Part I: Followers of The Way

______________________________________________________________________________________

"Taking into consideration the limits of our understanding this is what we think we know.

In the beginning, there was void and in the depth of it, there was awareness. The void was incomprehensible, unfathomable, unknowable, all-encompassing yet without form. The void was a maelstrom of darkness and light, life and death, consciousness, nothingness in perpetuity. Although Void, Maelstrom, Storm, Power, Darkness was awake only a moment it knew the knowledge of aeons, and it was alone. So Void partitioned parts of itself that were both light and darkness, nothingness and everything and made the Universe, and said: "It is good," and so it was good.

It took its awareness and formed wakefulness in the universe and divided it into three parts and declared, "I will be awake and ever-changing through you." and so the unknowable was known through three parts. Thus the gods were born and the Void 'slept' once more.

The three gods that were wakefulness were of the same substance but were not the same. All that was laid before them was new and wonderful to them, and so they spent aeons, which was the same as an instant, in the Universe the maelstrom had created from itself and discovered that it was infinite, it was aware and, yes, it was good.

The Three took pleasure from one another, fought among each other, and destroyed each other endlessly until they discovered that they were influencing the universe constantly by every thought, action, or glance of their experience of wakefulness.

The Three spoke in agreement.

The first of the Three saying, "let there be a balance." And the Universe became constant, time became directional and the Universe stopped being ever-changing at the whims of the Three. The Three also became balanced.

The second of the Three saying, "let there be form." And the substance that was a volatile part of the maelstrom called the Universe formed cosmic bodies and the unfathomable depths that are celestial beings bringing form to the formless.

The third of the Three saying, "let there be a divide between the ever-changing and the constant, balance and imbalance, form and formlessness." And so realms divided the raw ever-changing essence of the maelstrom and the remoulded Universe. It divided life and death, flesh and spirit, material and immaterial and yet for balance to be maintained, each aspect influenced the other though they were made separate.

Each of the Three went to their own realms exploring and playing and found wonder in the interpretation of the words spoken into creation. The Three spent an aeon exploring, creating, destroying together and alone. An aeon that was not an instant as time was no longer malleable, but constant in most parts of the universe. Individually they wanted to make more changes to the universe but discovered they could not change the universe once a Law had been established, once the Void had been changed.

Thus they knew consequences and changed no more.

Excerpt from: The Book Of Tears.

Attributed to: Atticus The Bold