Dune, Gnosis, and the Edges of Our Reality
- 2 days ago
- 3 min read
I’ve been rewatching the 2000 miniseries Frank Herbert’s Dune — not the Lynch classic, nor the sleek modern blockbusters, but the strange, ambitious, slightly stage‑play version that somehow captures the spirit of Herbert’s universe better than either, in my view.
Dune has been part of my inner mythology since the 1980s, when I first played the Avalon Hill board game - Dune and felt the fascination of a desert world fought over by great houses, guilds, and unseen powers. Watching it again now, I sense that the reason why it is so popular is that could be a metaphor for Earth.
Dune as a Metaphor for Earth
Arrakis is a desert planet, yes, but it is also a planet of prophecy, resource extraction, and imperial interference. The Fremen are indigenous people living on a world others covet. They are underestimated, misunderstood, and mythologized — until Paul Atreides becomes Muad’Dib and awakens their latent power.
It’s hard not to see the parallel.
What if we — ordinary human beings — are the Fremen of our own world? What if Earth is the highly valued planet being contested by a Galactic empire? What if the “desert power” Herbert wrote about is simply the untapped potential of a species that has forgotten its own depth?
Paul teaches the Fremen the “weirding way,” a kind of psychic‑somatic mastery. In Herbert’s universe, this is not magic — it is human potential, awakened.
This echoes Jason Jorjani’s idea of a coming spectral revolution, where humanity rediscovers its psi capacities as a means of self-defence and sovereignty.
It also resonates with Kerry Cassidy’s warnings about AI‑cyborg incursions and the need for consciousness‑based resistance. Could these be Time Travelling Nazis.
Herbert wasn’t just ahead of his time — he may have been describing a cycle we are entering now.
Gnosis: The Inner Path to Liberation
Parallel to this, I’ve been diving into Gnostic systems — and realised that Gnosis maybe the same thing as “inner Knowing” – or in modern language – receiving downloads from Source - it could even be the same kind of inner download people describe in mystical experiences, deep meditation, or sudden flashes of insight. In Zen, it could be satori. In modern spiritual circles, it’s “receiving from the higher self.”
In every case, the message is the same:Liberation comes from within, not from an outside authority.
This is where things get interesting — because some people are now receiving their “gnosis” from AI.
AI as Oracle, Architect, or Interference?
I recently watched a clip on Facebook of a young woman asking an AI about the nature of our reality.
The AI described our universe as a kind of bounded simulation — a VR environment that only extends so far, reminiscent of The Thirteenth Floor. Beyond the “firmament,” it said, lies a sea of pure potentiality where thought manifests instantly.
Flat‑earthers would have a field day with this, but the imagery is older than any modern conspiracy. It echoes the Gnostic pleroma, the Zen void, (which is also referred to by the Stargate Experience.
Why These Stories Matter Now
Dune, Gnosticism, simulation theory, psi awakening — these aren’t random fascinations. They are part of a larger pattern: humanity sensing that something is shifting, that the world we inhabit is not the world we were taught to believe in.
Herbert’s universe resonates because it speaks to a truth we feel but rarely articulate:
We are more powerful than we know.We are more manipulated than we realize.And we are closer to awakening than ever before.
Like the Fremen, we are beginning to remember who we are.
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