The Wisdom of Frank Herbert’s Dune

There is a religious order in Frank Herbert’s Dune known as the Bene Gesserit. Although ‘fictional’, their teachings have practical applications in the real world — particularly the mind-body lessons the protagonist Paul is taught by his Bene Gesserit mother. These lessons combine mysticism and science (much like Dune itself) to control the body’s automatic responses to stress (i.e. fear, anger, flight…). They involve sensing involuntary tension, deliberate breathing, and mindfulness:

Paul sensed his own tensions, decided to practice one of the mind-body lessons his mother had taught him. 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 …

This ‘mind-calming Bene Gesserit regimen’ keeps Paul ‘poised’ in ‘seeming relaxation’, ‘ready to expand any opportunity’. This is particularly necessary in the Dune universe with its extreme court intrigue and the constant threat of assassination.

What makes Dune so believable is that neither Paul nor his mother ever achieve complete mastery of their responses. They are constantly fighting against their instincts, attempting to control the body through the mind:

It took intense concentration of her Bene Gesserit…