Chapter Two: The First Difference

Before everything began, there was no universe, no space, no time, no matter, no energy, and no life. Even the concepts of existence and nonexistence had not yet been born, because concepts themselves are also a kind of difference. That state cannot be described by later language. Countless civilizations later tried to name it: the Origin, the One, the Grand Unity, the Source, the Zero Domain, the Formless, the First Silence. Yet all names are only the understanding of those who came afterward. Its true appearance is unknown, because at that time there was no observer.

Absolute Unity In that age there was no distinction of any kind: no inside or outside, no far or near, no above or below, no fast or slow, no past or future, no life or death, no light or darkness, no opposition, and no change. Change requires difference, and there was no difference there. Later philosophers called this state Absolute Unity.

The First Rift Then, at a certain moment, or in an instant that cannot truly be called a moment, the first difference appeared within Absolute Unity. No one knows why. Perhaps there was no reason, because causality itself appeared only afterward. That difference was extremely small, too small for any later civilization to measure. But it changed everything. From that instant onward, unity was no longer complete.