OF THE TWO SPIRITS IN MAN

All that ever was and is comes from God. Before things came into existence He determined the plan of them; and they fill their appointed roles. It is in accordance with His glorious design that they discharge their functions. Nothing can be changed. In His hands lies the government of all things. God is that which sustains them in their needs.

Now this God created man to rule the world, and appointed for him Two spirits after whose direction he was to walk until the final inquisition. They are the spirits of Truth and Perversity. The origin of Truth lies in the Fountain of Light (the Spiritual state of mind), and that of Perversity in the Wellspring of Darkness (the Natural impulse). All who practise righteousness are under the dominion of the Prince of Lights, and walk in the ways of Light; whereas all who practice perversity are under the dominion of the Prince of Darkness.

Through the angel of Darkness, however, even those who practice righteousness are made liable to error. All their sins and their iniquities, all their guilt and their deeds of transgression are the result of his dominion; And this, by God's inscrutable design, will continue until the time appointed by Him. Moreover, all of men's affliction and their moments of tribulation are due to this being's malevolent sway. All the spirits that attend upon him are bent on causing the children of Light to stumble. Howbeit, the God of Israel and the Angel of His Truth are always there to help them.

It is God who created these spirits of Light and Darkness, (see Genesis 1:16), and made them the basis of every act, the instigators of every deed, and the directors of every thought… This is why these spirits operate in the world. The enlightenment of man's heart, the making straight before him all the ways of righteousness and truth, the implanting in his heart of fear for the judgment of God, of a spirit of humility, of patience, of abundant compassion, of perpetual goodness, of insight, of perception, of that sense of the Divine Power that is based at once on an apprehension of God's works, and a reliance on His plenteous mercy, of a spirit of knowledge informing every plan of action, of a zeal for righteous government, of a hallowed mind in a controlled nature, of an abounding love for all who follow the truth, of a self-respecting purity which abhors the taint of filth (in one's self), these are the things in the world that come to those in the world who walk in communion with the spirit of Truth. And the guerdon of all who walk in its ways is health and abundant well-being, (abundant life, not abundant wealth), with long-life and fruition of seed along with eternal blessings and everlasting joy in the life everlasting, and a Crown of Glory and a Robe of Honour, amid Light perpetual. The Manual of Discipline, The Dead Sea Scriptures.