Introduction

After the listener grows accustomed to the main theme, Chopin's piano piece Etude No.3 in E major, Op. 10, (which, if your system enables it, is playing in the background) gives way first to a playful questioning of the theme, and then to quite an agitated "disturbance". It is as if the piece goes through some kind of a trial or ordeal. When the original theme returns, it seems new and fresh against the backdrop of the chaos and disturbance just experienced. It is as if it is heard for the first time.

This idea is reminiscent of a verse from T.S.Eliot:

We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time. (1)

The on-going process of life can be seen as consisting of three phases, starting with an original wholeness, through a period of exploration, confusion, tension, disorientation, and sometimes dissolution and fragmentation, and finally coming back to the original wholeness in a new way, or even re-integrating on a new level. I call this the "Trinity Cycle", a deep structure and pattern not only of integration, resolution, reconciliation, but also of synergy, creativity, growth, regeneration and resurrection. As Julius Heuscher wrote, "These ongoing cycles of loss of blissful harmony, existential anxiety or despair, and new integration seem to reflect the very pulsation of life and lead to new levels of consciousness." (2)

The process with its three stages is a universal one and has been described in various ways. In Christian mythology they are referred to as creation, fall, and redemption. They have also been portrayed as dependence, independence, and interdependence. The process is common to religion, spirituality, psychology, creativity, and wherever the creative and transformational process is in effect. It is seen in the three stages of the transformation of the caterpillar through the chrysalis to the butterfly or moth. It is inherent in such diverse areas as alchemy and quantum mechanics. It is implied in drama where a conflict or disturbance is introduced into an original situation, giving rise to tension and eventually to a resolution and conclusion. Applied to psychology it is seen in Dabrowski's idea of "Positive Disintegration": "The development of the personality occurs through a disruption of the existing, initially integrated structure, a period of disintegration, and finally a renewed, or secondary integration." (3) In art the American painter Thomas Cole depicted the three stages in a series of four paintings entitled The Voyage of Life.

               

The three states or phases, aptly represented by the above three symbols, are all intrinsically present in various ways and areas in our lives. The process of creativity, overcoming, resolution, and integration is universal and continuous, manifesting itself in all levels and areas of existence. The first phase is that of original unity, innocence, and purity. The second is one of duality, independence, separation, tension, fragmentation, pain, pluralism, and so on. It is a complex phase depicting a situation or state that is at once challenging, dangerous, enlightening and powerful. It includes anger, strife, violence and war, to which we are no stranger. The last phase is that of resolution, overcoming, integration. A new creation is formed out of the struggle or coming together of the two opposing/complementary forces or aspects previously held in tension. The result may be a new artistic creation, a solution to a problem, the emergence of the butterfly, the formation of community, or the integration of our inner being. Different words or ways can be (and have been) used to depict the three-part Trinity Cycle:

1 - 2 - 3
oneness - separateness - constancy
dependence - independence - interdependence
connected - disconnected - interconnected
pre-personal - personal - transpersonal
childhood - adolescence - maturity
caterpillar - chrysalis - butterfly
unity - multiplicity - simplicity
totality - duality - wholeness
thesis - analysis - synthesis
creation - fall - redemption
instinct - intellect - intuition
energy - entropy - synergy
relaxed - tense - supple
conciliation - animosity - reconciliation
accord - discord - concord

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Feedback or comments welcome.
Dirk Kelder
May 30, 2010.

www.polaritydynamics.com/tc0.htm