Dune: Is Life Meaningless?

Hello, fellow escapists!

In each edition, we shall travel to a different place and time in an attempt to explore a facet of our nature and existence and hopefully, understand ourselves a little better when we come out the other side. It was hard to choose the right setting for our first edition, but I think I figured it out.

Welcome to the endless sands of Arrakis.

Synopsis

In the sprawling expanse of the cosmos, destiny converges upon the desert planet Arrakis in the 2021 epic adaptation of Frank Herbert's seminal masterpiece, Dune. Amidst a treacherous galactic power struggle, the noble House Atreides, led by the righteous Duke Leto, is granted stewardship of the unforgiving world, home to the invaluable and enigmatic substance, "the spice" - a catalyst for human evolution, enabling interstellar travel and prescient abilities.

As cosmic factions vie for control, young Paul Atreides, heir to the House, is plagued by prophetic visions, grappling with his burgeoning powers and the weight of a future shrouded in uncertainty. Cast into the merciless sands of Arrakis, Paul must forge alliances with the fierce Fremen, native warriors of the desert, and confront the seductive and deadly forces of House Harkonnen, intent on seizing ultimate power.

At the heart of this saga lies the struggle for survival, the thirst for vengeance, and the pursuit of duty. Dune weaves a rich tapestry of political intrigue, environmental exploitation, human potential, and the eternal question of one's place in the universe, as Paul Atreides' journey unfolds against the awe-inspiring, yet treacherous backdrop of a world that will test his mettle, shape his destiny, and reveal the true price of power.

Review

For a long time, Dune was considered un-filmable on account of just how weird the books are (no spoilers, but trust me, it gets hella strange), and while there have been attempts in the past, nothing quite at the scale of the 2021 version in terms of both budget and team.

In what one might consider a slight loophole, they decided to film the first part of the first book (out of six) and leave the rest for later. But damn they did it well. Director Denis Villeneuve, known for his mastery of cinematic aesthetics and dramatic storytelling, found the perfect playground in the fantastical landscapes of Dune.

And play he did.

Each moment, each moment of this film is masterfully crafted with costumes & sets to capture your imagination and lighting & sound to capture your attention. $165M is a hefty wallet to make a movie with, but in the case of Dune, it was certainly money well spent. Get ready to be transported to a land far, far away.

And finally, the cast. Veterans like Oscar Isaac, Javier Bardem and Stellan Skarsgard revolve around golden boy Timothee Chalamet and bring the deep political and philosophical themes of Dune to life.

The only criticism? The movie has somewhat of an abrupt end leaving the viewers who are unfamiliar with the books a little unsure of what just happened. But as Chani says -

With part 2 set for release later this year, Villeneuve and team must face the burden of expectations (and Oscars) to deliver on the undeniable hype. I’m excited.

This newsletter is really about this upcoming third section; the synopsis and review are largely here for context or for those looking for movie recommendations! So here goes:

Is life meaningless?

Imagine for a moment that you are the handsome son of the Duke of one of the most prestigious houses in the galaxy & a powerful witch whose order literally goes around shaping civilization…fun, right? WRONG.
Your life is actually one full of prophetic visions (read: headaches), combat training, getting tortured by witches and most of all…trying to find the meaning behind it all. Not so ‘lit’ anymore, is it?

Now imagine that one fine day a dude with a husky voice pops up in your head and says:

Talk about a bad trip.

Well, this was the life of young Paul Atreides. One full of myriad experiences, pressures, problems, and mysteries. Paul was continuously plagued by a confounding search for meaning in everything around him and odds are you’re not that different.

Of course, you’re not the prophesized messiah here to deliver us all to the promised land (or maybe you are? In which case stop wasting your time with random newsletters.), nor are you a prince/princess whose destiny is to rule the desert realm and one day, the world. But you too, probably, often find yourself wondering what is the point of it all.

There MUST be a reason. After all, there’s a reason for everything, right? A reason why we wake up in the morning, a reason why we go to college, a reason why we work, a reason why we get married, raise our kids, fight for that promotion, go on that vacation, buy a house, and finally, a reason why we die. Surely, surely, SURELY…there must be.

But what if there isn’t? And what if, humor me for a moment, that’s okay?!

It’s absurd how much time we spend wondering about the why(s), what(s) and how(s) of life and how little actually living it. It is absurd how obsessed we are with finding answers to and ways out of problems all the while engulfed in a grandiose pretense that all of this must lead to SOMETHING. (If you were put off by the double use of ‘absurd’, it’s not because I don’t own a thesaurus, it’s all leading somewhere.)

I believe life truly is about the journey, mostly because the destination is well…death. But what does that mean practically? Is it a call to float idly by from this day to the next just letting things happen? Of course not. Quite the opposite really; it is an invitation to take the agency to do what we do the best we can, not for some reward (divine or…real); rather do them to do them. This sounds a little confusing, but bear with me for some time, it’ll start to make sense.

All Frank Herbert is really trying to say is: when life gives you lemons, stop worrying about where you will find a juicer.

Now, no discussion of spherical metaphors for life would be truly complete without the mention of a certain Frenchman and his essay about the gym membership from hell.
If you thought living in a desert cave was bad, you ain't seen nothin’ yet.

Sisyphus was happy

In 1942, an Algerian-born, cigarette-smoking, affair-having, Nobel Prize-winning, Frenchman by the name of Albert Camus published an essay titled “The Myth of Sisyphus”.

In this piece, Camus tells the story of Sisyphus, a cunning king whose audacity and deception enraged the gods. His unparalleled brilliance led him to outwit even Death itself, defying the natural order and incurring the wrath of the divine. He was sentenced to toil in the depths of Hades, forever condemned to push a colossal boulder up a steep hill. With each agonizing step, the summit seemed within reach; yet, as he neared the apex, the weight of his burden would overwhelm him, sending the stone hurtling back to the base.

An endless loop with a goal that hangs just a smidgen out of reach. Sounds awful enough, right? Well, not to Mr. Camus.

In his essay, Camus proposes the idea that contrary to expectation, Sisyphus must be happy.

Happy? In that situation? Huh. How does he do it? To answer this, let us try to first break down the concept of unhappiness.

Imagine yourself doing something you dislike (no, reading this newsletter does not count). Let’s say folding the laundry or washing the dishes or something of the sort. What do you usually think about when doing something of that sort? Literally anything else, right? You’re not alone. We all have a tendency to cling to anything that feels like an escape. Avoidance, or at least the desire for it, is as human a quality as you could find. And this is what Camus argues, is at the core of our discontentment.

On the way up, Sisyphus absorbs himself entirely in the task at hand. Once he accepts that there is no hidden meaning to things, that life is not building up to one big moment, there is no more longing. The concepts of reward and punishment simply give way to a way of life that embraces each facet of it just for its face value and nothing else and at that point even the task of rolling a rock up a hill, is no longer cumbersome.

On the way down, Sisyphus is aware of what is to happen and accepts it. I imagine if I asked him about his situation, he’d say something like, “It’s either this or nothing. So while I am here, might as well roll the crap out of this boulder.”

Sisyphus does not do what he does in hopes of impressing someone and one day being let go, rather he accepts the meaninglessness of his tasks and rids himself of expectation and thereby discovers contentment in his work. By accepting the ABSURDITY of his situation, Sisyphus finds his cope.

Although Camus had two human kids, his most significant stint in parenting was as the Father of Absurdism - a school of thought that emphasizes the inherent irrationality of existence and the human experience. Absurdism asserts that individuals constantly seek meaning and purpose in life, but this search is inherently futile due to the dissonance between human desires and the chaotic, indifferent universe.

In the face of this absurdity, absurdists propose three possible responses: suicide, a leap of faith, or acceptance. Suicide is the rejection of life's absurd nature, while a leap of faith involves embracing a belief system or religion to find meaning. The third response, which Camus considers the most authentic, is the acceptance of life's absurdity and the decision to continue living despite it.

So the message is not one of despair, but of hope. We shall not try to beat the absurdity, we shall not try to circumvent it. Instead, we shall embrace it as a feature of our life and in doing that, find peace in all that confounds us.

All I am trying to say is that if the dude whose job is to literally roll a rock up a hill just to have it roll back down can be happy without a larger purpose, perhaps we can too.

If it’s all meaningless, why should I care at all?

Good question. And to answer it, I am going to drop the N-bomb. That’s right, I’m about to quote *drum roll* NIETZSCHE.

The big daddy of existential philosophy had something to say about the nature of the universe as well, and he addresses our question quite directly. Nietzsche loved exploring the limits of rationality & reason in his works and was often critical of Western philosophy for its overemphasis on logic being the sole way to understand the world. He believed that a large part of understanding the human experience was well…experiencing it. Not trying to decode it or answering made-up questions about it, but rather moving above the man-made concepts of morality, divinity, etc. and simply living at face value.

I won’t go too deep into Nietzsche, lest I contract syphilis. But he too believed that irrationality is a fundamental quality of the universe and must be embraced rather than ‘solved’.

The meaninglessness of life is not a counter-argument against living it to the fullest. It is not a reason to hang back and let things happen. Instead, it is a resource that when combined with a desire to affect change at each step can give us the tools to lead a rewarding life, even in its hardest or most boring moments.

The quest to understand life should never outweigh the quest to live it.

So in conclusion, I just want to say: watch Dune. It’s a good movie.

Until next time!