Consciousness

In the beginning, cosmic forces conspired for earth to have a suspiciously fertile environment.

Because of said fertility, earth gave birth to molecules that were able to make copies of themselves.

These molecules were somehow able, through the miracle of specialization of labor, to band together. They called themselves the fish.

Conditions were harsh for the fish, so one of them decided to look elsewhere, in search of a better life.

Although the new environment was rich, it had many dangers too. One needed the ability to distinguish between dangerous and boring entities.

Many years passed, seeing unparalleled growth of life. Eventually, a creature became intelligent enough to evolve a sense of self.

The creature happened to be social, which might not have been a coincidence. It evolved a sense of group identity. They called themselves the Us.

Some of them grew old and wise. Through intelligence and experience, they began to notice that the world works in mysterious ways. It even had, dare we say, a kind of personality. Some came to call it Destiny. Some called it Karma. Most called it God.

Others turned inwards instead, to try to understand the nature of reality.

But as we watch them, completely absorbed in their world of both joy and suffering, we cannot help but laugh…

The Way - cannot be told.

The Name - cannot be named.

The nameless is the Way of Heaven and Earth.

The named is Matrix of the Myriad Creatures.

Eliminate desire to find the Way.

Embrace desire to know the Creature.

The two are identical,

But differ in name as they arise.

Identical they are called mysterious,

Mystery on mystery,

The gate of many secrets.