Melting Snow

Duality of Human Nature

Tuesday, February 6, 2018

"In man there are two natures; his spiritual or higher nature and his material or lower nature. In one he approaches God, in the other he lives for the world alone. Signs of both these natures are to be found in men. In his material aspect he expresses untruth, cruelty and injustice; all these are the outcome of his lower nature. The attributes of his Divine nature are shown forth in love, mercy, kindness, truth and justice, one and all being expressions of his higher nature. Every good habit, every noble quality belongs to man’s spiritual nature, whereas all his imperfections and sinful actions are born of his material nature. If a man’s Divine nature dominates his human nature, we have a saint."

‘Abdu’l-Bahá1

The "Blog City ~ Every Blogger's Paradise"  prompt for DAY 1512
Is there such a thing as good and evil? What determines an action as good or evil? Who gets to decide who’s good or who’s evil? Your thoughts.

Duality of Human Nature

The duality of human nature makes humanity unique creation. Since humans have a body, which is composed of matter, and a soul, which is a gift from God. These two natures give human beings the ability to chose between good and evil, with evil being anything that separates the soul for the Almighty. The soul can reflect, or show forth, the Divine attributes. When an individual chooses to develop or reflect the divine attributes the person is choosing good. When the individual pursues the opposite of those spiritual characteristics the person is choosing evil.

Every day, or almost every day, a person is confronted with the choice between these two opposites. When individuals choose to show forth love instead of hate, they are choosing good. However, when they choose to show for hate or prejudice they are choosing evil. The problem with choosing between good and evil is that many times the choice is not as obvious as one would think. That is why humans need to understand themselves and their dual nature.

Footnotes
1  Paris Talks, THE TWO NATURES IN MAN http://www.bahai.org/library/authoritative-texts/abdul-baha/paris-talks/#f=f3-29....