Cynthis Bourgeault: The Trinity

The Trinity understood in a wisdom sense:

The Cappadocian fathers, however, were not looking at individual persons, but at the flow of energy between the persons. In fact, the word we translate as “person” (hypostasis in Greek) does not mean an individual at all, but more a state of being—just as water can manifest as ice, liquid, or vapor, but remains the same chemical compound throughout. The Cappadocians were interested in how this movement, or change of state, takes place. They saw it as an outpouring of love, from Father to Son, from Son to Spirit, from Spirit back to father...

The Trinity, understood in a wisdom sense, is really an icon of self-emptying love. The three persons go round and round like buckets on a watermill, constantly overspilling into one another. And as they do so, the mill turns and the energy of love becomes manifest and accessible. The Cappadocians called this complete intercirculation of love perichoresis, which literally means “the dance around.” … God reveals his own innermost nature through a continuous round dance of self-emptying. On the great watermill of the Trinity, the statement ‘God is love’ brings itself into reality





Cynthis Bourgeault in ‘Wisdom Jesus’