A Theological Triad

[readoldthings]

I wanted to write at length about reincarnation today, but time's gotten away from me, so let's take a look at another one of the Theological Triads of Iolo Morganwg, this one concerning God:

 

God is three things, and cannot be otherwise: coeval with all time; co-entire with all essence; and co-local with all mental purpose. Could what is called God be otherwise, it would not be God, since it could be surpassed, and no one is God that can be surpassed. He is also co-sentient with all animation.

 

This is straightforward enough on the surface, but there is more lurking here than we might at first suspect. Let's look at the terms one at a time.

To be coeval with all time means that God is equally present in all times. There was never a moment where God was not, and never a moment when God will not be. Now, this also implies that God is changeless, because if God were to be one certain way at one time, and another way at another time, he would not be equally present to all time-- instead he would be present either partially or in a particular way in one time, and partially or in another particular way at another time.

To be co-entire with all essence means that every being which has existence, derives its existence from God. There is nothing which is outside of God, or which does not participate in God, because the very fact of nonparticipation in God is nonparticipation in reality.

And finally, to be co-local with all mental purpose is precisely to be in possession of all possible knowledge. The reason for that is that every possible mental experience attained by every possible living creature can be understood as a sort of knowledge or information. I may know, for example, what red looks like, but I don't know what it looks like through your eyes. Moreover, I know what it's like to look across the living room and see a red blanket on the couch, but I don't yet know what it will be like to look across the room and see the same red blanket on another part of the couch tomorrow evening. God either possesses that knowledge and every similar form of knowledge, or his knowledge is limited; if limited, he is not God; but if he does possess it, then-- as the argument showed the other day-- God is all beings. I take "co-sentient with all animation" to be another way of saying "co-local with all mental purpose."

(This also means that insofar as any being is in Hell, God is always with them; this is another proof of the ancient view that Hell is not everlasting.)

These three which cannot be otherwise also refer to the planes of existence.

God abides beyond all change. His creative power ever flows outward like heat from a fire, and immediately He produces the empty sphere of Ceugant, which is the source of all essence: this is his co-entirety with all essence.

From essence emanates intelligence, which is the luminous life of Gwynvyd, the source of all mind, the colocality of God with all mental purpose.

From Gwynvyd emanates Abred, which is the world of time, not indeed deprived of God as God is coeval with all time.

And note finally that the Monad presides over the Triad, which unfolds the Monad. This is the structure of all the Celtic triads, which are wisdom-sayings, and it is also part of the Deep Structure of reality itself.