The Philosophy of Dune

The destruction of systems and the rebirth of man

Does the prophet see the future or does he see a line of weakness, a fault or cleavage that he may shatter with words or decisions as a diamond-cutter shatters his gem with a blow of a knife?

— Frank Herbert, Dune

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History is not a linear journey of progress. There are no rails, no stifling certainties.

Existence is deeper, complex, changing. Man is not moved by the crude, surface-level events which we perceive day-to-day, but by tremendous forces which we dimly perceive: vast interwoven ecologies of time, history, environment, politics, religion, technology. These complex forces are in flux, alive, each bleeding into the next.

Sometimes these forces simmer for millennia, pressure slowly building; sometimes they are taut and ready to snap, bringing explosive revolutions: violent and destructive spasms and inversions. Contact between two of these forces produces moments of tremendous energy.

Through this storm, man drifts, buffeted by the forces which move around him. But rare men arise who have the vision and will to orient themselves, to cut through the storm, to command the winds to change. Sometimes, man can master the storm.

Dune is the story of a man who arrives at a moment when the tension of the forces has become unsustainable. Revolution must come. The desert will become lush, the dead boy will become emperor, the downtrodden will storm the universe. Those around him do not sense it, and are caught up in petty rivalries for power and resources which will be swept away.

But one man of rare vision understands the moment. He is able to seize it, to cut through the bloated, doomed structures and technology of the society he is born into, and to - for a time - recenter man in history. His greatness allows him to direct the course of the great forces. For a time, man rides astride the storm, commanding history and environment.

Perhaps, in our own time, such a moment is immanent. And perhaps, if adequately prepared, there will be one of us who is able to cut through our current morass and recenter man on the stage of history.