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New Kingdom waiting to be born.

  • heather
  • Jul 13
  • 6 min read
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Dear Ones,


Let us continue to consider how this metaphysical principle and pattern, the Law of Three embedded in the Trinity, appears in our lives. In our inner work, we might struggle between the desire for growth (first force) and our resistance to change (second force). The third force could be grace, awareness, or what some traditions call witnessing consciousness—that quality of presence that allows transformation to unfold without forcing it.


Even in our engagement with social justice, we can move beyond the binary of oppressor and oppressed by invoking the third force of restorative love, which seeks not just to redistribute power but to heal the very wounds that create division.


In her book, The Trinity and The Law of Three, Cynthia suggests that "The Law of Three teaches us that a new kingdom is just waiting to be born." This isn't some distant eschatological hope. It is an invitation to participate consciously in the creative process that is always unfolding around us and within us.


This shift in perception can transform our approach to everything from conflict resolution to creative projects, from prayer to politics. Instead of trying to win or lose, to be right or wrong, we ask: How can we become midwives to the new thing that wants to emerge?


Perhaps this is what it truly means to live "in the name of the Father/Mother/Creator, the Son, and the Holy Spirit"—not as a formula recited on automatic pilot, but as a recognition that we dwell within a ternary universe where the third force is always available to transform our either/or thinking into something more spacious and generative.

If the universe is indeed created in the image of the Trinity, then every moment offers us the opportunity to participate in this divine pattern of creative transformation. We can learn to recognize the first force of our deepest longings, acknowledge the second force of resistance or limitation, and then wait with an expectant inner posture for the third force that will birth something entirely new.


The invitation of the Law of Three is again and again to move beyond the tyranny of binary thinking and into the creative dance of trinitarian consciousness. To trust that in every situation, no matter how stuck or polarized it may seem, a new kingdom is waiting to be born.


The Kingdom of Heaven, also called the Imaginal Realm or World 24, it turns out, may be nothing more—and nothing less—than learning to live in harmony with the Law of Three.


May we have eyes to see the third force stirring in our relationships, our communities, and our world. May we learn to cooperate consciously with this ancient pattern of divine creativity that pulses through every moment of our lives. 

 

With Love,

Heather


Readings from last week's Daily Contemplative Pauses

*All previous readings & reflections can be found here*

 

Monday, July 7th


Welcoming what is


Tuesday, July 8th



Wednesday, July 9th


Reading: “One can only imagine how greatly the political and religious culture wars of our era could be eased by this simple courtesy of the Law of Three: (1) the enemy is never the problem but the opportunity; (2) the problem will never be solved through eliminating or silencing the opposition but only through creating a new field of possibility large enough to hold the tension of the opposites and launch them in a new direction. Imagine what a different world it would be if these two simple precepts were internalized and enacted.” ― Cynthia Bourgeault, The Holy Trinity and the Law of Three: Discovering the Radical Truth at the Heart of Christianity, p. 39-40

 


Thursday, July 10th


Reading: “Time and again we have hurled our predictions of imminent demise against the planet, and time and again we have awakened the next morning to the world still sweetly in place. Our earth seems infinitely more solid, more resilient, more forgiving than our fevered human brains. And yet the alternative is not simply to fall back to sleep proclaiming "all is well, for both the rate and the magnitude of change on even a day-to-day basis suggest that we are in a time of rapid acceleration, a dramatic jolt forward along some unknown timeline whose challenges we can no longer responsibly ignore Wherever this planet is heading, it will require the best and deepest of our human hearts and minds to stay the course.” – Cynthia Bourgeault, Trinity and the Law of Three, p. 212


Friday, July 11th


Reading: “Our human task at this stage. . . is simply to sink our hearts more and more deeply into the Holy Substantiality of that Oneness itself and learn to live within its more diaphanous reality. What in a former age was the rare attainment of a saint is in the age at hand the new baseline for a conscious human being and a prerequisite for playing our part in the great unfolding soon to be under way as the kaleidoscope turns yet one more time and our world converges toward its Omega Point, the fullness of love.” – Cynthia Bourgeault, Trinity and the Law of Three 



Saturday, July 12th


Reading: “We are, in fact, converging on oneness, hurtling toward it. Our global systems are already inextricably intertwined. Ecologically we know that we are one planet - no matter how much we still try to deny it. Economics and communications are already there, long since fused into a single global network. We are converging on a oneness that requires a different spirit from human beings, a different way of finding identity in collectivity; and a response to this evolutionary challenge does indeed seem to be emerging with such a heartfelt and broad-based spontaneity that many commentators are now referring to our era as the “second axial period.” For the first time in history (so far as we know) a critical mass of people seems to be attaining the capacity for nondual consciousness — that is, the capacity to perceive from oneness, to think from the whole to the part-and they are wielding the tools of cybertechnology boldly to make their influence felt. This is exactly what Teilhard de Chardin was envisioning in his notion of "densification": an acceleration of the evolutionary process through the convergence of human energy… From this wider perspective we can perhaps find a new clarity and renewed courage that will allow us to face what lies before us in a spirit of conscious participation and not be dragged kicking and screaming into the future.” – Cynthia Bourgeault, Trinity and the Law of Three, p. 213-214 


Chant: Spirit of truth [open] my mind, soul of wisdom [open] my heart –The Oriental Orthodox Order in the West


Sunday, July 13th


Reading: “We are also in an era of deaths, as old forms die before a rising wave of new need and new understanding. But to the degree that we Christians can take hold of the tools offered us in the Law of Three, trusting its dynamism, allowing it to weave new possibilities, Christianity need not be a casualty. Intrinsically, it is a religion geared toward the future, toward new birth, toward hope. The mind of Christ, that archetypal ternary, catapults us directly into the future, and there — if we can manage not to lose our bearings but simply use the tools we have been given — we can, indeed, still participate in this astonishing new unfolding and shape this planet with spiritual intelligence and deeply transformed love as it hurtles toward fullness.” – Cynthia Bourgeault, Trinity and the Law of Three, p. 214 


Chant: O Mercy, we entrust ourselves to you, that we may be transformed – Suzanne Toolan RSM & Catherine Regan





 


 
 
 

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