14.7 A triad within God

From all of the above exposition, we see that there is a triad (triple, trinity) in God. That is because there are three components in the initiation of any action. We start from love choosing some end to be desired, then wisdom works out the correct plan and form for love to achieve this aim, and finally actions occur whereby love and wisdom together produce the desired result.

This pattern is within a single person, that is, within a single willing-understanding-acting unit of consciousness. It is the pattern which we (should) know within ourselves, as, in that respect, we are a kind of image of God.

We note that these ideas are similar to some conceptions of the Christian doctrine of the trinity. That doctrine asserts, as here, that all members of the trinity are of one substance which is life itself, but it goes on to make them separately responsible for love (by the Father), for wisdom (by the Logos, the Son), and for the power of action (the Spirit). How this is supposed to work, however, has been the subject of considerable and continuing discussion, and no claim has yet completely resolved the problem.