cost the United States about $375 million, equivalent to roughly $10 billion today, making it the most expensive construction project in U.S. history at that time.
A Human Cost Measured in Thousands
More than 25,000 workers died during the French and American construction periods, primarily from diseases such as yellow fever and malaria.
Eight Thousand Nautical Miles Removed
The canal shortens the journey between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans by approximately 8,000 nautical miles, eliminating the need to sail around South America.
A Continent Recut
Construction required excavating more than 200 million cubic yards of earth, enough to build a wall 8 feet tall and 13 feet wide around the equator.
Hours Instead of Weeks
The average transit time through the Panama Canal is 8 to 10 hours, compared with roughly two weeks to navigate around South America.
Traveling is like shaving—miss a day and you feel off. Maybe I am a burnout, but the rest of the planet: heads up. The Dude abides.
Cruising has not solved my situations—it subsidizes them.
The Larger Journey
The Dude Abides
In the cosmic flow of existence, sometimes the greatest wisdom comes from letting go. The energetic force of the universe has your back, Dude.
You are the sky. Everything else is just the weather.