THE SPIRIT IN THE DIALECTICAL COSMOLOGY OF THE TRADITIONAL AFRICAN SOCIETY (IGBO)

Abstract

So God created human beings in his own image. In the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.' It follows that God has male and female attributes and characteristics in Him, which he imaged in Adam and all creation. The difference is that creatures are polarized. No particular creature has it all: it is either positive or negative, subject or object, plus or minus, male or female. Creation comes in pairs, which means that the meaning of life lies in relationship, in give-andtake, do ut des principle of living. Thus, there is equally a relationship in God, which is absolutely and infinitely resolved into a unity. The Nag Hammadi documents revealed a gnostic tenet that envisions the salvation of man as a product of striking a unity between contradictions. Betz (1979) records a passage in the gnostic gospel of St. Thomas: