Anything outside yourself, this you can see and apply your logic to it. But it’s a human trait that when we encounter personal problems, these things most deeply personal are the most difficult to bring out for our logic to scan. We tend to flounder around, blaming everything but the actual, deep-seated thing that’s really chewing on us.  — Jessica

My Take – It’s difficult to be objective about the personal.  It takes real discipline and maturity to look critically at yourself and honestly list the things that are wrong.  But if you can’t admit to yourself that you have things you need to work on, be they big or small, then you can never improve.  When I’m shooting, I try to take a few moments between groups of shots to go over my gun handling, safety, breathing control, sight picture, and all of the other things that go into making a good shot.  The same should be done when doing any activity or when confronted by any situation that gives you time to reflect on it when searching for a solution. Take a moment, honestly examine the problem and your relation to it, and try to come up with a rational solution.  You won’t always be able to do this, and you won’t always be successful when you do, but you have a better chance than if you merely play spin-the-bottle looking for someone or something else to blame.

There is probably no more terrible instance of enlightenment than the one in which you discover your father is a man — with human flesh.– Collected Sayings of Muad’Dib

My Take – At some point in every person’s life, they realize that their parents are mortal.  As parents, we have to keep up the facade of invincibility, omniscience, and omnipotence long enough that our children feel safe and can grow, but not so long that they never learn to stand on their own in the world.  This may be the hardest bit of finesse a person has to accomplish in their life.

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. — Bene Gesserit Litany Against Fear.

My Take – When you feel fear, and everyone alive feels it at one time or another, you can either let it drive you or you can control it and use it to drive yourself.  Freezing or panicking takes away your free will, and you become part of the problem.  Acknowledging your fear and knowing how to control it gives you better odds at succeeding in a bad situation.

Second Thought – There are times when you don’t have the luxury of having a chance to analyze your fear and you can only react.  That is when training and habit take over.  If your habits are to react wildly, then you will be controlled by your fear.  If you train yourself to react in a way that is constructive, then you may be able to control your fear and yourself enough that your outcome is better for a reason other than luck.

No more terrible disaster could befall your people than for them to fall into the hands of a Hero.  — Pardot Kynes

My Take – As I read history, the point in which a free people begin the march to slavery is when they give up their freedoms to a single person who promises to fix their problems for them.  For Rome, it was Marius and Sulla.  For Italy and Germany, it was Mussolini and Hitler.  For Russia, it was Lenin and Stalin.  As for the United States, there have been many times in the past 100 years where a majority of the population has looked at the president and proclaimed that he is the one who will bring food to their tables, security to their streets, and success to their lives.  A free people can never look to someone else to provide for them.  We have to remember that the individual is solely responsible for his or her success, not society, not the government, and not the current resident of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.  We need to go back to our roots of self-reliance and self-determination, or we condemn our progeny to slavery as surely as the Romans condemned theirs to serfdom.

Is it defeatist or treacherous for a doctor to diagnose a disease correctly? — Lady Jessica

My Take – Don’t kill the messenger, and don’t be afraid to deliver bad news.  I’ve worked for people who thundered at their subordinates when someone came to them with anything other than sunshine and rainbows.  We called these people ‘fools’.  Life is painful for the most part, and the sooner you understand that, the sooner you can learn to minimize that pain and emphasize the more pleasant parts.

Any road followed precisely to its end leads precisely nowhere. — Muad’Dib: Family Commentaries

My Take – You have to be willing to deviate from established patterns and instructions in order to learn.  If all you’re doing is precisely following the path that someone else has blazed, you will never be anything but a follower.  Sometimes getting off the beaten path will send you down a cliff or face to face with one of the neighborhood bears, but sometimes it leads to a better path to a higher mountain.  Take the time to try your own methods in life, and you might find you’re rewarded with your own results.

There existed no need on Caladan to build a physical paradise or a paradise of the mind — we could see the actuality all around us. And the price we paid was the price men have always paid for achieving a paradise in this life — we went soft, we lost our edge. — Muad’Dib: Conversations

My Take – One of the complaints I hear from friends who run businesses is how hard it is to find people who will give a days work for a days pay.  As a society, we’ve become soft in our luxury.  The average lifestyle of an American would make our grandparents faint. We don’t have to work hard, think hard, or hold any real values in order to put food in our mouths and a roof over our heads.  When the life of luxury we have become acquainted with goes away, we are all going to suffer, but most of all, the people who believe that the world owes them a living.

One other thought – You’re not doing your children a favor by making their lives easy.  The arguing, fighting, sullen looks, and silence are worth it if they can stand on their own two feet when they grow up.

A process cannot be understood by stopping it. Understanding must move with the flow of the process, must join it and flow with it. — The First Law of Mentat

My Take – If you form your opinions about the world by what you see on the evening news or even on news websites, then all you’re seeing is stop-motion photography of the real world.  In order to understand what’s really going on, you have to pull from many sources, even those that show you things you don’t want to see and communicate with other people, even those with whom you don’t agree.  Watch the world in motion to understand how it works and what is happening.  Looking at the snapshots provided by the press or even blogs gives you nothing but a quick look at what someone else wants you to see.

Arrakis teaches the attitude of the knife — chopping off what’s incomplete and saying: “Now it’s complete because it’s ended here.” — Collected Sayings of Muad’Dib

My Take – When things are harsh, all that is superfluous starts to melt or get knocked away.  Bad times simplify things.  “Can I live without this?” is a great way to get rid of the cruft that builds up in your life during easier times.

When religion and politics travel in the same cart, the riders believe nothing can stand in their way. Their movement becomes headlong – faster and faster and faster. They put aside all thought of obstacles and forget that a precipice does not show itself to the man in a blind rush until it’s too late. — Bene Gesserit proverb

My Take – If a leader has a religion, it’s not unreasonable for the values and ethics of that religion to guide him or her in their decisions.  But when religion becomes the only driving force in leadership, it can get too far too fast.  When someone uses “God’s will” as their reason and rhyme to impact the lives of others, they try to give up personal responsibility for that impact and can cause more harm than good, no matter their intentions.