Oxymoron wrote:I have always viewed it as:
God : Abstract concept of all powerful
Son: Gods presence in the real
Spirit: the connection between the two
Then ponder this if you will. (This will be a very abbreviated description.) The goal of the early monastics was to know "union with God". That is actually to say the goal was to know a state in which there is no distinction possible between the being of God and the being of Self. One Life, One Self, One "IS".
And the monastics spent centuries developing the practices and methods that could lead a devoted monk in progressive experiences that culminate in the final experience of Oneness with God. The path had some specific mileposts. The early practice in ones' spiritual life would be that of surrender. Purification would be the intention. Elimination of negative human qualities the hope. And along this early part of the path there was the awareness of help being present. This "help" was identified as "the Holy Spirit". Practiced properly, purification would proceed. And as purification proceeded, the awareness of "the Holy Spirit" would grow stronger and would become more personal. This is the first step and the "experience of the Holy Spirit."
The next step entailed being willing to let go of all attachment to the Holy Spirit in order to seek "Christ in me". (I know that many Christians today would thoroughly disagree with the ideas I'm presenting and many would even denounce them, but keep in mind that I am not trying to convince anyone of the ideas, but only presenting the ancient path of the early monastics whether they are found to be agreeable or not.) This all advances most effectively during meditation ("contemplation"). In fact proper meditation, guided by another person who has already progressed well along the path, is indispensable.
In this second step or phase, the purification continues as all aspects of the human self are discarded and overcome. They represent all the things in us that keep us focused in this world. They
are the world in us. And the effort here was to "overcome the world (within)". As this process proceeds, an awareness of a Greater One grows. It is identified as the Christ within. It seems to grow nearer and nearer as the monastic advances in his progress regarding purification and "dying daily".
The day comes when there is no longer any distinction found between the Christ within and the Self. The experience is "I, Christ". This is where is becomes very important to not elevate self, and so never to utter the words "I, Christ". But the interesting thing here is that when the Christ within draws closer and closer, the awareness of "the Holy Spirit" diminishes until it is gone entirely and all that is known is "I, Christ". The two are never experienced at the same time. The Holy Spirit "leaves" and Christ shows up.
As the monastic surrenders fully in every respect to Christ identity, the identity is completed as Self. No longer is there any self of the human remaining during meditation. Christ is all.
At some point the third and final step begins, and that is the growing awareness of God, within.
And then, as full surrender and full identity is achieved, "Christ goes to the Father". No effort on the part of the monastic can help. In fact it can only interfere and stop the progress. One must entirely "exit" the scene and know only Christ Life as what "IS". When that happens, the Christ completes the journey "for the devotee" and AS the devotee.
And when God Consciousness is achieved, Christ vanishes. They are never known to be Self at the same time.
Now this is all very interesting as it explains much of what we read in the Bible and try to understand with our human mind. The Bible says there is one God in three: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The experiences of the ancient monastics reveals that the Holy Spirit
is God. The H.S. is simply the early experience of God by man who is not yet pure enough to see and know more than the H.S. It is God! But impure man cannot see It. It's like finding a lump of diamond in the dirt. It takes a trained eye to know it's a diamond that will one day be a beautiful, sparkling cut gem. All that is seen at first is a soiled strange lump which reveals itself only after plenty of work of taking it back to town, finding a gem cutter, and negotiating the process of transforming it into what it shall be as a cut stone. The H.S. is like that. It's all we can see of God at the time even though God is right there all the while.
Then the H.S. vanishes as Christ is revealed. "Christ the Son" is a purer, more advanced view of God than was available as the "H.S." It is still God but it is all that can be withstood at that point given the incomplete surrender that has left traces of a sense of self remaining. And as those traces are eliminated the full awareness of God comes.
That is the "Trinity", described as "three in one". It really is one, . . . --progressive views of the One as the condition of the monastic permits. There is not a Holy Spirit. It is God. There is not a "Christ" (and certainly not a "Jesus"). It is God.
This is the experience the monastics sought, and it is the experience sought by every mystic of every religion even if the path is all described by a different story . . . Kabbalah, Sufi, Christian monastics, Hindus . . . all seeking the same goal. For Christians it is a story of "three in one" but it is really all One.
Progress does not go backward.