A New Trinity for a New World Our experiences of reality are very different. Yet, strangely enough, they also lead to a trinity--what we may call a secular or this-worldly trinity. The first element is this self-evolving physical universe, which as we understand it, encompasses the whole of reality. Second is the human species that has evolved out of this creative universe and thereby brought us into existence. The third "being" is that which the collective consciousness of humankind has in turn brought forth--the body of cultural knowledge...without which we could not be human. These three constitute the God "in whom we live and move and have our being."
In the traditional doctrine of the Trinity the ancient thinkers took great pains to keep the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit clearly distinguished from one another and at the same time to affirm their essential unity. So it is with us. We distinguish clearly between the physical universe and the human species that lives within it. We also distinguish clearly between ourselves and the body of cultural knowledge that we inherit from our predecessors and to which we in turn contribute. Yet these three are so essentially a single reality that they cannot exist in separation from one another. As Father, Son, and Holy Spirit were proclaimed "three in one" because of the Incarnation, so the self-creating universe, the self-evolving human species and the emerging global consciousness are of one "substance" because of the cosmic creativity which manifests itself in all three. Clearly this understanding of the secular trinity owes much to the earlier affirmations of the Incarnation and of Holy Trinity. The more we humans become an harmonious global society, relating in a healthy way to one another and to the planet, the more confident we can be about the future. This hope rests upon putting our faith in the secular trinity of the world, humanity and global consciousness. p. 18
Lloyd Geering, Coming Back to Earth: From gods, to God, To Gaia
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