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Note
on Clown
This
is another piece of Manichaeism,1 my version of which is not
that which pits moral Good against immoral Evil.
Nor is it about a coordinated All in a non-moral ‘conflict’
against its uncoordinated Many Parts.
I really can’t think of an All as One, although the notion does
smack of interesting contradictions, and fundamental inconsistency is,
to me, an attractive alternative to logic.
But what would ‘conflict’ mean on a big bang and superstring
level? Anyway, neither of
these. To me, in all the
universes, if there are others, and even in our own, are many versions
of evil, which is social, not supernatural.
The
lakes which the infant clown balances like plates at the top of two
wands are the lakes of good and evil.
The lake of good exists only in our dreams.
This, the ‘pellucid lake’ of utopias, is not in the awake
world available except via myths and similar imaginings.
The soapy tarn of mundane evils is all too familiar.
Alan
Marshfield
1 Manichaeism
sees the universe as a struggle between good and evil, or
Light/Spirit/God against Darkness/Matter/Satan.
Originally distinct, the two are now jumbled together.
This struggle is reflected in the human condition.
The physical body is material, therefore evil; the soul, trapped
in the body, is a fragment of the divine Light and must be saved.
Salvation is achieved by spiritual acquaintance with God (Light)
through following the example of prophets like Buddha, Jesus and Mani.
The human soul is able to overcome its earthly desires and become
one with the divine. Manichaean preachers were a celibate and perfect élite;
others were allowed to marry who served the spiritual élite and could expect to be reborn among the holy themselves.
Eventually all mankind would thus be saved.
Light and Darkness would be separate again.
St. Augustine of Hippo (354-430AD) was Manichaean before he
converted to Christianity and wrote treatises against the cult.
Manichaean ideas still exist in some modern sects, including
theosophy. (back)
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