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“The mystery of life isn't a problem to solve, but a reality to experience.”

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who said the mystery of life is not a problem to be solved

Source: Dune

Author: Frank Herbert

The mystery of life isn't a problem to solve, but a reality to experience.

This line is spoken by Reverend Mother Gaius Helen Mohiam in the novel Dune , written by Frank Herbert (1965).

This quote comes from Dune , one of the most well-respected sci-fi novels of all time. This baby launched a major franchise with a bunch of sequels, movies, and video games to follow. The first novel tells the story of Paul Atreides, whose family takes over governing the desert planet Arrakis (aka Dune), only to be betrayed by the evil rival Harkonnen family. As payback, Paul rallies the locals on the planet, igniting a rebellion that eventually makes him both a messiah and emperor of the universe.

While being a serious page-turner, the novel also manages to do a lot of deep thinking along the way. This particular quote comes early in the book, when the witchy Reverend Mother Gaius Helen Mohiam tries to give young Paul a little advice… ya' know, before he's the ruler of the universe and all that. By the end of the book, she's the one that has to listen to his words of wisdom—whether she likes it or not.

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Pretentious Factor

If you were to drop this quote at a dinner party, would you get an in-unison "awww" or would everyone roll their eyes and never invite you back here it is, on a scale of 1-10..

You can't go around talking about the mysteries of life and expect people not to think you're pretentious.

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W hy's T his F unny?

“ She said the mystery of life isn’t a problem to solve, but a reality to experience. So I quoted the First Law of Mentat at her: ‘A process cannot be understood by stopping it. Understanding must move with the flow of the process, must join it and flow with it. ”

“She said the mystery of life isn’t a problem to solve, but a reality to experience. So I quoted the First Law of Mentat at her: ‘A process cannot be understood by stopping it. Understanding must move with the flow of the process, must join it and flow with it.”

— Frank Herbert

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The mystery of life isn’t a problem to solve

by Tom McCallum | Mar 25, 2022 | Open Leadership

The mystery of life isn’t a problem to solve, but a reality to experience

A process cannot be understood by stopping it. Understanding must move with the flow of the process, must join it and flow with it.

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The Mystery of Life isn't a Problem to Solve, But a Reality to Experience

"dune" is the spice of life.

By Jared Rasic

W hat is it that you actually want from movies? Do you want to be transported to places, cultures and worlds you've never experienced before? Do you like the simplicity of just being told a story? Are films another form of art to you that you love deconstructing and searching inside for the hidden meanings and themes? Or are they none of the above and just sound in the background while you scroll through your phone?

Whatever you give to a film is what you get back. However much we engage with art correlates to whether we're moved by it or, at the very least, transported out of our normal lives into someone else's vision for a few hours. I've dedicated such a large part of my life to thinking about movies because the very best ones allow me to keep expanding my knowledge of humanity and the world, while even the very worst ones might give me an always-much-needed laugh.

The Mystery of Life isn't a Problem to Solve, But a Reality to Experience

I say all this because Denis Villeneuve's adaptation of "Dune" absolutely transported me to another planet 8,000+ years in the future. I've watched it three times since it was released last week and by shutting off the outside world and fully engaging with the story of Paul Atreides, Lady Jessica and the desert planet of Arrakis, I truly feel drunk on cinema in a way I haven't felt since "Fury Road" was released.

Frank Herbert's immortal novel is the first one I can ever remember reading by myself and it made me a lifelong fan of science fiction and speculative fiction. With unmatched world building, fascinating geo-politics and characters I've felt connected to for most of my life, it's hard for me to remember a period when "Dune" wasn't central to my growth as an artist and a person. Back when I was doing theater, as I was standing off-stage getting ready to enter, I would whisper the "Dune" line, "fear is the mind killer" to myself before walking out. It's that connected to me.

Even with all of its flaws, I still love the brazen weirdness of David Lynch's 1984 adaptation and I respect the attempt of a fully accurate adaptation that the Sci-Fi Channel went for back in 2000 (although the special effects have aged so poorly it's almost impossible to watch again). But what Villeneuve has done is something entirely more astounding. He's stripped a lot of the subplots out and instead built a world that feels like Herbert's vision come to life, but without getting drowned in the details. The endless exposition of Lynch's version is gone, replaced by such cutting-edge special effects, sweeping cinematography and grounded performances that we're forced to feel like citizens of a world we've never experienced.

"Dune" definitely won't be for everyone, as the pacing is leisurely and the action sequences don't take up a huge amount of the runtime. Also, "Dune" is just the first 60% or so of the book, so what we have on screen is only Part 1 of the story. The film finds a very natural stopping place and doesn't end on a cliffhanger, but it is very much only the first half of a movie. Purists of the book also might not appreciate all of the cutting that happens, but the film feels like it came from someone who truly loves Frank Herbert's creation and wanted to make a movie that Herbert would have loved himself. Villeneuve even subverts the white-savior narrative from the book into something that feels more modern, while still being honest to Herbert's vision.

Let "Dune" wash over you. If you can safely see the film in IMAX, the sound and the giant screen will absolutely transport you into a new world. When I think of the word "cinematic," I always imagine something on the scale of "Dune"—something so large and epic that we have no choice but to become a part of the story ourselves. And what a story it is.

Dune Dir. Denis Villeneuve Grade: A Now playing at Regal Old Mill, Sisters Movie House, Odem Theater Pub and Streaming on HBOMax

About The Author

Jared Rasic

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The mystery of life isn't a problem to solve, but a reality to experience.

What I get from this and why I like it:

You will live a better life when you are not trying to solve a problem. Pauls path was grim because he lived his life trying to keep humanity on this golden path, trying to solve some meaning of life problem. When in reality for most of us, we will be happier, live better lives, and feel more content when our outlook is that of feeling an experience rather than searching for meaning. It is that search for meaning which drives us into discontent in our lives.

Why’d you link to twitter instead of just quoting the book?

He wanted us to know that it came from Muad'dib himself

Coming in late on this, but it’s a slight variation of Soren Kierkegaard’s quote;

“Life is not a problem to be solved, but a reality to be experienced.”

And a rebuke against people trying to understand the universe and their own personal as well as all mankind’s place in the universe.

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„The mystery of life isn't a problem to solve, but a reality to experience.“

Source: Dune

Frank Herbert 158

— Adriana Trigiani American film director 1970

Source: Big Stone Gap

„Life is not a problem to be solved, but a mystery to be lived.“

— Thomas Merton Priest and author 1915 - 1968

Attributed to Merton in a number of sources, the earliest located being Studia mystica, Volumes 5-6 (1982), p. 76 http://books.google.com/books?id=59EYAAAAIAAJ&q=%22problem+to+be+solved%22#search_anchor. This does not attribute a direct quote to Merton, but says "To use another of Merton's favorite distinctions, for Furlong Merton's life is seen principally as a problem to be solved, which it was, in the final analysis, successfully, rather than a mystery to be lived". The next-earliest source located is the 1998 book The Artist's Way at Work: Riding the Dragon by Mark Bryan and Julia Cameron, which attributes the exact quote to Merton on p. 152 http://books.google.com/books?id=CghAQDPahhcC&lpg=PP1&pg=PA152#v=onepage&q&f=false. In reality this seems to be a slightly altered version of the quote "The mystery of life is not a problem to be solved; it is a reality to be experienced" which appeared in the 1928 book The Conquest of Illusion by Jacobus Johannes Leeuw, p. 9 http://books.google.com/books?id=OFdVAAAAMAAJ&q=%22not+a+problem+to+be+solved%22#search_anchor. Misattributed

„Life is not a problem to be solved, but a reality to be experienced.“

— Sören Kierkegaard Danish philosopher and theologian, founder of Existentialism 1813 - 1855

Attributed to Kierkegaard in a number of books, the earliest located on Google Books being the 1976 book Jack Kerouac: Prophet of the New Romanticism by Robert A. Hipkiss, p. 83 http://books.google.com/books?id=g_JaAAAAMAAJ&q=%22problem+to+be+solved%22#search_anchor. In the 1948 The Hibbert Journal: Volumes 46-47 the quote is referred to as "the famous Kierkegaardian slogan" on p. 237 http://books.google.com/books?id=UuDRAAAAMAAJ&q=%22the+famous+Kierkegaardian+slogan+life+is+not+a+problem+to+be+solved%22#search_anchor, which may be intended to suggest the phrase is Kierkegaard-esque rather than being something written by Kierkegaard. In reality this seems to be a slightly altered version of the quote "The mystery of life is not a problem to be solved; it is a reality to be experienced" which appeared in the 1928 book The Conquest of Illusion by Jacobus Johannes Leeuw, p. 9 http://books.google.com/books?id=OFdVAAAAMAAJ&q=%22not+a+problem+to+be+solved%22#search_anchor. Misattributed

„We must be willing to fail and to appreciate the truth that often "Life is not a problem to be solved, but a mystery to be lived."“

— M. Scott Peck American psychiatrist 1936 - 2005

„The real question of life after death isn't whether or not it exists, but even if it does what problem this really solves.“

— Ludwig Wittgenstein Austrian-British philosopher 1889 - 1951

„Woman is the unfathomable, incalculable mystery, the problem that we men can never hope to solve.“

— P.G. Wodehouse English author 1881 - 1975

„Life is problems. Living is solving problems.“

— Raymond E. Feist , book Silverthorn

Source: Silverthorn

„We cannot solve life's problems except by solving them.“

Source: The Road Less Traveled: A New Psychology of Love, Traditional Values, and Spiritual Growth

„Everybody's a mad scientist, and life is their lab. We're all trying to experiment to find a way to live, to solve problems, to fend off madness and chaos.“

— David Cronenberg Canadian film director, screenwriter and actor 1943

Source: Cronenberg on Cronenberg (1997), Ch. 1, P. 7

„It is necessary that each Marxist-Leninist understand that he can contribute to Marxism-Leninism with an atom of his experience, that every solution he finds, every experience he acquires, in the act of solving a problem, will be one more experience with which he enriches Marxism-Leninism, because Marxism-Leninism has been enriched so much precisely by the experience of millions and millions of Marxist-Leninists acting in the reality of life.“

— Fidel Castro former First Secretary of the Communist Party and President of Cuba 1926 - 2016

Speech (20 December 1961) http://www.cuba.cu/gobierno/discursos/1961/esp/f201261e.html

„The cruel law of life is that a solved problem creates two new problems, and the best prescription for happy living is not to solve any more problems than you have to.“

— Russell Baker writer and satirst from the United States 1925 - 2019

"The Big Problem Binge," The New York Times (1965-03-18)

„Life is a journey to be experienced, not a problem to be solved, take a deep breath.“

— Kimsa Sok Cambodian tour guide 2003

Source: https://quotepark.com/quotes/2101720-kimsa-sok-life-is-a-journey-to-be-experienced-not-a-problem/

„Life isn't fair,' Skulduggery said. 'In my experience, death isn't so different.“

— Derek Landy Irish children's writer 1974

Source: Death Bringer

„Making… an art out of your technological life is the way to solve the problem of technology.“

— Robert M. Pirsig American writer and philosopher 1928 - 2017

NPR Interview (1974)

„Persistence is the key to solving most mysteries.“

— Christopher Pike American author Kevin Christopher McFadden 1954

Source: Black Blood

„Science cannot solve the ultimate mystery of nature. And that is because, in the last analysis, we ourselves are part of nature and therefore part of the mystery that we are trying to solve.“

— Max Planck German theoretical physicist 1858 - 1947

Variants: Science cannot solve the ultimate mystery of nature. And that is because, in the last analysis, we ourselves are a part of the mystery that we are trying to solve. Science cannot solve the ultimate mystery of nature, for in the final analysis we ourselves are part of the mystery we are trying to solve. Source: Where is Science Going? (1932)

„The -- the constant partisan rancor that stops us from solving these problems isn't a cause. It's a symptom. It's what happens when people go to Washington to work for themselves and not for you.“

— John McCain politician from the United States 1936 - 2018

2000s, 2008, (2008)

„If you cannot solve the proposed problem, try to solve first a simpler related problem.“

— George Pólya Hungarian mathematician 1887 - 1985

Mathematical Methods in Science (1977), p.164

„A problem adequately stated is a problem solved theoretically and immediately, and therefore subsequently to be solved, realistically.“

— Buckminster Fuller American architect, systems theorist, author, designer, inventor and futurist 1895 - 1983

World Design Science Decade 1965-1975 Phase I (1965), Document 3 : Comprehensive Thinking, "Venus Proximity Day", p. 33 http://challenge.bfi.org/sites/challenge.bfi.org/files/pdf_files/wdsd_phase1_doc3.pdf 1960s Context: One of my working assumptions which has been proven successful so often as seemingly to qualify it as a reliable tenet is that A problem adequately stated is a problem solved theoretically and immediately, and therefore subsequently to be solved, realistically. Others have probably stated the principle in many ways. The assumption is that the inevitability of a solution's realization is inherent in the interaction of human intellect and the constantly transformative evolution of physical universe. At first the, only subconsciously apprehended, approaching confluences of complex events make themselves known intuitively within the intellectual weather. Then comes a gradually awakening consciousness of the presence of new families of differentiating-out challenging concepts of every day prominence. It is with these randomly patterning families of separate concepts that evolution is about to deal integratively. As a now specific unitary problem it may be disposed of effectively when and if that unified problem becomes "adequately stated" and thereby comprehensibly solvable.

„When you "get an idea," or "solve a problem," or have a "memorable experience," you create what we shall call a K-line.“

— Marvin Minsky American cognitive scientist 1927 - 2016

K-Linesː A Theory of Memory (1980) Context: When you "get an idea," or "solve a problem," or have a "memorable experience," you create what we shall call a K-line. This K-line gets connected to those "mental agencies" that were actively involved in the memorable event. When that K-line is later "activated," it reactivates some of those mental agencies, creating a "partial mental state" resembling the original.

"Life Is Not a Problem to Be Solved, But a Mystery to Be Lived": Can You Dig It? by Gail Harris

"Life is not a problem to be solved, but a mystery to be lived."

This quote from poet Nietzsche is quite profound, if you think about it. While written years ago, it’s timeless. To me, it says that when we make achievement and success the be-all-and-end-all of life, we miss the joy that comes from knowing that life is truly a mystery.

Haven’t you noticed that the most meaningful times occur not when your goal is achieved, but when something unexpected happens? We spot our soul mate across the room. We find a personal message hidden in a billboard. We land the perfect career by accident. There’s a lot more going on than meets the eye. Ignore it. Or embrace the mystery, and have a heck of a lot more fun. Here’s how to begin:

OK, ladies and gentlemen. It’s up to you.

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Frank Herbert quote about life from Dune - the mystery of life isn't a problem to solve, but a reality to experience.

“ the mystery of life isn't a problem to solve, but a reality to experience. ” Frank Herbert , Dune (1965) . copy citation

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Joseph Campbell Quote: “Life is not a problem to be solved but a mystery to be lived. Follow the
The mystery of life is not a problem to be solved, but rather a reality to be experienced
Soren Kierkegaard Quote: “Life is not a problem to be solved, but a reality to be experienced.”
The mystery of life is not a problem to be solved but a reality to be experienced.
Alan Watts Quote: The mystery of life is not a problem to be solved but a reality to be experienced
Adriana Trigiani Quote: “Life is a mystery to be lived, not a problem to be solved.” (7

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Quote by Frank Herbert: “The mystery of life isn't a problem to solve
Frank Herbert — 'The mystery of life isn't a problem to solve, but a reality to experience.'
Quotes
This line is spoken by Reverend Mother Gaius Helen Mohiam in the novel Dune, written by Frank Herbert (1965). This quote comes from Dune, one of the most well-
Frank Herbert Quote: “She said the mystery of life isn't a problem to
Frank Herbert Quote: “She said the mystery of life isn't a problem. “She said the mystery of life isn't a problem to solve, but a reality to experience. So I
The mystery of life isn't a problem to solve
The mystery of life isn't a problem to solve ... A process cannot be understood by stopping it. Understanding must move with the flow of the
The Mystery of Life isn't a Problem to Solve, But a Reality to
"The mystery of life is not a problem to solve, but a reality to experience. A process that can not be understood by stoping it. We must move
The mystery of life isn't a problem to solve, but a reality to experience
r/dune - The mystery of life isn't a problem to solve, ... What I get from this and why I like it: You will live a better life when you are not
Frank Herbert quote: The mystery of life isn't a problem to solve, but
The mystery of life isn't a problem to solve, but a... - Frank Herbert quotes at AZquotes.com.
Frank Herbert quote: The mystery of life isn't a problem to solve, but
„Life is not a problem to be solved, but a mystery to be lived.“ ... Attributed to Merton in a number of sources, the earliest located being
"Life Is Not a Problem to Be Solved, But a Mystery to Be Lived": Can
This quote from poet Nietzsche is quite profound, if you think about it. While written years ago, it's timeless. To me, it says that when we make achievement
the mystery of life isn't a problem to solve, but a reality to experience
“ the mystery of life isn't a problem to solve, but a reality to experience. ” Frank Herbert, Dune (1965). copy citation.