"Augustine of Hippo, who claimed to have been a dualistic Manichaen for ten years. The radical dualism of Manichaeism is evident in many Gnostic sects": Isn't the vulgar notion of Christianity held by most believers radically dualist? (Which isn't surprising as western Christianity flows from Augustine.) Your standard Christian believes God is good and Satan is evil and History will end with a stand-up fight between the angels of light and the demons with the good angels destined to prevail. A non-dualist sees that the world is perfect as it is right now. If people don't see that it's because their ignorant minds project on to what they experience human ideas of what's good and what's bad. "So, the dualism of Gnosticism has been pretty much established. Manichaeism is based on the doctrine that the entire world of material bodies are all constructions of Satan." In Vedanta, Maya is the deity that perpetuates the illusion of duality in the phenomenal Universe. One has to see through the illusion and so break the spell. Isn't that view on a continuum with Gnostic dualism? I'm sure you'd find lots of Vedantists and Buddhists with a life-hating, body-despising approach and I'm betting you could have found some Gnostics with a more relaxed attitude to the material world.
"Yin and Yang are complimentary forces rather than opposing forces": In Taoist metaphysics, good-bad distinctions are perceptual, not real. As they are not real what we think are opposing forces are in opposition at a superficial level only. At a deeper level they're engaged in a dance. Tweedledum and Tweedledee *agreed* to have a battle. ---In [email protected], <punditster@...> wrote:
