"Before discussing the Trinity as three functions
we must look at it in a different way, namely, as three successive stages. And
we find that in reality the historical Trinity is also in three stages: the
Father, the Creator; then the Son; and then the Holy Ghost. The Paraclete, the
Comforter, is left by the Son. So we see that even in the dogma the Trinity is
a succession, yet it is in eternity. What is to us separated is together in
eternity because there is no time. In the light of the dreamer's associations,
then, the Trinity is to be understood in this case as three existing not at
once but in succession. His three stages are representations, so to speak, of
his three successive conditions- spiritualism, the Father; theosophy, the Son;
and psychology, the Holy Ghost." …………………….C.G.
Jung, Dream Seminars, p. 605
The concept of the triune God or the Trinity is a
doctrine in both Hinduism and Christianity. The three elements of divinity are
assigned a function in Hinduism as creator, Sustainer and transformer, within a
generic class of Saguna Brahman or the Absolute with qualities.
The Hindu concept of Saguna Brahman was never debated
as much as the Christian trinity. This was due to the authority of people like
Adi Sankara, Ramanuja and Madhavachariya. They were the principle proponents of Advaita (Nondualism), Vishishtadvaita
(Qualified nondualism) and Dvaita (Dualistic). It was also the nature of the
Vedic philosophies being considered as many paths to the same goal.
In the Christian doctrine of the Trinity (Latin:
Trinitas, lit. 'triad', from trinus, "threefold") it is that God is
three consubstantial persons or hypostases—the Father, the Son (Jesus Christ),
and the Holy Spirit—as "one God in three Divine Persons". This
doctrine was subject to much debate until the pro-Nicene Consensus. The one God
and three person concept gelled with two church fathers namely: St. Gregory of Nyssa, and St. Augustine of Hippo.
Till modern times the Christian God was treated as
some entity which could be grasped and can be reached only through an
unflinching devotion and worship or through a mystical path. Many examples are
available in the history of the church. In both modes of ascendency of the
human soul to God and ultimate union was available only through divine grace
which was a gift to deserving souls. The integral nature of spirituality as
non-differentiated and available within one’s individual level of consciousness
found no place in the Christian doctrine. This was a qualified nondualism. All
worship, rituals and personal spiritual exercises, such as fasting, meditation
and mortification, of individuals was to reach an unfathomable external
reality. The reformation did a further damage by installing the ‘Doctrine of
Justification’. This doctrine assigned the role of salvation or being united
with the Godhead only through unflinching faith. The role of the human psyche
was relegated to a purely passive role. There was no subjective inner
experience or role to play in the process of one’s soul attaining a higher
status except through a static level of belief in an archaic dogma.
There are two arguments for the unity of the Godhead
in the Trinity and they are the creation argument and the Spatio-temporal
argument.
A Lutheran mystic, Emmanuel
Swedenborg argues as follows through
the creative argument:
“But God, being infinite, cannot create another
infinite Being, or another God or gods, to receive His Love and Wisdom. It is
impossible for there to be two or more infinite Beings. If there were a God
from God, that God from God would either have to be not infinite and not
eternal, and thus not a real God, or He would have to be infinite and eternal
and thus absolutely one with the first God. For God to create and love another
God would thus be God loving Himself in Himself. And this is contrary to the
essence of God, which is to love others outside Himself.”
The second is the Spatio-temporal argument. Here we
have recourse to science which forces us to take a radically new look at the
level of the Godhead. Since the Godhead is the omnipotent, omniscient and
omnipresent plane of unmodified consciousness, it forces us to examine the
basic characteristics of consciousness. Today Quantum physics and the study of
deeper reality points out that the field that connects all of manifestations
and the unmanifest is beyond spacetime. Time is only a subjective experience in
the four dimensional world and as I had pointed out in an earlier article, St.
Augustine says that time was created along with the universe and hence for God,
who exists at all times, he cannot be subject to time. With this knowledge we can
safely assume that God and all his attributes transcend time. Hence the three consubstantial
persons of Godhead lies beyond time. This is difficult to grasp with our
rational, mental level hence it was pronounced as a dogma.
Now we can understand the statement of Jung “What is
to us separated, is together in eternity because there is no time”. The three stages are representation presented
to us in dogma so as to grasp our own three successive conditions; namely
spiritualism (knowledge of the spirit), Theosophy (knowledge of Divine wisdom) and
Psychology (knowledge of our own inner self) as Father, the Son and the Holy
Ghost.
As Divine wisdom operates in our deep understanding of
the Trinity, the three stages relate to evolving a Philosophy, a higher level
of wisdom and an open mind that operates beyond purely the rational level, this
being from a deeper universal unconsciousness. This course of thinking is very
much in line with the depth psychology of Jung.
Love to you all
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