Another Trinity -- from "God the Infinite" by Hazrat Inayat Khan

(photo by Makropoulos)

". . . the Spirit of God is incomprehensibe

because that which comprehends itself

is intelligence, God's real being;

and comprehension has nothing to comprehend 

in its own being.  No doubt, in our usual terms

it is the comprehending faculty in us which we call

comprehension; but this is not meant here, for intelligence

is not necessarily intellect.  Merit is something which is comprehensible;

it is something which is clear and distinct, so that it can be made

intelligible; but intelligence is not intelligible except

to its own self.  Intelligence knows that I am; 

but it does not know what I am.

"Such is the nature of God.  Intelligence would not have knows its own power

and existence if it had not known something besides itself,

so God knows Himself by manifestation.  Manifestation

is the self of God, but a self which is limited, a self

that makes Him know that He is perfect when He compares

His own Being with the limited self which we call nature.

Therefore the purpose of the whole of creation is the realization

which God Himself gains by discovering His own perfection

through his manifestation.

"Among Christian ideas there is one which, if we can solve its riddle,

helps us to discover the truth of life.  It is the idea of the Trinity.

What keeps the soul in perplexity is the threefold aspect

of manifestation, and as long as the soul remains puzzled

by this, it cannot arrive at the knowledge of the One.

These three aspects are the seer, sight, and the seen;

the knower, knowledge and the known.

In point of fact, these are the three aspects of life.

One aspect is the person who sees; 

the second aspect is the sight, or the eyes,

by the help of which he sees; 

and the third aspect is that which he sees.

That is why one cannot readily accept the idea

that what one sees is the same as oneself,

nor can one believe for a moment that the medium

by which one sees is oneself, for these three aspects

seem to be separate and to be looking at one another's faces,

as the first person, second person, and third person

of Brahma.

"When this riddle is solved by the realization that the three are one,

then the purpose of the God-ideal is fulfilled. . . . "

(from: The Unity of Religious Ideals,

by Hazrat Inayat Khan)

(If you have time, read this alongside

some of my entries about 

the Creation,

the Palindrome,

and God's Desire

to See Himself)

thank you for reading 

this blog--