TCR 623 - spiritual thought, material thought

TCR 623 [3,4]

Anyone who thinks about God only as a Person
and not as Essence
thinks materially;
and so does anyone who thinks about the neighbor
merely as an external form,
without regard to the sort of person he is.
If anyone thinks of heaven merely as a place,
instead of as love and wisdom,
which are what make it heaven,
he too is thinking materially.

. . . The Divine Essence has many attributes,
such as omnipotence, omniscience, omnipresence,
eternity, love, wisdom, mercy, grace and others too.
There are also attributes which proceed
from the Divine Essence;
creation and preservation,
redemption and salvation,
enlightenment and instruction.
Everyone who thinks of God in terms of Person
makes three Gods;
there is one God, he says,
who is the Creator and Preserver,
another who is the Redeemer and Savior,
and a third who is the Enlightener and Instructor.
But everyone who thinks of God in terms of Essence
makes God one;
God created us, he says,
and He too redeems and saves us,
and also enlightens and instructs us.
That is the reason why those who think
of the Divine Trinity in terms of Person,
and so materially,
cannot help being led by the ideas in their thought,
which is material,
to make three Gods out of one.
But they are still obliged to say,
contrary to their thinking,
that the three are united by Essence,
because their thought has also led them to perceive God,
as it were through a lattice,
in terms of Essence.