- Experience of Triune God - Man as a three dimensional being. - PAGE TWO -
As a human being, a limited creature, I am conscious of three dimensions in me, I believe, in all human beings. The first dimension is that I am aware of things, people and events happening around me: the trees, birds, grass, chairs, beds, tables, people of different colours, shapes and features, and "things happening" - the rains falling, the sun rising and setting, people talking with one another, working, eating, etc. The first awareness of a human being is the world outside himself, that is made present to him through five senses - sight, hearing, touch, smell and taste.
The second dimension is that I am different from the world outside; I am different from another being. I am aware of myself as seeing, hearing, etc., as relating to the world outside me. I talk to you but I am different from you. I am unique. I am conscious of a whole small world within me. I think; I feel; I desire; I am depressed; I am happy; etc. If I were to tell you how depressed I feel, you might know what it meant and could even empathize with me but you could not feel what I feel. This awareness of myself as thinking, feeling, acting, relating is what some philosophers call "interiority' or "subjectivity". Just as in the first dimension, in the second dimension I am conscious that I relate to myself.
The third dimension is that I and other human being always "want something more". Human beings are never satisfied. I want a house and when I get the house. I want a bigger and a better house or I want something else. A painter is never satisfied with his/her own painting. He/She always wants to paint some more beautiful and more meaningful. A mountaineer will always want to conquer a higher mountain. Most businessmen would want to earn more and more money. It is this unbuilt yearning for something more, something greater than modern society has exploited for its own end. The whole philosophy of the consumer society is based upon this inborn urge for "something more". The advertisements create in us a want (desire) for a bigger house, a better car, a better television set, etc.; and that is how people can sell their goods. However, it is this very same urge for "something more" that drives human beings to progress - to create, to become better human beings, etc.
In all these three dimensions that a human being is aware of, he/she experiences in them a lack, an insufficiency, a sense of non-fulfilment. It is an experience of human finiteness or limitedness. This is how God created us. This is how God relate to us to supply that which is lacking in us in all the three dimensions. It would be stupid of God to create us as such and deal with us (relate to us) in a completely different manner so that we cannot receive nor understand Him. A telephone is made to receive and convey sound waves. It would be silly if I were to pour water into it as if were a pipe to convey water. In the same way, God has made us with these three inbuilt dimensional relationships in such a way that we sense acutely their very insufficiencies. God's purpose is clear. Through our experience of the lack in all the three relationships, we will look for "Something" to fill the lack so that we may be fulfilled as human beings. This, too, is unborn in us. The "Something" that will fulfil us as human beings is nothing but God Himself who relates to us in the three ways. This is what Saint Augustine of Hippo meant when he said: "My soul is restless until it rests in God," Unfortunately, owing to many reasons - ignorance, obstinacy, upbringing, superficial living, etc., - we tend to look for "things" that fulfil us for a time (temporarily) or we run away from our lack of fulfilment by distracting ourselves with superficialities. Let us now analyse the "lack" in the three dimensional relationship in us, the ways we employ which will not satisfy us and the way God relates to us that will fulfil us as human beings.
The third dimension: the craving for "Something more" and God the Father.
When a human being sits down and seriously reflects upon himself/herself, he/she will discover that he/she is really a very small created being in the midst of the universe. I am only one among billions of people, like a grain of sand on a beach. In the whole universal, I practically disappear into nothingness. Each created being or thing is not only so very tiny but also so ephemeral or passing. I live for a few years on earth and disappear. What is ninety years in the ocean of time, billions of years? A drop in the ocean. This is the meaning of being finite. And this is the cause for the craving for "Something more", something that is lasting and bigger than all of creation. Unreflective and superficial human beings in the face of this experience of insufficiency or lack, try to fill it up with material possessions, with accumulated power and with boosting one's ego - to make oneself a god which, of course, is impossible; it is a stupid attempt. The rich want to be richer, the powerful more powerful, the vain-glorious more vain-glorious. Yet in all their endeavours to be more powerful, rich, etc., they experience an emptiness, a frustration and an anguish within themselves. It reminds me of the famous story of the frog that kept blowing itself up, because it wanted to be bigger than what it was, until it burst and died. The fortunate ones, after a time of trying to fill up the emptiness in themselves, begin to ask a few fundamental questions about themselves. What is the meaning of life? Is it only a routine struggle for more money, more power, and more fame? If it were so, then indeed life will be meaningless because when one dies, all these efforts would disappear into nothingness. This is the beginning of wisdom; a search for true fulfilment. If a man/woman keeps reflecting and searching, he/she will find that only the Absolute - who is greater than all, who is everlasting, all-powerful, beyond all and embraces all and who lacks nothing because "It" is everything - this Absolute will fulfil him/her. He/She will discover that this Absolute is the Creator of all things. This was how Aristotle came to discover the Absolute. A Christian experiences this Absolute as "God the Father - According to Sacred Scripture Scholars, Jesus used the word "Father" for God the Absolute because for the Jews of that time, it was the father who was the source of life. Ancient people thought that it was the father who planted the seed of life in the womb of the mother who just carried the life that came from the father. Since Jesus wanted to communicate that God is the source of life, what better word could He use to convey this meaning to the Jews of that time than the world Father. Besides, the word also conveyed the ideas and feeling of someone who cared for his children. God has no gender - neither male nor female. - Almighty, Creator of Heaven and Earth, of all that is seen and unseen."
Call "It" by whatever name you want. this Absolute is the transcendent Being, the Beyond, the All powerful, All present, All encompassing, the Infinite and All fulfilling. So great and infinite is this Being that no human word (because all human words are limited) can express "It". The Jews of the Old Testament experienced this and refused to give this Being a name. Hence the Hebrew word for this Being Yahweh is really not a word because in Hebrew YHWH has no vowel. A word without a vowel is not a word. So overpowering and almighty is the experience of this Being who fulfils the yearning in Human beings that we can only remain silent about Him. The same experience is expressed in Taoism. The Scripture of the Taoist, Tao Te Ching, beings with "The Tao (the Absolute) that can be trodden is not the enduring and unchanging Tao. The Name (the Absolute) that can be named is not the enduring and unchanging Name. (Conceived of us) having no name, it is the Originator of heaven and earth..."
Since we have to speak about "It", says Tao Te Ching, we call "It" Tao which means the Way. The Absolute is not named. "It" is referred to as the Way - the Way to "It". For Muslims, "Allah" also carries with it the same experience. So powerful and Great is "Allah" that one can only bow down below Him in total silent submission. The word, "Islam," means "total submission.". This in born yearning in Man for the "something more" has its goal the Absolute Being who fulfils us when we are able to relate to Him. In Him we find security (or Fulfilment) because He knows all, hears all and rules all with His infinite love. When we are in trouble and things do not work out the way we would have liked it, we know "that in everything God works for good with those who love him..." (Romans 8:28). This relationship with the "All Knowing and All Powerful", whom we Christians call "God the Father" assures us and satisfies us in our security as finite beings who know so little and who are so weak. This relationship with God the Father is a relationship of love which casts out all fears (1 John 4:18). "The image " of our God the Father is visually portrayed in the parable of the Prodigal Son - the unlimited, unconditional Love of the Father for His sons.
The second dimension: the experience of insufficiency as I relate to myself and the Holy Spirit.
In silent moments, when I relate to myself as a conscious being different from the outside world around me, I also feel a lack, an insufficiency within me. This is experienced in several ways.
There are things that I do not like about myself. I wish I were more disciplined or more spontaneous. I do not like the shape of my mouth which affects my self-image. I wish I were as intelligent as Einstein. I wish I were more patient. Every human person has experienced this dissatisfaction with himself/herself. It is this experience of inadequacy in us that urges us to better ourselves. It is a universal experience. The differences of experience in people are in degree, not in kind. He who says that there is nothing in him/her that he/she does not dislike is a liar. Even in the things that I like about myself, I still feel their imperfections. I like my bluntness in speaking out my mind; yet I wish it were sometimes coupled with diplomacy. I like my ability to be able to feel with others; yet I wish it were sometimes accompanied with the power of clear analysis. I like my efficiency in getting things done; yet I wish it were balanced with "a feeling for others". Even in our good qualities, there is an experience of "lack" or "inadequacy".
As I relate to myself in my inner world, I am aware of an enormous inadequacy, what some philosophers call contingency. This reality sometimes breaks forth in an experience of loneliness. It is a power and overwhelming feeling of being lost in a dark jungle. Because we cannot pin-point its cause - since its cause is everywhere - we also feel at the same time fear. The more we allow ourselves to be aware of ourselves the more we are conscious of loneliness. In the face of this reality, again we escape into superficialities. We make a lot of noise to distract ourselves from ourselves. We turn on the T.V. or the radio. We run to disco and parties. We resort to gambling or drinking. We will do all we can to escape from this 'unbearable weight" of feeling lonely.
There is another expression of this inadequacy in us. It is the feeling of suffering. Physical and external suffering is truly nothing if a person has the internal peace and joy. Real suffering is an internal experience of pain, remorse, anguish, loneliness, bitterness, etc., I believe that the suffering of this kind - psychological and spiritual - is a thousand times more dreadful than physical pain. Modern people is more prone than his/her ancestors to these feelings of loneliness and of suffering because of his/her growing awareness of himself/herself and because of his/her life-style. Hence the cry of angst anguish in modern philosophers and writers.
Is there a way out of this experience of loneliness and of suffering? Yes: Christianity tells us to face the reality, enter into it and get in touch with the Spirit of God. It is through prayer - be it whatever it may be; charismatic prayer, formal prayer, meditation, Holy Mass, devotions, etc. - that we get into contact with God's Spirit. The Sacred Scripture/Holy Bible is filled with such exhortations: "Do you know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you?" (1 Cor, 3:16); "...He (God) has put his seal upon us and given us His Spirit in our heats as a guarantee" (2 Cor. 1:22, cf. Gal. 4:6; 2 Tim. 1:14).
God's Spirit is in us precisely for the reason that we can relate to Him. The Holy Spirit is given to us so that He can fulfil our inadequacy. He "knows" our lack as we relate to ourselves. So, He comes to bridge that gap within ourselves. When we pray in our suffering and loneliness instead of running away, and when the Spirit of God comes, we experience a welling up in us of a joy and peace so powerful, sometimes, that we do not want anything else because we are fulfilled in ourselves: all our suffering and loneliness disappear. This is what the Lord Jesus Christ means when He says "the water that I shall give him/her will become in him/her a spring of water welling up to eternal life" (John 4:14). Eternal means without beginning and without end. Only God is without beginning and without end. Eternal life is therefore, God's life.
The Spirit of God is love because God is Love (1 John 4:8). Saint Paul says, "the fruit of the Holy Spirit is Love." When we in our anguish touch the Spirit of God we feel this tremendous joy and peace. It is like a child in fear who runs to the mother. The mother holds the child tightly and assures him/her through her love. The child feels secure and loved. He/She is happy in his/her mother's embrace. Hence, Saint Paul and Saint John constantly exhort us to live in the Spirit. "But I say, walk by the Spirit, and do not gratify the desires of the flesh" (Galatians 5:16). "Do not quench the Spirit..." (1 Thessalonians 5:19).
It is when we are in communication with God's Spirit in us that all goodness comes from within us. "Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with signs too deep for words." (Romans 8:2) and gives us a new life (Rom.7:6), God's life so that we are able to produce the fruits of love: all that is good. It is God's loving relationship with me in myself that we experience God as God the Spirit. The lack in us becomes insignificant as God's Spirit embraces us in His love so that we can love ourselves: relate to ourselves in the proper way, accepting ourselves as we are and growing because are loved by God.
There are also people of other faiths who feel this need. The Hindis, for example, believe that in the depths Man himself; his soul (Atman) is identified with (Brahman) God. The practice of meditation is to lead one to that total union where the distinction between God and Soul disappears: Atman equals Brahman. We Christians do not go that far. We say that the Spirit of God dwells in us in such a way that we can be united to Him and be fulfilled but we are not the Spirit of God. There is union but no identification.
The first dimension: the experience of inadequacy as I relate to others and the Son of God.
I relate to the world outside me through my five senses. I can have a certain relationship to the world of nature. But I cannot communicate to "it" thoughts and feelings. Perhaps, some people can feel that they can communicate their thoughts and feelings to their pet animals. However, it is a fact that the animals will never feel or think as humans do. The communication is rather limited. The only creature with whom I can communicate and be understood in a relatively limited way is human being - one of my own kind.
As I speak to a very good friend telling him my feelings and my thoughts, I know that he can empathize and sympathize with me. As I have said in chapter 1, we are tied down to matter. I express myself through matter to any friend. He responds to me by expressing his sympathy through matter to me. Hence, "He understands me", is the usual expression. Yet I know that he can never actually think my thoughts nor feel my emotions. He can never fully understand me. Whence comes the feeling of a lack in this relationship.
We need to communicate with others as human beings through matter. It is inbuilt into or innate to our nature. Yet we feel frustrated because we can never be fully understood by another human being. When I am in trouble and things churn me, I seek someone with whom I can relate. I tell him my worries, anxieties, fears, hopes, aspirations, etc. At the end, if he can empathize and sympathize with me, I feel somewhat relieved. I do not feel that unbearable weight on my trouble. Nevertheless, I still feel a lack. That someone has done his best, but I am still not fully understood or consoled. This is why we need counsellors and people who can listen and try to understand. They can help only to a certain extent and no more.
It is here that Our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, comes in. God who made us, knows that we need help in this relationship with others. So He sent His son to be like us in all things except sin. He walked on earth, suffered as we suffer and hoped as we hope. "In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered us prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him from death and he was heard for his godly fear" (Hebrew 5:7). It is also a description of us in our anguish. Because the Son of God knows what it is to be a human being, He is able "to sympathize with our weakness", because he, "in every respect, has been tempted as we are, yet without sin" (Hebrews 4:15). Hence, when we need someone, a human being who can understand us fully, we have God Himself in the human person of Jesus Christ. If we develop this relationship with Christ as a bosom friend, we will have no fear because we can always talk to Him at any moment and know that He will understand. As we develop this friendship with Christ as a constant human companion, God supplies that lack in our relationship with the world outside us. Again the New Testament speaks of Jesus Christ as a friend who walks with Man. That is why He is also called "Emmanuel" or "God with us" (Matthew 1:23). "No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from the Father, I have made known to you." (John 15:15).
Thus the New testament tells us to see Christ in others (Matthew 25:40,45). Indeed, we must see Him everywhere and in everything because "Christ is all and in all" (Colossians 3:11). Saint John puts it in another ways: "All things were made through him and without him was not anything made that was made. In him was life..." (John 1:3-4). God relates to us in this third dimension as the Son with whom I can communicate as a human person to another human person and be understood fully as such. The lack is supplied by Christ. If I can walk Him and talk with Him, I can be angry and frustrated, and yet know that He understands fully and accepts me as I am. I experience Him with me all the time, even though sometimes I do not feel it. I am fulfilled in my relationship with others because He is there to bridge the gap. Again this relationship is one of Love. "Love one another as I have loved you," says Jesus (John 15:12). Because I have cultivated this love relationship with Jesus the Son of God, I will love others. The Love he has for me is the same love He has for others for "God is Love".
Remember in chapter One, we said that human beings can only "understands" through matter. God who made us as we are, "understands" our limitation. So, He relates to us in a way that we can fully grasp His infinite love for us: He sent His Son Jesus Christ to be like us (through matter), to communicate to us by His words and His life (through matter), to communicate to us by His words and His life (through matter) God's unconditional love for all human beings. This is Incarnation: Jesus Christ is the manifestation of God's Infinite Love for Man in a way that Man can really understand.
If we say that God cannot become Man because He is spirit, we are limiting His power. He is no longer all powerful. He is no longer God but a figment of our imagination. To God all is possible (All-powerful) even if our human mind may think it impossible. Being all-powerful and all love, He expresses Himself in a way that blows our mind. Infinite Love becomes Man, a limited creature. This is another proof of His infiniteness and of His love.
The unifying factor in all the three dimensional relaiontships is Love. Since God is Love, He relates to us in these three "modes" or "ways" uniting all, within and without me, in a harmonious whole - which brings true life (John 10:10). I am thus fulfilled; the experience of which is joy (John 15:11) and peace (John 14:27). It is this sense of fulfillment that enables me to reach out without fear to others in love. This is my living experience of the "triune God" who is One and who relates to me in three ways to fulfil my experience of lack or inadequacy in my three relationships: with others, with myself and with the "Something More", the Absolute. This is what "Tradition" meant by "Three Persons in One God" or Trinity.
What God is in Himself, I do not know. What I do know is His relationships with me. His relationships with me are manifestations of what He is in Himself. Hence, the early Latin Fathers rightly asserted that God in Himself is also "Three in One". How this is possible and what it is, in as far as the weak human mind can understand them in an approximate way, I leave them to theologians.
It is my belief, however, without discrediting other people's beliefs, that the Christian understanding of God as triune in His relationship with us is the most satisfactory answer. It answers not only what it is to be human beings but also supplies what is lacking in us. God who made us as we are (our nature), with a lack in each of our three dimensional relationships, relates to us in the way He made us and supplies the inadequacy in us. God the Son fulfils our need for a human person who can fully understand us as human beings. God the Spirit fulfils our need to relate to ourselves in self-acceptance and growth. God the Father fulfils our yearning for "Something More" - the Absolute and the Almighty. - PAGE TWO -
By His Grace Bishop Paul Tan Chee Ing - S. J. - Straight to Catholics -
- WELCOME TO SACRED SCRIPTURE / WORD OF GOD / HOLY BIBLE READER'S COMMUNITY -
Wishing you, 'Happy Reading', and may God, the Father, the Son of the living God, Jesus Christ, fills your heart, mind, thoughts, and grants you: The Holy Spirit, that is, Wisdom, Knowledge, Understanding, Counsel, Piety, Fortitude, Fear of the Lord, and also His fruits of the Holy Spirit, that is, Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Trustfulness, Gentleness and Self-Control. Amen! God blessing be upon you!
Why do you call Me, "Lord, Lord" and not do what I say?' "Everyone who comes to Me and listens to My words and acts on them - I will show you what he/she is like. He/She is like a man/woman who when he/she built his/her house dug, deep, and laid the foundations on rock; when the river was in flood it bore down on that house but could not shake it, it was so well built. But the one who listens and does nothing is like the man/woman who built his/her house on soil, with no foundations: as soon as the river bore down on it, it collapsed; and what a ruin that house became!" - Luke 6:46-49 -
If we live by the truth and in love, we shall grow in all ways into Christ Jesus, who is the head by whom the whole body is fitted and joined together, every joint adding its own strength, for each separate part to work according to it function. So the body grows until it has built itself up, in love." - Ephesians 4:15-16 -
I still have many things to say to you but they would be too much for you now. But when the spirit of truth comes, he will lead you to the complete truth, since he will not be speaking as from himself, but will say only what he has learnt; and he will tell you of the things to come. He/She will glorify me, since all he/she tells you will be taken from what is mine. Everything the Father has is mine; that is why I said: all he/she tells you will be taken from what is mine." - John 16:12-15 -
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