There is an ancient philosophy that is common among Eastern and Middle-Eastern religions (e.g. the Persian beliefs of Manichaeism and to a lesser extent Zoroastrianism) which have gained a following of sorts in modern philosophy, New Age spiritual beliefs and the politics of the Left.
And that is the belief that the world, the cosmos is an interaction between two polar forces, a duality that drives the events of the world at the geopolitical and the individual human level.
You can call it good versus evil, or the Yin and the Yang in the Taoist philosophy. From a philosophical and spiritual perspective, I am convinced this is a false narrative of the truth of our existence. Why? There are three simple reasons and I shall use the analogy of chess:
1. The dualism concept does not answer the question of cause and effect: It evades this question by saying that the universe is simply an eternal duality of two forces. Perhaps the combustion of these two forces caused the Big Bang of creation.
For example, one of the earliest forms of dualistic beliefs, Manichaeism (founded by the Iranian prophet Mani), subscribed to a cosmos of light vs darkness:
"Originally, good and evil existed in two completely separate realms, one the World of Light, ruled by the Father of Greatness together with his five Shekhinas (divine attributes of light), and the other the World of Darkness, ruled by the King of Darkness."
Chess analogy: So if the world comprises a grand chess game and we are the pawns, the Knights, Bishops or Kings, depending on our station in life, then life is just a battle to win the game against one’s opponent, who may be time, death or simply an eternal adversary designed to checkmate us.
The problem with this theory is that chess is a game set up by a creator and before the game even can start, there must be a creator who designed the game, its rules and its pieces.
Dualism has no answer to the question of creation and the purpose of the game. If one loses, what is the meaning of the loss? Same thing if one wins. The idea of winning and losing in a dualistic universe is pedantry and can be seen as a form of self amusement like sports.
2. Dualism does not explain the destructiveness and nature of evil: If the harmony of life is only achieved by a balance between the forces of good and evil, then how do we explain the meaningless of the massacres, the genocide, the murder and hate of man against man? The murder, torture, abuse and trafficking of children?
Does justice and righteousness exist in a dualistic world? Isn't it more meaningful to eradicate and destroy evil once and for all rather than believe that evil can be controlled and allowed to exist?
Or perhaps as the Buddhists believe, that man can only overcome evil by self-control and renunciation of worldly desires?
Chess analogy: The game of chess ends when one party wins and the other loses. Both part company and go back to their own lives. In the dualistic world, the loser pays a heavy price. The loser in a war or grievous crime suffers physical and mental trauma and can be wounded for life. It is no longer just a game.
3. Dualism is anti-God & a vehicle for tyranny: The philosophy of dualism is not only a poor and flawed narrative of the world, it is intrinsically opposed to the concept of a sovereign God who has power over all creation. If there is no such thing as an all-powerful, all-knowing Creator, then good and evil are both equally matched.
Or perhaps, one can interchange roles, reincarnating and evolving from a good mutation to an evil mutation and vice versa depending on the flux of chance, or an invisible karmic force.
But the naysayers, atheists and half-hearted agnostics may rebut by saying: if there is an all-powerful God in this world, why doesn’t He stop the massacres, the genocides, the destructiveness of mankind at the national, tribal and individual level?
The problem with this questioning is that it seeks to disprove a hypothesis by the outcomes of world history. "If God is good and He has mankind's best interests at heart, then why are there wars?"
This question should be turned into: "If God is good, then where is the evidence of His goodness and the final outcome of His creation?" Humanity is a work-in-progress like gold that is refined in the furnace. The fierce heat of the furnace will mould man to be what the Creator wishes him to become over the course of a life.
In the 20th and 21st century, the dualistic nature of identity politics and post-modernism has made dualism a political tool for tyranny and autocracy. This is because there is a shadow group (the deep state) or group of people who are seeking to gain political power by exploiting people's fears and desires.
Chess analogy: Like Herman Hesse’s last novel The Glass Bead Game (or Magister Ludi), the game of chess is elevated to the highest level in an Utopian society such that the world champions belong to an elite group of highly intelligent men and women who get to govern and set the rules of society.
The final aim of dualism is the complete takeover by a third force (the Hegelian dialectic of thesis, antithesis and synthesis) who has set up the game in order to trap the players. Power and domination is the ultimate goal of dualism.
Just like communism was promoted as a dualistic class struggle of the proletariat against the capitalist, the communists and post-modernists use this ideological conflict (of master vs slave, oppressor vs oppressed, white supremacist vs enslaved non-white) to take over every social and economic aspect of our lives through the seizure of economic resources (taxation) and the undermining of the individual freedom of thought & values (any disagreement is a thought crime).
A scene from the Hamzanama where Hamza ibn ‘Abd al-Muttalib Burns Zarthust's Chest and Shatters the Urn with his Ashes
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