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The Holy Trinity and the Law of Three: Discovering the Radical Truth at the Heart of Christianity
Just as she's done in her previous books, Cynthia Bourgeault asks us to take a look at an idea from traditional Christianity—this time the formula of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—as though we're looking at it for the first time. And as usual, she reveals it to be something we hadn't expected at all. She finds in the idea of the Holy Trinity a striking vision of the nature of reality. What she claims, in a nutshell, is that embedded within this theological formula that Christians recite mostly on autopilot lies a powerful metaphysical principle that could change our understanding of Christianity and give us the tools so long and so sorely needed to reunite our shattered cosmology, rekindle our visionary imagination, and cooperate consciously with the manifestation of Jesus's "Kingdom of Heaven" here on earth. She looks to the history of Christian theology, to her own years of contemplative practice, and to the ideas of G. I. Gurdjieff. Her tone is, as ever, as accessible as it is compelling, and it's a wild ride. "I will do my best to make the ride as smooth as possible," she says, "but in the end, my commitment is to getting there, because I know beyond all personal doubt that there is indeed a ham radio concealed inside this Trinitarian tea cupboard. And in the midst of this long winter of our Christian discontent, when spiritual imagination and boldness are at an all-time low and the church itself hovers at the edge of demise for lack of an animating vision, perhaps now more than ever the time is ripe to remove the packing boards from this tea cupboard and release its contents."
272 pages, Paperback
First published July 2, 2013
234 people are currently reading
416 people want to read
About the author
Cynthia Bourgeault
55 books357 followersModern day mystic, Episcopal priest, writer, and internationally known retreat leader, Cynthia Bourgeault divides her time between solitude at her seaside hermitage in Maine, and a demanding schedule traveling globally to teach and spread the recovery of the Christian contemplative and Wisdom path.
She has been a long-time advocate of the meditative practice of Centering Prayer and has worked closely with fellow teachers and colleagues including Thomas Keating, Bruno Barnhart, and Richard Rohr. Cynthia has actively participated in numerous inter-spiritual dialogues and events with luminaries and leaders such as A.H. Almaas, Kabir Helminski, Swami Atmarupananda, and Rami Shapiro.
Cynthia is a member of the GPIW (Global Peace Initiative for Women) Contemplative Council and recipient of the 2014 Contemplative Voices award from Shalem Institute. She is a founding Director of both The Contemplative Society and the Aspen Wisdom School. She continues to contribute to The Contemplative Society in her role as Principal Teacher and advisor.
Cynthia is the author of eight books: The Holy Trinity and the Law of Three, The Meaning of Mary Magdalene, The Wisdom Jesus, Centering Prayer and Inner Awakening, Mystical Hope, The Wisdom Way of Knowing, Chanting the Psalms, and Love is Stronger than Death. She has also authored or contributed to numerous articles on the Christian Wisdom path in publications such as Parabola Magazine, Gnosis Magazine, and Sewanee Theological Review.
Cynthia Bourgeault is currently one of the core faculty members at The Living School for Action and Contemplation.
from http://www.contemplative.org/cynthia-...
She has been a long-time advocate of the meditative practice of Centering Prayer and has worked closely with fellow teachers and colleagues including Thomas Keating, Bruno Barnhart, and Richard Rohr. Cynthia has actively participated in numerous inter-spiritual dialogues and events with luminaries and leaders such as A.H. Almaas, Kabir Helminski, Swami Atmarupananda, and Rami Shapiro.
Cynthia is a member of the GPIW (Global Peace Initiative for Women) Contemplative Council and recipient of the 2014 Contemplative Voices award from Shalem Institute. She is a founding Director of both The Contemplative Society and the Aspen Wisdom School. She continues to contribute to The Contemplative Society in her role as Principal Teacher and advisor.
Cynthia is the author of eight books: The Holy Trinity and the Law of Three, The Meaning of Mary Magdalene, The Wisdom Jesus, Centering Prayer and Inner Awakening, Mystical Hope, The Wisdom Way of Knowing, Chanting the Psalms, and Love is Stronger than Death. She has also authored or contributed to numerous articles on the Christian Wisdom path in publications such as Parabola Magazine, Gnosis Magazine, and Sewanee Theological Review.
Cynthia Bourgeault is currently one of the core faculty members at The Living School for Action and Contemplation.
from http://www.contemplative.org/cynthia-...
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 40 reviews
July 31, 2013
I may have given this book five stars if I had been able to understand its deeper underpinings such as The Law of Three. At times it reminded me of trying to read quantum physics. Nevertheless this was an inspirational read and I come away with new respect for the Trinity and Christian thought.
Bourgeault’s work is about process, her own, her Christian faith’s and the Trinity itself. She is a committed Christian writing for Christians. She offers no post modernist apology for her faith. She does not present Jesus as merely a wise prophet and teacher, or just a fully realized man. For Bourgeault, Jesus is unique and necessary as the turning point in our evolution as children of God. Jesus is part of a dynamic trinity of God-roles playing out from before time, through this here and now world, and into a fully realized perfection of God’s purpose and creation.
Drawing deeply from the works of G.I. Gurdjieff and Jacob Boehme, she offers a challenge to our usual binary experience of life as paired opposites; good vs bad, progress vs resistance, male vs female. She expounds a ternary system wherein ‘the interplay of the two polarities calls forth a third, which is the ‘mediating’ or ‘reconciling’ principle between them.” And this in turn generates a synthesis at a whole new level. The Trinity reveals how God becomes accessible to us, manifesting and creating love and how love in turn becomes the driveshaft for all creation.
Our egoic operating system, our usual consciousness, is skewed to the binary, toward either/or, us/them. Only through our persistent effort can something, we might call it grace, awaken us to a higher non-dual level of awareness. In this process we come to see that what we have regarded as opposing is never the problem. Resistance is essential for every new breakthrough, every new arising “that honors all the players and brings them into a new relationship.” This has implications in all manner of practical everyday concerns, from dieting to international relations. Theologically it means that this world, exactly as is it in all its darkness and light, is infinitely precious and valuable in its own right. God loves this world and his love is manifested in and through this world. Jesus lived as love. The forces of hatred crucified him. His self-emptying reconciled these two opposites bringing forth a new order, the Kingdom of Heaven, “manifest in the very midst of all the human cruelty and brokenness.”
“The Trinity is pure relationality.” God, desiring to know himself, creates our world. He loves his creation and manifests as Jesus so that it/we can realize our full potential as empowered creators in love with God and his creation. Thus each of us is called to be one with The Source insofar as we act as a source of love, just like Jesus.
What is required of us is the surrender of our will. It is our thinking, our opinions, our willful self-ing that hinders us from seeing, hearing and doing God’s will. But our will, desire, and pain “are not obstacles to spiritual perfection but rather the raw materials out of which something yet more wondrous will be fashioned. Thus these things are not to be feared, denied or eradicated; they are to be transformed.” Boehme.
And they are transformed into warmheartedness, into mercy, the foundation of our souls.
“It is only in opening our own hearts to the irreducibly personal and relational nature of this Thou in whom we are rooted that we ever come to discover who we truly are.”
The transformation modeled by Jesus is nondual consciousness, the complete absence of me vs you polarity. “ ‘Love your neighbor as yourself,’ for instance: not as much as yourself, but as yourself: those two apparently separate selfhoods interchangeably, indivisibly one.”
For Bourgeault “Jesus’s self-sacrifice on the cross does not just model perfected being; it unleashes the healing, transforming power of surrendered love that literally sets the world on a new footing.”
The Kingdom of Heaven is the enlightened seeing that we are the Body of Christ—“each bird, leaf, tree; the fullness of Being hidden in the random dots of the universe, totally transparent to the love that is its source and its destiny.
For Christians “the innermost nature of the cosmos has been revealed as mercy. We need merely rest in the goodness of that embrace and trust.”
Bourgeault’s work is about process, her own, her Christian faith’s and the Trinity itself. She is a committed Christian writing for Christians. She offers no post modernist apology for her faith. She does not present Jesus as merely a wise prophet and teacher, or just a fully realized man. For Bourgeault, Jesus is unique and necessary as the turning point in our evolution as children of God. Jesus is part of a dynamic trinity of God-roles playing out from before time, through this here and now world, and into a fully realized perfection of God’s purpose and creation.
Drawing deeply from the works of G.I. Gurdjieff and Jacob Boehme, she offers a challenge to our usual binary experience of life as paired opposites; good vs bad, progress vs resistance, male vs female. She expounds a ternary system wherein ‘the interplay of the two polarities calls forth a third, which is the ‘mediating’ or ‘reconciling’ principle between them.” And this in turn generates a synthesis at a whole new level. The Trinity reveals how God becomes accessible to us, manifesting and creating love and how love in turn becomes the driveshaft for all creation.
Our egoic operating system, our usual consciousness, is skewed to the binary, toward either/or, us/them. Only through our persistent effort can something, we might call it grace, awaken us to a higher non-dual level of awareness. In this process we come to see that what we have regarded as opposing is never the problem. Resistance is essential for every new breakthrough, every new arising “that honors all the players and brings them into a new relationship.” This has implications in all manner of practical everyday concerns, from dieting to international relations. Theologically it means that this world, exactly as is it in all its darkness and light, is infinitely precious and valuable in its own right. God loves this world and his love is manifested in and through this world. Jesus lived as love. The forces of hatred crucified him. His self-emptying reconciled these two opposites bringing forth a new order, the Kingdom of Heaven, “manifest in the very midst of all the human cruelty and brokenness.”
“The Trinity is pure relationality.” God, desiring to know himself, creates our world. He loves his creation and manifests as Jesus so that it/we can realize our full potential as empowered creators in love with God and his creation. Thus each of us is called to be one with The Source insofar as we act as a source of love, just like Jesus.
What is required of us is the surrender of our will. It is our thinking, our opinions, our willful self-ing that hinders us from seeing, hearing and doing God’s will. But our will, desire, and pain “are not obstacles to spiritual perfection but rather the raw materials out of which something yet more wondrous will be fashioned. Thus these things are not to be feared, denied or eradicated; they are to be transformed.” Boehme.
And they are transformed into warmheartedness, into mercy, the foundation of our souls.
“It is only in opening our own hearts to the irreducibly personal and relational nature of this Thou in whom we are rooted that we ever come to discover who we truly are.”
The transformation modeled by Jesus is nondual consciousness, the complete absence of me vs you polarity. “ ‘Love your neighbor as yourself,’ for instance: not as much as yourself, but as yourself: those two apparently separate selfhoods interchangeably, indivisibly one.”
For Bourgeault “Jesus’s self-sacrifice on the cross does not just model perfected being; it unleashes the healing, transforming power of surrendered love that literally sets the world on a new footing.”
The Kingdom of Heaven is the enlightened seeing that we are the Body of Christ—“each bird, leaf, tree; the fullness of Being hidden in the random dots of the universe, totally transparent to the love that is its source and its destiny.
For Christians “the innermost nature of the cosmos has been revealed as mercy. We need merely rest in the goodness of that embrace and trust.”
September 14, 2013
Cynthia Bourgeault presents a metaphysics based around the Christian doctrine of the Trinity, and heavily influenced by the Gurdjieff work (from whence comes "The Law of Three"), and Jacob Boheme. As an alternative to the more static monist and delicately balanced dualist metaphysics, this ternary model is dynamic to the core, and fundamentally relational. The three figures of the Trinity, in this model, are roles which participate in a pattern of movement and manifestation, rather than static and independent persons (although she is in no way attempting to diminish the personal nature of the Christian God). She maintains a Christ-centric vision regarding our relationship to God, and our calling.
Her own words may convey this better: "...the real task before us is to have the courage to let go of the Trinity as Christianity's theological ace of clubs (using it only to prove that a human being was fully God) and to approach it instead in its cosmically subtle role as an ordering and revealing principle, of which Christ is its culminating expression."
The flow of the Trinity can be likened to a universal "tri-alectic", eternally pushing manifestation of the divine nature into new dimensions, in an increasing richness of expression. The consummation of one expression is but the beginning of the next. In this ternary dynamic, the interplay of two counter-forces calls forth a third "reconciling" power, which in turn resolves the other two not with a compromise or annihilation of either, but by opening a whole new dimension of potentiality, where all voices are able to harmonize their essence in new ways. This new creation, in turn, becomes a participant in the next movement of trinitarian manifestation. In this way, a threefold power contains both asymmetry and stability, which flow naturally into a forward-driving creative dynamism.
After laying the framework, she boldly dives into an attempt to use it to explain, well, as the jacket synopsis says, "just about everything", including the very heart of God, although she suggests that the reader approach this section as they would poetry, rather than science.
In the first chapter of the book, titled "Why Feminizing the Trinity Won't Work", she explains that trying to find feminine representation of God in the persons of the Trinity is trying to impose a binary polarity on a ternary model, and will cause more to be lost than gained. However, she is sympathetic to the desire to find a place for the feminine in God, and her illustrations suggest that it is in the move and flow of the Trinity, rather than the traditional static identities, where we may develop understanding in this.
Sister Bourgeault sees this book as the culmination of her life's work. A few years ago, I enjoyed multiple reads of "The Wisdom Way of Knowing", which I enthusiastically recommended to many friends. This is the second book of hers I have read, and it is more convincing to me in function than in form (fitting, given her points). At times, her firm confidence in her metaphysical model, and audacious application of it to understanding the unfolding of the very heart of God before time began made me feel a little uneasy. Having said that, it also explores fascinating and inspiring aspects of a reality created by and emanating from a triune God, some of which have a distinctly practical application to navigating life experiences. Namely, it encourages us to keep an open, yielded sensitivity to the "reconciling force" in all situations, so that we can take our place as midwives of the new creation.
Her own words may convey this better: "...the real task before us is to have the courage to let go of the Trinity as Christianity's theological ace of clubs (using it only to prove that a human being was fully God) and to approach it instead in its cosmically subtle role as an ordering and revealing principle, of which Christ is its culminating expression."
The flow of the Trinity can be likened to a universal "tri-alectic", eternally pushing manifestation of the divine nature into new dimensions, in an increasing richness of expression. The consummation of one expression is but the beginning of the next. In this ternary dynamic, the interplay of two counter-forces calls forth a third "reconciling" power, which in turn resolves the other two not with a compromise or annihilation of either, but by opening a whole new dimension of potentiality, where all voices are able to harmonize their essence in new ways. This new creation, in turn, becomes a participant in the next movement of trinitarian manifestation. In this way, a threefold power contains both asymmetry and stability, which flow naturally into a forward-driving creative dynamism.
After laying the framework, she boldly dives into an attempt to use it to explain, well, as the jacket synopsis says, "just about everything", including the very heart of God, although she suggests that the reader approach this section as they would poetry, rather than science.
In the first chapter of the book, titled "Why Feminizing the Trinity Won't Work", she explains that trying to find feminine representation of God in the persons of the Trinity is trying to impose a binary polarity on a ternary model, and will cause more to be lost than gained. However, she is sympathetic to the desire to find a place for the feminine in God, and her illustrations suggest that it is in the move and flow of the Trinity, rather than the traditional static identities, where we may develop understanding in this.
Sister Bourgeault sees this book as the culmination of her life's work. A few years ago, I enjoyed multiple reads of "The Wisdom Way of Knowing", which I enthusiastically recommended to many friends. This is the second book of hers I have read, and it is more convincing to me in function than in form (fitting, given her points). At times, her firm confidence in her metaphysical model, and audacious application of it to understanding the unfolding of the very heart of God before time began made me feel a little uneasy. Having said that, it also explores fascinating and inspiring aspects of a reality created by and emanating from a triune God, some of which have a distinctly practical application to navigating life experiences. Namely, it encourages us to keep an open, yielded sensitivity to the "reconciling force" in all situations, so that we can take our place as midwives of the new creation.
August 5, 2017
The Holy Trinity and the Law of Three. Shambhala Pub, In. Boulder, Co 2013 by Cynthia Bourgeault. Have you ever been attracted to a new concept and intuited that it was on the right track even though how it developed seemed obscure at the moment? I found myself there with the thoughts of Teilhard de Chardin over 40 years ago. Many, Cynthia among them, were also drawn by his insights and have lent their talents to joining in the flow that all truly creative efforts engender. If you are willing to take the tour of Cynthia’s factory of inspiration you will be rewarded with seeing the nuts and bolts of her inspiration on the Trinity or as she calls it “The Law of Three”. It is a demanding tour, but well worth the effort if you are interested in how she got THERE.
September 8, 2013
Cynthia Bourgeault 's manuscript is too far out of the box for traditional academic theology, but that is what makes it a fantastic book. She looks to the ancient concepts of G. I. Gurdjieff and Jacob Boehme to make her case for a new Trinitarian theology geared toward the future, toward new birth and hope. Could this be the key to understanding...everything? It's a question worth exploring.
March 7, 2022
After reading The Wisdom Jesus and enjoying it very much, I was particularly looking forward to reading Bourgeault’s thoughts on the Trinity. I’m one of those strange persons who looks forward to hearing sermons on Trinity Sunday and thinking more deeply about what the Trinity really means. I’ve been particularly fascinated with the idea since reading Augustine’s descriptions of the relationship of love between the Father, Son and Holy Spirit being the energy and essence of God. I had hoped to hear more building on that, but unfortunately the author found the Augustinian view to be dualistic because the Holy Spirit was to represent the love between Father and Son. I guess that’s not what I took away from it when I read it years ago.
I love her concept of a Trinitarian view turning very much away from a dualistic and damaging view of the world. Our human brains are wired for us/ them, so this is our default. Three basic parts of the Law of Three, a system she develops from a few obscure theologians in the distant past, are: affirming, denying and reconciling. I became hopeful when she described the writings of Beatrice Bruteau in God’s Ecstacy: The Creation of a Self-Creating World.
“More than any other writers we have explored here, she powerfully ‘gets’ that the Trinity is a dynamic, generative principle stamped into the very nature of created reality: it is both cosmic law and creative template. She recognizes as well that the key to this dynamism is the inherent capacity of threefoldness to ‘break symmetry and let the differences interact.’”
Bourgeault’s system gets more complicated in that there is a 4th element that comes from this three way interaction, one example being the Kingdom of God. There is yet a further level of complication as she develops the themes for Christianity, in that there are 7 cascading levels of three. I tried very hard but I could not make sense of her choices for each of the levels of 3, particularly in the roles of affirming, denying and reconciling. I could feel her energy and excitement that she found something that pulled together so much for her... if we could only see it... but it looks from other reviews, that almost no one else can see it. For me they were random sets of 3 words that just couldn’t fit in my mind with her descriptions.
I was also saddened to find that the current views of the Enneagram, which I have found to be so helpful, were not what she and others deep into metaphysics thinks it should be. Perhaps there are only a rarified few with deep experience of metaphysics that can understand her system, which is really too bad.
I love her concept of a Trinitarian view turning very much away from a dualistic and damaging view of the world. Our human brains are wired for us/ them, so this is our default. Three basic parts of the Law of Three, a system she develops from a few obscure theologians in the distant past, are: affirming, denying and reconciling. I became hopeful when she described the writings of Beatrice Bruteau in God’s Ecstacy: The Creation of a Self-Creating World.
“More than any other writers we have explored here, she powerfully ‘gets’ that the Trinity is a dynamic, generative principle stamped into the very nature of created reality: it is both cosmic law and creative template. She recognizes as well that the key to this dynamism is the inherent capacity of threefoldness to ‘break symmetry and let the differences interact.’”
Bourgeault’s system gets more complicated in that there is a 4th element that comes from this three way interaction, one example being the Kingdom of God. There is yet a further level of complication as she develops the themes for Christianity, in that there are 7 cascading levels of three. I tried very hard but I could not make sense of her choices for each of the levels of 3, particularly in the roles of affirming, denying and reconciling. I could feel her energy and excitement that she found something that pulled together so much for her... if we could only see it... but it looks from other reviews, that almost no one else can see it. For me they were random sets of 3 words that just couldn’t fit in my mind with her descriptions.
I was also saddened to find that the current views of the Enneagram, which I have found to be so helpful, were not what she and others deep into metaphysics thinks it should be. Perhaps there are only a rarified few with deep experience of metaphysics that can understand her system, which is really too bad.
July 11, 2013
I received an ebook ARC from Netgalley.
I dislike writing negative reviews. Normally if I don't like a book, I won't review it, but I wanted to share some thoughts on this book, because while I didn't like it, I think it's a book that people will enjoy reading and gain a lot of information from the information Cynthia Bourgeault has collected and shared in the book.
What drew me to the book first was the title and the cover. I personally wear a triquetra instead of a cross as a symbol of my faith. I'm always open to reading different views of Christianity so I read the description of the book and really liked it and thought there would be something of interest to me within the book.
Unfortunately I struggled with this book. The beginning of the book is very theory based and the end of the book is very technical and with out the proper background it made very little sense to me. Before starting the book I did do some research into the Law of Three and thought I had a basic understanding, I needed more of a background in these theories. Maybe those with more of a background could follow where the book was headed but I quickly got lost. I never did figure out the connection between the Law of Three and 'feminizing the Trinity'.
One thing I think that this book did well (that I understood) was the inclusion of the article that Cynthia wrote that sparked the idea for the whole book. It was great jumping off point and allowed the reader to really get the foundation for the rest of the book. I just wish I could have followed more of the book and would love it there was a way for Cynthia to write a book for those of us less versed in a lot of these theories.
Review was originally posted here
I dislike writing negative reviews. Normally if I don't like a book, I won't review it, but I wanted to share some thoughts on this book, because while I didn't like it, I think it's a book that people will enjoy reading and gain a lot of information from the information Cynthia Bourgeault has collected and shared in the book.
What drew me to the book first was the title and the cover. I personally wear a triquetra instead of a cross as a symbol of my faith. I'm always open to reading different views of Christianity so I read the description of the book and really liked it and thought there would be something of interest to me within the book.
Unfortunately I struggled with this book. The beginning of the book is very theory based and the end of the book is very technical and with out the proper background it made very little sense to me. Before starting the book I did do some research into the Law of Three and thought I had a basic understanding, I needed more of a background in these theories. Maybe those with more of a background could follow where the book was headed but I quickly got lost. I never did figure out the connection between the Law of Three and 'feminizing the Trinity'.
One thing I think that this book did well (that I understood) was the inclusion of the article that Cynthia wrote that sparked the idea for the whole book. It was great jumping off point and allowed the reader to really get the foundation for the rest of the book. I just wish I could have followed more of the book and would love it there was a way for Cynthia to write a book for those of us less versed in a lot of these theories.
Review was originally posted here
January 21, 2019
Bourgeault’s stunning and radical assertion is this: that the Trinity of Father, Spirit, and Son is but a snapshot of one form God takes along a continuum beginning in God-consciousness and ending in the reconciliation, indwelling, and recreation of all things. She uses the teachings and inspiration of metaphysics, mysticism, and orthodox Christianity to reveal a universal law (The Law of Three) and how God has both embodied said law and worked it across time and space to actualize God’s love. It is quite the mind-bender and speculative work. Not everything landed with me (I have never read anyone to which she referred), but her upholding of orthodox Trinitarianism, while expanding the range and depth of Trinitarian theology, is dizzyingly bold and insightful. It is both a textbook and proposal of Christian mystical insight. And it is, using the reconciling principle of her ternary metaphysics, affirming of the Biblical witness and transformative in shedding light upon the richness (incidentally) of our purpose as ministers of reconciliation. It is the work of the reconciler, Bourgeault asserts, that produces transformation where once there was a standstill between affirming and denying polarities.
February 26, 2016
Amazing. Bourgeault reassesses the Trinity in terms of the Gurdjieffian "Rule of Three." Without going into very complicated and esoteric details, she reveals that the Trinity as traditionally understood is two-dimensional. She pulls the focus out much wider to reveal that the Trinity may really be understood three-dimensionally as 7 Trinities. All the time grounding her work in theologians and mystics from the Cappadocian Fathers to Eckhart to especially Boehme, to Teilhard, and some more recent writers. She is consciously countering the "liberal-progressive" views now current which tend to downplay the Trinity and the centrality of Christ in the name of interfaith cooperation and feminism. While sympathetic with their aims, Bourgeault affirms the more traditional views and even shows them to be more feminist, from this wider perspective. This is one of those books that can change everything and needs to be widely read... even though a lot of the going is VERY esoteric and metaphysical. What I think she is doing is basically giving us the choreography of perichoresis, and showing that the Trinity is really a description of the way God is present in all creation.
July 7, 2017
Holy guacamole! This book is a life-changer. Not only does Bourgeault reinvigorate the trinity as a dynamic, relational, participatory way to understand divinity; she sets it evolving according to Gurdjieff's Law of Three. Picture a moving helix of three-somes, constantly creating and being created. Wowzer. Even though I took copious notes and journaled extensively while reading this book, I'm need to read it a few more times before I get it. Bourgeault is unpacking Christian metaphysics for me, and boy, am I grateful.
October 22, 2015
I've read several other books authored by Cynthia Bourgeault, and really liked them, so I was looking forward to this book. It wasn't as good as her other books, though. Aside from the material being very . . . esoteric, for lack of a better word, the writing was also very convoluted and made it even more difficult to understand. She jumped from topic to topic and then back again. The book was okay, but not as good as her others.
September 27, 2017
Wow. Most of this book was way over my head, but when I did understand something (which I experienced as recognition of truths I've learned through the practice of centering prayer) it was profound. I will probably need to re-read this book every few years!
April 17, 2020
This is an esoteric exploration of the Trinity in the Christian tradition developing a new understanding of the Trinity as an explanation of God at work in the world. It is using the Law of Three: Affirming, Denying, Reconciling as the dynamic energy for transformation. It is not the usual three persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Yet it is these but seen in a completely different way.
I liked the way Cynthia gets us into an understanding of The Law of Three in the first part of the book. She then develops her understanding of Trinity using Jacob Boehme's Three Principles and Seven Properties of the three principles. In the middle of the book, a substantial section, it all got beyond me. I was in and out of understanding what she was saying. In the last part, the summary I came back to being able to grasp generally where she was going. It seems to be a theological/philosophical/scientific and mystical conglomeration or maybe convergence. This really is a book for people who need to "prove" spiritual truths. She does see this as a way of validating the Christian faith as a way to understand the the origin of life, purpose of life, the nature of life, and to make decisions about one's engagement in life.
This is much to complicated for me.
I liked the way Cynthia gets us into an understanding of The Law of Three in the first part of the book. She then develops her understanding of Trinity using Jacob Boehme's Three Principles and Seven Properties of the three principles. In the middle of the book, a substantial section, it all got beyond me. I was in and out of understanding what she was saying. In the last part, the summary I came back to being able to grasp generally where she was going. It seems to be a theological/philosophical/scientific and mystical conglomeration or maybe convergence. This really is a book for people who need to "prove" spiritual truths. She does see this as a way of validating the Christian faith as a way to understand the the origin of life, purpose of life, the nature of life, and to make decisions about one's engagement in life.
This is much to complicated for me.
August 15, 2025
The introduction's guiding metaphor alone is worth the cover price. One of the most intellectually and spiritually challenging books I've ever encountered, this book completely renovated my imagination. I swim in contemplative Christianity's deep currents, but Bourgeault operates from another dimension entirely — without ever abandoning her tradition.
Bourgeault's metaphysical brilliance and raw intellectual daring defy categorization. She distills the genius of spiritual masters like Gurdjieff and Boehme through the Law of Three as cosmic touchstone, all serving an expanded vision of the Trinity. Her writing transcends synthesis, somehow popping the hood of the universe while simultaneously voicing ineffable truths that echo from creation's throne room.
Throughout, her wisdom and poetic articulacy converge to catalyze human consciousness, midwifing a genuine awakening already stirring to life. This is her tour de force — Bourgeault's signature gift to the faith.
I'll need many readings just to begin "bringing treasures new and old out of the storehouse," as Jesus said.
"The Holy Trinity and the Law of Three" marks a watershed in my spiritual evolution. Hard to imagine any book surpassing its transformative power.
Bourgeault's metaphysical brilliance and raw intellectual daring defy categorization. She distills the genius of spiritual masters like Gurdjieff and Boehme through the Law of Three as cosmic touchstone, all serving an expanded vision of the Trinity. Her writing transcends synthesis, somehow popping the hood of the universe while simultaneously voicing ineffable truths that echo from creation's throne room.
Throughout, her wisdom and poetic articulacy converge to catalyze human consciousness, midwifing a genuine awakening already stirring to life. This is her tour de force — Bourgeault's signature gift to the faith.
I'll need many readings just to begin "bringing treasures new and old out of the storehouse," as Jesus said.
"The Holy Trinity and the Law of Three" marks a watershed in my spiritual evolution. Hard to imagine any book surpassing its transformative power.
October 19, 2018
Heady, Thought-Provoking & May Be on to Something!
This is NOT a book for those wanting to examine the traditional perceptions of the Trinity in easily understood ideas, concepts and words!
This IS a book for someone who has solid background in our Christian understanding of the Trinity who wants to plum ideas both within and outside Christianity that place our 'evolving' understanding of the Trinity at the center of the cosmos!
So much within is beyond me (and I have 2 degrees in theology!) and yet so much within resonates with my own personal journey as a lifelong Catholic Christian! The Trinity, the numbers 3 and 7, the idea the the Trinity is a dynamism of three hypostases (from Greek Orthodoxy) or states within one, etc. have long been a part of my growing understanding and yearning!
Much to contemplate!!!
This is NOT a book for those wanting to examine the traditional perceptions of the Trinity in easily understood ideas, concepts and words!
This IS a book for someone who has solid background in our Christian understanding of the Trinity who wants to plum ideas both within and outside Christianity that place our 'evolving' understanding of the Trinity at the center of the cosmos!
So much within is beyond me (and I have 2 degrees in theology!) and yet so much within resonates with my own personal journey as a lifelong Catholic Christian! The Trinity, the numbers 3 and 7, the idea the the Trinity is a dynamism of three hypostases (from Greek Orthodoxy) or states within one, etc. have long been a part of my growing understanding and yearning!
Much to contemplate!!!
June 10, 2019
A visualization of cosmic Trinitarian dynamism ... and more!
"Until we can visualize the entire cosmic dynamism, we cannot see the place where the stories come together or appreciate how brilliantly the biblical story nests within the greater cosmic sweep." Indeed, Cynthia Bourgeault has given us new and complementary theological hermeneutic. It is a welcome sight to see Gurdjieff added to Christian theological discourse. A profound work.
"Until we can visualize the entire cosmic dynamism, we cannot see the place where the stories come together or appreciate how brilliantly the biblical story nests within the greater cosmic sweep." Indeed, Cynthia Bourgeault has given us new and complementary theological hermeneutic. It is a welcome sight to see Gurdjieff added to Christian theological discourse. A profound work.
August 30, 2024
Mind blown! I was totally fascinated by this book especially the way it brought together what had felt like free-floating insights I have had over the years as I have sought to know God more deeply. It helped me understand why I have been so drawn to the Trinitarian understanding of God. It is not an easy read by any means, but it is well worth the effort to dig in, re-read each section, and take long pauses to let the concepts settle in and find their place within the whole.
March 19, 2018
This was pretty deep for me. It seems the author referenced other authors more than anything she put into the book herself. The book would have been much smaller if not for all the other references. I would not recommend it unless you are familiar with other books of this type. I actually got bored before I finished.
March 7, 2022
Bourgeault has it all figured out, and I do not say this lightly. Her trans-Christian vision offers guidance on how a multitude of Trinities - seven, in stages, to be exact - define the creative expression of Divine energy. God-as-process. I pray this into the hands of all humans, period. We need this Wisdom revolution.
October 13, 2023
2013. I like the idea of the Law of Three - that when 2 things are opposed, adding a third reconciling force can raise the whole to a new level. It's quite a positive outlook and hopeful. I'm just not sure I understand how or where this happens. The author is long on theory and short on examples so that the whole thing seemed very abstract to me.
March 20, 2018
I am blown away by the many references Cynthia makes in this book to really tie some things together. I had to let this book sink in. Over time it began to click. The last chapter for me was the best.
February 26, 2021
I genuinely feel a bit speechless about this book. I have questions. I think some things are missing, and off. But also I think she’s absolutely onto something and she clarified some things I’ve pondered for years.
January 19, 2025
Not the book I thought it would be, but still good. The metaphysics was more than I wanted to attempt to grasp so simply allowed it to wash over me as I read it and grab what grains along the way that I could. I give thanks for those I know for whom I will recommend this title.
March 20, 2021
This was really hard for me to get through- I think I just lack the background knowledge and vocabulary might make it a more interesting read. I’ll definitely try her other books though.
August 1, 2013
I was not sure what to rate this book. I am not sure I want you to read it, even though I thoroughly enjoyed it. Bourgeault is such an engaging writer, I like to read her just so I can write better. With this book she has a basic idea: the trinity should not be locked in binary models or static identities; it is all about movement and becoming. God functions (like everything)according to the law of three. Two come together and require a third to be realized which results in an altogether new fourth and the progress of creative self-expression goes on. She wants to release metaphysics from Greek domination and restore the proper place of Christ as the beginning of the future. It is an involved read full of mysticism, Jacob Boehme, Sufis, you name it. I found it a highly entertaining, enlightening and encouraging read. She validated my own discomfort with how the trinity is taught and sure has an inventive way to rescue it while staying orthodox -- and it is all written like she'd be a great person to go on vacation with. That's quite a feat.
December 11, 2013
Best book I have read on the incarnation of humanity... yes humanity. This book is a treatise on how pure energy coalesces into sentient beings - traces the metaphysical underpinning of the creation myth. Bourgeault uses Gurdjieff's law of three and the writings of 16th Century mystic Jacob Boehme's writings as the spring board to reinterpret the static dualism of traditional understandings of the iconic Christian paradigm of the Holy Trinity; and sets it ablaze with the dynamic integration of the Law of Three. In short, this is a logical metaphysical basis for the manifestation of the 'substantiality' of the eternal human spirit - tracing it from pure energy to physical form and finally back to pure energy.
September 17, 2013
I read this book about a month ago and am just rereading parts of it now. I think Cynthia Bourgeault does such an amazing balancing act between holy mystery and common sense. I like the examples of the law of three in everyday life and also her exploration of the stages of the Trinity. Her description of the counterstroke and her "ground rules" for the stages provide a way in to a complex theory. As a bonus it also brought me back to Reshad Feild's " The Alchemy of the Heart" and his description of the octave.
August 4, 2014
This is not one of Cynthia Bourgeault's easier books. Nonetheless, if the mystery of the Trinity has ever interested you, this book is worth a read for a new take on an ancient mystery. It would help to be familiar with the work of Gurdjieff or Baume before you begin. Despite the synopsis of each's theories presented, those sections of the book remained somewhat opaque to me. As many of you know, i have met this author and really enjoy her both in person and through her other books, but this one took work!
August 8, 2021
Combining traditional Trinitarian theology and esoteric approaches of the "law of three", Cynthia Bourgeault seeks to release the Trinity from its constricting "Persons." This is a creative vision of a metaphysics for the 21st century whose Trinitarian God is a lot bigger than most realize! Although a little convoluted at times, Bourgeault is on to something about God that needs to be explored further. This book is a notable contribution in the continuing effort toward the reunification of theology and spirituality.
August 18, 2013
An enlightening read on so many levels (seven, to be exact). Cynthia draws you in to esoteric teaching with such charm and confidence, you absolutely trust that you won't lose your way, and that, even if some of the concepts are difficult, you will come out on the other end with a very deep understanding. Her book on The Meaning of Mary Magdalene was also an illuminating journey.
This one, however, goes way beyond personages. It delves straight into the heart of God. Amazing!
This one, however, goes way beyond personages. It delves straight into the heart of God. Amazing!
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