‘Dune’: Here’s What ‘Dreams Are Messages From the Deep’ Means

Frank Herbert’s ‘Dune’ is one of the greatest sci-fi masterpieces ever written, partly due to the highly philosophical themes merging with prophecies and destinies. The book inspired plenty of other works of fiction and plenty of schools of thought. This wouldn’t have happened if Herbert had not included some of the greatest quotes in fiction in his works. We’ve already covered the “Litany of Fear” and “May Thy Knife Chip and Shatter” but now it’s time to revisit the first movie and the intro quote – “Dreams Are Messages from the Deep” – let’s see what it means.

“Dreams Are Messages from the Deep” shows up at the beginning of the first movie

If you’re not familiar with the source material of ‘Dune’ movies aka the most notable science fiction books of all time, you were likely confused by the quote that appears on screen at the beginning of the first movie released in 2021. The quote is not given any context whatsoever and was never discussed over the course of the movie despite them being incredibly important for how Paul, our protagonist will develop.

You see Paul is Kwisatz Haderach, a product of generations of selective breeding programs and pretty much a superhuman among men. He has access to the collective memory of his ancestors and the gift of foresight that will allow him to put humanity on the “Golden Path.” While on the Golden Path, humanity is safe from extinction and will continue to thrive long into the future, but only if Paul, by using his gifts, makes the necessary choices to put humanity on that path.

This is why Fremen supported him and regarded him as the messiah who would lead them to paradise because it was literally supposed to be true. However Paul won’t be the one to do it, but this is not an article about that you can read about Leto II’s sacrifice in a separate article and why Paul was unable to deliver on his “destiny.”

Now Paul’s visions sometimes manifest as dreams, and dreams were often said to be portals into one’s soul, this is closely related to the quote.

“The Deep” refers to “Deep within your psyche”

In this context “Dreams Are Messages from the Deep” means that your dreams come from your subconsciousness and they are not necessarily something that you are aware of. You might have trouble at work, or with your personal life and you’re having strange dreams that you can’t seem to decipher, there’s nothing magical or prophetic about it, it’s literally how our mind works.

Dreams can be conceptualized as electrical signals within our brains that access random images stored in our subconscious mind, aka were pulling them from deep within ourselves, whether we are aware of those images or not. In Paul’s case, however, his dreams have literal purpose and meaning behind them that have consequences for the entire galaxy since they are prophetic in nature. Especially when Paul unlocks the full extent of his powers.

The quote was an excellent way to introduce the world of ‘Dune’ since it’s the perfect example of science mixing with supernatural and factual with the prophetic which is partly what ‘Dune’ is about, how people are willing to disregard everything to blindly follow a “leader” a prophesized leader at that. This alas is a topic for a much longer article we hope to discuss in the future.

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