CHILDREN OF DUNE by Frank Herbert

“Note this other lesson well!”
The Preacher thundered, lifting his arms.
“If you would possess your humanity, let go of the universe!”

“But I realize that humans cannot bear very much reality,  he said.
Most lives are a flight from selfhood.
Most prefer the truths of the stable.
You stick your heads into the stanchions and munch contentedly until you die.
Others use you for their purposes.
Not once do you live outside the stable to lift your head and be your own creature.”

“I mean to disturb you!” The Preacher shouted.
“It is my intention!
I come here to combat the fraud and illusion of your conventional, institutionalized religion.
As with all such religions, your institution moves toward cowardice, it moves toward mediocrity, inertia, and self-satisfaction.”

“Is your religion real when it costs you nothing and carries no risk?
Is your religion real when you fatten upon it?
Is your religion real when you commit atrocities in its name?”

……………………………………………………………………………………………………..

“Abandon certainty!

That’s life deepest command.
That’s what life’s all about.

We’re a probe into the unknown, into the uncertain.

If certainty is knowing absolutely and absolute future, that’s only death disguised!”

Kindle, 2022