SageoftheoneWay
Member
Dualism in Naruto
“A very good example of this is how the whole fight with Obito has happened under the moon”
Since the series inception the world of Naruto has struggled with opposite and opposing forces that dictate the direction of the story. This force is what can be called ‘dualism’ which, in philosophy, is the belief that there are opposing forces in the universe that are equal in status. This definition doesn’t say much in itself, but provides the framework needed to understand the general outline of the series. This dualism, two opposing forces of equal integrity, are the ‘light’ and ‘dark’ that permeates the universe, conflicts, characters, and chakra in Naruto.
When I say ‘light’ and ‘dark’ I don’t mean to conceive of a simple good vs. evil, or a literal light vs. dark, instead I mean to say that because there is a dualism that dictates this world, there are also opposing forces such as good and evil, light and dark, sun and moon, yin and yang, etc. In other words, this dualism takes the form of Eastern religious traditions of the nature of the universe and humans like the popular yin-yang symbol. Now this doesn’t mean that Kishimoto, the series creator, follows a strict school of thought, rather it means that he takes elements of these eastern traditions and incorporates it into the world of Naruto.
Now usually, these concepts are subjects for Metaphysics, epistemology, and all branches of philosophy and religion, which as most would agree are not based on empirical knowledge in our world. This simply means that the biological sciences have yet to find a ‘chakra network’ much like the one in Naruto, or any other variations of chakra that are found in eastern tradition. Nor do the astronomical sciences find a tailed beast on the moon. This however, does not rule out their existence, it simply means that by empirical means, we have yet to find these things. In the Naturoverse, however, these things truly are empirical, in the sense that Ninjutsu is truly achieved through careful manipulation of the chakra network, and the Juubi truly is terrorizing the world after it was summoned (through space-time means) from the moon.
Going back to the dualism and Naruto, you can clearly see that there are many examples of this found throughout the narrative. Naruto and Sasuke, Yin element and Yang element, Cold/dark chakra and Warm/light chakra, Senju and Uchiha, Body and Spirit and the list goes on. Furthermore, based on the yin-yang symbol, this dualism takes on a rotational nature. In other words, although light and dark exist and need each other and are equal in status, yet they also take on a rotational nature, much like the sun and moon rotate around the earth (from the perspective of earth of course). This ideology is also evident in the series in how chakra is molded between spiritual/body energy, and the rasengan, which was learned from observing the bijuu dama.
So how does this shape the series direction? Well the first example I wanted to go over was the opposing the forces. Since the series takes on this dualistic nature, the nature of the conflicts also take this path. By this I mean that every conflict in Naruto is based on evil ideals and good ideals. Ideals based on light and ideals based on darkeness. From Orochimaru, to Akatsuki, to Nagato, to Obito, to Madara, and to Sasuke, the ideals of these characters always went against the ideals/wills of the ‘good’ side (Naruto, Hashirama, Sarutobi, Kakashi, etc).
Therefore, the reason the conflicts always seem repetitive and Naruto always gives the same speech is because of this underlying principle that shapes the narrative. Next time you want to complain about the same message over and over again, now you know why. It is of a rotational dualistic nature that series has taken.
Now the idea of conflict in story of being against two opposing forces are not all necessarily of this same framework. The difference between this and a superhero comic from the America’s is that the superhero goes from villain to villain destroying their ‘evil’ plot and sometime the villain as well. It is not a perpetual, rotational conflict of ideals like we see in Naruto, rather a good must overcome evil ideal that stems largely, I think, from Christian tradition. That is up for debate, but there are subtle differences that make a huge difference. One being that these comics probably won’t see the world in a dualistic eastern sense, so they won’t consider this in their framework when creating the narrative. A very good example of this is how the whole fight with Obito has happened under the moon. Now let that sink in for a moment before your mind explodes, if you didn’t already notice the significance.
Anyways, if you guys want to add anything to this or challenge my theory, please reply below!
“A very good example of this is how the whole fight with Obito has happened under the moon”
Since the series inception the world of Naruto has struggled with opposite and opposing forces that dictate the direction of the story. This force is what can be called ‘dualism’ which, in philosophy, is the belief that there are opposing forces in the universe that are equal in status. This definition doesn’t say much in itself, but provides the framework needed to understand the general outline of the series. This dualism, two opposing forces of equal integrity, are the ‘light’ and ‘dark’ that permeates the universe, conflicts, characters, and chakra in Naruto.
When I say ‘light’ and ‘dark’ I don’t mean to conceive of a simple good vs. evil, or a literal light vs. dark, instead I mean to say that because there is a dualism that dictates this world, there are also opposing forces such as good and evil, light and dark, sun and moon, yin and yang, etc. In other words, this dualism takes the form of Eastern religious traditions of the nature of the universe and humans like the popular yin-yang symbol. Now this doesn’t mean that Kishimoto, the series creator, follows a strict school of thought, rather it means that he takes elements of these eastern traditions and incorporates it into the world of Naruto.
Now usually, these concepts are subjects for Metaphysics, epistemology, and all branches of philosophy and religion, which as most would agree are not based on empirical knowledge in our world. This simply means that the biological sciences have yet to find a ‘chakra network’ much like the one in Naruto, or any other variations of chakra that are found in eastern tradition. Nor do the astronomical sciences find a tailed beast on the moon. This however, does not rule out their existence, it simply means that by empirical means, we have yet to find these things. In the Naturoverse, however, these things truly are empirical, in the sense that Ninjutsu is truly achieved through careful manipulation of the chakra network, and the Juubi truly is terrorizing the world after it was summoned (through space-time means) from the moon.
Going back to the dualism and Naruto, you can clearly see that there are many examples of this found throughout the narrative. Naruto and Sasuke, Yin element and Yang element, Cold/dark chakra and Warm/light chakra, Senju and Uchiha, Body and Spirit and the list goes on. Furthermore, based on the yin-yang symbol, this dualism takes on a rotational nature. In other words, although light and dark exist and need each other and are equal in status, yet they also take on a rotational nature, much like the sun and moon rotate around the earth (from the perspective of earth of course). This ideology is also evident in the series in how chakra is molded between spiritual/body energy, and the rasengan, which was learned from observing the bijuu dama.
So how does this shape the series direction? Well the first example I wanted to go over was the opposing the forces. Since the series takes on this dualistic nature, the nature of the conflicts also take this path. By this I mean that every conflict in Naruto is based on evil ideals and good ideals. Ideals based on light and ideals based on darkeness. From Orochimaru, to Akatsuki, to Nagato, to Obito, to Madara, and to Sasuke, the ideals of these characters always went against the ideals/wills of the ‘good’ side (Naruto, Hashirama, Sarutobi, Kakashi, etc).
Therefore, the reason the conflicts always seem repetitive and Naruto always gives the same speech is because of this underlying principle that shapes the narrative. Next time you want to complain about the same message over and over again, now you know why. It is of a rotational dualistic nature that series has taken.
Now the idea of conflict in story of being against two opposing forces are not all necessarily of this same framework. The difference between this and a superhero comic from the America’s is that the superhero goes from villain to villain destroying their ‘evil’ plot and sometime the villain as well. It is not a perpetual, rotational conflict of ideals like we see in Naruto, rather a good must overcome evil ideal that stems largely, I think, from Christian tradition. That is up for debate, but there are subtle differences that make a huge difference. One being that these comics probably won’t see the world in a dualistic eastern sense, so they won’t consider this in their framework when creating the narrative. A very good example of this is how the whole fight with Obito has happened under the moon. Now let that sink in for a moment before your mind explodes, if you didn’t already notice the significance.
Anyways, if you guys want to add anything to this or challenge my theory, please reply below!
