+3 votes
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in Arts & Humanities by

What does 'duality of man' mean.

5 Answers

+4 votes
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That there is a choice to do good or evil in all of us. According to the Bible, learning of that choice by eating of the Forbidden Fruit was our original sin. :'(

+3 votes
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Hi Dan,

I am going to extend O'Tink's information for you by adding that ultimately, I think we don't even HAVE a choice between good/evil...because I have totally bought into the Buddhist stuff that the true nature of humankind is completely pure, and cannot be defiled. Ultimately there is no duality of man; we will all choose the good.

But what you CAN do is drop the Hope diamond into the sewer, so it is covered over and stinking. However all you have to do is lift it out, wash it off and voilà, there you are. And even there, our essential purity can erupt at any time...the story from Vietnam of the three soldiers, 18, 19 and 22...in their helicopter, saw a My Lai-style massacre going on...these three babies, trained to kill, landed and walked between the U.S. soldier-perpetrators and the villagers their victims...stopped the massacre...

One of these three was living in the Skagit in Washington State 1998, and the newspaper interviewed him, "You could have been killed in the rampage, why did you do it?" Former soldier smh, "I don't really know...I just couldn't help it."

* * *

Here as illustration for you is a photo with the caption “Soldier, trained to kill, mesmerized by the beauty of a butterfly.” Oh...btw, a Christian rendering of our purity is "Don't hide your light under a bushel."

image

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@ Virginia,

There is also a branch of Christianity that teaches universalism. It's a nice idea, certainly better than hellfire and eternal damnation.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_Universalism

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O'Tink, maybe I will just mention...since our group is so small and we connect typically every day...

I do like the Christian Universalism link, very much. I am devotional now, but for thirty years I was atheist - began age 13, when I was taught that ONLY my denomination went to heaven...couldn't swallow that... then age 40, it was the Eastern traditions where I learned the essence, the essentials, that are actually found in common in all true religions...the Golden Rule, and such...so it was through non-Christian spirituality that I eventually came to a closeness with Yeshua ben Joseph.


+2 votes
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Actually, I have been wondering if you have been referring to dualism, i.e. the moral dualism of the human nature, with a good and a dark side, as nobody can be perfect. They refer, for instance to the example of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde:

http://www.litcharts.com/lit/dr-jekyll-and-mr-hyde/themes/the-duality-of-human-nature

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dualism

In modern everyday life, they speak rather of weak and strong points or moments, of expected and unexpected reactions and emotions, of rational and irrational decisions and of mistakes, errors and failures.



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Even St. Paul was troubled by a dual nature.

"For the good that I would, I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do."

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Lol - T(h)ink, yes, all of us have our good and bad, weak and strong points, and we have also our bold and hesitating, or impulsive and reconsidering moments.

By the way, the circumstances and conditions in life are often challenging the most devoted, straight characters - which, in reality, are much more complex.


Some very simple examples:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Valjean

vs

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Javert


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Strogoff

vs

Ivan Ogareff, the villain



+3 votes
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Robert Louis Stevenson had a brief summary and much more in his book: The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde:

The duality of human nature.  In Chapter 10, Jekyll writes clearly about the dual nature of human beings. He says that, as a young, educated man from a respectable family, he maintained an appearance of good behaviour at all times.

Maybe I'm seeing it a little different but after reading his book several times now. That's where I find the answer to your question.

A study in dualism: The strange case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

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Excellent link, Rooster.

Stevenson's observations remind me of the Goethe quote, "There is no crime of which I do not deem myself capable."

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Rooster, I appreciated the link also...did not know that RLS suffered from tuberculosis! And certainly did not realize the famous story originated in a dream...

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O'Tink, I have come to think that virtually every person who truly knows him/herself will say something like that...and Goethe of course one of humankind's great souls...

There is the story of the medieval Sufi saint, roaming around after curfew, police stopped him and asked, "Are you a thief?" Saint says yes...lands in jail...finally someone recognized him and got him released, asking him why he said that...the saint's response was "What am I not?"

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"...for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God."

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O'Tink, yes indeed, lovely verse...and reminds me that Dan's question actually touches on one of the great essential truths of life, and love and all the religions...that our job each of us is to heal ourselves, NOT the other guy..."why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?"

+2 votes
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With regard to what?

According to the Concise Oxford Dictionary, dualism or duality is the theory recognizing two independent principles, and it provides examples of duality: mind and matter; good and evil in the universe


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TJ, is this you? My friend TJ of "If-By-Whisky?"

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