Dune
Summary: The Bene Gesserits are an ancient order of women primarily interested in prophecy and breeding lines, although they have seemingly magical powers through rigorous training and concentration. Their greatest asset is patience—often seeding philosophical ideas on planets centuries before acting on them.
It can be easy to write them off as “the bad guys”—after all they are manipulative, occasionally violent, and certainly spend a lot of time protecting their own interests. At the same time, they are also a group that looks at history as a vast unfolding web, and do not worry too much about their small role in it. They look for how to influence long-term, and are not afraid of waiting or even never seeing the consequences of their initial actions. If only more people would be open to volunteering to start something without instant gratification!
They are also an order concerned with discipline of the mind and body. Their semi-martial arts style training requires constant practice and perfectly knowing every muscle. That is not a bad thing, in fact during my years of dance training we would often do similar exercises trying to isolate certain muscles and become more aware of what is moving, often through study of anatomy. Sometimes Sisters can be pretty lax about physical training, so the Bene Gesserits set a good example in that area.
Mental concentration and discipline is another trait—”the voice” is a semi-magical result, but there are some practices we can use that are quite helpful. The most famous, of course, is the litany against fear. I have used this many times—going over a narrow bridge in a storm, job interviews, any time I feel debilitating fear. I have also started using it recently for anger, and it seems to work as well. Carefully think about and picture in your mind each phrase as you say it. I liked a combination of the book and miniseries versions, plus a few additions of my own, so the one I use ended up like this:
I will not fear. Fear is the mind-killer—it is the little-death that leads to total obliteration. I will face my fear, I will let it pass over me and through me. And when it is gone, I will turn my inner eye to see its path. Nothing is there. Only I remain.
It really works! So next time you hear Bene Gesserit, don’t just think of a bunch of plotting women—there is a richness to their culture as well. A good example is Irulan—she made some bad decisions based on love for a man she could never have, but fully regretted it later and made up for it with teaching and loving his children. I like to think her mental and physical discipline helped with that transformation. What do you think about Bene Gesserits? Are they villains, or a religious order of women who sometimes go to an extreme based on poor choices?
Summary: The Sisters of Plentitude are nuns of the Catkind who are nurses and medical research scientists. It is a religious order dedicated to the goddess Santori and they owned several hospitals on New Earth. While on the face of things, they had miracle cures for any ailment, in reality they were secretly performing horrible experiments on human clones to bypass the usual research methods. They were not completely a lost cause, for it was Novice Hame who ended up helping to save all the remaining inhabitants of New New York after an illegal drug went out of control.
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