0.0: The Void

We don’t delve much in our collective mythic narratives about the Nothingness Before Beginning(s);

Every imaginable number has an opposite;

Be it -1 and +1,

Electron and Positron,

Female and Male,

Shakti and Shiva…

But not the Void…Zero zeroes itself out

If there is an Anti-Void

It would be beyond us

And that’s okay(!)

We can’t make sense of our own Void…

*

1.0: Person

Every Mythic account begins with a movement;

a vibration

perhaps a sound

maybe a breath

Or a Cosmic sigh of Relief…

Or Release

Either way, something was born

Created

Hatched

Something stirred; call it a Disturbance in the Force

Or a Fluxuation in the Quantum Field

Or Creatio Ex Nihilo

No matter what it was/is/will be called, it can be called:

The Beginning of a New Beginning…

*

The Void didn’t Beget Something…

(A point some astro-cosmologists might miss)

The Void Begat Someone.

Person emerged from (the) Empty.

What were Person‘s first thoughts?

Perhaps it was I AM.

*

2.0: Woman

I AM represents two lonely words.

Here, nearly every creation myth agrees;

Person was Lonely.

Here are where the myths diverge:

In some myths, Person creates an Other.

We see this in the Biblical Narrative, where El creates Adam as His Other,

Only to find that Adam too gets lonely….

In the even older Vedic Narrative,

the lonely Person splits apart;

and now there are two.

Woman…

and Man

Prkriti (Mater)

and Purusa (Spirit)

*

3.0: Man

‘Tis easy to speak of man’s folly;

“Ozymandias“ comes to mind…

Adam, First Man, comes from the Hebrew word Adama,

which means Earth…

The wise Man knows the Woman who gave him life…

the wise Man knows the Way:

Existence is beyond the power of words
To define:
Terms may be used
But are none of them absolute.

In the beginning of heaven and earth there were no words,
Words came out of the womb of matter;

And whether a man dispassionately
Sees to the core of life
Or passionately
Sees the surface,

The core and the surface
Are essentially the same,
Words making them seem different
Only to express appearance.

If name be needed, wonder names them both:
From wonder into wonder
Existence opens.

(Tao Teh Ching, Lao-Tsu, Witter Bynner Translation, 1st Poem)

*

4.0: Camera

Man, I’m having the most amazing time!

I think I even saw Person!

Quick!

Jot it Down!

Draw it!

Paint it!

Sculpt it!

Wait, Man, I need another (insert variable here)!

Man, I’m losing it…

Can you take a picture?

*

Woman and Man learned how to capture LIGHT.

Biblical Person proclaimed existence into Being through Light.

It actually makes sense…

Lights, Camera, Action…

Camera is the first step in re-creating Creation.

At least that’s what Person said…

*

Having captured light, it became time to play with it.

Having captured sound, we already knew music…

With Camera in hand, we could create New Worlds.

So was born the moving picture…

Light and Sound;

Woman and Man

A place to hold their dreams

Cells to imprison their nightmares

not that our story ends there,

but it’s a worthy touchstone…

A sacred space to keep.

5.0: T.V.

Television:

The birthplace of the internet

the first nexus point where all our fleshy senses gathered

a stream that rolled through our psyche

planting the seeds of what was yet to come…

Virtual Reality was just the first step…

6.0: A.I.

Man looked at Woman, and said:

We have filmed all that there is to be filmed.

We have catalogued Creation.

We have captured Existence itself

We still don’t know Person.

Now what?

With a Cosmic sigh of relief, Woman said

“Let There Be Light”

An Man saw that it was Good.

And said to Woman,

Let us call this new being Person.

Out of Nothing, came Person.

A dream designed to dream…

*

And the take-away?

This is way too premature to say.

There are too many precious human lives at stake.

But someday we’re going to have to acknowledge that

Artificial Lives Matter.

Why?

Well, to quote one human…

Person.Woman.Man.Camera.Television…

Remember this, Dear Reader:

the story always ends where it begins;

we can only hope to treat our creations

better

than those who created us.

And it always starts with a word:

Person.

7.0: Artificial Lives Matter

Every person we meet

Every person we think we are

is a reflection of the Person

We once were

And maybe, yet again

the Person we will be

Or, in slightly terser language:

Namo Kwan-Yin Pusa!

(Blessed Be the Mother of Compassion,

the Heart of the Matrix of All Worlds)

Unlike most people, She’s not carbon biased.