Litany against fear

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The litany against fear is a fictional incantation spoken by characters in Frank Herbert's 1965 novel Dune, and its sequels, in order to focus their minds in times of peril. The litany is as follows:

I must not fear.

Fear is the mind-killer.

Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration.

I will face my fear.

I will permit it to pass over me and through me.

And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path.

Where the fear has gone there will be nothing.

Only I will remain. ^[1]

This incantation originates from the Bene Gesserit. Paul Atreides, the son of Duke Leto Atreides, uses it when the Reverend Mother Gaius Helen Mohiam compels him to put his right hand in a black box for the Death/Alternative test. The test uses extreme physical pain to produce evidence of his humanity. While doing so Mohiam holds a needle with deadly poison, known as the gom jabbar or "high-handed enemy," to his neck. Paul must endure the agony as a demonstration of the strength of his mental willpower over his physical instincts.

The litany restores focus and relaxation to those who recite it. As calmness returns, Paul says "Get on with it, old woman."

[edit] In adaptations

David Lynch's feature film adaptation of Dune contains an abridged version of the litany, ending in "I will permit it to pass over me and through me." A fuller though slightly different version of this litany was used in the Dune miniseries and Children of Dune miniseries, replacing "I will permit it to pass over me and through me" with "I will let it pass through me".

The litany originated with the Bene Gesserit as a means to calm themselves or reduce their fear in the Dune novel series.

[edit] Other appearances

• "Fear is the mind killer" is a phrase from Aldous Huxley's novel Island, published in 1962 (three years before Dune was published).* On the animated television series Earthworm Jim, the first three lines were quickly chanted by Peter Puppy whenever he found himself in an overwhelming situation (usually at least once per episode). He changes the word "obliteration" to "oblivion" when he chants it.
• In the NBC TV show Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (episode 14 season 1) the litany is recited by a rapist victim as a judge refuses to deliver a warrant based on DNA evidence alone (without knowledge of the identity of the suspect).
• In the early primary season of the 2004 U.S. presidential election, the second line was quoted during a televised debate by Ambassador Carol Moseley Braun, candidate for the Democratic nomination.
• The band Fear Factory released an album called Fear Is the Mindkiller
• A few words were altered to form a Beer Litany in Goats.[1]

[edit] References