As we perceive the world, we try to make sense of it. Reasoning helps fill the gap between perception, understanding, and communication of it. And numbers play an important role in this communication; numbers are a construction that helps facilitate understanding. Our experience has this ‘trinity’ as ‘subject, object & the connection between them’. The concept of Trinity has various meanings and applications in spiritual life. In Christianity, the Trinity refers to God, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. There are two basic ways to regard the Trinity. The first is to consider three distinctly different things, all with the identical Essence. The other way is to consider all three as One, with three different aspects. In this approach, everything is the one same Divine Reality. In the Old Testament, there is Oneness, but how is that One to be approached? Jesus gave some additional steps so that others could follow. In the Book of John, Jesus states, "No one comes to the Father except through me." Jesus is the intermediary between the person and God; a person may find it very difficult to send prayers to God, but as one who existed on the human plane, it is easier to feel connected with Jesus. By holding onto Jesus, a person can get to that unlimited Oneness. In The Cloud of Unknowing, it is expressed that Love has a uniting ability; because of Love, whatever belongs to one's beloved belongs to oneself. Thus, for a devotee of Jesus, whatever belongs to Jesus belongs to that devotee. As an incarnation of God, Jesus provides a metaphorical staircase that enables the devotee to climb and reach God. In Vedanta, there are three related, numerical ideas: Unitarianism (everything is God alone; "thou art That"), Binatarianism (there God and Maya), and Trinitarianism (there are the changing and unchanging aspects, as well as that which illumines them -- the Uttama Purusha). While there are many possible paths, or "staircases," that can have a transformative effect on a person, one must make the effort to climb in order for that transformation to occur.
