It was the word dual that caught my attention. The picture showed an artifact from Native American life in the 1400s and was captioned "Dual faces on a comb fragment represent good and evil, a favorite Iroquois theme." National Geographic, October 1992, p. 76 . The issue of good and evil has, of course, interested and challenged people in every culture.
Dualism, in a broad sense, is the theory that the universe is ultimately composed of, or that it can be explained in terms of, two basic entities. From a theological standpoint, these are seen to be the opposing forces of good and evil.
Where does this theory of dualism operate and produce its effects? Within human consciousness. In fact, dualism expresses the essential nature of human thought. Materialistic thinking would have us believe that since there is overwhelming evidence of evil as well as good, the reality—and perhaps even the supremacy—of evil is obvious. Then human reason would attempt to present a rationale for accommodating two opposing powers and for accepting evil as fitting into a God-ordained design.
