Duality

His Holiness Pope Shenouda speaks about the problem of duality in a person’s life: the state in which a person becomes “two in one” — between good and evil, between the body and the spirit, and between inner and outer contradictory appearances. Before the fall the human knew only good, and after knowledge shame and conflict entered his life.

Manifestations of the problem

He explains that duality appears as internal and external conflict (the desires of the flesh against the spirit), and through fear, and through hypocrisy and duplicity, and by having double standards in dealing with oneself and others. Fear is evidence of an internal split, and hypocrisy is evidence that what is in the heart differs from what is on the tongue and outward behavior.

Causes and consequences

One cause of duality is love of the world and chasing after earthly demands by wrong means (cheating, deception, false praise) to reach personal interests. Duality leads to fragmentation of personality, weakening of conscience, and the person’s falling into evil deeds as a result of fear or self-interest.

Spiritual remedy

The main call is to inner unity: that the person reconcile with himself — his heart, his thought, his spirit and his body — so that they walk in one path. Means: self-discipline, denial of self, repentance, frankness with oneself, reproving oneself first before reproving others, and praising the good even in sinners to stir repentance in them.

Signs of spiritual unity

Signs of unity are the end of dominating fear, the disappearance of internal conflict, and the person’s possession of truthfulness and consistency between what he thinks, what he says, and what he does. A truly faithful person does not fear death because his heart is one and he walks in the way of God.

Practical advice

Let the person be honest with himself first, refrain from false flattery and flattery, do not apply two measures in dealing with people or relatives, and build within you a living conscience and a spirit subjected to the Lord. If your inner unity is restored, heaven and earth will reconcile with you.

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