Spitzer notes, “Otto’s first pole of the numinous experience (the mysterious, daunting wholly Other) was primary in the development of religious consciousness, while the second pole (the fascinating, desirable, good, and caring Other) gradually manifested itself later.” This would line up with the quality of God we see expressed in the New and Old Testament.
Augustine once wrote, “The New [Testament] is in the Old [Testament] concealed; the Old is in the New revealed.” Theologically this may appear as progress, but is it really?
R.C. Sproul says, “Progressive revelation is not a corrective, whereby the latest unveiling from God rectifies a previous mistaken revelation. Rather, new revelation builds on what was given in the past, expanding what God has made known.”
So as Spitzer sees the experience of God expanding in the numinous, it appears it did so also through revelation. This expansion allowed the idea of God to not be reduced to a sort of monadism, but to be seen and experienced fully as an expression of the Trinity. In this, all three persons of the Trinity are the same person, but that they behave in unique “modes” at different times.
Sproul says that “God was initially the Creator, then became the Redeemer, then became the Spirit at Pentecost. The divine person who came to earth as the incarnate Jesus was the same person who had created all things. When He returned to heaven, He took up His role as the Father again, but then returned to earth as the Holy Spirit. As you can see, the idea here was that there is only one God, but that He acts in different modes, or different expressions, from time to time.”
Getting back to Otto’s work, it very well could be the Father’s terrifying, daunting presence, and the Holy Spirit’s fascinating, caring invitation can lead in one’s experience Divine Communion as God’s child. This is the Trinity as practice and numinous experience.
L. Ron Gardner says, “The term “Divine Communion” is also a fine synonym, because the term “Divine” refers to the two “vines” of Ultimate Reality— Soul (or Consciousness) and Spirit (or Light-energy), and the act of communion pertains to the disciple’s yogic attempt to unite these within himself.”
So while some may see Divinity all ultimately as one, the experience of God is best served form a triadic perspective – three relationships in one. All in all, it is up to us to be open to receiving Light-energy while being present to Him and becoming part of this vertical, radical relationship.
“The Father, the Divine Being-Consciousness, is omnipresent and omnipotent; in other words, all-pervading Presence (or radiant Space) and Power (or Spirit-energy). The Son, the disciple’s Self (or Buddha)-nature, is the same Presence as the Father’s, but the disciple cannot realize his True nature as the Son (or Christ, or Self, or Buddha) until the Father’s Power (or Spirit-energy) blesses him to the degree of full en-Light-enment. The Holy Spirit is the Father’s dynamic Power, or Light-energy. It is deemed a separate or unique Person or Body to differentiate it from the Father’s static nature as Presence (or Source).” – L. Ron Gardner