What A Long, Strange Trip Its Been
Mary at Pacific Views started a post with the Litany against fear:
I must not fear.
Fear is the mind-killer.
Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration.
I will face my fear.
I will permit it to pass over me and through me.
And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path.
Where the fear has gone there will be nothing.
Only I will remain.
This is a construct of the Bene Gesserit introduced in the novel, Dune, by Frank Herbert.
Most people don’t know that the novel was published in 1965 by Chilton, the guys who do automobile repair manuals and magazines.
While there are a lot of reasons for remembering the Litany these days, it sparked a memory of the discussions at college about the possibility of a religion being born from the philosophies found in the novel.
Being brash young college students, we all decided that no one would be stupid enough to base their religion on a science fiction novel.
6 comments
Ha!
A Bebe Gesserit religion would be so transparently about power and coercion that it’d be, well, indistinguishable from Christianity, actually.
When I first read Dune I wondered if Herbert had gone to a Catholic school.
It might make a whole lot more sense than L.Ron’s crap. He is still laughing at the rubes.
Fallenmonk, see number 7 in the post above this.
Fear isn’t a good emotion, I’ll give that. But the best way to deal with it isn’t to ignore it, but figure out what the hell is so goddamned frightening and fix it.
What religion is that?
Whig, Scientology is based on the works of L. Ron Hubbard, who wrote bad science fiction novel.