A Dry And Weary Land
O God, you are my God,
earnestly I seek you;
my soul thirsts for you,
my body longs for you,
in a dry and weary land
where there is no water.
--Psalm 63:1
I'm in the midst of reading (actually, partially re-reading) a science-fiction series by Frank Herbert that started with his book Dune. For those who aren't familiar with the novel, become familiar with it--read it; it's awesome. The story takes place uncounted millenia into humanity's future. Basically, it is a complete fantasy world, as there is no Earth and virtually nothing we would find familiar. The main setting is the planet Arrakis, known more casually as Dune. It is a desert of deserts, a world only inhabitable at the extreme North Pole. I'm not going to attempt to introduce the extremely complex plots within plots within plots; I'm going to introduce you to the native humans of Dune, the Fremen.
The Fremen are a people who have learned how to survive in the harshest of deserts by respecting the most precious resource on the planet: water. There is so little water on Dune that it must be collected from the air, from the dew that settles on the few plants in the main cities in the very early morning, and from deep down in the rock beds. But the Fremen have also realized that the human body itself is 70% water. They walk in the desert wearing "stillsuits", water-reclamation outfits that ensure you do not lose more than a thimble-full of moisture a day. It takes your sweat, urine, feces, even your breath, filters it and feeds the water back to you through a drinking tube. The Fremen do this not only for their individual survival, but also for the survival of their people. They have a saying: "A man's soul is his own, but his water belongs to the tribe." Upon the death of a Fremen, their water is reclaimed from their bodies and, depending on how the death came about, is either given to the winner of the personal combat or distributed among the dead Fremen's tribe. At one point in the story it is demonstrated how spitting, in any other culture an act of disrespect, is a very serious gesture of friendship and loyalty among the Fremen--you give a person part of the water of your body to show that you respect them.
As much as the Fremen are able to live in the desert, it is not what they wish. They long to transform Dune into a wonderous, lush Paradise, and have been accumulating vast storehouses of water for this purpose. Their religion contains a prophecy of someone they call the Mahdi, the "One who will lead us to Paradise"; for his coming they prepare, and wait--and conserve their water.
As I was thinking about the book this past week, an analogy struck me. All throughout the Bible, water is used as a symbol of God's grace, mercy, and love; it is also used to ignite the idea of thirst for God, as in the above passage. In John's gospel, Jesus encounters a Samaritan woman at a well and asks for a drink. When she is surprised by this (Samaritans and Jews did not get along), Jesus tells her about "living water" and she asks where it can be found. Jesus' response: "Everyone who drinks this water [meaning the well] will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life."
In the Monday night Bible study I attend, we were talking just last night about truly knowing yourself and your spiritual relationship with God. It occured to me that Arrakis, the planet known as Dune, perfectly describes where I am: living in a desert, and thirsting for every drop of God's water that I can get. Then, another thought struck me: this water, the symbol both of my longing for God and of God Himself, is within me already. I need only reclaim it and use it for His will.
I'm not exactly willing to spread throughout the bowels of the Internet just what it is that causes me to live in a dry and weary land, but the remembrance that God has already put His water in me gives me great comfort. I am still loved, I am still chosen. I am still a child of God, despite all the crap I struggle with. That Cross is still there for me, and the grave is still empty for my sake.
And among the Fremens' many sayings is this: "God created Arrakis to train the faithful."
Be seeing you,
Steven
earnestly I seek you;
my soul thirsts for you,
my body longs for you,
in a dry and weary land
where there is no water.
--Psalm 63:1
I'm in the midst of reading (actually, partially re-reading) a science-fiction series by Frank Herbert that started with his book Dune. For those who aren't familiar with the novel, become familiar with it--read it; it's awesome. The story takes place uncounted millenia into humanity's future. Basically, it is a complete fantasy world, as there is no Earth and virtually nothing we would find familiar. The main setting is the planet Arrakis, known more casually as Dune. It is a desert of deserts, a world only inhabitable at the extreme North Pole. I'm not going to attempt to introduce the extremely complex plots within plots within plots; I'm going to introduce you to the native humans of Dune, the Fremen.
The Fremen are a people who have learned how to survive in the harshest of deserts by respecting the most precious resource on the planet: water. There is so little water on Dune that it must be collected from the air, from the dew that settles on the few plants in the main cities in the very early morning, and from deep down in the rock beds. But the Fremen have also realized that the human body itself is 70% water. They walk in the desert wearing "stillsuits", water-reclamation outfits that ensure you do not lose more than a thimble-full of moisture a day. It takes your sweat, urine, feces, even your breath, filters it and feeds the water back to you through a drinking tube. The Fremen do this not only for their individual survival, but also for the survival of their people. They have a saying: "A man's soul is his own, but his water belongs to the tribe." Upon the death of a Fremen, their water is reclaimed from their bodies and, depending on how the death came about, is either given to the winner of the personal combat or distributed among the dead Fremen's tribe. At one point in the story it is demonstrated how spitting, in any other culture an act of disrespect, is a very serious gesture of friendship and loyalty among the Fremen--you give a person part of the water of your body to show that you respect them.
As much as the Fremen are able to live in the desert, it is not what they wish. They long to transform Dune into a wonderous, lush Paradise, and have been accumulating vast storehouses of water for this purpose. Their religion contains a prophecy of someone they call the Mahdi, the "One who will lead us to Paradise"; for his coming they prepare, and wait--and conserve their water.
As I was thinking about the book this past week, an analogy struck me. All throughout the Bible, water is used as a symbol of God's grace, mercy, and love; it is also used to ignite the idea of thirst for God, as in the above passage. In John's gospel, Jesus encounters a Samaritan woman at a well and asks for a drink. When she is surprised by this (Samaritans and Jews did not get along), Jesus tells her about "living water" and she asks where it can be found. Jesus' response: "Everyone who drinks this water [meaning the well] will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life."
In the Monday night Bible study I attend, we were talking just last night about truly knowing yourself and your spiritual relationship with God. It occured to me that Arrakis, the planet known as Dune, perfectly describes where I am: living in a desert, and thirsting for every drop of God's water that I can get. Then, another thought struck me: this water, the symbol both of my longing for God and of God Himself, is within me already. I need only reclaim it and use it for His will.
I'm not exactly willing to spread throughout the bowels of the Internet just what it is that causes me to live in a dry and weary land, but the remembrance that God has already put His water in me gives me great comfort. I am still loved, I am still chosen. I am still a child of God, despite all the crap I struggle with. That Cross is still there for me, and the grave is still empty for my sake.
And among the Fremens' many sayings is this: "God created Arrakis to train the faithful."
Be seeing you,
Steven
posted by Steven | 7:10 PM
|
0 comments
