Is there Magic In Dune (New Video Script)

The Dune Universe is a universe of wonder. A universe of strange and powerful forces. And a universe of paradoxes ungraspable by most. There are deep secrets woven into the fabric of their reality. There are some who have the power to see through time, some who can perhaps even move through it. There are those gifted with the power to hear a lie and know or hear the truth and know it is the truth. There are many humans that possess what seem to be superhuman powers in Dune but can any of it be called magic?

The official google definition of the word “magic” is as follows: the power of apparently influencing the course of events by using mysterious or supernatural forces. Now there are certainly powers in Dune that are considered “Mysterious” though most of them are not mysterious to those who wield those powers, but can we rightly called the powers “supernatural”. Here is where it becomes a better distinction appears, according to the definition of the word something is considered supernatural when it is quote, attributed to some force beyond scientific understanding or the laws of nature. This means that in order to determine whether or not the powers in Dune are Magic, we have to figure out whether they are understood scientifically within the Dune universe or whether they are attributed to higher forces beyond science. Immediately when reading these definitions this quote from the first book appears bright in my mind.

Deep in the human unconscious is a pervasive need for a logical universe that makes sense. But the real universe is always one step beyond logic. Upon reading the quote for the first time in Frank Herbert's Dune book it’s easy to assume that Frank Herbert is confirming the existence of magic in his universe. But when the whole series is considered, specifically the second book Dune messiah, then that assumption is less warranted. According to the book Dune this quote is from “THE SAYINGS OF MUAD’DIB” One of the books that the princess Irulan wrote about Paul. This means that this is something that Paul must have said in Irulan’s presence, remember Paul was trained by one of the most Gifted Bene Gesserit witches of all time. The Bene Gesserit never did anything without layered intent. We know from Dune messiah that Paul constantly projected the mystique of godlike power. Though he understood the complexities of his prescient power, it was impossible to relay in words. He often spoke mystically as a way to communicate more esoteric concepts. But the mystical way of speaking never fully reflected the truth. An example of this happens in the book Dune Messiah, when Paul and his council are discussing a Treaty with the guild.

“You have certain . . . powers,” Stilgar said. “Can you not locate the Entente despite the Guild?” Powers! Paul thought. Stilgar couldn’t just say: “You’re prescient. Can’t you trace a path in the future that leads to Tupile?” Paul looked at the golden surface of the table. Always the same problem: How could he express the limits of the inexpressible? Should he speak of fragmentation, the natural destiny of all power? How could someone who’d never experienced the spice change of prescience conceive an awareness containing no localized spacetime, no personal image-vector nor associated sensory captives?

When stigar asks he considers the difficulty of expressing the nature of his abilities, He knows that there is no way for stilgar to understand, but he knew that it would not be right to leave him with no answer at all.

Stilgar, though, deserved an answer of some kind. For that matter, so did Irulan. “The uninitiated try to conceive of prescience as obeying a Natural Law,” Paul said. He steepled his hands in front of him. “But it’d be just as correct to say it’s heaven speaking to us, that being able to read the future is a harmonious act of man’s being. In other words, prediction is a natural consequence in the wave of the present. It wears the guise of nature, you see. But such powers cannot be used from an attitude that prestates aims and purposes. Does a chip caught in the wave say where it’s going? There’s no cause and effect in the oracle. Causes become occasions of convections and confluences, places where the currents meet. Accepting prescience, you fill your being with concepts repugnant to the intellect. Your intellectual consciousness, therefore, rejects them. In rejecting, intellect becomes a part of the processes, and is subjugated.”

Paul’s statement does not make sense to Stilgar, he is speaking in paradoxical terms which apparently can only be understood by those who have experienced prescience. The mystical way which Paul speaks implies higher mysteries, suggesting that through prescience you must accept one thing and then its opposite simultaneously even while the logical brain rejects it. Though Paul's understanding of prescience makes sense to him it is impossible to relay in logical terms to Stilgar. Now of course prescience has not been demonstrated to exist in the real world, however there are certain scientific concepts which seem paradoxical or illogical to the uninitiated. Certain concepts can only be expressed mathematically, and there is of course the great fact that quantum physics which deals with matter on a microscopic scale and general physics which deals which matter on a normal scale do not work together. Both groups of mathematical science work independently of each other but not work together, but simply because it is not easily understood how this could be, does not imply the supernatural. I think that is ultimately how Frank Herbert saw prescience.

Earlier in this video I said, that in order to determine whether or not there is magic in Dune we’d have to figure out whether the mysterious abilities that some possess were understood scientifically within the Dune universe or whether they are attributed to higher forces outside of science. But it’s not actually that simple. There are three things we must separate here. The natural, The Supernatural,  and the Preternatural. The idea of the preternatural began to emerge as a concept within science during the 17th century. It was used to refer to abnormal and strange phenomena and had the appearance of violating nature, but was not associated with any kind of magic, sorcery or witchcraft. The idea that preternatural phenomena were fake miracles began to develop here. Historian Lorraine Daston wrote a Journal titled “Marvelous Facts and Miraculous Evidence in Early Modern Europe,” in she States:

"To simplify the historical sequence somewhat: first, preternatural phenomena were demonized and thereby incidentally naturalized; then the demons were deleted, leaving only the natural causes."

To reiterate, Essentially in science the term preternatural came to be used to describe basically anything science couldn’t quite figure out, something out of the norm, but not magic. The term preternatural is not generally used in modern science anymore. Historically, however theologians have presented very clear distinctions between what is considered to be Natural, Supernatural or Preternatural. In Thomas Aquinas’ “On the Power of God, he makes the argument that the “Natural” Consist of what happens “Most of the time” Supernatural, would be “The actions of god” and the preternatural would consist of what happened rarely but nonetheless by the agency of created beings. The Term Preternatural became associated with demonic activity. Demonic power was thought to be comparable to the use of magic by humans, also considered preternatural. It was believed that demons could indeed perform actions beyond our knowledge, but did not have powers which transcended our own innate human power. Preternatural phenomena was not thought to be in opposition to divine will, but instead was thought to be hidden occult powers that went against the usual patterns of nature. You see, the truly Supernatural, in this sense was reserved for god. The preternatural is supernatural with respect to some in nature, unlike the truly supernatural the preternatural does not elevate the creature, demon or human the high height of the trinity but instead adds something to the creature that perfects its own nature. Lorraine Daston also writes in Marvelous Factions and Miraculous Evidence In Early Modern Europe:

“Although demons, astral intelligences, and other spirits might manipulate natural causes with superhuman dexterity and thereby work marvels, as mere creatures they could never transcend from the preternatural to the supernatural and work genuine miracles.”

The definition of these terms has evolved and shifted overtime, because general beliefs among mankind have shifted overtime, the terms also mean different things to different people depending on their belief systems also these terms are attempting to make sense of real things in the real world. That being said you can see how it's difficult to apply these terms to fictional universes.

The existence of a God, in the absolute sense has never been confirmed or suggested to exist within the Dune series. If we apply historical theological definitions anyway the abilities in Dune Range from the Natural to the Preternatural. But the lines are Blurred. Take the Bene Gesserit power of Voice for instance. Humans manipulate each other through voice everyday and it is neither strange or mysterious, the better you know a person the more easily it is to manipulate them. The Bene Gesserit power of voice as Frank Herbert describes it is merely an exaggerated form of this. The Bene Gesserit use their deep understanding of human nature to control those around them. This ability would seem preternatural to the uninitiated, but is perfectly natural to the sisterhood.

The idea of prescience as presented in the Dune series is a much more difficult idea to apply these terms to. If prescience was purely mathematical, like say psychohistory in the foundation series then it would fall in the category of natural to those who wield it, and preternatural in terms of those who do not. Since the prescient abilities of the guild navigator replaced the thinking machines which once guided interstellar travel, it would seem to follow that prescience is based on calculation. The Kwisatz Haderach was someone who had the ability to see all the branches of the possible future and therefore become the hinge of fate. Because he could see the possible futures he could choose which path to guide the universe into. Theoretically if the universe was in fact predictable, then this would be an inevitable fact of calculative prediction. Such a thing would likely either require a machine of great complexity or perhaps a genetically engineered human mind. Again this would be an example of the preternatural some some, but natural to the wielder of that power.

Now some may consider this entire thing as a matter of semantics. Some would say that magic is merely a placeholder for what we do not understand. And I fully understand this viewpoint, if magic in fantasy series was truly understood, it would just be science. Not real science, but technically from within an internally consistent fantasy universe whatever force or forces they referred to as magic would be as natural and fundamental to their universe as gravity or the strong and weak nuclear forces are to ours. Basically no one in the fantasy and sci Fi Community agrees on any of this. I asked my followers on twitter what they thought of this, the largest majority agreed that this was mostly a matter of semantics. About 32 percent said that there was no magic in Dune and about 24 percent said YES there is magic in Dune. Prominent fantasy Goblin, Daniel Greene even offered his opinion. I guess the point is, it's all a matter of perspective and relativity. It can be argued that the abilities in Dune are Fictional Science and therefore there is no magic, and The opposite could also be argued. I am of the opinion that though ultimately it is a matter of semantics, I do not believe that Frank Herbert intended for these things in Dune to be thought of as magic.