These three links can serve as an introduction to the idea of "threes" for those unfamiliar with the topic:
- Michael Eck's Book of threes
- Dr. McNulty's List of threes in Anatomy
- The Beauty of Three Video by Aperture
Over the several decades in which I have been collecting examples of "threes", I have encountered individuals who say that they could do what I have done (as a way of saying they aren't impressed), to which I reply that they could, but the (major) difference between us is that I do and that they don't make an effort to follow through. They get tired, they get bored, they lose interest easily, or they chase after that which at least provides them with some illusion of acquiring sex, money, property, prestige, position, or some other quantity/quality which is enviable or desirable among peers... typically used as an item for bragging in one way or another. In some sense, the "threes" is an ongoing art/science project which requires a sustained adventurous spirit... like hiking onto a landscape that may have footprints from long ago, but the footprints do not venture that far into the terrain of the human heart, mind, and soul. Indeed, no jeep or other off-road vehicle can access the places I wish to explore.
Call it superstition, call it numerology, call it mysticism, call it an obsessive/compulsion, call it fanatical, quirky, strange, bizarre, unusual, weird, call it religious, call it a waste of time... but then let us look at your own behavior to see what sort(s) of repetitious collection(s) you take part in, if it is not the repetition of laziness, being a couch potato, being a womanizer, being a drunk, workaholic, cook, baker, reader, movie watcher, gambler, drug dealer, professional student, exercise fanatic, vegetarian fanatic, musician, thief, etc...
Yes, those of us interested in the topic of "threes" are familiar with other number and non-number patterns. Let me be clear, I am interested in the Study of the Threes Phenomena which of late I have been referring to as "Trichotomization". While listing various examples of the "three" reference from different subjects is useful in that it provides evidence for its ubiquity (a word being used to describe its presence in multiple places), I am fully aware that it and its geometric models are absent from other circumstances.
For example, the common theme among Astronomers today is to speak in terms of "binary" planets. The word "binary" is used more often than singularity, trinary/ternary, quadruple, quintuple, etc... If the "three" had a significant cosmological importance, one might want to consider its absence from how the stars are arranged, unless we humans are too stupid to understand the larger picture, or/and the larger picture continues to unfold and/or the present moment in history is too early to provide an accurate picture of an unfolding "threes" theme... and/or we don't actually understand what a recurring "threes" them actually means... and not as some superstition, obsessive/compulsion, misidentification, misunderstanding, etc...
In other words the "three" (in whatever shape or form) is not being viewed by me as a god or some intellectually-grasped great cosmological truth and nor do I study the "threes phenomena" as a sanctified religious icon such as repeating a 3-lettered (A-U-M: OM) mantra. As I have gathered information over several decades, I have had to adjust my thinking in accord with the evidence being uncovered... and it has nothing whatsoever to do with some religion or Eastern Philosophy... Despite those that have cast the dichtomy/trichotomy idea into the superficiality of religion: Dichotomy vs. Trichotomy: Biblical and Theological Perspectives
Om, in Hinduism and other religions chiefly of India, a sacred syllable that is considered to be the greatest of all the mantras, or sacred formulas. The symbol Om is composed of the three sounds a-u-m (in Sanskrit, the vowels a and u coalesce to become o), which represent several important triads: the three worlds of earth, atmosphere, and heaven; the three major Hindu gods, Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva; and the three sacred Vedic scriptures, Rg, Yajur, and Soma. Thus Om mystically embodies the essence of the entire universe. It is uttered at the beginning and end of Hindu prayers, chants, and meditations and is freely used in Buddhist and Jaina ritual also. From the 6th century, the written symbol designating the sound is used to mark the beginning of a text in a manuscript or an inscription. The syllable is discussed in a number of the Upanishads, which are the texts of philosophical speculation, and it forms the entire subject matter of one, the Mandukya. It is used in the practice of Yoga and is related to techniques of auditory meditation. In the Puranas the syllable is put to sectarian use; thus the Saiva mark the lingam, or sign of Siva, with the symbol for Om, whereas the Vaishnava identify the three sounds as referring to a trinity composed of Vishnu, his wife Sri, and the worshipper.
Britannica: OM
Interestingly, the topic of "auditory meditation" does not typically direct people to look at the construction of the human Ear, nor make any effort to look at language and linguistics, not to mention speech making or story creation in which the "3" theme plays a dramatic role. In other words, the recurring "threes" in the ear would seem to suggest that we can experimentally create a means to test the hypothesis that if the human ear was other-than-three patterned, human speech and cognition might well be different.
To me, the recurring "threes" in our biology, anatomy and ideology suggests an ongoing environmental influence related to the Sun, Earth and Moon. Hence, as the environmental conditions which have prevailed for the development of our biology continue to change, we might also be able to detect changes initially in our ideologies, since they seem to be most vulnerable to external and internal influence. In other words, there are three distinct environmental events which have the potential for change and influence:
- The Sun is said to enlarge as it burns out, thus "fusing" or melding the three innermost planets into a singularity (hence, a 3 into 1 ratio like the Christian idea of 3 persons in 1 godhead... which suggests the idea of the Trinity originates with ancient (pagan) solar orientations adopted by multiple mainstream religions... most of which did not necessarily worship the Sun, and instead practiced an active orientation towards it by devising multiple types of nature/fertility practies.)
- The Moon is receding, thus effecting a slow down in the "washing machine effect" that tides supply.
- The Earth's rotation is slowing, which means it was faster in the past and created the condition in which the Sun's 3 phases/moments (dawn- noon- dusk) were illuminating early photosensitive building blocks of life with a 3-patterned strobe-light effect undergoing a "fusion" as the Sun enlarges and the Earth slows.
Studying the "threes" phenomena takes a person into multiple subjects and forces reinterpretations of information. With respect to a different pattern such as the widely liked number "7", a few examples need only be listed, though there are others such as the 7 holes in a Ritz cracker, 7 continent emblem on Jeep vehicles, 7 layers of skin idea (typically cited by some adolescents), 7 "teen" years (13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19), etc... Here are a few more culled from this site: Seven sisters.
- The seven deadly sins (lust, gluttony, greed, sloth, wrath, envy, and pride)
- The seven virtues (chastity, temperance, charity, diligence, kindness, patience, and humility
- The seven classical planets (The Sun, Moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, and Saturn)
- The Pleiades, the seven daughters of Atlas
- The seven metals of antiquity (gold, silver, iron, mercury, tin, copper, and lead)
- The seven heavens
- The seven days of the week
- The seven colors in the rainbow
- The seven seas
- The seven continents
- The seven climatic zones
- The seven wonders of the ancient world
- The seven notes in the Western (diatonic) musical scale
However, though you may be impressed by the foregoing list, take another look and pay witness to the absence of examples from multiple sciences such as Physics, Biology, Linguistics, etc... Indeed, if DNA had a seven code and the Earth was the 7th planet (which it is if we count from Pluto inwards), then I too would be impressed at the recurrence of this value... except it doesn't so I am not particularly interested in the recurrence of a pattern which does not have a secure presence in multiple genres of study and value:
Is it more important to count from the Sun outwards or Pluto inwards to determine the position of the Earth?
In addition, if we look to the past and make an attempt to identify why the "7" became such an important pattern to ancient peoples whose influence continues to this day without those of the present (who are interested in the number "7") realize; it is of need to point out 3 major celestial references which star gazers of antiquity were awed over:
- 7 stars of the Big Dipper
- Seen during the 2 Solstices and 2 Equinoxes, the Big Dipper becomes the Swastika
- 7 stars of the Pleiades (also called the seven sisters)
- 7 planets ("wanderers") visible without a telescope: Mercury, Venus, Moon, Sun, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn
Another classic example of a "7" topic with an overlooked "3" pattern, at least in the subject of Psychology, is George Miller's 1956 paper entitled The magical number seven, plus or minus two: Some limits on our capacity for processing information. The "3 pattern" exists within the title: 7 + or - 2 yields the value of 5 - 7 - 9, even though one field of research after another, including University requirements for having a modicum of math knowledge... has ever noted the existence of the simple math equation and made reference to it in terms of human cognitive development in the context of biological development. Not a single person since 1956 has ever made mention of the presence of the three-pattern. However, we should not expect too much insight from a field of study which embraces a pattern-of-2 (dualities/dichotomies) as a major/primary underlying world-view, just as we see in Mathematics, Computer code and the old Chinese Yin-g/Yang ideology... all of whom do not have an observable understanding of trichotomization though individuals within those respective fields have attempted different measures of exceeding the dominant and prominent "2-patterned" orientation. Understanding Trichotomization requires a whole new type of conceptualization that one might playfully entitle as a Third Consciousness.
Summaries in brief (initiated for the present truncated model of re-posting):
- Trichotomization: A fledgling field of study incorporating various labels such as Threesology, tripartite ideology, threeism, triadism,
triunity, treble, ternary, etc..., found in different guises in multiple subjects.
- Identifies possible origination(s) of three-patterned ideological constructs.
- Identifies potential changes in cognitive adoption of tripartite patterning in contrast to other patterns.
- Identifies probabilities of further structuring over time under given biological, environmental, sociological, educational, industrial, etc., pressures...
- Threes Posters series: Compiled examples from different subjects with a "three" related theme. (Rendered as a collage in which some similar items may be referenced together. I was not trying to be artistic, I was simply trying to cram multiple ideas into a small space.)
- Evolutionary Psychodynamics series: Psychology has a persistent usage of duality/dichotomization and is (for the most part), unaware of how deep and widespread the human mind has evolved into... and relies on trichotomy/trichotomization; which is a problematic issue that creates a need for altering institutionally used philosophies to make a deliberate accounting of numerically-based cognitive patterning.
- Images speaking for themselves: It is of need (at times) to display images without commentary because they are able to invoke the repertoires of individualized imaginations. The old adage "one picture is worth a thousand words" comes to mind just as its obverse: "One word is worth a thousand pictures." Hence, a gallery of images I have collected and created for the Threesology site may be of greater value to some viewers than a particular supplemental commentary.
Looking through history we can find individuals deliberately (or unknowingly) using a pattern-of-three as a main organizational tool for their research efforts such as:
- Georges Dumezil's Tripartite Ideology
- Dr. McNulty's List of threes in Human anatomy
- G.W. Hegel's triads
- Herbert Spencer's Triads
- Immanuel Kant's 3 Critiques (Each of Kant's three critiques is divided into the same three parts: (1) an "analytic," or analysis of reason's right functioning, (2) a "dialectic," or logic of error, showing the pitfalls into which a careless reason falls, and (3) a "methodology," an arrangement of rules for practice... Source: "philosophy, Western." Encyclopædia Britannica, 2013.) 3 early dissertations: De Igne (On Fire), Monodologia physica (1756), Principiorum Primorum Cognitionis Metaphysicae Nova Dilucidato (1755), (on the first principles of metaphysics. Source: "Kant, Immanuel." Encyclopædia Britannica, 2013.)
- Triads in Classical European mythology (various authors other than Dumezil)
- Literature (i.e. Fairy tales discussed by numerous authors)
- etc... In other words, some writers do use one or more patterns-of-three but not all of them... only those whose consciousness has ventured near the realm of a 3rd consciousness. In fact, most do not appear to be particularly focused on using an explicit "three" theme, whether they are consciously aware of it or not, and may only use such a theme for one story, one song, one painting, etc...
Here is a handful of others noted for using a 3-part theme, though the expression may have been the result of some later researchers having coined it, and the actual author of the cited philosophy did not themselves use the pattern-of-three with any repeated distinction or elaboration:
| St. Augustine's Philosophy: | Memory ~ Understanding ~ Will |
| Comte's Philosophy: | Great Being ~ Great Medium ~ Great Fetish |
| Hegel's 3 Spirits: | Subjective Spirit ~ 0bjective Spirit ~ Absolute Spirit |
| Plotinu's Philosophy: | One ~ One Many ~ One and Many |
| Aristotle's 3 Unities: | Unity of Action ~ Unity of Time ~ Unity of Place |
| Sir F. Bacon's 3 Tables: | Presence ~ Absence ~ Degree |
| Albert Einstein's Mass to Energy equivalency formula: | E (equals) M (times) C2 |
| Thomas Hobbes's 3 Fields: | Physics ~ Moral Philosophy ~ Civil Philosophy |
| Immanuel Kant's 3 Critiques: | Pure Reason ~ Practical Reason ~ Judgment |
| Averroes's 3 Commentaries: | Little ~ Middle ~ Great |
| Karl Marx's 3 isms: | Communism ~ Socialism ~ Capitalism |
| Woodrow Wilson's 3 isms: | Colonialism ~ Racism ~ Anti-Communism |
| Hippocrates's Mind Disorders: | Mania ~ Melancholia ~ Phrenitis |
| Emile Durkeim's 3 Suicides: | Egoistic ~ Altruistic ~ Anomic |
| D. Liesman's 3 Social Characters: | Tradition-directed ~ Inner-directed ~ Other-directed |
| Erich Fromm's 3 Symbols: | The Conventional ~ The Accidental ~ The Universal |
| Pythagoras's "fusion" idea: | Monarchy ~ Oligarchy ~ Democracy (into harmonic whole) |
| M.L. King Jr.'s "Middle Road": | Acquiescence ~ Nonviolence ~ Violence |
| Kierkegaard's 3 Stages: | Aesthetic ~ Ethical ~ Religious |
| Husserl's 3 Reductions: | Phenomenological ~ Eidetic ~ Religious |
| St. Augustine's 3 Laws: | Divine Law ~ Natural Law ~ Temporal, or positive Law |
| Witness Stand "Laws": | Tell the Truth ~ The whole Truth ~ Nothing but the Truth |
| Julius Caesar's self proclaimed expression: | Veni- Vidi- Vici (I came, I saw, I conquered) |
| Titus Carus's 3 Ages: | Stone Age ~ Bronze Age ~ Iron Age |
| Feuerbach's 3 Thoughts: | God, 1st Thought ~ Reason, 2nd ~ Man, 3rd |
| Magnus's 3 Universals: | Ante Rem ~ In Rem ~ Post Rem |
| Max Weber's 3 Authorities: | Traditional ~ Charismatic ~ Legal-rational |
| F. de Sausure's 3 "Signs": | Sign ~ Signified ~ Signifier |
| Charles Pierces 3 "Signs": | Qualisign ~ Sinsign (token) ~ Legisign |
| John Keynes's 3 Eras: | Scarcity ~ Abundance ~ Stabilization |
| George Mead's 3 Distinctions: | Self ~ I ~ Me |
| Thrasher's 3-group Gangs: | Inner Circle ~ Rank & File ~ Fringers |
| Christian J. Thomsen's three-part system of prehistory: | Stone, Bronze, Iron ages (Describing the successive stages of man's technological development in Europe.) |
| Abe Lincoln's 3-For-All: | Of the People ~ By the People ~ For the People |
| Jesus Christ's 3 Praises: | In the name of the Father ~ Son ~ Holy Spirit |
| Division of Time by multiple authors: | Past- Present- Future |
| Samuel Clemmons' 3 lies: (Mark Twain) |
Lies ~ Damned Lies ~ Statistics |
|
Thesis ~ Antithesis ~ Synthesis Indulgence ~ "Middle Way" ~ Ascetism Major Premise ~ Minor Premise ~ Conclusion Contradiction ~ Excluded Middle ~ Identity Principal | ||
| "God-ology": Omnipresent Omnipotent Omniscient |
"Metaphysics-ology": What is real How change comes What is mind |
Marxian "Dialectology": Unity of opposites Quantity & quality Negation of negation |
| Epistemology: How we know What is truth What is mind |
Axiology: Nature of good Nature of beautiful Nature of religious |
Ontology: Quality (1st-ness) Relation (2nd-ness) Representation (3rd-ness) |
- 3 times the fool: You can fool some people some of the time - Some people all the time - But not all people all the time.
- 3 traditional syllogism forms: Categorical - Hypothetical - Disjunctive
- 3-patterned (adult) basic syllogism: All ravens are black - Jack is a raven - Therefore, Jack is black.
- 3-patterned (child) basic syllogism: Fuzzy Wuzzy was a bear- Fuzzy Wuzzy had not hair- Fuzzy Wuzzy wasn't Fuzzy was he?
- 3 basic computer logic gates: AND- OR- NOT
- 3-parts betting formula: Rock- Scissors- Paper
- 3 sentence ending marks: Period- Question mark- Exclamation point
- 3 traditional grading levels: A(plus)- A- A(minus)
- 3 common classroom tests: True/False- Multiple choice- Essay
- 3 separate Stone Age Periods: Paleolithic Period, Mesolithic Period, and Neolithic Period (based on the degree of sophistication in the fashioning and use of tools. Source: "Stone Age." Encyclopædia Britannica, 2013.)
- 3 Metal Ages: {approximate dates] Bronze Age (2300–700 BCE)- Iron Age (700–1 BCE)- Copper Age (c. 3200–2300 BCE). {At this time, societies in Europe began consciously to produce metals.) Source: "Europe, history of." Encyclopædia Britannica, 2013.
- 3 German fathers of Botany: Otto Brunfels, Hieronymus Bock (Latinized to Tragus), Leonhard Fuchs (Source: "genetics." Encyclopædia Britannica, 2013.)
- 3 Foundation Stallions: Byerly Turk, Darley Arabian, Goldolphin barb
- 3 Foundation Stallion direct-line descendants: Matchem- King Herod- Eclipse
- 3, upper right computer screen corner indicators: Minimize- Maximize- Close
- 3 laws of motion, 3 laws of planetary motion, 3 (Asimov) laws of robots
- 3-patterned "arbitrarily chosen" math tool used in Electronics: -15 10-12 10-9 10-6 10-3 ... 103 106 109 1012 1015 ...etc.
3-patterned formulas:
| C = pi x D | (Circumference of a Circle) | E = H x V | (Planck's Constant) |
| A = L x W | (Area of a Rectangle) | P = I x E | (Watt's "Law") |
| A = 1/2B x H | (Area of a Triangle) | E = I x R | (Ohm's "Law") |
| A = pi x R2 | (Area of a Circle) | E = V1 + V2 | (Kirchhoffs Voltage Law) |
| E = M x C2 | (Einstein's formula) | P = R x B | (Percentage formulas) |
| Z = Eg ÷ Ig | (Thevenin impedance formula) | A2 + B2 = C2 | (Pythagorean theorem) |
However, it is not enough to list different examples of "threes", regardless of how many different types of subjects you include. You must reach the point in your listing efforts to recognize some pattern which can be used as a unifying theme of further exploration, if not provide some eventual explanation, which represents some commanding theme for additional considerations from other observant individuals. What I see is a developmental 1-2-3 scenario having occurred in biology. Because our brain and hence our consciousness are inextricably intertwined, it is not unwarranted to consider the possibility that human consciousness has the potential to develop what I describe as a "Third Consciousness" that is already a theme of consideration in multiple ideologies which have not established any observable facts to back up their claims. Biological development does. This does not mean their particular claims are correct, but there does exist an identifiable biologically-based criteria for thinking about the existence of such a "Higher" consciousness potentiality.
Note: I do not in any way advocate attaching any presumed preeminence to any metaphysical or spiritualistically- oriented idea which has practiced the consideration of some "higher consciousness" inclusive of their particular ideology, be it Buddhism, Islam, Judaism, Hinduism, Christianity, New Age Hyper consciousness, or other similarly focused indulgences. Such ideas are like Mathematicians who speak of a "Pure Mathematics" or Musicians who speak of a "Pure note" (or Pure sound), though other subjects (such as sports with the idea of reaching a "zone") have their own respective notions of that which exists beyond the norm and you must perform one or more duties, tests, tasks, contests, deprivations, sufferings, contortions, rituals, [physical/mental/emotional mantra], etc., in order to provide oneself a means of achieving such a state of vaguely defined, understood, and illustrated realization. All of them are on a course of soon-to-be-outdated survival mechanisms, even though each of them in their own way are sensitively aware of the human potential for achieving a 3rd consciousness... just not in the model which they ascribe to. Their ideas of Heaven, of Nirvana, or other superior place or existence of being, are to be viewed as little more than a basement (subway, sub-flooring, or ground floor) variety of an actual 3rd consciousness.
Coupled to this idea is the realization that an additional influence of consciousness development exists in the relationship between the Sun-Earth-Moon Trio. Simply put, the fast rate of the Earth's rotation billions of years ago presented early biological macromolecules with at 3-patterned strobe light effect established by the Sun's irradiation of a fast spinning Earth. As such, if the influence is an actuality to be established by experimentation and not sit on some theological or mystical shelf of traditional belief lasting for centuries, then further slowing may necessarily effect a "fusion" event of the 3 solar phases (moments); thereby continuing to influence a 3-to- 1 ratio expression of which there are multiple examples such as Mendelian genetics, the Christian trinity (3 persons in 1 godhead), a 3-branched government (functioning as a singular unit), the universally used 3 colors in 1 street signal, 1 pen/pencil held with three fingers, etc...
As such, let me provide a couple of similar images which gives some indication of where my thinking is directed towards at the present time:
However, it may be much too early in the development of humanity to appreciate a full realization of what is taking place due to the influence of the environment on biology which in turn plays a role in our developing perceptions over time.
Page created: 11:30 PM, Friday, March 14th, 2025.Page posted: 10:20 AM, Saturday, March 15th, 2025.
Updated posting: Wednesday, April 2nd, 2025... 4:14 AM