Dualism or Unity

Dualism and the Things That Matter 

First some reflections from Richard Rohr: Dualistic thinking. . .is our way of reading reality from the position of my private ego. “What’s in it for me?” “How will I look if I do this?” This is our preferred way of seeing reality. It has become the “hardware” of almost all Western people, even those who think of themselves as Christians, because the language of institutional religion is largely dualistic itself. . .It has confused information with enlightenment, mind with soul, and thinking with experiencing. But they are two very different paths. 

The dualistic mind is essentially . . .either/or thinking.  It knows by comparison, by opposition  . . .It uses descriptive words like good/evil, pretty/ugly, intelligent/stupid. . . .It works well for the sake of simplification and conversation, but not for the sake of truth or even honest experience. 

. . . . you need your dualistic mind to function in everyday life: to do your job as a teacher, a doctor, or an engineer. It is great stuff as far as it goes, but it doesn’t go far enough. The dualistic mind cannot process things like infinity, mystery, God, grace, suffering, death, or love. When it comes to unconditional love, the dualistic mind can’t even begin to understand it. . . . 

Adapted from A New Way of Seeing, A New Way of Being: Jesus and Paul
(CD, MP3 Download) By Richard Rohr 

Growing up as a Christian in the 1950’s and 1960’s I learned as Richard Rohr states that religion, at least Christianity, saw the world through dualistic lenses.  Good/bad, spirit/flesh, heaven/hell, right/wrong, for me/against me.  I believe Rohr is correct that many of the world’s religions divide the world in two as well, either positive or negative.  When we do this or when a religion does this it makes it much easier for my religion to be the correct one and the others to be incorrect.  It makes it easier to judge others than “do unto others what I would have them do to me.”  It makes my life simpler because I know the rules and I can follow them and “find my salvation.”   

This way of seeing the world does not, however, lead me into the infinite mystery of God, Creation and life itself.  The mystery that includes struggle as well as grace, personal experience as well as rules, and suffering, pleasure, life, love and death.  A unified way of living life frees us from the shackles of dualism and opens to us an opportunity to “live life to the fullest” as Jesus not only taught but lived. 

A life lived to the fullest is a life of openness: A life content to be filled with more questions than answers; a life that can appreciate the mystery of a sunset or of the Holy Eucharist and find truth, beauty and blessing, even without all the answers. 

A life lived to the fullest opens us to the opportunity to experience struggle and grace, love and death as parts of life and of the human condition in a way that makes them and us Holy.  This kind of life takes away the need to judge others, it relieves us of the necessity to judge ourselves.   It allows us to forgive others and ourselves as well.  A life lived to the fullest is a life of abundance rather than a life of scarcity, a life of openness and sharing rather than a life of clutching and hoarding because there will never be enough for all of us. 

We can give up our fear of death because it is part of life, we can give up our fear of what awaits us after death because we know that whatever comes after death it is still a part of life, a part of the mystery of who we are.  Jesus came into the world so that “the whole world might be saved through him.” If this is the case, then this world is vitally important to us and to God.  If this is the so, then this world is all that we have any control or influence over.  If this is true, then it is in this world that we must “live life to the fullest, open our hearts to the mystery and the power and the beauty of this life, and then share it with those around us.