Pre-Sexual and Undifferentiated Beings: A Comparative Survey
Ancient Greek Thought: Classical Greek philosophy and myth richly envisioned an original unified human form. In Plato’s Symposium, Aristophanes famously describes primordial humans as spherical, androgynous creatures with four limbs, two faces, and “two sets of sexual organs” . These beings came in three types (male-male, female-female, and mixed), but all were physically round and “whole.” Zeus split each in half to punish their hubris, producing the separate sexes; thereafter “each of us is a matching half” endlessly longing for reunion . This myth explains eros as the force driving divided halves toward wholeness. The sphere is thus a key metaphor (the original “complete” body), and love itself symbolizes the attempt to transcend division. Later Greek thought echoes this unity-longing: Neoplatonists, for example, see the soul yearning to return to the One. In short, Greek cosmology often situates an ideal pre-differentiated human (a complete whole) at the origin, with love as the dynamic that seeks to re-unite split beings .
Chinese Traditions (Daoism and Confucianism): Daoist and Confucian thought similarly posit an original unity behind apparent dualities. The Daoist 真人 “True Person” (zhenren) – as in the Zhuangzi – is a sage utterly free of ordinary distinctions. Zhuangzi praises the True Man for being spiritually “one” with Heaven and untroubled by love or fear. He “slept without dreaming and woke without care” , such that “his being one was one, and his not-being one was one” – in other words, all oppositions are reconciled . A commentator (Guo Xiang) explains that the zhenren “unifies Heaven and man, and levels the myriad extensions… being vast he is one… he mysteriously unifies the other with his own self” . In this view the perfected human transcends gender and worldly roles.
Likewise, Confucian cosmology (and later Neo-Confucianism) assumes a single undifferentiated source. Early texts (like the I Ching’s Xici) speak of the Great Primal Beginning (taiji) that generates Yin and Yang . More fundamentally is Wuji (無極), the limitless non-polar state. As one source notes, “Wuji is undifferentiated, timeless, absolute, infinite potential”, in contrast to taiji as active duality . Zhou Dunyi (Song dynasty) explicitly says: “Non-polar (wuji) and yet Supreme Polarity (taiji)… yin and yang are simply the Supreme Polarity; the Supreme Polarity is fundamentally Non-polar.” . The familiar yin–yang circle itself (Taijitu) embodies this: a single circle (wuji) dividing into black and white. In short, Chinese thought locates a pre-sexual unity at the cosmic root: a boundless Wuji from which dualities (male/female, Yin/Yang) emerge.
These ideas extend into practice: Daoist inner alchemy (neidan) explicitly aims to restore primordial unity. The body is envisioned as a “cauldron” in which essence is refined and ultimately returned to “the primordial unity of the Dao” . Practitioners seal their jing (essence) and shen (spirit) into a spiritual embryo, symbolically regenerating the original undivided state (often glossed as the “immortal embryo”). Thus metaphors like “sealed vessel” and “circular cauldron” abound in Daoist elixir texts, representing the undifferentiated ideal.
Abrahamic Religions: In Jewish, Christian and Islamic lore, pure spiritual beings and the first humans likewise appear as unified or sexless. In Judaism, mystical traditions depict the original Adam as a composite of both genders. Rabbinic midrash famously teaches that “Adam was created as an androgyne” – in one account with “two faces… cut in half, back and back” . Kabbalistic texts build on this: the Sefer Yetzirah’s Adam Qadmon (Primordial Man) is a cosmic light-being whose emanations (the sefirot) fill creation . The Bible itself hints at unity (“male and female He created them,” Genesis 1:27), which the rabbis interpreted as indicating an original wholeness .
In Christian tradition, all spirit is fundamentally sexless. The Church Fathers unanimously taught that the human soul (and angels) have no gender: “the soul is sexless… [it] was a given in philosophy and… the sexlessness of angels” . Augustine concurs that “the soul is undistinguished by sex” . Distinctions of male and female belong only to the body . Thus in the resurrection (as Christ said in Matt 22:30) people will be “like the angels” (neither marrying nor given in marriage) – underscoring a return to sexless unity . In short, Christian metaphysics holds that pre-Fall humanity (and the angels) inhabit a non-differentiated ontological state: spiritual beings of light and unity.
In Islam, heavenly beings are likewise viewed as luminous and sexless. The Qur’an and hadith emphasize that angels are created of light (nūr). For example, the Prophet said, “The angels were created from light…” . They have no physical sex or lust. Medieval thinkers like Sufi philosopher al-Jili even taught that angels are emanations of the “Light of Muḥammad,” reflecting divine beauty . While Islamic texts do not explicitly portray Adam as originally androgyne, the Quranic doctrine of the Resurrection similarly suggests post-Mortem uniformity: believers “made to keep chastity” will be like angels in Paradise. More philosophically, Sufi exegesis elaborates a primordially unified humanity: the nūr Muḥammad (Light of Muhammad) is said to be the first creation and source of all souls . In sum, Abrahamic scriptures and theology commonly employ metaphors of light, sealed purity, and heavenly unity to depict beings beyond sexual differentiation .
Persian and Sufi Cosmology: In Iranian and Islamic mystical thought, the theme of a primordial Light-Man is paramount. Zoroastrian cosmology, for instance, names Gayōmard as the first man. Ahura Mazda created him as the perfect prototype of humanity . (Later legend even describes Gayōmard as androgynous, whose slaying by evil releases seeds of new life .) As in other traditions, light is divine: fire temples and hymns honor the radiant Ahura Mazda.
Sufi Islam explicitly integrates such symbols. The Persian term ʾinsān al-kāmil (“Perfect Human”) refers to the archetypal man who embodies divine unity. Encyclopaedia Iranica notes that all humanity is said to descend and return to God, with the Perfect Man the pivot of this cosmic cycle . The idea merges Zoroastrian (Gayōmard), Manichaean (Primal Man), and Jewish (Adam Kadmon) motifs . Especially influential is the doctrine of the “Muhammadan Light” (nūr Muḥammad): early Sufis held that God’s first creation was a luminous essence of Muhammad, “a conglomeration of light from which all the predestined souls disseminate” . In Ibn ʿArabī’s grand vision, this Perfect Man is the microcosm of the world (“the universe was created…as a mirror which…reflected the Perfect Human Being” ). The Iranica article describes the Perfect Human as simultaneously both macrocosmic king and bridge between divine and created realms – “combining spiritual and physical, the uncreated and the created” . Whether called the Sufi saint, the imam, or the Muhammadan reality, this figure is metaphysically one with God (in light-form) and contains all potential life. Common metaphors in Sufi and Persian lore thus include divine light, cosmic man, seal of the prophets, and the esoteric “static seed” at creation – all pointing to an undifferentiated archetype.
Historical Eunuchs and the Undivided Body: Across cultures, the social roles of eunuchs have sometimes echoed these metaphysical ideals. As “neither male nor female”, eunuchs physically lack reproductive sex, making their bodies symbols of an undivided or “neutral” state. In Ming China, for example, eunuchs were entrusted with sacred duties: they managed major Daoist cult centers like Mount Wudang. By the 15th century, Ming eunuchs were organizing temple projects and sponsoring rituals at Wudangshan , linking their celibate status to spiritual stewardship. In the Abbasid Caliphate, the harem was guarded and administered by hundreds of eunuchs . Their presence was valued because, having no heirs, they were seen as more loyal, and in a sense “sealed” from ordinary passions. Byzantine sources explicitly codify the symbolism: one text notes the eunuch’s implied likeness to “sexless angels and seraphs,” making them indispensable in court ceremonies . In Christian iconography and law, eunuchs (and virgin martyrs) were often idealized as spiritually pure; e.g. Saint Gregory Nazianzen proclaims that maleness/femaleness are “distinctions of body not of soul,” a theological basis that led to celebrating eunuchs as possessing an angelic nature . Thus, in Ming, Abbasid, and Byzantine contexts alike, real-world eunuch institutions can be seen as practical extensions of the undivided-body ideal – men rendered “complete” in devotion by removing sexual differentiation, echoing the mythic images of original wholeness.
Cross-Cultural Metaphors: Notably, many traditions converge on similar symbols. The sphere recurs (Greek primordial humans roll about; the Taijitu circle in China). Light is ubiquitous (angels of light; Sufi nūr; God as light). The sealed or cauldron-like body appears in Eastern alchemy and in Western views of celibacy. And concepts like the “true man/person” appear in both Daoist and Sufi vocabularies (zhenren, insān-i kamīl). Together these metaphors articulate a shared intuition: that at the deepest level of reality humanity was once whole and undivided. Philosophical implication are profound: these archetypes underlie views on love and longing (Greek), ethics and sagehood (Chinese), and salvation or enlightenment (Abrahamic/Sufi), as well as political theology (eunuchs as worldly analogues of pure unity). The recurring theme – of returning to an undifferentiated origin – testifies to a remarkable cross-cultural resonance in how humans imagine their beginnings and highest ideals.
Sources: Authoritative translations and analyses of Plato’s Symposium (Aristophanes’ myth) ; Daoist texts (Zhuangzi on the True Man , Neidan alchemy ); Chinese classics (I Ching/Xici on taiji and wuji ); Rabbinic midrash and Kabbalah on Adam ; Patristic theology on soul and angels ; Islamic hadith and Sufi writings on light and the Perfect Man ; historical studies of eunuchs in China, Byzantium and the Caliphate .
ov1d.com 