Do you do dualism ?

Have you ever practiced two religions simultaneously? One as say an overlay on the other? Has it worked? Is it possible?

 

Duncan,

I don't think it would be possible to be, for example, both a Jew and a Christian, or both a Jew and a Buddhist, or both a Jew and a Muslim. But syncretism has occurred throughout the history of religion, and I do think it is very possible to take some ideas or practices from one religion that are not in direct opposition to the tenets of one's own religion and adapt them. I have, for example, taken part in a silent meditation retreat. I also have a vipassana practice. Neither of these seem to be in conflict with Judaism. I think one of the important things when attempting something like this is to try and differentiate between cultural baggage and those truths contained within a religion as best as possible. Judaism has its own rich cultural baggage. lol.

Dauer

 

I've sort of been active in both Quakerism and Judaism. Discussing it with my rabbi, he viewed it as acceptable. Quakerism, though technically a sect of Christianity, has no mention of the nature of god (e.g., a trinity) in any of its central tenets. Based on just the core principles of Quakerism, it in no way conflicts with Judaism and therefore works compatibly. Pretty good place for me--I enjoy both in their own ways.

 

I read an essay about Jews into Quakerism. It was written by a rabbi who spent some time with some liberal Quakers, going to some meetings and learning and such. I knew about Jubus, Jufis, Jewitches, and Jewish Shamans, but that one was new to me.

 

"Quakerism" It's not a word.
Quaker is a person the Belief is the Religious Society of Friends.
Thank Wikipedia for inventing "Quakerism"!

 

To my knowledge, Quakerism is a word. It is used in Faith & Practice as published by the Philadelphia Yearly Meeting, which suggests that, even if not originally a word, it's pretty commonly used even within the Quaker community.

 

Drumminmama, please elaborate, hehe. Though as far as synagogue members who need to shut up... they are quite an abundant species, ay?

 

I don't think it is seriously possible. You could create a kind of hybrid religion if you were so inclined of two or more religions, but it would then be a thing in itself which no doubt the orthodox members of those religions would be quick to condemn as 'heresey' or 'new-age nonsense' or some similar insult.

But this is a misuse of the word dualism, which generally refers to philosophical doctrines that propound the idea of an ultimate duality over a unity, as in the case of the monist.

 

Dualism refers to a definition of all known things in terms of (not necessarily equal) pairs of opposites. Good/Evil, Spirit/Matter, Knowledge/Ignorance, Liberal/Conservative, We/Them, etc. There are countless dualistic spectra, or, pairs of opposites from which to choose.

Dualism is a powerful way to view reality, but the human tendency to favor one half of any pair of opposites, at the expense of its counterpart, results in a distorted model of reality. As such, it may be the root of all errors.

I am sure I am not alone with the idea that Dualism is the fruit of “the tree of knowledge of Good and Evil” referred to in the Book of Genesis. It is just a thought, but, who knows?

Western thought is so deeply rooted in Dualism that it is often the default mode of understanding. It is only the truly courageous mind that transcends dualism, to question the presumption that it is the only way to understand, or to seriously consider an alternative.

All Is One. Play with this idea for just a moment and see where your mind goes.

Peace and Love

 

I don't think dualism comes from some mythic event in an ancient and erroneous scripture - it seems to be a natural outcome of our existence as individual beings who see themselves as separate from nature, and as a result too of our sensory apparatus.

Is western thought rooted in dualism? I'd disagree with that, and say it is more specifically mono-theistic thought that is so rooted. If we go back to the ancient Greeks, Plato for example taught that 'all is One' - all comes from and returns to the One.
With the advent of c/anity, such subtlety was lost in a basically dualistic model of the universe, and the concept of a god who is 'wholly other'.

IMO it was with zoroaster that the rot set in, so to speak.

 

I like how you said "Friends meetings have a long section of quiet contemplation." That's practically the definition. I've been to my share of Meetings for Worship that were silent throughout.

I am amazed by your cellphone anecdote. I guess I shouldn't be these days--cell phone go off all the time in inappropriate locations and people seem not to care--but it's still awful. My first response to a cellphone in a synagogue would be to turn it off ASAP. And if I'd had it on for an _emergency_ situation, I'd take the call OUTSIDE. Some people... it's unbelievable!

Maybe I'm just old-fashioned (even if I'm younger than everyone else there), not bringing a cellphone in with me, dressing formally, staying until the end...

 

I think there is something revealing about your statement. And, believe it or not, I agree with you, up to a point.

I also think dualism does not "come from" any mythic story (the story, itself, does not create dualism), but I am reasonably certain the story is a universal reference to the human experience with dualism. It is also a suggestion, or, a statement, that a primal unity exists prior to any dualistic interpretation.

The problem seems to be a misreading of this specific story, if not a generic misunderstanding of the universal intent of any mythic story. The fact that this reflects, identically, the tendency to misinterpret reality itself only strengthens the relevance of the story.

The funny thing about "such subtlety" is that it doesn't often yield itself to blanket statements.

Plato's "All Is One" is THE great truth, but who, in the West, thinks Platonically? If all IS one, then to insist that anything, even (or especially) Western Monotheism, is seperate or "wholly other" is somehow, depending on intent, either a mistake or a violation.

What if Western monotheism is an infinitely sublime expression of ultimate reality? You know, as in, God IS this single unified whole.

Peace and Love

 

My position really is that the genesis story is only one model - only one version of a myth of some kind of 'fall' into the relativistic world of dualities.
But as a model, it is in my view quite limited, and really, not very clear. It is also a negative account, and what I'd describe as a 'disaster scenario'.
The trad. christian interpretation is that it represents man's disobedience to the command of god, and fall into original sin.
None of that has much relevance in my view. I do not believe the world and the human race are basically flawed, or in any concept resembling original sin.

Most likely, the genesis story of the fall was borrowed, as was most of genesis, from earlier sources, such as mesopotamian myth.
Originally, it may refer to something like the cultural shift from the mezolithic to the neolithic ages, when people ceased to be only hunter gatherers, but began to farm, and thus to deviate from the place in nature which they had evolved to fill.

Other ideas about it are that it refers to a fall from a pre-existent state on a higher plane into the world of matter.
But really, I don't see much reason to believe that's very useful either.
I really think it's time our culture looked for more satisfying, positive, and less patriarchal myths. The bible has had it's day IMO. I think anything it has to say is very limited and is framed in a much better and clearer way in many other places, such as the scriptures of eastern religions and so on.

Hardly anyone thinks platonically, and that's at least partly due to the influence of christianity and christian theology, which from the time of Albertus Magnus was obsessed with Aristotle.

Obviously, all structures of thought exist within the One being. But that is no argument for their validity. The ideas of the nazis also exist as part of IT. Obviously, nothing can exist outside it, good, evil, true, false -

And actually, I'd say 'All is One' is only one limited truth. 'All is a multiplicity' is equally as true. 'All is one and multiple at one and the same time' is also true.

I have seen nothing to suggest this is so. On the contrary, western mono-theism seems simplistic, crude and very narrow. And according to christians, the dualism will continue forever, because hell, along with it's resident unbelievers, will always be separate from god.
Try telling the average christian that god is the single unified whole, and you'll more than likely be met with dumb incredulity.
IMO mono-theism represents an attempt at what we to-day might refer to as 'dumbing down'. It quite successfully creates a population of sheepish individuals with no spiritual realization or knowledge, and yet who insist often upon the literal truth of mythic scriptures, and that they alone will be 'saved' from the wrath of the vengeful monster they call their god.
And it's plain as day that if you believe in the literal truth of the bible, god is pretty much a psychopathic entity -

Anyway - I don't see the fact that we're here in this world as the outcome of a disaster or 'fall'. That is a basically negative gloss to put on existence, and no doubt we've paid a high price for that over 2,000 odd years.