Fremen

It’s my mum’s birthday, also there are Kandinsky paintings in town so, my parents are here. As a part of the visit Dad and I went to see Dune 2. Afterwards mum asked me if I liked it. I said “I don’t know, maybe not. But only because it’s so good.”


I’ve been thinking about the movie since. It’s a science fiction story based on a book from 1965. There are lasers and spaceships, super powered space cults with the ability to control people and sculpt the genetics of generations. There are mighty sand worms, a religious war and gravity defying space technology. It’s beautiful and violent and hard. Despite all that, it really felt familiar to our time and place. To a disturbing level in some ways; uncomfortably real. In our world right now we’ve got war and suffering, we’ve got fanatical nationalism, we’ve got massive piles of resources that are not distributed equally, we have social manipulation.


So now I’ve been going through my day (making dinner, building lego, washing babies) while puzzling on the human condition. I have no expertise in the area, however I think I can see that people and groups make choices out of fear, and choices out of care, among other motivations. Fear of the other, the unknown, shortage and pain. These fears drive people to act to defend and to attack. It seems primal.


People also have a primal urge to care, nurture, support and elevate others. When others hurt, there is a drive to help, sometimes it’s buried under other concerns, but sometimes it comes flowing freely and kindness thrives.


Both of these drivers are a part of survival; defend and care. Defend: protect the tribe, gather the group’s resources against the stranger. Care: support for those in the tribe, build up the people around you to be strong and able to share the burden. It’s survival. From a time of roaming the land searching for food and huddling against the dangers of the dark, through to the age of the nation state and the capitalist dominance of our society. Defend and care for the tribe.


I suppose one key question is how big are you able to see your tribe? If it’s just your family, then there are a lot of ‘others’ out there. Is your tribe the local community? Your country certainly? Can you see your tribe as bigger still? Your region or heritage group? Could the tribe actually be everyone?


Fear and care. The tribe. It’s survival.




Anyway… happy birthday mum.