I got a comment last night on one of my posts. It told me to go back to studying the Bible in so many words and that eternal life was a gift given only to those who repented etc. etc. How sad.
I was raised a christian and to all intents and purposes I probably still am more Christ-centric than anything else. I am sympathetic to christianity. However, there was time when I realized that many Christians seem to believe in two Gods. I guess it was all those years in Texas that finally sealed it for me. Christianity, in some forms, preaches a duality and I’m sorry I am not a dualist. Let me explain.
For me there is the One Thing. Call it God/Goddess or whatever name you wish to give it but there is One Thing and everything is a part of that One Thing. All is One. It is Unity. For many Christians there are two Things – God and Satan. These two Gods fight each other for our souls and though most will say that they are not equal and opposite – that God can and has defeated Satan, the implication is that these are two polar Gods of Light and Dark, Good and Evil. Of course, when you challenge the fundamental christian about his dualism they will react in shock and righteous indignation that they worship God and they reject Satan and all of his works. Maybe so. But the system they believe in has two polar Gods whichever they chose to accept as their God. This also plays out in their view of reality which is often very black and white. Very, well, fundamentalist.
They are entitled to their views. The problem is that they are not content to hold these views but feel the need to make sure we all accept these views too. Sometimes, they even believe that if we don’t share their views they should do God’s work and rid his creation of the rest of us. Which God’s work might that be? This was the smug attitude of the commentator I spoke of above. Do people who are arrogant enough to believe that they are saved actually get saved or does their God smite them down for their arrogance?
See one problem is that what is good and evil to one person may not be good and evil to a God. There is a lovely little story in Comte de Gabalis that reads like this that proves this point;
“And Moses said to him, ‘Shall I follow thee that thou teach me, for guidance, of that which thou too hast been taught?’
He said, ‘Verily, thou canst not have patience with me;
How canst thou be patient in matters whose meaning thou comprehendest not?’
He said, ‘Thou shalt find me patient if God please, nor will I disobey thy bidding.’
He said, ‘Then, if thou follow me, ask me not ofaught until I have given thee an account thereof.’
So they both went on, till they embarked in a ship, and he–the unknown–staved it in. ‘What!’ said Moses, ‘hast thou staved it in that thou mayest drown its crew? a strange thing now hast thou done!’
He said, ‘Did I not tell thee that thou couldst not have patience with me?’
He said, ‘Chide me not that I forgat, nor lay on me a hard command.’
Then went they on till they met a youth, and he slew him. Said Moses, ‘Hast thou slain him who is free from guilt of blood? Now hast thou wrought a grievous thing!’
He said, Did I not tell thee that thou couldst not have patience with me?’
Moses said, ‘If after this I ask thee aught, then let me be thy comrade no longer; but now hast thou my excuse.’
They went on till they came to the people of a city. Of this people they asked food, but they refused them for guests. And they found in it a wall that was about to fall, and he set it upright. Said Moses, ‘If thou hadst wished, for this thou mightest have obtained pay.’ He said, This is the parting point between me and thee. But I will first tell thee the meaning of that which thou couldst not await with patience.
‘As to the vessel, it belonged to poor men who toiled upon the sea, and I was minded to damage it, for in their rear was a king who seized every ship by force. As to the youth his parents were believers, and we feared lest he should trouble them by error and infidelity. And we desired that their Lord might give them in his place a child, better than he in virtue, and nearer to filial piety. And as to the wall, it belonged to two orphan youths in the city, and beneath it was their treasure: and their father was a righteous man: and thy Lord desired that they should reach the age of strength, and take forth their treasure through the mercy of thy Lord. And not of mine own will have I done this. This is the interpretation of that which thou couldst not bear with patience.'” THE KORAN, SURA IS, THE CAVE, EVERYMAN’S LIBRARY EDITION, PAGES 186-188.
Furthermore, I cannot subscribe to any religion that tells me that God is good and yet then tells me that unless I do exactly as I am told, God will ensure I burn in hell forever. Now, who is doing the telling? Usually, the Church. This carrot and the stick method was great back in the dark ages when the masses could be controlled via in such a manner but I fear it no longer has much effect in a world where many think God a human invention!
No, I am pretty sure that there is a Deity of sorts and that It is the All that we live in and have our lives by. I’m pretty sure that It might be approached within through balance and through the reconciliation of the opposites. Duality is a distraction but a necessary one for without polarity there would be neither space nor time. The eternal peace that we all ultimately seek is the single point in which all polarities are reconciled and in which there can only be eternal stasis.