Dualism and Tripartism- STEWARDS OF THE GODS. My research on ancient Druid practices, monotheism, polytheism and the adaption of Christianity, during the fifth century, for my novel, Stewards of the Gods, has inspired me to explore spiritual dualism and tripartism. These theoretical terms are not part of our common vocabulary but historically every few years since the fifteen hundreds some theologian somewhere tries to bring them into our practical existence. The approach is classic, produced in written or dramatic form with the use of combative words to stroke a debate, but that is typical for any reasonable extreme opinion. More often than not, the concepts eventually fade to black because there are no means to the end with either theory. In other words, neither duality nor tripartite can be explained to the point of resolve. It is a never ending debate with little purpose other than they are interesting considerations; however, they can be used as a destructive tool for unwarranted accusations by a judgmental believer. Religious Duality or Dualism is, as a concise explanation, the belief in dual practices such as good versus evil or right and wrong. The perception is basic, there are no gray areas and the divergent principles are equal in nature. As a Christian or to a Star Wars saga fan it might be easy to relate to good versus evil. Christians believe in what is good or right and oppose what is evil or wrong. So that would suggest that if you are a Christian or not on the dark side than one can be considered to have dualism beliefs, right? Well it’s not quite that easy. Duality can also be explained using terms like yin and yang, a principle of the Buddhist religion, the key words in the definition are ‘equal in nature.’ Christianity by way of Biblical interest only has one Supreme God, without an equal. Suggesting that the adversary of God is equal is doing precisely what Satan did and that got him kicked out of heaven, according the Christian Bible. There does exist a sect of Christianity labeled Gnostic Christians and they were one of the first groups to bring this paradigm to light. Tripartism is a more symbolic belief. The sacred and magical number three that I, on a personal level, am obsessed with for some reason. It has meaning to me which most would consider symbolism and yes, I am completely guilty of it. Sorry, back to the point. Tripartism can actually be defined as anything that has three parts; not necessarily equal. The Trinity (Father, Son and Holy Spirit) is One in three parts, the bible used the number three many times: Jesus had a ministry that lasted for three years, He rose again on the third day. The Old Testament tells us that we are the descendants of the three sons of Noah, also Jonah spent three days in the big fish and I could go on but I won’t. Look it up yourself because this is interesting stuff. Tripartism is much older than dualism. Triple gods and goddesses existed in many ancient beliefs and Celtic Mythology is littered with triple deities. We can also rely on the number three presented in phrases such as sun, moon and stars or past, present and future, okay, just one more body, soul and spirit. Truthfully, I could never understand the difference between soul and spirit so you may think that one doesnt really count but then again, someone out there may feel they have a perfect understanding of it. So does this explanation mean that all religions including Christianity believe in tripartism? The answer is no, of course. Tripartism is simply a way to define three parts in one. One legend of Saint Patrick says he used a three leaf clover to explain the Trinity to the Irish but they were already familiar with goddesses such as Crone and Morgana (Morrighan), they were also one in three parts. It may not be true but it’s a fun and curious tale. Knowledge of tripartism and dualism has helped me understand only one thing. Humans will go to extreme measures to philosophize aspects of spirituality and religion to do nothing more than show they have the answers wrapped up in neat and tidy little package. What are your thoughts?
Posted on: Thu, 24 Jul 2014 22:44:26 +0000
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