We’re all familiar with the saying, “Two’s company, three’s a crowd.” While the number three is arbitrary, there are countless instances where it is associated with any value greater than two, which may be why people of such diverse backgrounds and cultures have perceived aspects of the divine in threes— to render comprehensible the infinite.

A sentence has three basic elements— subject, verb, and object. The 13th Century Jewish mystic Abraham Abulafia described the Master as “the knowledge, the knower, and the known.” A Sufi mystic called Divine Union “the union, the one who unites, and the one who is united.” One as three.

The symbol consists simply of an upright equilateral triangle surrounded by a circle touching its three corners and surrounded in turn by a heart outline in contact top and sides. The color, thickness, and precise overlap of the linear features are arbitrary, as well as the background (if any), and even the exact style and shape of the heart.

Upright triangles have been used to symbolize God, power, fire, security, success, prosperity, and health. Circles have represented the eternal, the endless, the limitless, completeness, wholeness, and cycles such as birth and death. Heart signs have been ideograms for charity and forgiveness, emotion, or the soul, expanding from religious origins.

These elements can be interpreted on a variety of levels and in many ways. In an all-encompassing or unitheistic sense the triangle represents the structure or energy of the universe, natural law; the circle, like a regenerating cycle or open eye, shows life; and the heart stands for conscious creating, enjoying, and sharing, or love— law, life, and love.

To the extent that a philosophy or belief system, past or present, is life-affirming the symbol can apply. Thus you have pagan interpretations along with Christian, atheistic along with theistic, natural along with mythological, scientific along with mystic, etc. Although many of these systems disagree they can find parallels via the elements.

For each system various attributes in triad can be assigned to the forms. Below is a table of representations, far from complete, listed alphabetically by philosophy or faith:
 

PHILOSOPHY	TRIANGLE	CIRCLE	HEART
Abrahamic	Judaism	Islam	Christianity
Augustinian	Being	Knowledge	Love
Baha’i	God	Manifestation	Humanity
Buddhist	Buddha	Dharma	Sangha
Christian	Father	Son	Holy Spirit
Dialectic	Thesis	Antithesis	Synthesis
Feuerbachian	Reason	Will	Love
Freudian	Id	Ego	Superego
Hindu	Brahma	Vishnu	Shiva
Holistic	Body	Mind	Spirit
Ideal	Truth	Beauty	Goodness
Islamic	Prophet	Koran	Angels
Jain	Faith	Knowledge	Conduct
Kabbalah	God	Torah	Israel
Mahayana	Truth	Bliss	Transformation
Masonic	Wisdom	Strength	Beauty
Micahic	Justice	Humility	Kindness
Modalist	Creator	Redeemer	Giver of Life
Neopagan	Maiden	Mother	Crone
Neoplatonic	One	Nous	World Soul
Satori	Zazen	Koan	Sanzen
Shakti	Saraswati	Lakshmi	Parvati
Spiritual	Being	Consciousness	Bliss
Tao	Moderation	Humility	Love
Theological	Faith	Hope	Love
Theosophical	Unity	Regularity	Progress
Transactional	Parent	Child	Adult
Trimurti	Creation	Preservation	Transformation
Zen	All Is One	One Is None	None Is All

 
The triangle, circle, and heart are nested one inside another, suggesting unity or oneness, the triangle innermost and the heart outermost, the ultimate found within and love found without.

A palm tree, representative of victory, peace, prosperity, long life, resilience, rest, and hospitality is formed by the triangle as trunk and tops of circle and heart as branches. The faith symbol as a whole could be said to loosely resemble a smiling face, indicative of happiness and life quality.

The number of voids is seven, perhaps next only to three the primary numeric in traditions of the world.

The symbol is fully inclusive in what is meant by faith— i.e. all life-affirming ideation whatever the ontology, extending even to forms beyond what many would consider religious or even spiritual, such as natural science, humanism, and other positive nontheistic systems.

While not demonstrative of belief in a particular God or gods, it represents acknowledgement of and appreciation for the wonder and mystery of being, and peace through fellowship based on essential commonality of spirit, understanding, and tolerance.

The faith symbol is in the public domain— you and your organization are encouraged to use it freely to represent universal spirit or faith. Here are some high-resolution graphic representations in different sizes and forms. For images with links back that you can use on your webpage click here. For variations click here.

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