Yin-Yang and the Trinity

In his book “Return from Unknown Gods” J. Wichmann, an author of our times, describes his personal understanding of the two symbols:

“In the neo-religious scene the Yin-Yang symbol is very popular. It expresses the polarity of being. Contrary to this more static polarity, the Trinity in a circle forms automatically a dynamic – a deity that dances with itself. Now the symbol of Trinity is circling within me, constantly changing its forms and becoming more and more interesting. I am surprised that theologians have not caught on much more to these signs of divine manifoldness and dynamics. The fact that a symbol relates to many people is shown by the popularity of the Asian Yin-Yang circle. Why does the symbol of the Trinity which is familiar to our culture not have such a popularity? Is it not much more ambiguous and can it not produce many more images? Above all, it appeals to a totally different dimension than the tiresome, modern interpretation of the “dynamic of self organization of the universe”, which drives out any life of the spirit and in some ‘New Age’ circles succeeds as the term for spirit: the greatest victory of the mechanical view of life, which nowadays does not deny God anymore, but takes Him over. Then I would rather have the Trinity.

In it I can understand three aspects of divine being, which up to now did not seem to fit together. First, there is the aspect of the Father, the unfathomable oigin, from which all being comes. Second, I see the aspect of the Son as the personal side of the Great Spirit, as the side which is closest to us human beings and turned towards us. Tradition also calls Christ the Logos, who was ‘in the beginning with God’, the Cosmic Christ. And there is the Holy Spirit, the non-personal side of the divinity, which reveals itself in the manifest world, which can be experienced by us through vital energy, which penetrates everything, that is the energetic aspect of God. That is how I am able to experience the ‘Father, Son and Holy Spirit’ and I begin to understand. That this tradition uses male figures is unfortunate. But I think, nowadays, it is quite clear that ‘Father’ also means ‘Mother’ and transcends the sexes. And that the Holy Spirit, seen from its Hebrew origin, is female, will surely become more commonly known.

...The Trinity as a divine kaleidoscope, endlessly producing, procreating, and birthing trinities. Finally I have found a Christian symbol that not only becomes understandable for me if I make a great effort, but that through itself makes it possible for me to understand my own spiritual experiences, which I did not have before... The three hares running in a circle symbolize a powerful dynamism of the Three...

(J. Wichmann: “Return from Unknown Gods. <r>Re-Encounter With My Unloved Roots”, Stuttgart 1992, 58 ff.).

CCFMC, Lesson Unit 6,D4