The Atreides Gom Jabbar, Paul Maud'Dib as Horus; The Nagual

“The tonal and the nagual are two different worlds.  In one you talk, in the other you act.  At first all of us secretly do not want the world of the nagual.  We are afraid and have second thoughts.  Our unbending intent and our impeccability gets us through that.”  -Castaneda

Applying this tonal concept to Freudian terms, it comprises the world of ego, and what Freud would term the superego.  Anything that can be thought about, rationalized, or perceived with consciousness is tonal.  Not doing, quieting thoughts, stopping internal dialogue, and gazing are all techniques which Castaneda employs to “stop the world.”  It is these techniques which alter attention, and give access to the nagual. 

Consciousness is a tool.  Perception creates reality, in a very real sense.  I identify the Castenadan concept tonal with consciousness, and nagual with the other: that which is. 

“Thought requires Consciousness; consciousness does not require thought.”  This insight is from a beginners article on meditation called, “Don't Just Do Something – Sit There!  Finding your “Right” Brain” by Robert Kopecky.  Kopecky states that meditation is an escape from “serial thinking” and allows the practitioner to “enter the moment.”  (Source#2)

The human “form” which Castaneda discusses is similar to the Anthropos which John Lamb Lash identifies in Not in His Image.  Is the crucification of the human form an event that leads to higher consciousness?  “A warrior must drop the human form in order to change, to really change.  Otherwise there is only talk about change.” -Castaneda

Another term, closely related to that of Anthropos is the “Mesotes, ” of which Lash states; “to be true to the deepest  intuitions of the human psyche, the Mesotes ought to be identified with animal form.”  Lets get weird here; Lash states: “The Mesotes is the residual bioplasmic imprint of the Aeon Christos.”  Here, Lash takes the turn for some truly Philip Dickian terminology.  Is this Mesotes the Logos entity?  Is it the same entity which Philip K Dick had contact with in his mystical “pink beam” visions?   Philip Dick and Whitley Streiber both had communion with god-like entities which alternatively enthralled them, terrified them, and filled them with joy.

In Frank Herbert's Dune Universe, could the Sandworm, the Old Man of the Desert, represent the Mesotes?  If so, who is this evil God, and what does he do? 

“In his autobiography, [Carl Gustav] Jung asserts that “the phallus of his dream seems to be a subterranean God “not to be named.”  If it is indeed God, then it is one that responds to the visceral needs of the collective unconscious.  The connection between the visceral and the image of the phallus is clear enough, its placement in the earth also ties it to desire and aggression, what Christian morality regards as base and earthly.  Jung's first vision of God is one divorced from the moral deity of Christian dogma; it embraces the desires held in the shadow.”  Source #1

In Dune, the young Paul Atreides is tested by a Reverend Mother, a Bene Gesserit “Witch,” to determine if he is human.  The test consists of “pain by nerve induction,” and observation of the subject's ability to sublimate the fear response.  Paul places his hand in a small “pain box” and is  warned; if he should remove his hand he will be immediately struck with the “Gom Jabbar:” a lethal poisoned needle.  The Reverend Mother states “You've heard of animals chewing off a leg to escape a trap.  There's an animal kind of trick.  A human would remain in the trap, feigning death that he might kill the trapper and remove a threat to his kind.”   Paul Atreides is what Don Juan would have called an “impeccable warrior.”

The fear response can easily be identified with the Freudian concept, the id; pure animal instinct.  What makes a “human” is one who can ignore the fear response.   “I shall not fear, fear is the mind killer...” 

The mystical aspirant Paul Atreides, as a child, is taught “prana bindu,” which is a form of yogic exercise, isolating separate muscles with the combined goal of complete body mastery.  Paul is secretly taught “the voice,” and receives “Mentat” training.  Mentats are true Generalists: “Experts and specialists lead you quickly into chaos.  They are a source of useless nit-picking, the ferocious quibble over a comma... ...It is the characteristics of change itself that the mentat-generalist must look.”  (Source#3)
 

Paul withstands the pain-box, imbibes the sacred Eucharist, and rides the worm. 

 

Paul Maud'Dib wars against the enemy Harkonnen and Sardukar forces.  Later, in response to conspiracy, Paul uses his prescient abilities to overthrow the forces of the entire known universe, causing “casualties as [much as] 61 billion lives, the sterilization of ninety planets, and the demoralization of five hundred additional worlds.  Furthermore, 40 different religions were wiped out along with their followers.”

 

The House Atreide's crest is a red hawk, resonating with the Egyptian Horus, the god of war, sky, sun, and protection.  The Egyptian God Ra-Horus-Aten, a synthesis of earlier gods, was said to embody both masculine and feminine characteristics.  Ra-Horus-Aten is depicted iconically as a large red disk with rays descending.  Ra-Horus-Aten was a monotheistic-form creator god introduced by the Pharoah Akhenaten.

 

Paul Atreides as Horus, God of War, unleashes an unstoppable “Atreides Jihad” across not only the planet Dune, but across the known universe.  “You do not beg the sun for mercy.” -Maud'Dib's Travail from the Stilgar Commentary, Dune Messiah  

 

The awakening of the tonal, according to Castaneda, amounts to a variation of active out-of-body abilities.  Possession of an Other, or astral body, is what makes Carlos Castaneda, like Don Juan before him, a Nagual.  This time, the term Nagual is used to refer to a leader of a tribal unit, as well as implying the ability to project the astral body.  Paul Maud'Dib acts as the Nagual, or leader of the Fremen, in this sense of the word.

 

Dune's “The Preacher,” is Paul returned, blinded by an atomic detonation.   The Preacher has the occult ability of astral, or second sight.  In the miserable existence of living in the aftermath of the Jihad of his own making, the Preacher's message is polemic and cruel.  “you fool yourselves with images you cannot possibly understand.  You cripple yourselves with these toads of ritual and ceremony!...  ...Idolaters!”

 

Don Juan reminds us:  “Only as a warrior can one survive the path of knowledge.  Because the art of a warrior is to balance the terror of being a man with the wonder of being a man.”  

Oh, if you're a bird, be an early bird

And catch the worm for your breakfast plate,

If you're a bird, be an early bird-

But if you're a worm, sleep late.

-Shel Silverstein, Early Bird

Sources

 

1. The awakening of Dark Gods: Modern Horror writing and Carl Jung's notion of divine evil  http://www.pleasantfluff.com/2009/09/22/the-awakening-of-the-dark-gods-modern-horror-writing-and-carl-jung%E2%80%99s-notion-of-divine-evil/
2. Don't Just Do Something – Sit There!  Finding your “Right” Brain” by Robert Kopecky.
3. Did you say connect Bruce Lee, Joseph Campbell, Buckminster Fuller, Frank Herbert, and Osho?  by Mahipal Lunia  http://www.radicalchangegroup.com/2009/01/01/did-you-say-connect-bruce-lee-joseph-campbell-buckminster-fuller-frank-herbert-and-osho/