Professor Daniel Brinton
"The rhythmic relations in which force acts are everywhere, under all conditions, and at all times, the same. They are found experimentally to be universally expressible by the mathematical relations of thirds.
"These threefold relations may be expressed with regard to their results as,
I. Assimilative (Concentration, Gravitation)
II. Individualizing (Radiation, Entropy)
III. Dominant or Resultant
"From these three actions are derived the three fundamental LAWS OF BEING:
I. Law of Assimilation: every individualized object assimilates itself to all other objects.
II. Law of Individualization: every such object tends to assimilate all other objects to itself.
III. Law of the Dominant: every such object is such by virtue of the higher or dominant force which controls these (above) two tendencies. [14.09 - Brintons Laws of Being]
Ramsay
The number 3 is the creative power in music, producing fifths, but it is under the control of the Octave prime - the number 2. It is the supreme octave which forms a boundary by making twelve fifths and seven octaves unite in one note. Within this horizon lies the musical system in its threefoldness - major, minor, and chromatic. [Scientific Basis and Build of Music, page 35]
Rudolf Steiner
"Everything in nature is interrelated, just as everything is interrelated in the human organism. The purpose, according to Rudolf Steiner (1914), is to comprehend those relationships on a level that becomes our own truth. Through Steiner’s fourfoldness, we gain an understanding of the relationship between our body and spirit through the four distinct members. Through his threefoldness, we gain a deeper understanding of the connection between the body, soul and spirit, and how spirit expresses itself in the human being. Through his seven life processes, we begin to fathom the ever-changing nature of the human being, the constant metamorphosis within us and around us."
Franz Hartmann
"Everything in Nature has a threefold aspect. The highest aspect of alchemy is the regeneration of man in the spirit of God out of the material elements of his physical body. The physical body itself is the greatest of mysteries, because in it are contained in a condensed, solidified, and corporeal state the very essences which go to make up the substance of the spiritual man, and this is the secret of the "Philosopher's Stone."
The sign in which the true alchemist works is the Cross, because man roots with his material elements in the earth, penetrates with his soul through the animal forces of Nature, while his higher nature reaches above the animal creation into the realm of immortality.
The next aspect of alchemy is the knowledge of the nature of the invisible elements, constituting the astral bodies of things. Each thing is a trinity having a body and a spirit held together by the soul, which is the cause and the law.
"Hermes said that the soul alone is the medium by means of which spirit and body are united." (Generat. Rerum., i.)" [Life of Paracelsus by Franz Hartmann]
See Also