Uh-huh-huh-huh-huh. It's been a long time since we've heard that soft, distinguished, staccato chuckle closely associated with Generation X's intellectual disfigurement. For many, it hasn't been long enough, marking it down as conclusive evidence that civilization came to a global end. For die hard disciples, it's been far too great a gap since we've been graced by the wisdom of Beavis and Butthead. No matter what side of the pro-con line we may place ourselves, it's quite possible they are a symbol of cultural bankruptcy and the only significant philosophers of the modern age.
I have always been a fan… and until my girlfriend's disbelief that she could date someone who reads Shakespeare and "watches those two idiots" it prompted me to explain the fascination. I never truly understood why. It was much more than the comical bond of two social misfits, the slapstick humor only cartoons can depict and the adolescent locker room jocosity that drove me to worship. There was something much, much deeper, and I think I've figured it out.
The Tao of Beavis and Butthead lies in simplicity itself, however crude or crassly they express it. And it's not because they're simple minded. Sure, their pursuits are puerile, but the architecture of their philosophy behind those pursuits is profound. Their wit might be dull, but their precision, intentional or not, is as sharp as a samurai sword.
Nothing exemplifies this simplicity more than the dharma of what's cool and what sucks, the yin-yang, black and white classification of individual experience. Yet, this same hard-edged view has flexibility in moment-to-moment discernment. Thus, what was cool five minutes ago might now suck. There is judgment, but never pre-judgment, anticipation, but never hope or fear. This is what most Eastern philosophies call,"living in the now."
Small examples of this can be found in their television series. The rapid, convulsive laughter of "huh-huh-huh-huh" and "hehehehehe" are spewed forth as Beavis and Butthead writhe in physical pain. It's not that they're enjoying being hurt, they're merely appreciating the humor in the moment. There is also the principle of non-attachment illustrated in watching Butthead choking on a chicken nugget and, with ever depleting air, manages to squeak out, "this sucks!" while calming grabbing the remote to watch music videos.
The quintessential Tao of Beavis and Butthead is best demonstrated in the movie, Beavis and Butthead Do America. In this epic parable, we see the boys moved to action when their television is stolen and are swept up into a world they never knew existed, or cared to. They are mistaken for hit men and hired by a shady character to "do his wife" AND get paid for it. With this opportunity to "score" and earn money to buy a new TV, they are ushered around the United States, which does not impress them in the slightest. Despite their lack of culture, they never lose sight of what's important to them, something few can claim.
At one point in the saga, as they are lost and, dying of thirst in the desert, Butthead proclaims, "The sun sucks!" as matter-of-factly as Stephen Hawking explaining the nature of space and time. And he's right, in that instance, the sun indeed sucks. Yet, if they were watching a psychedelic rendition of the sun in a Jimi Hendrix video, it would undoubtedly be labeled as "cool." For them, the sun is the sun — it never changes, they merely acknowledge their state of being in relationship to it and move on. In either instance, it's that relationship that's changed.
Also, in the same dire straits in which Beavis and Butthead are crawling on their bellies, parched to the cellular level and facing death, Butthead takes time to appreciate and magnanimously point out to Beavis the hilarity of two vultures "doing it" while waiting for them to die. This unmoving adherence to their Tao, even on the verge of a horrible demise is what makes them so profound. They may be obnoxious in finding lightheartedness through vulgarity, but they never take themselves or their lives seriously.
Throughout their ordeal, which includes being hunted as terrorists by the ATF, making it all the way to the White House and meeting President Clinton, they remain unchanged by their external experiences. Despite never having scored and not getting paid for it, thus unable to purchase a new TV, their outlook on life remains confident in the balance of Good and Suck.
Alas, our heroes find their stolen TV abandoned at the side of the road, being too worthless to pawn. They simply pick it up and take it home…no complaining, no lamenting, not even losing themselves in over-excited joy. They maintain a steadiness most people will never know.
In my own pursuit of truth and the root of happiness, I am beginning to find wisdom in the most unlikely of places, whether intentional or not. Some things are appealing to us and we never know why, not consciously anyway. It is independent of whether or not we're actively attempting to discern it. Perhaps there is something innate in us that recognizes universal spiritual truths, a primordial instinct to seek out reminders of that truth so we can purify our minds and lighten our intellectual and emotional loads.
Uh-huh-huh-huh-huh, I said, "Load!"
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