Dualism in cosmology is the moral or spiritual
belief that two fundamental concepts exist,
which often oppose each other. It is an umbrella
term that covers a diversity of views from
various religions, including both traditional
religions and scriptural religions.
Moral dualism is the belief of the great complement
of, or conflict between, the benevolent and
the malevolent. It simply implies that there
are two moral opposites at work, independent
of any interpretation of what might be "moral"
and independent of how these may be represented.
Moral opposites might, for example, exist
in a worldview which has one god, more than
one god, or none. By contrast, duotheism,
bitheism or ditheism implies (at least) two
gods. While bitheism implies harmony, ditheism
implies rivalry and opposition, such as between
good and evil, or light and dark, or summer
and winter. For example, a ditheistic system
could be one in which one god is a creator,
and the other a destroyer. In theology, dualism
can also refer to the relationship between
God and creation or God and the universe (see
theistic dualism). This form of dualism is
a belief shared in certain traditions of Christianity
and Hinduism. Alternatively, in ontological
dualism, the world is divided into two overarching
categories. The opposition and combination
of the universe's two basic principles of
yin and yang is a large part of Chinese philosophy,
and is an important feature of Taoism. It
is also discussed in Confucianism.
Many myths and creation motifs with dualistic
cosmologies have been described in ethnographic
and anthropological literature. These motifs
conceive the world as being created, organized,
or influenced by two demiurges, culture heroes,
or other mythological beings, who either compete
with each other or have a complementary function
in creating, arranging or influencing the
world. There is a huge diversity of such cosmologies.
In some cases, such as among the Chukchi,
the beings collaborate rather than competing,
and contribute to the creation in a coequal
way. In many other instances the two beings
are not of the same importance or power (sometimes,
one of them is even characterized as gullible).
Sometimes they can be contrasted as good versus
evil. They may be often believed to be twins
or at least brothers. Dualistic motifs in
mythologies can be observed in all inhabited
continents. Zolotaryov concludes that they
cannot be explained by diffusion or borrowing,
but are rather of convergent origin: they
are related to a dualistic organization of
society (moieties); in some cultures, this
social organization may have ceased to exist,
but mythology preserves the memory in more
and more disguised ways.
== Moral dualism ==
Moral dualism is the belief of the great complement
or conflict between the benevolent and the
malevolent. Like ditheism/bitheism (see below),
moral dualism does not imply the absence of
monist or monotheistic principles. Moral dualism
simply implies that there are two moral opposites
at work, independent of any interpretation
of what might be "moral" and—unlike ditheism/bitheism—independent
of how these may be represented.
For example, Mazdaism (Mazdean Zoroastrianism)
is both dualistic and monotheistic (but not
monist by definition) since in that philosophy
God—the Creator—is purely good, and the
antithesis—which is also uncreated–is
an absolute one. Zurvanism (Zurvanite Zoroastrianism),
Manichaeism, and Mandaeism are representative
of dualistic and monist philosophies since
each has a supreme and transcendental First
Principle from which the two equal-but-opposite
entities then emanate. This is also true for
the lesser-known Christian gnostic religions,
such as Bogomils, Catharism, and so on. More
complex forms of monist dualism also exist,
for instance in Hermeticism, where Nous "thought"—that
is described to have created man—brings
forth both good and evil, dependent on interpretation,
whether it receives prompting from the God
or from the Demon. Duality with pluralism
is considered a logical fallacy.
=== History ===
Moral dualism began as a theological belief.
Dualism was first seen implicitly in Egyptian
religious beliefs by the contrast of the gods
Set (disorder, death) and Osiris (order, life).
The first explicit conception of dualism came
from the Ancient Persian religion of Zoroastrianism
around the mid-fifth century BC. Zoroastrianism
is a monotheistic religion that believes that
Ahura Mazda is the eternal creator of all
good things. Any violations of Ahura Mazda's
order arise from druj, which is everything
uncreated. From this comes a significant choice
for humans to make. Either they fully participate
in human life for Ahura Mazda or they do not
and give druj power. Personal dualism is even
more distinct in the beliefs of later religions.
The religious dualism of Christianity between
good and evil is not a perfect dualism as
God (good) will inevitably destroy Satan (evil).
Early Christian dualism is largely based on
Platonic Dualism (See: Neoplatonism and Christianity).
There is also a personal dualism in Christianity
with a soul-body distinction based on the
idea of an immaterial Christian soul.
== Duotheism, bitheism, ditheism ==
When used with regards to multiple gods, dualism
may refer to duotheism, bitheism, or ditheism.
Although ditheism/bitheism imply moral dualism,
they are not equivalent: ditheism/bitheism
implies (at least) two gods, while moral dualism
does not necessarily imply theism (theos = god)
at all.
Both bitheism and ditheism imply a belief
in two equally powerful gods with complementary
or antonymous properties; however, while bitheism
implies harmony, ditheism implies rivalry
and opposition, such as between good and evil,
bright and dark, or summer and winter. For
example, a ditheistic system would be one
in which one god is creative, the other is
destructive (cf. theodicy). In the original
conception of Zoroastrianism, for example,
Ahura Mazda was the spirit of ultimate good,
while Ahriman (Angra Mainyu) was the spirit
of ultimate evil.
In a bitheistic system, by contrast, where
the two deities are not in conflict or opposition,
one could be male and the other female (cf.
duotheism). One well-known example of a bitheistic
or duotheistic theology based on gender polarity
is found in the neopagan religion of Wicca.
In Wicca, dualism is represented in the belief
of a god and a goddess as a dual partnership
in ruling the universe. This is centered on
the worship of a divine couple, the Moon Goddess
and the Horned God, who are regarded as lovers.
However, there is also a ditheistic theme
within traditional Wicca, as the Horned God
has dual aspects of bright and dark - relating
to day/night, summer/winter - expressed as
the Oak King and the Holly King, who in Wiccan
myth and ritual are said to engage in battle
twice a year for the hand of the Goddess,
resulting in the changing seasons. (Within
Wicca, bright and dark do not correspond to
notions of "good" and "evil" but are aspects
of the natural world, much like yin and yang
in Taoism.)
=== Radical and mitigated dualism ===
Radical Dualism – or absolute Dualism which
posits two co-equal divine forces. Manichaeism
conceives of two previously coexistent realms
of light and darkness which become embroiled
in conflict, owing to the chaotic actions
of the latter. Subsequently, certain elements
of the light became entrapped within darkness;
the purpose of material creation is to enact
the slow process of extraction of these individual
elements, at the end of which the kingdom
of light will prevail over darkness. Manicheanism
likely inherits this dualistic mythology from
Zoroastrianism, in which the eternal spirit
Ahura Mazda is opposed by his antithesis,
Angra Mainyu; the two are engaged in a cosmic
struggle, the conclusion of which will likewise
see Ahura Mazda triumphant. 'The Hymn of the
Pearl' included the belief that the material
world corresponds to some sort of malevolent
intoxication brought about by the powers of
darkness to keep elements of the light trapped
inside it in a state of drunken distraction.
Mitigated Dualism – is where one of the
two principles is in some way inferior to
the other. Such classical Gnostic movements
as the Sethians conceived of the material
world as being created by a lesser divinity
than the true God that was the object of their
devotion. The spiritual world is conceived
of as being radically different from the material
world, co-extensive with the true God, and
the true home of certain enlightened members
of humanity; thus, these systems were expressive
of a feeling of acute alienation within the
world, and their resultant aim was to allow
the soul to escape the constraints presented
by the physical realm.However, bitheistic
and ditheistic principles are not always so
easily contrastable, for instance in a system
where one god is the representative of summer
and drought and the other of winter and rain/fertility
(cf. the mythology of Persephone). Marcionism,
an early Christian sect, held that the Old
and New Testaments were the work of two opposing
gods: both were First Principles, but of different
religions.
== Theistic dualism ==
In theology, dualism can refer to the relationship
between God and creation or God and the universe.
This form of dualism is a belief shared in
certain traditions of Christianity and Hinduism.
=== In Christianity ===
The dualism between God and Creation has existed
as a central belief in multiple historical
sects and traditions of Christianity, including
Marcionism, Catharism, Paulicianism, and Gnostic
Christianity. Christian dualism refers to
the belief that God and creation are distinct,
but interrelated through an indivisible bond.
In sects like the Cathars and the Paulicians,
this is a dualism between the material world,
created by an evil god, and a moral god. Historians
divide Christian dualism into absolute dualism,
which held that the good and evil gods were
equally powerful, and mitigated dualism, which
held that material evil was subordinate to
the spiritual good. The belief, by Christian
theologians who adhere to a libertarian or
compatibilist view of free will, that free
will separates humankind from God has also
been characterized as a form of dualism. The
theologian Leroy Stephens Rouner compares
the dualism of Christianity with the dualism
that exists in Zoroastrianism and the Samkhya
tradition of Hinduism. The theological use
of the word dualism dates back to 1700, in
a book that describes the dualism between
good and evil.The tolerance of dualism ranges
widely among the different Christian traditions.
As a monotheistic religion, the conflict between
dualism and monism has existed in Christianity
since its inception. The 1912 Catholic Encyclopedia
describes that, in the Catholic Church, "the
dualistic hypothesis of an eternal world existing
side by side with God was of course rejected"
by the thirteenth century, but mind–body
dualism was not. The problem of evil is difficult
to reconcile with absolute monism, and has
prompted some Christian sects to veer towards
dualism. Gnostic forms of Christianity were
more dualistic, and some Gnostic traditions
posited that the Devil was separate from God
as an independent deity. The Christian dualists
of the Byzantine Empire, the Paulicians, were
seen as Manichean heretics by Byzantine theologians.
This tradition of Christian dualism, founded
by Constantine-Silvanus, argued that the universe
was created through evil and separate from
a moral God.The Cathars, a Christian sect
in southern France, believed that there was
a dualism between two gods, one representing
good and the other representing evil. The
Roman Catholic Church denounced the Cathars
as heretics, and sought to crush the movement
in the 13th century. The Albigensian Crusade
was initiated by Pope Innocent III in 1208
to remove the Cathars from Languedoc in France,
where they were known as Albigesians. The
Inquisition, which began in 1233 under Pope
Gregory IX, also targeted the Cathars.
==== Gnosticism ====
Gnosticism is a diverse, syncretistic religious
movement consisting of various belief systems
generally united in the teaching that humans
are divine souls trapped in a material world
created by an imperfect god, the demiurge,
who is frequently identified with the Abrahamic
God. The demiurge may be depicted as an embodiment
of evil, or in other instances as merely imperfect
and as benevolent as its inadequacy permits.
This demiurge exists alongside another remote
and unknowable supreme being that embodies
good.
Bogomils, Paulicans and Cathars are typically
seen as being imitative of Gnosticism. Whether
or not the Cathari possessed direct historical
influence from ancient Gnosticism is a matter
of dispute. The basic conceptions of Gnostic
cosmology are, however, to be found in Cathar
beliefs (most distinctly in their notion of
a lesser creator god). Unlike the second century
Gnostics, they did not apparently place any
special relevance upon knowledge (gnosis)
as an effective salvific force.
=== In Hinduism ===
The Dvaita Vedanta school of Indian philosophy
espouses a dualism between God and the universe
by theorizing the existence of two separate
realities. The first and the more important
reality is that of Shiva or Shakti or Vishnu
or Brahman. Shiva or Shakti or Vishnu is the
supreme Self, God, the absolute truth of the
universe, the independent reality. The second
reality is that of dependent but equally real
universe that exists with its own separate
essence. Everything that is composed of the
second reality, such as individual soul (Jiva),
matter, etc. exist with their own separate
reality. The distinguishing factor of this
philosophy as opposed to Advaita Vedanta (monistic
conclusion of Vedas) is that God takes on
a personal role and is seen as a real eternal
entity that governs and controls the universe.
Because the existence of individuals is grounded
in the divine, they are depicted as reflections,
images or even shadows of the divine, but
never in any way identical with the divine.
Salvation therefore is described as the realization
that all finite reality is essentially dependent
on the Supreme.
== Ontological dualism ==
Alternatively, dualism can mean the tendency
of humans to perceive and understand the world
as being divided into two overarching categories.
In this sense, it is dualistic when one perceives
a tree as a thing separate from everything
surrounding it. This form of ontological dualism
exists in Taoism and Confucianism, beliefs
that divide the universe into the complementary
oppositions of yin and yang. In traditions
such as classical Hinduism, Zen Buddhism or
Islamic Sufism, a key to enlightenment is
"transcending" this sort of dualistic thinking,
without merely substituting dualism with monism
or pluralism.
=== In Chinese philosophy ===
The opposition and combination of the universe's
two basic principles of yin and yang is a
large part of Chinese philosophy, and is an
important feature of Taoism, both as a philosophy
and as a religion, although the concept developed
much earlier. Some argue that yin and yang
were originally an earth and sky god, respectively.
As one of the oldest principles in Chinese
philosophy, yin and yang are also discussed
in Confucianism, but to a lesser extent.
Some of the common associations with yang
and yin, respectively, are: male and female,
light and dark, active and passive, motion
and stillness. Some scholars believe that
the two ideas may have originally referred
to two opposite sides of a mountain, facing
towards and away from the sun. The yin and
yang symbol in actuality has very little to
do with Western dualism; instead it represents
the philosophy of balance, where two opposites
co-exist in harmony and are able to transmute
into each other. In the yin-yang symbol there
is a dot of yin in yang and a dot of yang
in yin. In Taoism, this symbolizes the inter-connectedness
of the opposite forces as different aspects
of Tao, the First Principle. Contrast is needed
to create a distinguishable reality, without
which we would experience nothingness. Therefore,
the independent principles of yin and yang
are actually dependent on one another for
each other's distinguishable existence.
The complementary dualistic concept seen in
yin and yang represent the reciprocal interaction
throughout nature, related to a feedback loop,
where opposing forces do not exchange in opposition
but instead exchange reciprocally to promote
stabilization similar to homeostasis. An underlying
principle in Taoism states that within every
independent entity lies a part of its opposite.
Within sickness lies health and vice versa.
This is because all opposites are manifestations
of the single Tao, and are therefore not independent
from one another, but rather a variation of
the same unifying force throughout all of
nature.
== In traditional religions ==
=== 
Uralic peoples ===
In a Nenets myth, Num and Nga collaborate
and compete with each other, creating land,
there are also other myths about competing-collaborating
demiurges.
=== Comparative studies of Uralic peoples
and Kets ===
Among others, also dualistic myths were investigated
in researches which tried to compare the mythologies
of Siberian peoples and settle the problem
of their origins. Vyacheslav Ivanov and Vladimir
Toporov compared the mythology of Ket people
with those of Uralic peoples, assuming in
the studies, that there are modelling semiotic
systems in the compared mythologies; and they
have also made typological comparisons. Among
others, from possibly Uralic mythological
analogies, those of Ob-Ugric peoples and Samoyedic
peoples are mentioned. Some other discussed
analogies (similar folklore motifs, and purely
typological considerations, certain binary
pairs in symbolics) may be related to dualistic
organization of society—some of such dualistic
features can be found at these compared peoples.
It must be admitted that, for Kets, neither
dualistic organization of society nor cosmological
dualism has been researched thoroughly: if
such features existed at all, they have either
weakened or remained largely undiscovered;
although there are some reports on division
into two exogamous patrilinear moieties, folklore
on conflicts of mythological figures, and
also on cooperation of two beings in creating
the land: the diving of the water fowl. If
we include dualistic cosmologies meant in
broad sense, not restricted to certain concrete
motifs, then we find that they are much more
widespread, they exist not only among some
Uralic peoples, but there are examples in
each inhabited continent.
=== Chukchi ===
A Chukchi myth and its variations report the
creation of the world; in some variations,
it is achieved by the collaboration of several
beings (birds, collaborating in a coequal
way; or the creator and the raven, collaborating
in a coequal way; or the creator alone, using
the birds only as assistants).
=== Fuegians ===
All three Fuegian tribes had dualistic myths
about culture heros. The Yámana have dualistic
myths about the two [joalox] brothers. They
act as culture heroes, and sometimes stand
in an antagonistic relation with each other,
introducing opposite laws. Their figures can
be compared to the Kwanyip-brothers of the
Selk'nam. In general, the presence of dualistic
myths in two compared cultures does not imply
relatedness or diffusion necessarily.
== See also ==
Didache – The Two Ways
Duality
Mind-body dualism
Evil twin
Gnosticism
Nondualism
Table of Opposites
Yanantin (complementary dualism in Native
South American culture)
== Notes ==
== 
References ==
Anyiszimov, A. F. (1981). Az ősközösségi
társadalom szellemi élete (in Hungarian).
Budapest: Kossuth Könyvkiadó. ISBN 963-09-1843-9.
Title means: “The spiritual life of the
primitive commune”. The book is composed
out of the translations of the following two
originals: Анисимов, Ф. А. (1966).
Духовная жизнь первобытново
общества (in Russian). Москва
• Ленинград: Наука. The other
one: Анисимов, Ф. А. (1971). Исторические
особенности первобытново
мышления (in Russian). Москва
• Ленинград: Наука.
Gusinde, Martin (1966). Nordwind—Südwind.
Mythen und Märchen der Feuerlandindianer
(in German). Kassel: E. Röth. Title means:
“North wind—south wind. Myths and tales
of Fuegians”.
Ivanov, Vyacheslav; Vladimir Toporov (1973).
"Towards the Description of Ket Semiotic Systems".
Semiotica. The Hague • Prague • New York:
Mouton. IX (4): 318–346.
Ivanov, Vjacseszlav (=Vyacheslav) (1984).
"Nyelvek és mitológiák". Nyelv, mítosz,
kultúra (in Hungarian). Collected, appendix,
editorial afterword by Hoppál, Mihály. Budapest:
Gondolat. ISBN 963-281-186-0. The title means:
“Language, myth, culture”, the editorial
afterword means: “Languages and mythologies”.
Ivanov, Vjacseszlav (=Vyacheslav) (1984).
"Obi-ugor és ket folklórkapcsolatok". Nyelv,
mítosz, kultúra (in Hungarian). Collected,
appendix, editorial afterword by Hoppál,
Mihály. Budapest: Gondolat. pp. 215–233.
ISBN 963-281-186-0. The title means: “Language,
myth, culture”, the chapter means: “Obi-Ugric
and Ket folklore contacts”.
Vértes, Edit (1990). Szibériai nyelvrokonaink
hitvilága (in Hungarian). Budapest: Tankönyvkiadó.
ISBN 963-18-2603-1. The title means: “Belief
systems of our language relatives in Siberia”.
Zolotarjov, A.M. (1980). "Társadalomszervezet
és dualisztikus teremtésmítoszok Szibériában".
In Hoppál, Mihály. A Tejút fiai. Tanulmányok
a finnugor népek hitvilágáról (in Hungarian).
Budapest: Európa Könyvkiadó. pp. 29–58.
ISBN 963-07-2187-2. Chapter means: “Social
structure and dualistic creation myths in
Siberia”; title means: “The sons of Milky
Way. Studies on the belief systems of Finno-Ugric
peoples”.
== External links ==
Media related to Dualism at Wikimedia Commons
Duality entry in the UCLA Encyclopedia of
Egyptology
Dictionary of the History of ideas: Dualism
in Philosophy and Religion
