Trinity and Quaternity

One of Jung's major discoveries is the psychological significance of the number four as it relates to the symbolism of psychic wholeness and the four functions. The significance of the quaternity is basic to his whole theory of the psyche, as regards both its structure and its developmental goal. Analysts are thus particularly alert to quaternity symbolism as it appears in the dreams of their patients and in the imagery of myth and folklore. However, there are other numerical motifs which we commonly encounter. Perhaps the most frequent of these is the theme of three. Because of the predominant value that Jung attached to the quaternity, he tended, in most cases, to interpret trinitarian images as incomplete or amputated quaternities (cf. Jung, 1944, C.W. 12, p. 26, and 1951, C. W. 9, ii, p. 224). This approach calls forth certain objections. Victor White, for instance, writes (1960, p. 106): “… are we always compelled to ask, when confronted with the number three, ‘Where is the fourth?’ Are we to suppose that always and everywhere the number three is to be understood only as four minus one?—that every triangle is only a failed square? … Or could it possibly be that ternary symbols are, so to speak, archetypal images in their own right, which present a content distinct from that of the quaternity?” The present paper is a preliminary inquiry concerning his question.

I shall begin by considering what Jung has said on the subject. His most comprehensive discussion of trinitarian symbolism is in his essay “A psychological approach to the dogma of the Trinity” (1948, C.W. 11). The essay begins with a review of pre-Christian trinitarian images. It then describes, in considerable detail, the numerological symbolism of Plato and the Pythagoreans. Following some psychological commentary on the Christian trinity of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, Jung then summarizes the historical development of the dogma of the trinity as part of the creed. This is followed by a detailed discu