I know this from esoteric Christianity as the relationship between one and three. It is like the relationship between white light and the three primary colors. White light is unity while the three primary colors are their first division on a lower level of vibration. Both white light and the primary colors simultaneously exist but at a different levels or quality of vibration.Reflex wrote: ↑Tue Dec 11, 2018 9:06 amIn The Power of Myth Joseph Campbell tells a story that relates to a power greater than Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva.Nick_A wrote: ↑Tue Dec 11, 2018 5:01 am Reflex
It was a real mind blowing experience for me when I began to realize that the cycles of material convergence was known as the breath of Brahma and a kalpa in Buddhism. Apparently the ouroboros or universe is created, eats itself, and returns to its source. Then it is created again.Not much of a difference IMO. The symbol (the head swallowing its tail) seems to me to correlate with Convergence.
Time in Buddhist cosmology is measured in kalpas. Originally, a kalpa was considered to be 4,320,000 years. Buddhist scholars expanded it with a metaphor: rub a one-mile cube of rock once every hundred years with a piece of silk, until the rock is worn away -- and a kalpa still hasn’t passed! During a kalpa, the world comes into being, exists, is destroyed, and a period of emptiness ensues. Then it all starts again.
One day, Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva were boasting about each other’s greatest power. At that moment, a little boy came up to the holy trinity and asked Brahma, “What do you create?”. Brahma replied, “I can create everything.” He then asked Vishnu, “What do you preserve?”. “I preserve everything,” said Vishnu. “What do you destroy?” he asked Shiva. Shiva replied, “I can destroy everything."
Then this young boy had a single piece of straw in his hand, which was about the size of a toothpick. He asked Brahma, “Can you create a piece of straw exactly like this?” Brahma, exerting some great effort, tried to create the exact piece. But he failed. Brahma was astonished.
Then he asked Vishnu if he could protect the straw, which started to slowly dissolve under their gaze. But, Vishnu couldn’t. The straw completely vanished.
The boy picked another straw again and asked Shiva to use his power and destroy this piece of straw. Even Shiva with all his efforts failed to completely destroy the straw. The straw remained intact all of the time.
He then turned to Brahma and asked, “Did you create me?” Brahma was lost in the thought for a while. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t remember ever creating this child. When he realized that he did not create the child, the child vanished.
This was the point where the three gods realized they were living in heir delusion. They now realized that there is a power behind their power that is a greater power.
I’ve read how the idea that God is both one and three ridiculed in so many ways only because people are closed to the idea of levels of reality. The example given by Joseph Campbell is another example of the relationship between one and three, They are the same but three is the beginning of creation within time and space while ONE is the ultimate source of creation and the unity of three and the highest vibration..