A Ramble About the Desert

Ever since we moved to Arizona I have been reminded of the epic masterpiece book series Dune by Frank Herbert. I have actually a big fan of the Dune series since I was a kid. Being a student of history and religious studies, and a sci-fi fan, how could I not be? I've read every book in the series at least twice, the Dune prequels by Brian Herbert and Kevin Anderson, and have seen both the 1984 film adaptation (in the theaters!) and the Sci-Fi channel miniseries of both the original novel and the miniseries Children of Dune adapting the next two books in the series several times. My geek cred on Dune is safely indisputable. Since I arrived here the lines from the book and the movie, “Arrakis, Dune, desert planet,” and “God created Arrakis to train the faithful; one cannot go against the word of God,” have been rolling through my mind. Sometimes it involuntarily inserts “Arizona” for Arrakis. It's a fun fact to know that the original Dune movie was filmed in southern Arizona and California because of the location's similarity to the descriptions of Arrakis.

For those not in the know, Arrakis is the principle setting of the story of Dune. It's a desert planet where water is so scarce and so precious the native peoples have developed technology to recycle it from everything in order to conserve it. They developed a garment called a “stillsuit” to collect sweat, urine, and feces and distill the pure water from these for the wearer so that he or she won't lose more than a thimble full of water per day through perspiration. They also developed a method of distilling the water from a recently deceased dead body so that that person's water won't be lost to the rest of their tribe. It's a harsh world with harsh realities of survival.

The reason why Arrakis is so important in the Dune universe is because it is only there that a substance called Spice Melange is found. To make a long story short, aside from it's health benefits at prolonging life and the mild narcotic effects it can have, it's also the only substance capable of enabling the navigators of space ships to travel safely through hyperspace by allowing them to see their course clearly. So, even though this world is a desert wasteland hostile to human life (I didn't mention the gargantuan sandworms, did I?), it is also the single most important world in the entire imperium.

The natives of Arrakis are called the “Fremen.” According to Brian Herbert's prequels, they are descended from religiously minded escaped slaves and, figuring anywhere was better than the slavery they left, without knowing where the ship they were on was headed they settled on Arrakis declaring themselves the “free men” of Arrakis. In the time of the Frank Herbert series, the fremen have not only adapted to Arrakis, they covertly rule and control it, living places and going places none other can imagine. They live all over Arrakis, going where they will by riding the monstrous sandworms that terrorize everyone else. They are terrifying fighters that can easily best the Emperor's feared elite special forces killers known as sardaukar. Thus has the environment of Arrakis shaped the fremen to either master it, or have the desert kill them outright.

The desert plays an important role in Biblical history as well. It is a well known forge that produced the Israeli nation, the prophets, and the Holy Scriptures. Many of the greatest holy men and spiritual authors are called “desert fathers” by the Church because they are monks who elect to live there so that there might be no distractions in their communion with God.

The desert has a habit of stripping away every distraction, and everything you don't actually need in order for you to learn what you do really need to survive. What good are gold and jewels if you have no water and will die of thirst, for example? Of what value are expensive clothes if they don't protect you from the heat of the day? The desert is a crucible that God has used again and again to train His people.

If you look, there is a tremendous peace and serenity in the desert. There is a beauty too that can be hidden from those who don't know how to see it. There is a quiet honesty that defies all attempts at pretense and questions your soul, “who are you really?” It is in the desert that we can be stripped down to real honesty between ourselves and God, and it is in the desert that God begins to really teach us how to survive and master it so that it doesn't kill us from thirst and exposure. When God trains us in the desert, He teaches us to conserve every drop and treasure it. He teaches us when to lie low and wait for the burning heat to pass, and when to move in the coolness of night. He teaches us to respect the sandworm that we draw with our own careless steps, and how to walk so that we don't attract it. When God draws us into the desert, at first it seems as though He has left us there to die and we are terrified. But if He doesn't draw us into the desert, we will never learn to survive there, and thus we cannot become the skilled fighters He wants us to be. Learn to appreciate and respect the desert if God has drawn you into it.

In the end, even though the Emperor, the Great Houses, the Spacing Guild, even the Bene Gesserit sisterhood believe they control Arrakis, it is the fremen who ride free over its surface and all the others hide cowering behind their walls in fear. And in the end, these others apprehend this fact at a great cost.

God uses the desert to train the faithful. Don't fight it, learn from it.