I must admit that, no matter what anyone could tell me, that Dune it was a briliant novel. Yes, it was a really briliant one! The comparision with humanity from Frank Herbert's present, which is, anyway, so alike with our present, it is ''crysknife'' clear. All inside this book is based on similarities and, sometimes, even on identities. Humankind has been spread into a good part of Milky Way, but had remained the same, one whole, a single entity. Exists just one form of intelligent life species in entire known universe. Some individuals have suffered genetic mutations determined by their way of living, professional determined mutations, which is the case of Spacing Guild employees/spacemen, but the truth of oneness of human being had remained the same.The countries from present are replaced with planets, the counties with planetary systems and domains from cosmic space, the races with Houses, Great or minor ones, houses that could be also be compared with dinasties, and they could be compared in the first place with them because, for so many times, they were despotic and unrepresentative regarding their ruled populations.
The balance of power lends between Lansdraad, the assembly of all imperial houses or ruling families, the Emperor, as representative for a Great House, member of Landsraad, definitely, the Guild, as institution of space-travellers, and Bene Gesserit, which it is a religious order, but having hard implications in State and in social matters as well. It's a very deeply socio-political involved order.
Each one of them, each one of these pillars of power, has its own monopoly, the Lansdraad rules over citizen's money and lifes, yet the Guild possesses the exclusivity of space travel, with all that this thing should and could involve, starting with physical technology, and including the qualities of foreseeing space-time isodynamics, which are requested by their purpose of sailing in the endless blackness of cosmic space. Bene Gesserit, instead, use to apply religious technology, controlling human crowds through their well spread and carefully developed religious myths, in almost entire Empire, easing in this way the task of ruling Houses, which are Great Houses. Still, Bene Gesserit, is faraway of being just a religious sisterhood, an order of nuns which are, of course, continent and dedicated to the goals of Landsdraad and of the current Emperor. No way, but contrary, they have their own purposes! But, first of all, they have hidden strong physical and mental skills, and, at the other hand, they keep trying to achieve one peculiar product, the supreme purpose of their work-schedule, more exactly, they want to give life to what could be called a super-human being, a sort of hero, after all, but with a well confined political goal. They want to use this SiFi hero in their attempt to earn the control over humankind. Fact which will take place finally, with the mention that their toy will escape from control bringing sisterhood itself in a very bad situation, fighting for their own existence. The Space Guild, at its turn, can make the impression that is only appendant because this great institution couldn't provide at least for itself the necessary amount of spice melange, which is needed as mental fuel for their pilots, the single substance in all extended world which makes them foreseers, and which is managed by the Great Houses. Though, space travellers are the only ones which owns inter-planetary spaceships and the requested know-how for using their foreseeing skills provided by their intensiv consumption of spice melange.
This fragile eqilibrium of power would be broken finally by Bene Gesserit, which will succeed to breed, even on a different genetic line than the scheduled genetic line, the strongly wished super-human being, a male having inside his bodily cells both paternal and maternal memories and gifted also with powerful mental abilities.
Categorical, the spice melange from Dune could be a subject of comparision with oil or gold, more likely than with another type of earthly substance. The oil is essential for contemporary world's economy, its price making changes of prices for all economical products which are sold or saleable. Sand warms are nothing than allegories of oil probes. Bene Gesserit itself it is a metaphor of popedom, but in a distorted manner, but, though, more refined and more influenced by Far-East's conceptions, in the same time. Bene Gesserit order has something from the features of international and occult brotherhoods and institutional forms of the greatest religions of humanity, just that their intentions and methods are profane and they have been apllied in a cruel and intellectual manner, with the obvious purpose to achieve concrete advantages, in many of cases these benefits being scheduled on long time periods. Even their main goal, producing the Kwisach Haderach, it is one which it was thought on long time, its/his final destination being to deprive the Landsdraad by political power and to establish in this way a bright new state, a form of political power where a new super-human dinasty will rule over fates of humankind, this dinasty being, though, under Bene Gesserit secret control. Eventually, this dinasty, alike Yuan dinasty from Middle Age's China, which had just one ruler, Kublai Khan, would include only one emperor, but One which will keep the power in his hands more than three thousands years, alternative historical deeds which can be compared just with regality in its overall evolution in time, speaking in real history terms. Thus, Bene Gesserit would earn political power just in a symbolic way.
A possible comparision with Jesus moment and with Christianity it is incontestable.
Buddhislam seems to be the prevailing religion in Dune universe, world where, generally speaking, religious technology plays a strong role in whole drama, having a tremendous impact over the future of our race. A future so different from the manner in which we would think that would be that seems even believable! Koans from Zen Buddhism plays a significant role on sandy landscapes of Dune, so well-known for Muslims. The ''melange'' is complete, at least from the point of view of cultural atmosphere. And at last, but definitely not the least, Zen ''nowness'' and ''momentariness'' of Japanese Buddhism, seems to coil the entire lexical fabric.
In Dune, the humans are the ultimate weapon, and this it is true speaking sensus strictiori: gholas, mentats, Bene Gesserit nuns, space-travellers of Space Guild, everything and everybody reaching the climax with Kwisach Haderach.