MADELINE- When I was in 6th grade, I read the first of the sixteen Left Behind novels. Left Behind is the most popular Christian fictional series to date. In the first book, the event Christians refer to as “The Rapture” occurs: true believers suddenly disappear as they are taken to heaven, while everyone else stays on Earth. The rest of the series tells of the seven years of the chaos that follows, and in the last book, Christ comes to Earth and delivers judgement upon the remaining people. People at my old school raved about the series and pressured me to at least read the first book. I promised I would, and I did.The next week at lunch, my friends asked me what I thought about the book. I told them that I liked it. I lied. The plot of the story was intriguing, but there was something about Left Behind I couldn’t put my finger on that disturbed me greatly. Not wanting to disagree with my friends, however, I told them that I enjoyed the book.
My friends excitedly discussed the books until the end of lunch. I don’t remember much about this conversation, save for one snippet, when someone asked my friend Gracie what her favorite part of the series was:
“I love the very beginning, when The Rapture happens,” she said. “I like it because it lays out the truth, plain and simple. The truth is that, in the end, there are two kinds of people in this world: those that are separated from God and those that aren’t.”
This comment upset me even more. The next few nights, I had nightmares about Left Behind. It wasn’t until years later that I finally understood why the book and Gracie’s comment had caused me to be so unsettled.
In philosophy, the word dualism can refer to several concepts. In the branch of ethics alone, it has more than one meaning. In this post, dualism will refer to a certain concept popularized by early Western thinkers that defines the relationship between good and evil.
Dualism states that good and evil are different entities that oppose each other. Good and evil are complete opposites and cannot exist together in harmony. To a dualist, reality is a battlefield where good and evil “fight.” Dualism defines the relationship between good and evil as a “versus” relationship. In our reality, good versus evil is the one and only way to correctly define the relationship between those two entities.
Dualism dominates the way the Western world thinks about good and evil. We are obsessed with superhero movies, where most of the characters are either very obviously completely evil or very obviously completely good, and where these good and evil characters battle it out until the evil characters have been defeated. Western Christian literature, such as the Christian novel I read in 6th grade, paints a black-and-white picture of reality, where the world is composed of believers and non-believers and there is no overlap or gray area. The picture warns us that we better get on the right side quickly and urgently try to convince others to do the same, before God comes and completely destroys the other side.
Dualism is certainly popular, as half of the world has adopted it as truth. Upon further examination, however, it becomes clear that dualism cannot explain certain things. Dualism does not account for the fact that sometimes, evil is necessary for good to exist. For example, and old woman suddenly dying due to a terrible disease and causing much grief in her family members’ lives is a clearly evil event. However, perhaps it caused her grandchildren to acquire a kind of strength that couldn’t have been acquired if the woman had not died. Dualism also cannot explain the possibility that a person can have both good and evil within her and yet be completely at peace with herself. In short, dualism is far too simple, and the relationship between good and evil is much more complicated than the strict “versus” relationship the theory presents.
Dualism is not only flawed, but also dangerous if one adopts it. You begin to dehumanize certain people or groups of people; you reduce them to the adjectives “good” or “bad” instead of acknowledging their complexity. It is also tiring and stressful to view life as a constant battle against evil. If you held such a view, long-lasting peace in your life would be impossible, because the existence of evil is inevitable in our current reality. It seems clear that we must consider other ethical theories regarding good and evil’s relationship besides the one that currently plagues the Western World. Plenty of such theories exist, most of which come from the East. These theories describe the relationship between good and evil as extremely complex, and they stress that good and evil do not oppose each other. Buddha even goes as far as to say that good and evil are actually the same thing, and that the apparent distinction between them is an illusion. Regardless of whether or not this is completely true, it is clear that Buddha and other Eastern thinkers have a point, and Western society would be wise to consider their ideas. Perhaps the adoption of Eastern thought by the Western world would help stop some of our societal ailments, such as the demonization of Muslims and people of color, or the toxic mentality that my friend Gracie and so many other Christians possess.
In summary, keep Buddha’s thoughts in mind when seeing that next Marvel movie.
My friends excitedly discussed the books until the end of lunch. I don’t remember much about this conversation, save for one snippet, when someone asked my friend Gracie what her favorite part of the series was:
“I love the very beginning, when The Rapture happens,” she said. “I like it because it lays out the truth, plain and simple. The truth is that, in the end, there are two kinds of people in this world: those that are separated from God and those that aren’t.”
This comment upset me even more. The next few nights, I had nightmares about Left Behind. It wasn’t until years later that I finally understood why the book and Gracie’s comment had caused me to be so unsettled.
In philosophy, the word dualism can refer to several concepts. In the branch of ethics alone, it has more than one meaning. In this post, dualism will refer to a certain concept popularized by early Western thinkers that defines the relationship between good and evil.
Dualism states that good and evil are different entities that oppose each other. Good and evil are complete opposites and cannot exist together in harmony. To a dualist, reality is a battlefield where good and evil “fight.” Dualism defines the relationship between good and evil as a “versus” relationship. In our reality, good versus evil is the one and only way to correctly define the relationship between those two entities.
Dualism dominates the way the Western world thinks about good and evil. We are obsessed with superhero movies, where most of the characters are either very obviously completely evil or very obviously completely good, and where these good and evil characters battle it out until the evil characters have been defeated. Western Christian literature, such as the Christian novel I read in 6th grade, paints a black-and-white picture of reality, where the world is composed of believers and non-believers and there is no overlap or gray area. The picture warns us that we better get on the right side quickly and urgently try to convince others to do the same, before God comes and completely destroys the other side.
Dualism is certainly popular, as half of the world has adopted it as truth. Upon further examination, however, it becomes clear that dualism cannot explain certain things. Dualism does not account for the fact that sometimes, evil is necessary for good to exist. For example, and old woman suddenly dying due to a terrible disease and causing much grief in her family members’ lives is a clearly evil event. However, perhaps it caused her grandchildren to acquire a kind of strength that couldn’t have been acquired if the woman had not died. Dualism also cannot explain the possibility that a person can have both good and evil within her and yet be completely at peace with herself. In short, dualism is far too simple, and the relationship between good and evil is much more complicated than the strict “versus” relationship the theory presents.
Dualism is not only flawed, but also dangerous if one adopts it. You begin to dehumanize certain people or groups of people; you reduce them to the adjectives “good” or “bad” instead of acknowledging their complexity. It is also tiring and stressful to view life as a constant battle against evil. If you held such a view, long-lasting peace in your life would be impossible, because the existence of evil is inevitable in our current reality. It seems clear that we must consider other ethical theories regarding good and evil’s relationship besides the one that currently plagues the Western World. Plenty of such theories exist, most of which come from the East. These theories describe the relationship between good and evil as extremely complex, and they stress that good and evil do not oppose each other. Buddha even goes as far as to say that good and evil are actually the same thing, and that the apparent distinction between them is an illusion. Regardless of whether or not this is completely true, it is clear that Buddha and other Eastern thinkers have a point, and Western society would be wise to consider their ideas. Perhaps the adoption of Eastern thought by the Western world would help stop some of our societal ailments, such as the demonization of Muslims and people of color, or the toxic mentality that my friend Gracie and so many other Christians possess.
In summary, keep Buddha’s thoughts in mind when seeing that next Marvel movie.
