Dune, Paul Atreides and You

Popular fiction often contains deep psychological ideas and help us to explore them.

Carl Jung’s famously intricate theories revolve around a central concept of Individuation. Individuation is a lifelong process in which we approach a true ‘Self’, getting closer and sometimes further away. 

Our Ego is like an asteroid in decaying orbit, getting closer and closer to impact with the Self. Our instincts point the way on this journey, pulling like gravity in the direction of what we are currently missing from our lives.

The role of weakness and failure in our eventual triumphs is a real pattern that I have witnessed firsthand. It shows up time and time again in the therapeutic process, and in popular culture from ‘The Lion King’ to ‘The Godfather’ and recently in Denis Villeneuve’s ‘Dune.’

The Myth in Dune 

Those three stories share a plot with each other and with the myth of Osiris. A good ruler becomes complacent and is betrayed and usurped from within his own family. His son must then flee the kingdom, find new strength and return to reclaim his birthright. 

Stories like this hold our attention because they are one instance of a universal truth, like a fractal pattern or a single facet of a diamond. 

The Atreides family in Dune embody stoic duty and restraint, especially Duke Leto. But the sands are literally shifting beneath their feet. Their worldview (although noble), eventually proves inadequate in the face of harsher realities like deception and betrayal. 

Paul himself only survives by undergoing radical personal transformation and self-discovery. He dies as Paul Atreides and is remade as Muad’Dib. Only then can he reclaim his House and re-enter the wider world.

Paul’s Lesson 

The mistake made by the Atreides is to think that even lofty goals like strength and nobility are sufficient unto themselves. In a fully integrated Ego, the darker parts of our nature must also be given their role. 

We must journey inside ourselves to accept and integrate painful experiences, putting them in their proper context within a positive whole. Our weaknesses, impulses, needs and failings are a part of us, bound up in our nature like the Harkonnens and Atreides. And if we don’t make room for them they will remain, lurking at the edge of awareness.

"In its simplest form, therapy is probably as old as language."