Why I wrote this article? When I discussed philosophy on the Internet, I referred others to my web page, URL http://hometown.aol.com/trinitine . Their response was, "I still don't understand your philosophy. Can you give a synopsis of it?" The result is this condensation of 18 books and many more book-manuscripts. This synopsis may be only a few leaves on the Tree of Knowledge that is Trinityism.
Why use the word "Trinityism"? Trinityism is a metaphysical system-philosophy that differs from other metaphysical system-philosophies, like Monism that says all is from one, and Dualism that says all is from two, and Pluralism that says all is from many. Trinityism says all is from three.
Why have Trinityism? We live in an age of communication, information, and factual knowledge. But this knowledge is like scrambled pieces of a jigsaw-puzzle that is without a cover-picture. Without a cover-picture, one cannot know how the scattered pieces fit together. When each person looks at a different piece of the puzzle of knowledge, each person has a different perception, perspective, and viewpoint of what the pieces and sections represent. As each loses sight of the coherent, systematic whole of the puzzle. of knowledge, chaotic confusion results. Trinityism supplies a "cover picture" as an aid for joining the pieces of knowledge into a whole.
Dealing with unrelated pieces of knowledge is like focusing on a leaf on a tree; to blind one from seeing the trunk, branches, or forest. Such a narrow range of perspective makes specialists; each with his own language that is foreign to the others, and all foreign to the general population. The narrow focusing on pieces of knowledge, without a common picture of the whole to relate and unify the pieces, leads to communication problems. It leads to value-problems and the loss of a common values. Without common values there is an Age of No-values with its conflict over what is true, moral, just and beautiful. This leads to social chaos. Trinityism helps to avoid this chaos. Trinityism supplies a picture of the "Tree of Knowledge "and a common "idea-language" to avoid these problems.
A common view of the systematic whole of knowledge enables specialized parts of knowledge to coherently relate to the common view of the whole. It enables those who see only an elm, an oak, or a fir to relate it to the whole of "Tree". This enables the common standards, values, principles, and virtues that enable social unity with individual diversity. To achieve this social ideal a philosophical system is needed that can unify the parts of the Tree of knowledge. A philosophy is needed to unify concrete facts into abstract concepts, and concepts into abstruse principles, and principles into unifying and ultimate principles. Trinityism achieves this unification by making a balancing unified trinity of principles-concepts-facts. It unifies the diversity of unrelated pieces of knowledge to be an interrelating, coherent, systematic whole of knowledge.
What is Trinityism? Trinityism is not an ideology, like Communism, Liberalism, or Fascism. It is a philosophical method for perceiving, organizing, and applying ideas. It is a practical method that does for finding ideas in the mind what a card-catalog does for finding knowledge in a library. As a rational metaphysical, system-philosophy Trinityism seeks for ultimate truth and wisdom. As such, its content is woven into a coherent, systematic, unified whole that is tied together at the ultimate peak of knowledge.
What is the ultimate purpose of philosophy? Trinityism seeks for the ultimate purpose of metaphysical philosophers. This purpose is to find the fewest, simplest, and clearest ultimate truths, in the form of ultimate principles and structures to relate and unify the most knowledge, and to resolve the most conflicts of truth. Its purpose is to find the ultimate sources of knowledge by which to know all knowledge.
How is Trinityism an ultimate philosophy? Trinityism is an Ultimate Philosophy because it deals with ultimate principles, purposes, premises, perfections, perspective, and goods. It reaches these ultimate points by logically inducing concrete facts into abstruse concepts, and these concepts into abstruse principles that are ultimate premises in the mind. All that is induced to an ultimate premise may be deduced from it. As such, an ultimate principle, as an ultimate premise, is an ultimate source of knowledge. Its ultimate structures, with their inherent ultimate principles become imaged in the mind. They become pictorial blueprints of the universe of knowledge, to which new knowledge can relate and unify. These principles and structures make truth and knowledge to be an unchanged unity that is in harmony with a changing diversity of relative facts. As these principles and structures apply to most knowledge, they are the basis for an all-encompassing Grand Unifying Theory . This could make Trinityism to be a great advance in the mind of man.
Have others sought for ultimate principles? Other metaphysical, system-philosophers; like Plato, Aristotle, Plotinus, Descartes, Spinoza, Kant, and Hegel found keywords called categories, Absolutes, ultimate principles, unifying principles, or first principles. None of them found ideographic structures to coherently unify and systemize their key-principles into dynamic systems of principles. Previous philosophers found pieces of the whole jigsaw-puzzle of knowledge Trinityism coherently ties these pieces together. If there was value in these philosophies, then there should be a greater value in what synthesizes their pieces into a whole, to make a systematic, coherent whole of knowledge.
What is an ultimate principle? An ultimate principle is the point beyond which there is no further knowledge, whether intuitive-logical-observable. The ultimate point of knowledge is found by facts unifying to fewer concepts that unify to fewer principles that unify to an ultimate principle that is the ultimate unity. Thus God is the ultimate spiritual unity and principle beyond which there is no further spiritual knowledge. The same applies to the Ultimate Unity of philosophy for rational knowledge, and to the ultimate unity of Energy for material knowledge. These form an Ultimate Trinity of Unities, of God-Unity-Energy, that is an ultimate trinity of spiritual-rational-sensual values. .
Why have ultimate principles? An ultimate principle is a general abstract idea by which particular concrete knowledge may be related to have it be made known. It is like the principle of action-reaction, from which dozens of particular application may be made. An ultimate principle is an ultimate premise by which to reason all the knowledge that is logically induced to find it. It is an ultimate purpose by which all goals to it may be judged as being good; or judged bad if the goals block this good purpose. It is an ultimate perfection, an ideal for which all persons or societies may strive for improvement. It is an ultimate perspective by which to perceive the systematic, interrelating, interacting whole picture of knowledge. It is an ultimate truth that makes all facts and concepts, that lead to it, to be coherent truths. Such coherent truths cannot be denied by logic, fact, or inconsistency. Trinityism is a source of ultimate knowledge by which to explain, illustrate, relate, develop, and unify most knowledge, and to resolve the most conflicts of relative truth. All of these ultimate principles are ultimate goods. Anything to achieve an ultimate good is good; anything that blocks this good is bad. Trinityism is based on all of these ultimate principles.
How do principles explain and resolve conflicts of truth? One cannot learn a new idea without relating it to an old idea. One cannot learn what "Ogca" means, for one cannot relate it to any other idea. But note how the known word "Holiday" relates other ideas in your mind. A definition is based on making an unknown idea to be known by relating it to a known idea, as when the word "Oak "is defined relative to the word "Tree". Thus, "The oak is a tree.". Likewise, one cannot know a value without relating it to a standard of comparison. Thus one knows a good by comparing it with a bad. A principle is a known standard by which to compare, judge, and make known all values relative to it. A principle is also an unchanging absolute truth by which to know how to change a relative truth into a flexible pragmatic truth. Thus the unchanging Cycle Principle unifies the changing relative facts of the natural season into a unified pattern of flexible pragmatic truths that enable the prediction and control of natural changes. Trinityism is the basis for such common standards, values, and principles by which to explain, illustrate, relate, develop, and unify knowledge and to resolve conflicts of truth.
What is the balancing Trinity Principle? In the analogy of a dynamic, schematic balance scale, a trinity is a system of 3 changing parts that are in a unified whole of 3 unchanging parts. In other words, the parts of a trinity change, but not the whole. As in a real balance scale, as one side goes up, in balancing change, the other side goes down an equal amount to maintain the constant entity and quantity of the whole. The balance scale is an unchanging as a systematic whole, but is a changing diversity as a system of parts. It changes in its 3 dynamic relative parts, but not in its absolute whole of 3 parts. This makes a trinity of parts to be a changing diversity in an unchanging unity. It solves the riddle of, "All is one, yet all is diverse; all is change, yet nothing changes." It makes a trinity to have balancing changes between a generic trinity of negative-neutral-positive values. The symmetrical Balance Principle is consistent with symmetrical scientific Conservation Laws and their correlative laws of Action balancing Reaction. Trinityism manifests how most, if not all values, conform to balancing changes between a trinity of values. It makes all knowledge to be a balancing harmonious unity in the diversity of a trinity.
What is a Trinitarian Structure? A Trinitarian Structure is an ideogram, a simple schematic drawing that symbolizes a dynamic system of ideas. An ideogram is an idea-structure that does for ideas what a map does for geography, what a blueprint does for architecture, and what geometry does for surveying. The stock market cycle is an example of an ideogram. It is a concrete picture of an abstract idea in the mind. Changing ideas can relate and unify to this Cycle Structure to enable prediction and control of change. A Trinitarian structure has a mathematical, geometrical basis that makes it as universal as is mathematics. Thus the triangle is the basis for most structures. The words that describe the parts , functions, relationships, and interrelationships of a structure are what numbers and angles are to geometry structures. As one picture is worth a thousand words; one structure is worth a thousand pictures. There are 8 Trinitarian structures that could illustrate most dynamic, systematic knowledge.
What are the 8 Trinitarian Structures? They are symbolized by keywords, thus: Cycle, Balance , Balanced Distribution, Trinity, No-value trinity, Cumulative, Progressive Ranges, and Perspective. All interrelate so that one may not be used without relating to the others.
What is the Trinity Structure? It is a triangle composed of three smaller triangles. Within each small triangle there is a plus, neutral, or minus sign to symbolize the generic trinity of negative-neutral-positive values. On each side of the overall triangle there is an arrow to symbolize balancing or cyclical change. The balance principle is symbolized by a pedestal placed under the base of the Trinity Structure. The 3 triangles, within the larger triangle, symbolizes minor cycles that make a major cycle. major The Trinity Structure is a "Building Block" of knowledge that may be joined to other Trinity Structures to make expanding systems of knowledge. Such trinitarian systems could extend from the atom to the cosmos. .
What is the Balance Scale Structure? It is a schematic line-drawing of a dynamic balance scale. It looks like the balance scale symbol for justice. It has negative-neutral-positive vales that are in balancing change so that as one part increases the other parts decrease to maintain the unchanging entity of the whole scale. This structure illustrates the basic principle of dynamic change that is necessary for having a rational control that enables moderation, harmony, and stability. It applies to all that changes.
What is the Cycle Structure: A Cycle Structure is equivalent to a Sine Wave. It symbolizes the balancing change between a trinity of negative-neutral-positive values that repeat themselves. The repetition of balancing changes make cyclical changes. This is evident if a pedestal is drawn under overlapping cycles where they cross. The arrows symbolize change. The plus-neutral-minus signs symbolize all trinities of values. It applies to all that has repeating changes.
What is the Progressive Range Structure. Minor cycles, made on a horizontal plane, parts of medium cycles, that are parts of major cycles on a vertical plane. The result is a pyramidic, hierarchical structure of trinities, each of which is in balancing or cyclical change between negative-neutral-positive values, all of which are in balancing or cyclical change on both horizontal and vertical planes. The systematic whole of these interrelating cycles makes the pyramidic Progressive Range Structure. It looks like the pyramid on the Great Seal of the United States ($1 bill). This Structure encompasses all rational knowledge, from the trinity of the atom to the trinity of the cosmos. The whole of the structure is a dynamic, interrelating, interacting, coherent, systematic unity of diverse values. It makes all knowledge to be one, yet diverse. It makes all truth to be relative and changing, yet part of an unchanging absolute whole of truth. As such, the Progressive Range Structure is a basis for finding, knowing, developing, and verifying truth in most branches of knowledge. It is consistent with Plato's hierarchical, pyramidic system that is based on progressive ranges of concrete facts, abstract concepts, and abstruse Ideas. It applies to all that has a cumulating growth of balancing or cyclical change within an entity
How do these structures interrelate? The Trinity, Cycle, and Balance Scale Structures are all parts of one whole, of one ideogram that is the Progressive Range Structure. All four of these structures coherently verify the coherent truth of each other. The other four structures also relate to these four, with all eight being verified by each other. When learned, these eight structures becomes permanent "cover-pictures" in the mind to relate and unify the unrelated pieces of the jigsaw puzzle of knowledge.
What is the No-value Trinity Structure? .Its ideogram is that of the Trinity Structure, except for it having a fourth triangle with a zero in it. The zero symbolizes no-values, or what is not related to the rational balancing trinity of negative-neutral-positive values. The zero also symbolizes emotive non-values; like emotion, instinct, impulse, compulsion, and mystical-psychic-occultic feelings. The No-value Trinity encompasses not only the rational trinity of knowledge, but also the irrational that is not part of a trinity. It applies in historic or human value-changes. .
What is the Balanced Distribution Structure? It is simply the Trinity Structure that is extended on a horizontal plane to manifests the infinity of degrees that lie between the basic trinity of negative-neutral-positive values. It is equivalent to the statistical Distribution Curve that has the least negative and positive values on opposite extremes; and most, or neutral values, in the middle. It applies where there is a diversity of values in a quantity of values.
What is the Cumulative Structure. It is equivalent to the Progressive Range Structure, except that it made of balance scales, not trinity triangles. Its ideogram is that of the inverted Tree of Knowledge, with the trunk on top and trinitized branches of balance scales cumulating down from it. It is used to symbolize exponential changes in the pyramidic, hierarchic lines of development an entity; as in communication, transportation, distribution, and organization systems. The dynamic mobile in art is an analogy of it. It applies in any change that is cumulative.
What is the Perspective Structure. This ideogram could overlay and be equivalent to the Progressive Range Structure. It is a triangle with horizontal range-lines that progressively narrow as they rise toward the peak of the Triangle. These horizontal range-lines are subdivided vertically by two equally divided, converging lines that rise from the base to the peak. These vertical lines separate the values of a trinity of negative-neutral-positive values on each range. The whole structure looks like a perspective perception of a railroad tracks that is wide at the diverse base, merging and trinitizing halfway to the horizon, and a unity at the peak on the horizon. It symbolizes the balancing changes in perspective between the narrow-ranged diversity of concrete facts at the base, to the medium range half-way to the peak of abstract harmonizing concepts, and the broad range of abstruse unifying principles. These are balancing changes on both the vertical and horizontal ranges of perspective. It applies to make an awareness of the balancing changes in the trinity of truth, knowledge, and values.
What are the keyword-principles? They define the parts, functions, relationships, and interrelationships of the 8 structures. About 50 key-principles are used, individually, or with other key-principles, or as part of a trinity of key-principles. When learned, the 8 structures, with their inherent key-principles, become permanent associating words in the mind. There they are means to explain, illustrate, relate, develop, and unify most, if not all knowledge; whether theological philosophical, scientific, mathematical, or artistic. They are means to explain the awareness, perception, creativity, and intelligence of the mind.
Some of these keyword-principles (Omitting scientific ones, like Energy-(Time/Motion/Space)-Matter) are: Change, Cycle, Cumulative, Balance, Balanced Distribution, Diversity, Trinity, Conflict, Control, Entity, Equilibrium, Harmony, Judgement, Perspective, Proportion, Purpose, Moderation, Relative, Standard, Symmetry, System, Ultimate, Unity, and Value. All of the keyword-principles coherently relate to each other, and to the 8 structures. They made a dynamic, systematic, unchanging unity with a changing diversity that apply to most knowledge.
How are keyword-principles used? Keyword-principles, as ideas in the mind, associate, relate, and coherently unify whatever one intuits-reasons-observes. They are like keywords that index the knowledge in a library, or .like the keywords used to symbolize the seasons of the Calendar year-Winter-Spiring-Summer, and Autumn. These seasonal words associate, relate, unify, and systemize natural data to make the coherent unity of a balancing, cyclical year. They are consistent with Kant's philosophical keyword-categories that are inherent in the mind, words like :Cause, Substance, Quantity, and Relation. All sensual knowledge is relative to these categories. The same applies to trinitarian keyword-principles.
What are key-trinities? Key-trinities are three balancing values that apply to most knowledge. Some of these key-trinities are: God-Man-Nature, Medieval-Renaissance-Modern, theology-philosophy-science, spiritual-rational-sensual, spirit-mind-body, intuitive-logical-empirical, broad-medium-narrow, unity-harmony-diversity, deficiency-moderation-excess, negative-neutral-positive, etc. . . . They are consistent with Hegel's philosophical dialectical system that uses trinities of thesis-synthesis-antithesis values in progressive ranges of change. Such trinities are used in Trinitarian writings to manifest how most knowledge may be perceived in terms of balancing trinities of change.
How is Trinityism applied? The basic method of Trinityism is have its 8 structures, and their 50 inherent keyword-principles to be permanent words and pictures in the mind. These words and pictures associate, explain, illustrate, relate, develop and unify most, if not all knowledge in all branches of knowledge. Trinityism uses common words for its keyword-principles and structures instead of specialized technical, professional, and commercial words. It hyphenates trinities of values to reinforce the principle that all values, if not all knowledge, is in constant balancing or cyclical change between trinities of values. Its structures manifest how all knowledge is part of symmetrical, balancing, dynamic systems of principles.
These and other semantic methods could be applied in every textbook, in every school, on every grade-level, to greatly advance all aspects of education. As such, Trinityism could coherently answer many of the unanswered questions of the theologian-philosopher-scientist. It resolves many of the "unsolvable" conflicts, contradictions, paradoxes, dilemmas, and inconsistencies that are in the present knowledge of God-man-Nature. It could resolve many of today's human problems that are deemed to be "impossible" to resolve. Other benefits are listed elsewhere in this web page.