"Hidden Seitch"

Who do you trust? Most persons will answer with someone in a position of “authority” in their lives or a family member: your boss; an “influential” person; a parent, sibling, or close friend. Let me ask you something…why isn’t your first answer “Myself”?

“Hidden Seitch” was born of my desire to answer this question for myself. Like many questions I’ve had in my life, I turned to the vast DUNE Universe, created by Frank Herbert, to offer guidance. Herbert’s Fremen have based their whole society on TRUST—from who they allow into their community, to their interactions with Outsiders, to their abiding love and reverence for the great sandworms of the desert that they call Shai Halud. Their history has taught them that trust must have a firm foundation in trusting oneself to make healthy decisions, to develop the needed skills, and to ask another for help when life throws them a curveball.

They trust in this way because any other way of living in the deserts of Arrakis would lead to certain doom…or death.

“Hidden Seitch” asks you to imagine that you have travelled a fair distance to finally meet these Fremen that you heard about Arrakeen. Your guide has assured you that “Mysteries of the deep desert…” will be revealed to you. Your guide has trusted you not to reveal those secrets to Outsiders, as they wouldn’t have the trust or knowledge to understand them. How do you proceed? Do you stop your guide, ask them to escort you back to the city of Arakeen, as this knowledge is too heavy for you to bear at this time? Or…do you continue to trust your guide to welcome you into their community…as they assure you the entrance is “just beyond the final outcropping on your left…”—cleverly hidden by their ancestors?

The choice is, as it always has been…YOURS, and yours alone.