(51): The Litany Against Fear: A Short Consideration
When I first read Frank Herbert’s epic science fiction novel Dune, I was immediately impressed by the Litany Against Fear, the first use of which was by the young protagonist Paul Atreides as he was taking a particularly daunting test given by the Bene Gesserit sisterhood. The whole test was a box with an open end, into which Paul must place his hand. He is warned not to pull his hand out of the box no matter what. To emphasize the no matter what part, the Reverend Mother holds a small thimble-like metal finger sock with a needle on it to his neck. This, the gom jabbar, is impregnated with poison. If he pulls his hand out prematurely, he’ll be killed. So this is literally a life-or-death test.
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.”
— Frank Herbert, Dune, 1965.
The box is an unknown. All that is known about it is what the Reverend Mother tells Paul — that pain is inside the box. He doesn’t know exactly how much or what kind of pain he will feel. But he knows that if he gives in to the animal impulse of the immediate moment, to escape the pain by pulling his hand out of the box, he will not only fail the test, he will die. So, is it easier to keep his hand inside the box because of the certainty of his own death should he remove it? In a way, I think it would provide just the motivation needed to endure the pain, but only if one analyzes the situation rationally as a human (for it was a test of humanity). After all, the pain and the test won’t last forever, will it?
But the tests of humankind do go on forever in a serial way. Life is uncertainty, and we never know what challenges we will face in our next chance encounter. Every little bit of fear that causes avoidance of a situation is a win for fear over rationality. Or is this a false dichotomy? There are rational fears; perhaps I only think this way because so many of our modern fears are amorphous, indeterminate “what-ifs.”
In one sense, the test given to Paul Atreides is straightforward: endure the pain or die. There’s no reason to think that the Reverend Mother is going to force Paul to keep his hand in the box for the rest of his life, is there? That wouldn’t be reasonable. The test is a reasonable one. It has an ending point. But, of course, we know the tests of life are not like that. They are open-ended. And therein lies the fear beyond the simple apprehension at suffering immediate pain. Simply saying the Litany Against Fear a few times won’t get you through many of life’s major challenges. But there is a wisdom in turning off the automatic animal fear inside us by the use of a mantra like this.
From mantra to practice, from practice to lifestyle, from lifestyle to embodiment. At least it’s something to strive for.
Thanks to Fierce Force 💃🏼 and Joanne Dragonheart for the germs of these thoughts I’ve pieced together here today!
