The Pattern of Life III - One, Two and Three

We spoke about the pattern of life and the ability to overlay male and female on top of this concept. We discussed how all things in life go through three stages. The first is inspiration, unbounded potential, a burst of unlimited energy, the male essence. The second stage is finitude, process, containing and actualizing the unlimited energy, the female essence. When we are able to successfully reconcile these two stages, it leads to transcendence. It leads to a wholly new element, something greater than what the initial inspiration could have fathomed. 

We can expand our pattern even further. We can overlay yet again and introduce the numbers: one, two and three to our equation. 

The number one represents singularity and oneness. For oneness to exist there can be no other, rendering our one to be all-encompassing and in totality. It is unlimited and without the ability to put into words or form. It is raw, unfiltered and pure when done properly. It is chaos when not. 

The introduction of a second, two, yields boundaries. Each is limited and boundered, reduced to fit and fill its allotted spot. By definition, two has a beginning and an end as both are separate and defined, contained. Conversely, two denotes conflict and friction.

Reconciliation is always three. Three is the resolution of one and two, of inspiration and process, of pure oneness and disparity, of two seemingly opposing ideas. Three is the transcendence of unity and separateness, creating harmony between the extremes. Three is the merging of G-d and corporeality, of spiritual and physical, of emotion and intellect. 

The third letter of the Hebrew alphabet, gimmel, or gamla in Aramaic, means bridge, as it’s the connecting force between two. Alef, the first letter represents faith, and bet, the second letter represents intellect. When gimmel connects alef and bet, when the bridge between faith and intellect is intact, we are able to properly serve G-d, to unify with Him. With the prerequisite of proper faith, the intellect can understand and internalize deep concepts of the Torah. 

One is Hashem and His spiritual world, two is the dichotomy introduced with physicality, three is the Torah and mitzvot which elevate this spirituality and physicality to unity. It’s the combining of, rather than the negating of, two separate entities. Spirituality is boundless, physicality injects structure and finitude, the melding yields transcendence. 

There are three pieces to our spiritual makeup. Our spirit and intellect, the abstract, intangible part of us sits in the body but does not permeate it. Our physicality, which lives in the world of action and performance of mitzvot and our nefesh, the part of us which bridges the intellect and body as the drive between the two. It's the nefesh which actualizes the potential of the spirit and material. 

On a more practical note, in the business world there are mastermind groups, in the yeshiva world men learn with a havruta, a partner. This structure follows our pattern. When one brainstorms or learns alone it is his ideas in totality. When two learn together, discussion and debate, friction occurs. This discourse leads to the formation of a third, higher mind. This third mind, the mastermind, generates greater ideas and insights, and allows each to reach a level of growth more complete than one and only enabled by the tension of two. 

This pattern is within us as well. When faced with internal friction, it is advised to wait three days before making a decision or resolution. On day one we are consumed with all encompassing emotion, leaving no space for logic. On day two we begin to process, to sift through and compartmentalize or structure our feelings. By day three we can begin to think rationally and clearly, and proceed as we should.

The patterns of life are many and apparent in all places, from the spiritual realm to our humanistic, emotional selves to the very mundaneness of day to day living. Internalizing these patterns opens up a world of understanding and growth. When we appreciate the system and come to expect it, we can calmly accept and work within it .. and then we can transcend it, just as the exalted number three.