The Perennial Path: Three

If two represents our dualistic tendency to view things in binary categories, it could also be said that it represents a flat, two-dimensional view of the world. It lacks any depth. Movement is restricted to up/down or left/right on a single plane. This is why the number three becomes such an important number for many religious traditions. Three breaks us out of our dualism by introducing the depth of three dimensions where movement becomes a dance rather than a toggle switch. Three is where life, thought, and relationality are free to flow and transform without being forced into black or white categories. After all, spiritual formation isn't about simply learning a set of rules about right and wrong. It's about being transformed through our experiences into a dynamic life of love and wisdom.

Whether speaking of the Christian trinity, or the Buddhist trikaya, or the Hindu trimurti, or various other philosophical trichotomies, these concepts point to the truth that out of the one flows the many. These trinities are paradoxically both one and three simultaneously. It is also important to note the lack of any hierarchy among trinitarian concepts. Unlike the greater/lesser categories of dualism, three shows us that there is an equality and relational balance to reality.

When speaking of divine trinities as a metaphor for ultimate reality, it is interesting to notice the various ways that these concepts extend to and include humanity. Whether through incarnation (the divine becoming or appearing human) or indwelling (divine spirit or soul within humanity), these trinities function to blur the line between the divine and humanity. The ultimate dualistic lens, our perceived divide between the sacred and the mundane, is challenged and undermined by the idea of three in one.

In Andrei Rublev's famous Trinity icon, the three persons of the Christian trinity are seated in a way the seems to include the viewer at the table. Reinforcing this idea is the way the leading lines extend into the position of the viewer and the table floor remains open. Some art historians have even speculated that a mirror was once adhered to the table where a small rectangle can still be seen. This would allow the viewer to see their own reflection in the painting as if the divine dance were an invitation for all.

So three forces us to look between our perceived divisions. It is the space where heaven and earth overlap and become one. It is the invisible Spirit that unites the divine and humanity. It is the middle ground where all things that are divided become reconciled.