Dualism and the Cycles of Time

By Kerry Bolton

The moral dogma that has infected Western Civilization since its beginning is a Judaic DUALISM inherited from Zoroastrianism and brought in by the virus of Christianity. Dualism states that there is a battle being fought in both the spiritual and earthly realms (and even within every individual) between two opposites, "good and evil." Not only has this Dualism subverted our Culture, it has turned the individual into a split personality: this is the result of repressing what is considered 'evil' about one's nature by moral and religious dogmas.

Cycles of Time

Before this dualism was implanted, pagan societies didn't label natural forces with such absolute moral attributes. There were creative and destructive forces in Nature, often symbolized as gods. But even the destructive aspects had creative purposes, and were part of a transcendent cosmic unity.

For example, in what moral context can we place Indo-Aryan deities such as Shiva and Kali? To the Western dualized mind they would be considered 'evil' because of their primal destructiveness. But to the Hindus, retaining the ancient Aryan wisdom, they were 'beyond good and evil.' They comprise both the creative and destructive aspects of Nature in their various forms and roles. Even their destructive roles are a vital part of a cosmic cyclical process of CREATION-DESTRUCTION-RENEWAL: Shiva in his Cosmic Dance of Destruction clears the way for another round of history's ancient Cycles.

Ragnarök

The Germans and Norse, like their Indo-Aryan kinsfolk, also had this cyclical cosmology. The destruction brought by Ragnarök is the prelude to a new Earth, new humanity, new heaven, and even a new pantheon of gods. The gods themselves cannot avoid their Fate, for without the destruction by Ragnarök there would be stagnation and decay.

The dark forces of Loki, Fenrir, Surt, Garm, and Iormungandr are catalysts for Change; thus the cycle continues: creation-destruction-renewal. This is the inexorable process that can be observed in both History and Nature.

The Aryan Persians before Zoroastrianism had a conception of interplay between the Light and Dark forces which were seen as two aspects of Zervan, Lord of Time—the Light of Ahura Mazda and the Dark of Ahriman were both emanations of Zervan. Zoroastrianism divided these two into moral opposites separated from the Time Lord. It is from here that Judaism and ultimately Christianity got their dualism, which has afflicted the West.

Some of the Gnostic sects rejected Dualism and restored the ancient wisdom in the deity Abraxas, who united all polarities within himself. The psychologist Carl Jung turned to Abraxas when considering the interrelationship that exists between polarities in Nature.

Individuation

Jung revived the ancient wisdom with modem scientific methods and terms, but drawing much from pre- and non- Christian cultures and Medieval Alchemy. He sought to unify the polarities within the individual to create the whole person (called 'individuation') no longer cut off from his repressed so-called 'evil' shadow self. This 'individuation' of Jungian psychology is also akin to the occultists' quest for adeptship.

Jung was concerned with how a neurotic Christian civilization could be brought back to the completeness of pagan times. He saw the need to allow the repressed barbarian lurking within modem man to resurface and find a modem expression—thus his support for National Socialist Germany as an expression of the repressed Shadow Self of the Germans, symbolized as Wotan.

Christianized Neopagans

Judeo-Christian moral dualism is now so deep-seated within the Western psyche that even those Pagans who think they are outside the Christian context are as dualized as any Christling. These "Neopagans" (sic) have made internationalists and pacifists out of tribal war gods! Where warrior attributes cannot be ignored, they have been transformed into "the way of the peaceful warrior" (puke!).Tyr, Thor, and Odin have been castrated. The 'neopagans' have simply made the Old Gods reflections of their own dualized half-selves. They have repressed as 'evil' the Dark aspects. These 'neopagans' are worse than useless; they are another aspect of the dualism that is driving the European folk to self-destruction. Even many (most?) of the harder-line 'Odinists' have a cosmology that is essentially Christian. They have dualized the Aesir and the Jotuns into contending moral forces of "good vs. evil." Odin (or Baldur) is their Jesus. Loki is their Satan. Ragnarök is their Armageddon. The whole significance of Indo-European cyclical cosmology has been rendered null and void.

The Pagan heritage has been dualized... Christianized!

There are some Pagans, however, who continue to honor the ancient wisdom. They see the Cosmos as an interplay of polarities, not as a battlefield of moral dualities. It is this that is the basis of evolution. Without this catalyst mankind slips back into the nebulous mass from which he evolved. It is just such a degraded state that the religions and moralities of decay are dragging us towards. Let our path be starbound.  

Hail Odin! Hail Loki!