I think it started happening in the early 90’s. I started to see it. I tried to explain it to my friends, but did not have much success. I noticed it was like my friends couldn’t see it. No matter hard hard I tried they could not see it. It seemed to be invisible to them . . . . . .
A perception is so hard to identify in each of us unless we have something or someone to help mirror it back to us. I see something one way and you will see it another and so on; others will yet have their own perception. It’s what people do all the time in art galleries; they try to capture the artist’s mind in their work; or simply enjoy their own.
Isn’t it frustrating when others misunderstand you simply because they don’t see what you see?
I remember when our church began reading The Shack. The author intentionally used characterizations in this masterpiece to challenge our perceptions about God, life, death and dreams. To my amazement I discovered just how people didn’t get it or see it.
One of my favorite lines from the book is a quote from Marilynne Robinson’s essay The Death of Adam - “We routinely disqualify testimony that would plead for extenuation. That is, we are so persuaded of the rightness of our own judgment as to invalidate evidence that does not confirm us in it. Nothing that deserves to be called the truth could ever be arrived at by such means.”
When I read this quote, it reminds me that truth, real truth is not relative; it’s subjective and it doesn’t care what I think. Like I said, I started to see it, and the more I saw it, the clearer and more distinct it became – at least to me.
The it I am talking about is located behind the preference Christians have in thinking there is still a separation between them and the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. I reference the “God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob” from the Old Testament scriptures, because simply using the term “God” is too ambiguous. So I’m referring to the One who created you; the One who knew you before you were known by your parents. FYI, by using the term Christian here, I mean those who have been born again (re-created) by the Holy Spirit through the resurrection of the physical body of Jesus of Nazareth.
Another way at looking at it, is giving it a name. The name I’m going to give it is dualism. Dualism is one of those issues in mankind like water is to fish. The ubiquity of dualism is the reason it is so misunderstood, because it goes on without being notice. For example, if you want to know what water is, do not ask a fish. They only swim it without knowing what it is. If you want to know what dualism is, don’t ask people.
Dualism is by definition, the following, brief as it may be:
- the division of something conceptually into two opposed or contrasted aspects, or the state of being so divided. “a dualism between man and nature”
- the quality or condition of being dual; duality.
Without going into a huge philosophical work here, let me say I am no Rene Descartes nor am I trying to sound super intelligent. I am simply pointing out an observation that is becoming painfully clearer the older I get. The observation is that people in general, Christian, Jew and heathen in general, see the world and their lives in this dualistic black and white, us and them experience.
Christians in particular still view themselves as separated from God and unwittingly favor a language that confirms that understanding.
Songs are particularly good at perpetuating the concept of separation from God when lyrics describe the Christian, aka., Believer, Disciple as sinners. It seems there is a preference in identifying with the past instead of realizing the part of scripture that declares us as New Creations partaking in the nature of the One who has begotten us. “Old things have passed away; behold all things have become new”- doesn’t seem to register. It seems like there’s an addiction to express ourselves as the ones who are constantly struggling to please God while we never quite make the cut. Something like a gladiator in ancient Rome.
Dualism is the energy behind this addiction and it drives Christians, and others, to perform in a way that keeps them always falling short of some standard. Dualism fuels mankind’s sense of condemnation and sends them out into the arena of gladiators where performance is critical to survival. Do nothing and you will die. Be on guard while you stealthily wield your weapon and you live, maybe even get the “thumbs up” as you slay your opponent. And so, on and on he goes, deluded by what he perceives as approval, is sadly only more separation.
The New Testament clearly reveals realities that are the result of the resurrection of the physical body of Jesus of Nazareth after spending three days in hell.
Some of those distinctions afforded by the generosity of our Father are these, albeit, they are the words of Jesus to his first disciples. Those words to the twelve, are also words to us, but more than words describing the life of Jesus. They are all powerfully the very words of Christ in us that merge us with Him. No separation. So here we go:
I and My Father are one
John 10:30
He that has seen me has seen the Father
John 14:9
I was known before I was formed
Jeremiah 1:5
While I was a sinner Christ died for the world
Romans 5:8
The Christ that is in Jesus
is the Christ that is in us!
1 John 4:17
In conclusion, I want to share my thoughts that continue to bless and strengthen the resurrection of Christ in me.
- God is not dualistic in vision. While He is not without discernment, He is not without judgement.
- You cannot know what it means to be a child until you are an adult.
- You cannot know what it means to be adult while you are a child, because you have experience as neither.
- You cannot understand dualistic thinking while you are dualistic.
- He that is joined to the Lord is One spirit.
- Dualism began when man sinned and was separated from God.
- Before this dualism could not exist.
Before Lucifer was consumed with pride, creation was not plagued with seeing the universe split into parts. It was definitely complete, whole, not broken. The Jewish word for this condition is Shalom. The cosmos was one with its Creator. It could be called monism.
I believe the angelic realm, even fallen ones, are monistic in their thinking, however forever separated from God. Their status is in perpetual torment because while they see the cosmos differently from humans, they understand their future is rather gruesome. The personification of corrupted pride and evil binds them to a monistic existence, while separated, corrupted and evil. Their only recourse is to hope for man’s failing so they can accomplish scheming for his demise and give them what they themselves have, viz., a monistic existence without God.
Until we are made one with the Father in ourselves, we are isolated in ourselves, by ourselves and to ourselves. We may have a Christian doctrine, even be born again of God’s Spirit, but until our thinking comes into Oneness, we are dualistic in our being.
Monism, the opposite of dualism can only be possible by the baptism in the Holy Spirit. Attempting to be monistic without the Holy Spirit circumvents the cross at Calvary and is antichrist in spirit. You cannot reconcile good with evil, heaven with hell, without the pain and agony on Calvary. Any attempt to do that will reveal itself as a devil.
The only way to know Christ while being separated from Him is to be a demon of sorts. Because their father once walked in the Fire of God.
Monism is at the very center of God Himself. Monism apart from the Holy Spirit’s work of re-creation is treacherous.
Many Christians are still dualistic in their thinking, vision, etc. That’s a result of having a memory of their fallenness without a renewal of the mind. A renewed mind is not a product of self discipline, but a true work of the Holy Spirit who has been able to ally with our own nature.
A side note here: What sounds like humility to people in sentiment like’ ” I’m just a sinner saved by grace”, is in fact defiant blasphemy in the ears of our Father. It says, “No, you can’t make me into the Hope of Glory”. “I’ll remain like I was”. This is rebellion veneered with Christian sentiment. How absurd!
But being dualistic as a Christian is not sin. It means our minds are not yet made whole and are still fragmented.
For example, everything we see with our eyes is an exercise of reconciling differences. Each eye captures the same inverted image from different perspectives and is reconciled by the brain into a perfect singular image. The metaphor of man’s brain creating a third eye is one powerful example of man seeing accurately with his new spirit in a world where everything is seen from differing viewpoints.
Man tries to reconcile everything he looks at in his life without God. By reconciling, I mean trying to fit all the pieces together or making sense of life’s challenges and changes. Seeing life through a dualistic mind is maddening. James calls this a double mindedness. What he cannot sort out satisfactorily is discarded as trash while hurling his favorite expletives. Trying to make sense of life when it does not easily do so is a preoccupation he refuses to give up. He must channel all his life through his spirit, viz., submit all of life’s claims and demands at the feet of Jesus who Alone can give him rest.
Veritasity 