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The Bene Gesserit are a key group from Frank
Herbert's science fiction universe of Dune. They are a secretive sisterhood of women who train their bodies
and minds though years of physical and mental conditioning, attaining powers and abilities that can seem almost magical. Due to
their secretive nature and misunderstood abilities, outsiders often call them witches.
Trained at the Mother School on Wallach IX, and headquarted at the hidden world known as Chapterhouse, the Bene Gesserit are
loyal only to themselves. However, to obtain their goals they often make the appearance of being loyal to other groups or
individuals.
The powers of the Bene Gesserit
Thanks to intensive training, all Bene Gesserit possess skills and abilities that appear to those outside the order as magical
powers. These include both mental and physical powers. All Reverend Mothers are storehouses of information through Other
Memory; they are trained to notice tiny details; and they have fine control over each muscle in their bodies.
Other memory
One of the 'powers' of a Bene Gesserit Reverend Mother is her
Other Memory: the combined ego and memories of all her female ancestors, passed on through the genes, and thus, up to
the point where each following ancestor was born. The ego/memory combination remains a distinct identity within the Reverend
Mother's mind, and is able to inject itself into her awareness at appropriate or emotional moments, though the Reverend Mother's
ego is always dominant.
A Reverend Mother has access only to her female lineage in Other Memory; her male line is unavailable to her, present as a
dark void that terrifies her. The purpose of the Bene Gesserit breeding scheme (see below) is to breed a Kwisatz
Haderach, a male with Other Memory who can see both lines.
Reverend Mothers may also pass their own ego/memory combination to other Reverend Mothers at will, merely by touching
foreheads. When a Reverend Mother dies in the presence of another Reverend Mother, the second will accept the ego/memory of the
first to prevent the loss of the dying Reverend Mother's experience and ancestral memories. Especially when the Mother Superior
perishes, it's important to take her ego/memory so that her plans and strategies may continue uninterupted. In Chapterhouse: Dune, Darwi Odrade is Mother Superior, a contentious
choice ratified by the fact that she was present at the previous Mother Superior's death, and has her in Other Memory, so she
represents the most continuous line of leadership. Under extreme conditions, a large community of Bene Gesserit will practice
Extremis Progressiva, a mass sharing of ego/memories with each other to spread all the ego/memories amongst everyone;
thus, if one survives, they all survive. In Heretics of
Dune, the Bene Gesserit school on Lampadas, under attack by the Honored Matres, undertakes Extremis Progressiva; Lucilla
escapes with 'the Lampadas Horde', hoping to return to the Bene Gesserit with them.
Other Memory figures prominently in the Dune Series for several reasons, one of which is that a human with access to Other
Memory who has not developed a sufficiently strong ego will become possessed by a
strong ancestral ego. If a Bene Gesserit undergoes the spice agony while pregnant, the foetus will also undergo the spice agony
and gain access to other memories, becoming 'pre-born'. Since the foetus has no ego of its own, it becomes a vessel (eventually)
for someone long dead. This is called "abomination" by the Bene Gesserit, and abominations are always killed immediately. In
Dune, when Jessica undergoes the spice agony with a wild Reverend Mother with the
Fremen, she is pregnant with Alia. Since Jessica and Alia are with the Fremen, the Bene Gesserit cannot kill Alia, though they
urge it strongly upon Jessica, who refuses. In Children of
Dune, Alia eventually succumbs to the ancestral ego of her grandfather, the Baron Vladimir Harkonnen, who wants nothing more than the destruction of the Atreides, and
is given another opportunity, from the inside, to realize it. Paul and Chani's children, Leto and Ghanima, are also 'pre-born',
but before they become possessed, they stumble across solutions: Leto, forced to undergo a radical spice agony, constructs an
executive of benevolent ancestral egos (such as Paul and Leto I) who protect him; Ghanima, as part of their plan to fake Leto's
death, consciously blocks the memory of Leto and their plan, inadvertantly developing a mental discipline capable of protecting
her undeveloped ego.
Voice
Bene Gesserit are trained in the use of their voice to compel obedience in listeners on a subconscious level. By controlling
the subtleties of her voice, a Bene Gesserit can speak to a person's unconscious mind, commanding it in a way that the conscious
mind is aware of, but cannot resist. Voice is not specific to individual listeners; it's applicable in group speaking as well. In
some way, Voice is an extreme version of oratorical ability; a real-world example
would be Adolf Hitler, whose speeches were said to be electrifying.
Voice control is not magical or mystical. It is an innate talent, present in greater or lesser amounts in everyone, requiring
only training to be made useful. A Bene Gesserit doesn't have to be a Reverend Mother to use Voice, and others outside the order
may be taught to use it. In Dune, Jessica teaches it to Paul; after the Reverend Mother Gaius Helen Mohiam tests Paul,
she urges Jessica to give him the 'deep training', the deepest secrets of Bene Gesserit in the use of Voice, saying only that
"he'll need it."
At least two things hamper the Voice: it is useless against targets who cannot hear the Bene Gesserit (e.g. someone deaf), and its effectiveness is limited by how well the Bene Gesserit knows her target -- a
limitation offset by the Bene Gesserit's skills in observing their targets and perceiving its weaknesses.
In Dune: House
Harkonnen, the Baron Vladimir Harkonnen forces his way into the Bene Gesserit headquarters. The Bene Gesserit, in turn, use a
form of mass Voice to convince the Harkonnens that the building is empty, though in reality the Bene Gesserit are standing all
around them. This sort of 'mass hypnosis' effect is a divergence from Voice as Frank Herbert portrayed it, but Brian Herbert and
Kevin Anderson are writing prequels endorsed by Herbert's estate, so it's possible that this is not just invention on Anderson's
part, but is present in some form in Frank Herbert's notes.
Petit perception
Bene Gesserit are trained to exercise petit perception at all times, noticing minutiae that others miss to a
terrifying degree. When combined with their analytical abilities, Bene Gesserit appear to be witches (hence the nickname for
them), capable of divining secrets in persons and circumstances that are invisible to everyone else. Slight differences in air
currents or the design of a room will allow a Bene Gesserit to detect hidden portals and spyholes; variations in a person's voice
and tiny reactions allow Bene Gesserit to deeply understand a person's emotional state, and manipulate it.
Truthsaying
Many Bene Gesserit are Truthsayers. A Truthsayer has a finely honed perception of their own sense of someone else's
veracity, an ability that all humans have, in principle, but that requires extensive training to develop to the point of
usefulness. The training of the Bene Gesserit is very useful for developing this ability, but is not the only way. It is not a
skill: It is the development of a latent talent. One character describes the talent as "whenever I hear someone tell a lie, I
want to turn my back on them."
Simulflow
Bene Gesserit also have the ability to practice simulflow, literally the simultaneous flow of several threads of
consciousness at any given time. Mental multitasking, as it were. The combination of simulflow with their analytical abilities
and Other Memory are responsible for the frightening intelligence of the average Bene Gesserit.
Prana Bindu training
The Bene Gesserit develop their physical abilities as well as their mental abilities. A trained Sister has full control over
each muscle in her body; this is called prana bindu training. It allows her to bend the last joint in her little toe
while remaining otherwise motionless or put a remarkable amount of force behind a physical blow (unarmed attacks being a part of
their specialized martial art called "the Weirding Way"). They can bend and contort their bodies in ways that most would consider
impossible. A Sister can also completely control her breathing and heart rate, to the degree that she can appear dead to most
tests even after intense physical exertion. They can commit suicide at will by simply stopping their hearts. Finally, they can
control their need for food and water to the extremes of hunger and thirst.
Strategies
Breeding program
The ultimate goal of the Bene Gesserit, up to the novel Dune, is the creation of the Kwisatz Haderach, a male Bene
Gesserit. This is being achieved through a massive human breeding program, which the Sisterhood has conducted for countless
generations. Using careful manipulations of relationships and people in general, the Bene Gesserit have controlled bloodlines
through the ages.
In God Emperor of Dune, the God-Emperor Leto has
taken over their breeding program for his own purposes. By Heretics
of Dune, the Bene Gesserit have given up the idea of breeding for a messiah, instead breeding for special individuals of
great talent and usefulness in order to amplify certain human characteristics and preserve them. In the two last books, the
'Latter-day Bene Gesserit' seem to see themselves as shepherds of humanity, gently nudging humans forward, rather than the
comparatively gross manipulations of the early novels.
Missionaria Protectiva
The Bene Gesserit practice "religious engineering": Reverend Mothers plant legends and prophecies throughout the universe of
messiahs and pivotal figures to come. There are two purposes to this. First, a Reverend Mother in need can take advantage of the
prophecies by fulfilling them, casting herself as a guide, protector, or some other figure, in order to manipulate the religious
subjects for her own protection or purposes. Second, religion is a powerful force in human society; by controlling religion, the
Bene Gesserit have a manipulative lever on society in general.
The litany against fear
In the Dune novel, the Bene Gesserit used the following chanted words to reduce their 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 allow my fear to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone I will turn my inner eye to see its path. And where the
fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain."
The exact wording however, differs in the book. The film version ends at "over me and through me'" - the last three sentences
are removed. A few people use this fictional litany as a kind of mantra to help them reduce fear in the real world
See also
External link
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