These mutually exclusive schemes of time coexisted in Paul Muad'Dib Atreides, Lisan al-Gaib and Kwisatz Haderach. This poise at the knife edge, on the tightrope across a chasm, at the fulcrum, is what made Paul Giver and Taker, anima and animus, Yin and Yang, male and female, Decider and Decided, Reconciler of Opposites. As nearly as we can tell, he was almost what the Bene Gesserit sought: the Hero, the figure whose choices would decide the fate of the Universe. While the Kwisatz Haderach was in his post-transforming trance, the three-week interval while Jessica watched and sent for Chani, he went many places. He Shortened the Way so that he could be everywhere at the same time. And he managed (barely) to avoid becoming lost in the dimensionless Alam al-Mithal. Like a spinning dancer, he avoided ultimate dizziness by focusing, once in each revolution, on a single fixed spot, his Self. In going farthest from his center point and risking eternal absence, Paul took perhaps the ultimate nsk. But he returned with what was, for his prophecy-adoring civilization, the ultimate prize: complete knowledge-based on his past and his future-of the Now. One common misunderstanding about the Kwisatz Haderach-at least about Paul-is dispelled by this figurative depiction of his perilous balance. He was never infallible, nor could he be. His early visions (of Dune landscape and of Chani) were close to correct, but they were fuzzy. He did not foresee the size of the Maker he rode; he did not know that Gurney would threaten Jessica. His broader, more massive premonitions were correct enough: the terrible purpose, the avalanche of the jihad. But he did not know precisely what would happen to him. As noted, his decisions affected events, and he could not see what his decisions would be; trying to glimpse them locked Paul into an unending regressive-reflexive-recursive feed- ATREIDES PAUL 93 ATREIDES PAUL back loop The extreme example of unknowing is his combat with Feyd-Rautha His decision not to use the word that would give him the advantage, plus the catching of Feyd-Rautha's needle in the mosaic tile, were at the same time unpredictable and decisive The relationship between the apparent aceura cy of the Kwisatz Haderach's vision, especially just before he walked blindly into the desert, and the incompleteness of 1m prescience, is important This discrepancy is at the heart of the good but wrong choices that Paul made after his Fremen Jihad had ended and his empire had begun to stabilize As Muad'Dib consolidated his hold after the Fremen Jihad, he perceived a dilemma if he used his prescience to control the empire's destiny, the empire would depend on him alone for guidance His supposed infallibility would rob the people of the need to make choices For him to keep control and respon sibility would not be good for humanity On the other hand, he could not, as a morally responsible human being, casually walk out from under this burden Although he wanted desperately to "disengage," quitting would leave a vacuum and brmg another chaotic struggle for power The way the Kwisatz Haderach chose to get out of this dilemma was as noble as it was wrong He picked the path that would be, as far as he could foresee, the best route for humanity He decided to end the cycle of wars and leave humankind in peace He would remove Muad'Dib from the scene and thus give the people the illusion of free will Alia and the pnests and bureaucrats would believe they were running things In choosing this path Paul had to accept the loss of Cham, who meant more to him than any thing except his moral responsibility However, this choice let him reject what he saw as the alternative Kralizec, the Typhoon Struggle, chaos.