At the ultimate origin of all things,
there was nothing;
there was nothing that could be named.

From this emerged the One,
the first existence without form.

Then different things were produced
receiving what we regard as their attributes.
What was formless was divided
and then continued to be interconnected.

The two processes led to the production of all things.
As things were completed, each emerged with bodily form.
The individual form contained the spirit
and the particular characteristics called its nature.

When nature is cultivated, it returns
to its proper character;
and when that has been fully reached
there is the same state
as in the beginning.

It is like closing the beak
and silencing the singing of the bird.
This closing and silencing
is akin to the oneness of heaven and earth
at the beginning.

This unity appears unintelligible and impenetrable.
This is the enigmatic characteristic of the beginning.
It is the great submission
to the natural course.

Zhuangzi, trans. by Hyun Hochmann and Yang Guorong, Heaven and Earth

This is an origin story. Like every origin story, its the attempt to go where language is bereft of the proper resources to satisfy our intent. Our languages, not excluding math as the language of science, function due to the boundaries which word and syntax traces upon the canvas of sense experience. We cannot approach the initial state of things with tools developed for space and time…

The void. A nameless singularity. Sounds a lot like modern cosmology to me. A big bang! Whereas the best that we can do is to employ metaphor to say what cannot be said, I think what matters most, is the collection of metaphors which a culture chooses to build out their notion of an origin.

This story in particular, emphasizes the relatedness of all things, that there is no opposing state that did not come from that original One. Life entails division, difference. The differences are real, and so is the common ground, a echo of where we all came from.

This story also assumes the circularity of time. There is no Valhalla anticipated, a linear expectation, that development is engineered for maximal human pleasure… No. There’s a curving, elliptical return to the beginning. The bird inevitably silences. The singing finishes with sublime silence. About which nothing at all can be said.

All things, one way or another, submit to nature’s course…

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Boy George was mentioned this morning in conversation. Here is one of Culture Club’s greatest hits, Do You Really Want to Hurt Me. The video is quite good also.