Neoplatonism and Manicchism

Manicchism was Augustine's first stop on the horizontal dualist train. His next stop was Neoplatonism, born during the second half of the two hundreds. Platonists held that human souls were trapped in decaying bodies in the material world. By gazing deeply inward into one's own soul and letting interferences of the physical world fade away, by purifying oneself through contemplation one could experience a communion with the divine one.