It was
recorded in the ancient archives that the great revolt known as the Butlerian Jihad removed the crutch of
AI from humanity. It forced
human minds to develop. Schools were started to train human
talents. There were two chief
survivors of those ancient schools...
the Spacing Guild and the Bene Gesserit. The Guild, so it was
written, emphasized almost pure mathematics. The Bene Gesserit
performed another function. The Bene Gesserit practiced "religious
engineering" through a faction called the
Missionaria Protectiva, which spread contrived myths, prophecies
and superstition on primitive worlds so that the Sisterhood may
later exploit those regions.
The Bene Gesserit have thus existed for millennia, appearing as a
semi-mystical school that trained women for service to the Galactic Empire as Truthsayers. In reality, they were subtly controlling the Galactic
Empire behind the scenes in order to help humanity become more mature. Some have described the Bene Gesserit as a secretive
sisterhood whose members train their bodies and minds through years of physical
and mental conditioning to obtain powers and abilities that can easily seem
magical to outsiders. Due to their secretive nature and misunderstood abilities,
outsiders often call them witches. Trained at the Mother School on the planet
Wallach IX, and later headquartered at a hidden world known as Chapterhouse, the
Bene Gesserit develop their physical abilities as well as their mental
abilities.
A trained Sister has full control over each muscle in her
body; this is called prana-bindu training. It allows her to bend the last
joint in her little toe while remaining otherwise motionless, bend and contort
her body in ways that most would consider impossible, or put a remarkable amount
of force behind a physical blow. The mental part of prana-bindu (prana stands for breath,
bindu stands for musculature), or prana-nervature is the precise control of the totality of nervous
system within the human body.
The concept of "Voice" was
a means by which Bene Gesserit could influence people by adopting
certain vocal patterns to which ordinary untrained minds were
exquisitely vulnerable. Voice allowed Sisters to end conflicts or to
manipulate the untrained in order to influence events. Males were
controlled through "imprinting" a process of sexual union that
brought the male towards a greater sense of intimacy with the entire
Order. Many men who were raised by Sisters were conditioned to view
the Sisterhood with awe, love and were given a sense of its purpose.
Sometimes infants and young
girls were presented to the Order for training by Great Houses, much
as younger sons were presented to the Catholic Church in ancient
times. The Order always offered to train young women (and sometimes
men) of the Great Houses. Bene Gesserit were also offered as
concubines for Nobles. In this way the Order influenced many Great
Houses while building up political support for its causes. Many
Emperors took Bene Gesserit wives or concubines. The Mother of the
Kwisatz Haderach, Jessica, was a Bene Gesserit. She trained
Paul in
the Prana Bindu disciplines covertly, empowering him to withstand
the Spice Agony and to lead the Fremen.
(Note: intelligence on the sisterhood was gleaned from
Wikipedia, among other sources)
“A beginning is the
time for taking the most delicate care the balances are correct. This
every sister of the Bene Gesserit knows. To begin your study of the life
of Maud’ Dib, then, take care that you first place in his time: born in
the 57th year of the Padishah Emperor, Shaddam IV. And take
the most special care that you locate Maud’ Dib in his place; the planet
Arrakis. Do not be deceived by the fact that he was born on Caladan and
lived his first fifteen years there. Arrakis, the planet known as Dune,
is forever his place”
-
from “Manual of Maud’ Dib” by the princess Irulan
Maud'
Dib... the Kwisatz Haderach
History
Paul Orestes Atreides is a prominent figure in
the early archival records of the Bene Gesserit sisterhood. He took the
Fremen name Paul Muad’Dib and the Sietch name Usul. The definition,
found in the Terminology of the Imperium section of the Appendixes of
Dune, defines muad’dib thus:
"The adapted
kangaroo mouse of Arrakis, a creature associated in the Fremen
earth-spirit mythology with a design visible on the planet’s
second moon. This creature is admired by Fremen for its ability
to survive in the open desert."
Paul Atreides, as Maud Dib, is the leader the
people of Arrakis (the Fremen) have been waiting to appear for
centuries. He is a
messiah like figure of myth and legend. Maud’ Dib leads a rebellion
against the empire, and frees the desert peoples of Arrakis. These
desert dwellers of Dune are addicted to the spice melange. The
spice causes mutations. Their eyes are deep blue from their addiction,
and their level of consciousness is greater than normal beings. They
have the ability to see into the future, and are in some ways
omniscient. Spice is used by the navigators of the Spacing Guild in
order to travel through space. The spice gives the navigators of the
Spacing Guild the ability to
fold space, and travel to any place in the universe without moving.
Therefore, the spice is the most valuable
substance in the universe. It extends life, expands consciousness, and
is the basis for all currency. The only planet in the universe where the
spice exists is Arrakis… Dune.
Paul is more than Maud Dib. He is also the
Kwisatz Haderach, long prophesized by the Bene Gesserit sisterhood. As a
political power, the Bene Gesserit have their own agenda. The Kwisatz
Haderach is "the male who can truly become one of us". Paul as the
Kwisatz Haderach has amazing powers. He can go to places in the mind the
witches of the sisterhood fear. The Bene Gesserit come to the
realization that they may not be able to control Paul who has powers
beyond their abilities. These powers aid Paul in helping the Fremen gain
their freedom. In the second book of the chronicles Dune Messiah,
Muad’dib has effectively become an emperor/god of Dune and other
planets.
In the end, Paul's power turns him into both a
hero and an anti-hero. The Princess Irulan says in the Arrakis
Awakening:
"He was warrior
and mystic, ogre and saint, the fox and the innocent,
chivalrous, ruthless, less than a god, more than a man. There is
no measuring Maud Dib's motives by ordinary standards. In the
moment of his triumph, he saw the dead prepared for him, yet he
accepted the treachery. Can you say he did this out of a sense
of justice? Whose justice, then?"
Bene Gesserit
Mind-Body Lesson
It is important to remember that Paul, in his
formative years, was trained in the ways of the Bene Gesserit by his
mother, the Lady Jessica. What follows is a prana-bindu training exercise used by Paul as an
adolescent, during the ordeal of the Gom Jabbar...
Three quick breaths
triggered the responses…
He fell into the floating awareness… focusing
the consciousness… aortal dilation… avoiding the unfocused mechanism of
consciousness… to be conscious by choice… blood enriched and
swift-flooding the overload regions… one does not obtain
food-safety-freedom by instinct alone… animal consciousness does not
extend beyond the given moment nor into the idea that it’s victims may
become extinct… the animal destroys and does not produce… animal
pleasures remain close to sensation levels and avoid the perceptual… the
human requires a background grid through which to see his universe…
focused consciousness by choice, this forms your grid… bodily integrity
follows nerve-blood flow according to the deepest awareness of cells
needs… all things/cells/beings are impermanent… strive for
flow-permanence within…
And later on the sands of Arrakis
as the cumulative exposure to "spice" begins to manifest within Paul's
consciousness and the possibility of being the Kwisatz Haderach becomes
more likely...
"Abruptly, as though he had found a
necessary key, Paul's mind climbed another notch in awareness. He
focused his prescient awareness, seeing it as a computation of most
probable futures, but with something more... an edge of mystery... as
though his mind dipped into some timeless stratum and sampled the winds
of the future. It was as though he existed within a globe with avenues
radiating away in all directions. He felt the heat and cold of uncounted
probabilities. The thing was a spectrum of possibilities from the most
remote past to the most remote future... from the most probable to the
most improbable."
survivors of those ancient schools...
the Spacing Guild and the Bene Gesserit. The Guild, so it was
written, emphasized almost pure mathematics. The Bene Gesserit
performed another function. The Bene Gesserit practiced "religious
engineering" through a faction called the
the future, and are in some ways
omniscient. Spice is used by the navigators of the Spacing Guild in
order to travel through space. The spice gives the navigators of the
Spacing Guild the ability to
