Christian Dualism

My perspective is best represented by Christian Dualism, like the ancient Cathars, Bogomils, Albigensians, and similar Gnostic sects which have now passed into obscurity after centuries of persecution, but types of which existed in significant numbers among the earliest churches, where orthodoxy did not take precedence over orthopraxis. Unlike most Christians today, I do not see God as the creator of this world, nor of forms in general.

If He takes upon himself a form like our own, and comes down into the world, it is only to lift us up, who will not bother to lift ourselves up to Him. It is a concession to our sins. We may say that the Incarnation is by the grace of God, but it is a form of grace called mercy, and it is only on account of our sins; for God would have no reason to invoke His mercy, had we not been vicious, and so required it.

God's ultimate nature is pure, undifferentiated essence. In the fullness of infinite potential, He is complete, having no desire to manifest His power. His presence is perceived only in the absence of all things. His wisdom is eloquently uttered in silence. It is only we who require (or imagine we require) a Word, a prayer, a book, a church, or a way of life. In our vainglory, we swat aside the humble Carpenter's cup which is always held out to us, and proudly volunteer to become heroes engaged upon a terrifying and prolonged quest for the Holy Grail. Our first act, as potential heroes, is always to knock away the very thing we seek.

In truth, God has made all things new; He has united the beginning and the end, the wicked and the just; that there should be no heroes, no quests, and no crusades, or endless skirmishes with the devil. Indeed, the devil has never so much as crossed the mind of God; he is summarily obliterated at the borders of sanity, and only exists inside of minds capable of entertaining delusions like himself. Whatever reality he possesses is on loan to him from those who believe in him. It is the same with ourselves, and with all forms. Through faith, we create and sustain ourselves and all things.

But this is not the highest faith.

As long as our faith is dependent on forms, it is crippled and compromised. Faith in God is not faith in any thing, but faith in the fullness of emptiness; the secure assurance that emptiness does not need to be filled, and that, in any case, forms could never fill it, since forms are shaped (or, at least, defined), precisely by the emptiness which surrounds and contains them.

The dualistic perspective consists in recognizing that the world of forms is, more or less, utterly separate and distinct from the world which God inhabits. However, this recognition does not prevent the dualist from affirming the ultimate oneness of reality, since, in the final analysis, the world of forms is regarded as hallucinatory. It is a dream. As I have said, it is a quest to locate the very treasure we have left behind; that which appears useless to us when we possess it, and useful only when sought.

Our heroics are a terrific farce. The forms of goodness cannot shed the shadows of evil; they are dependent on each other. But greatness is a spirit, and is Lord over both.