How Dune Gets Religious Psychology Exactly Right

I’m 100% sure you haven’t heard this perspective on Dune.

Religion as depicted in Dune lines up with actual scientific theories of religious psychology in specific ways: Fremen religion contains costly signaling, those living in hardship are more religious, religious ritual helps the Fremen survive, fundamentalists support military intervention, and Paul uses Credibility Enhancing Displays to encourage belief in the prophecy and his place in it.

-------------------------------------------SUPPORT-------------------------------------------

Non-sectarian Biblical Studies Courses by Dr. Bart Ehrman (affiliate link):

-------------------------------------------FOLLOW-------------------------------------------

-------------------------Resources for atheists in need-------------------------

Sources:

Richard Sosis study on communes

Sibley and Bulbulia study on religion and Christchurch earthquake

Henrich et al. study on war and religiosity

Sosis and Handwerker on psalms recitation and anxiety

Rothschild et al. on fundamentalism

Joseph Henrich and Andrew Henry interview on CREDs and feedback loops

Henrich et al. study on CREDs

Chapters:
00:00 Intro

This video contains 100% therapeutic grade skepticism.*

*This statement has not been evaluated by the FDA

[Runeterra]

Actually, it is said in the book that Paul doesn't know whether he'll survive his duel with Feyd-Rautha. What he knows for sure, thanks to prescience, is that it doesn't matter.

If Paul wins, then Muad'dib is undefeatable and Fremen will carry out the holy war in his name. If Paul loses, Muad'dib has sacrificed himself for the cause and the Fremen will carry out the holy war to honor his death.

[alishersadullaev]

The tyrant dies and his rule is over, the martyr dies and his rule begins

Soren Kierkegaard

[adamnesico]

Fremen society is relatively free of conflict because most conflicts tend to be solved with death duels.

[PaulSkySwitzer]

One piece that's downplayed in the movie but is a core part of the book is that the Fremen aren't just saving the water for the sake of religion - they're saving the water to build their green paradise. The religious fervor is at least partially directed towards a better future for their children, not just bound up in the mystical past and present.

[louzander]

The other important part of martyrdom that serves to concretize the faith of believers is that a martyr becomes an icon, with reified beliefs, whose identity can more easily be molded to serve group ideals. Living prophets are mutable, capricious, and challenging; martyred prophets are iconic, flexible, and can more easily be turned to charge the devotion of adherents.

[regallag]

Frank Herbert may not have had the advantage of knowing these formalized theories, but he did spend a LOT of time studying religions and peoples. That's one of reasons that Dune is so enduring, it's all about people.

[apolloliar]

May thy YouTube career grow in the name of Shai-Hulud.

[albertwestbrook]

Religions often interpret the smallest of things as having great significance. Paul chooses the name Muad dib because he admires and identifies with the little desert mouse. Stilgar reinterprets this by pointing out that the mouse is wise in the ways of the desert. He then goes further by pointing out that their "northern star" constellation is again the little mouse known as "he who shows the way".
Stilgar could have kept going; the mouse is "he who collects the sweat from his ears (doesn't waste water)", "he who hides his passing (buries his poop)", "he who annoys the great (hides underfoot and squeels)", and so on.

[icusawme]

From the book… Their religion of Dune was seeded/created by the Bene Gesserit. They are the masters of religion, even to the point of creating prophecies of a messiah that ends up outside of their control.

[VicedRhino]

I've never been able to get away with using a Monty Python clip that long without getting copyright claimed.
May the Fair Use gods be with you 🙏🙏

[zegermanscientist]

"I'm not the Messiah!"

"Yes you are, O Lord, and I should know, I've followed a few!"

Most underrated dialogue in Life of Brian.

[valmid]

“The danger with people like him…is that we put them on pedestals. They become symbols. Icons. *And then we start to forget about their flaws.* From there, cities fly, innocent people die, movements are formed, wars are fought”
—Baron Zemo, MCU

[whyguy]

The pools actually serve a more practical purpose in the book. When they die their water is actually returned to the tribe and consumed, and the pools are for the terraforming plan that Liet-Kynes set into motion

[aliciabergman]

To me Chani is the most interesting character since the real dilemma center's around her. She loves Paul for who he is but not the symbol he chooses to become. They share the goal of freeing the fremen from oppression but while Paul might give them power through belief it also gives him power over them. This goes against Chanis' strong values of equality between the fremen, between her and Paul. He might negate that he is Lisan al Gaib but will still use it as a tool/weapon to come to power.
Everyone else in the story feel's like a pawn in a game, shortsightedly focused on what will clear the way to victory while Chani is conserned what that way will bring with it.

[joshuadempsey]

0/10, didn't mention the popcorn bucket at all

[markm]

Not enough people draw parallels between Gurney and the Fremen. He seems secular or at the very least doesn’t believe in the religion of the fremen, but his drive for revenge and loyalty to the Atredies line leads him to behave in similar ways to the Fremen who follow Paul. He even silences Chani at the great council, not a random faithful Fremen but Gurney.

The Dune books were also based on the cult like following that surrounded JFK, who of course was not an explicitly religious figure. Social psychology and the pitfalls of the human psyche are not bound up in religion but rather can use a religion as a mask.

[michaellambgelo]

Bless the Maker and His water. Bless the coming and going of Him. May His passage cleanse the world. May He keep the world for His people.

[Strykenine]

I think one of the interesting things about Dune is that Paul's myth grows beyond his control. It is a thing that no one controls, until Paul tries to. The rest of the series focuses on the consequences of Paul basically stepping into his myth.

Good video!

[JLchevz]

Frank Herbert was a genius. Simply one who understood humanity.

[TaberIV]

In the book Paul actually can't see how the fight with Feyd-Rautha is going to go, but Paul knows it ultimately doesn't matter.
_...if I die here, they'll say I sacrificed myself that my spirit might lead them. And if I live, they'll say nothing can oppose Maud'Dib._