“We did not get Arrakis.”

“We did not get Arrakis,” Jessica told Paul.  In that case, it seems they may have always have had their possession, from the very beginning of their lives.  I suggest that one not dismiss the possibility out of hand.  Instead, consider what sort of thing Arrakis would have to be, if they never received it and always had it.  If the Atreides “did not get Arrakis,” we may also consider the possibility that Arrakis was in some sense never truly theirs.  Possession is such a difficult problem, both practically and intellectually.  Practically, of what benefit was it to the Duke Leto if he possessed Arrakis?  For he was so insecure in his possession of it that a scarecrow of a man took it from him merely by sedating the Atreides as he “sedated” the generators in the ducal residence in Arrakeen.  The intellectual problem seems to be informed at least somewhat by the practical problem.  As I recall, Thomas Hobbes was willing to propose in writing that we do not have a natural property even in our own bodies, and it seems good to reject the opinion of that thoughtful man only after having considered it well.  For one’s own security, it seems good to ask oneself at least, what is one’s property in one’s own body, if a simple drug can destroy it or deliver it into the hands of another?  Possession seems to be only as good as one’s guardianship of it.  “Now I say, guard yourself for true!”

And it still remains to consider the possibility that Arrakis possessed the Atreides.

[This post was published on February 17, 2010, and revised on January 17, 2011.]

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