Dune - Entry #8

This is the first time that I really read the appendices that Frank Herbert felt compelled to include with Dune.  Brian Herbert strived to connect information provided in those appendices in the books he authored.

Appendix I: The Ecology of Dune expands on the story of Pardot Kynes.  This story is retold and expanded upon in Brian Herbert's prequels.

Appendix II: The Religion of Dune lays out some historical religous information that goes as far back as the Butlerian Jihad and the centuries immediately following.  Specifically, a brief history of the Commission of Ecumenical Translators or C.E.T. is provided.  It is the C.E.T. that developed the Orange Catholic Bible.  It is not crystal clear exactly when this took place in relation to, let's say, Serena Butler's time, but Brian Herbert does set up much of what is discussed in this appendix in the books The Butlerian Jihad, The Machine Crusade, and The Battle of Corrin.  According to the appendix, shortly after the two generations that lived and died in the Butlerian Jihad, a group of religious leaders began to meet.  The outcome of the first series of meetings were the C.E.T. and the "realization that all religions had at least one common commandment: 'Thou shall not disfigure the soul.'" (Dune, 40th Anniversary Edition, p. 486).  Thou shall not disfigure the soul.  Well put by Frank Herbert.

In the subsequent years during the writing of the OC Bible, there was much violence over the C.E.T..  In this appendix, Frank Herbert explains that one of the delegates to the C.E.T. "committed suicide by stealing a space frigate and diving into the sun." (Dune, 40th Anniversary Edition, p. 487).  Could this be referring to Xavier Harkonnen's suicide and murder of Iblis Ginjo by diving into the sun after their disastrous visit to Tlulax?  Or is it just where Brian Herbert got the idea for this scenario?

The bottom line is that the goal for the C.E.T. and for the OC Bible was to "produce one book, weeding out 'all the pathological symptoms' of the religious past." (Dune, 40th Anniversary Edition, p. 486).  The goal was to unite all religions.  I guess it is good to have a really big goal and I suppose the human race thought they could do anything after defeating the machines ... but this was not an attainable goal.  In the appendix, Frank Herbert describes how the C.E.T. chairman had eventually admitted that the C.E.T. had erred.

"We shouldn't have tried to create new symbols," he said.  "We should've realized we weren't supposed to introduce uncertainties into accepted belief, that we weren't supposed to stir up curiosity about God.  We are daily confronted by the terrifying instability of all things human, yet we permit our religions to grow more rigid and controlled, more conforming and oppressive.  What is this shadow across the highway of Divine Command?  It is a warning that institutions endure, that symbols endure when their meaning is lost, that there is no summa of all attainable knowledge."
(Dune, 40th Anniversary Edition, p. 486).

When considering how the religions of today may develop, Frank Herbert's view is discouraging but may very well be one of those cases where science fiction does a pretty good job of predicting the future.

OK ... getting tired and can't write anymore now ... more very soon about the other appendices and then on to Paul of Dune.