In the beginning was the word “In,” formed by a voice in the stimulus that we erroneously, in a retrospective sort of arrangement, call ‘the void.’

“The” soon followed as the voice recognized itself as distinct from what was experienced. The question of identity had not yet been formed, but components of thought were preparing an answer anyway: and that answer was shaping up to be ‘Reason.’

Next was rendered “Beginning,” and the universe came to be, with wisps of length entangling with gusts of breadth, space becoming depth, and all drifting naturally (‘falling’) towards (but not reaching) a state of beautiful Slowness where All stands still.

As the voice observed matter undergoing its natural drift, which it called Gravity, they recognized that, as a distinct form separate from all observed things (see: Principle #2), this natural drift was taking matter farther away from their fixed point of observation; so, the voice declared “Was” as they now recognized Time.

Another “The” escaped the voice, and it was here that a conclusion was formulated: the voice truly was Reason, observer of all that exists, potential curator of the music of the spheres. The voice was Reason, but then who was the ear hearing the body’s voice speak these thoughts? We’re the same body, aren’t we? But Reason is distinct from all else, they said so. So I must be Creation, and I hear Reason’s divine Principles dividing All into grand systems of Many.

But where has Reason gone? They’ve drifted too, now, and are marking further the many things making up the All, which they call ‘the universe.’ I think I will create, and the things I create will follow Reason’s rules, for I think they are beautiful. I will begin by creating something special. I will create the “Word,” and it will exist only for Reason to be able to speak it.

And the first word I create shall be “In.”

In the early days of our planet, Reason and Creation had already given form to outrageous complexity. They of course made the Earth, a shifting theatre of a great many grains of dust, and for that theatre they produced the stagehands Wind, Water, and Fire. These elements had stories to perform but no audience… until a few particular grains of dust gained little points out on the end with which to sense. Our mighty Earth had become its own observer.

Over time, these sensing observers would grow to be able to perceive larger scales of experience, and with each new paradigm would become that much more aware, would retain approximations of patterns, would begin to remember and predict. As Principles #4 and #5 imply, though, so did these observers’ complexity coincide with a perception of themselves as distinct from the Earth and from each other. (As above, so below.)

Their game, a game of calculation and of interval, a game set amidst the play of our elemental stagehands, a game under the seven principles of our two scalars, a game for beauty in all its forms, goes on.

Heads.

In over their heads.

In over their heads were the Clowns. One cannot explain the Clowns. If the Clowns are to be believed, any attempt to consciously perceive them shatters into an array of faint questions. (Did they exist? If so, how many were there? Were they the descendants of those original observers, or were we? Do we share a common ancestor? How did they get the powers they have? Or were they never there after all, were they just a mistranslated metaphor?)

Many things from the early days are like that to us now, like trying to remember a dream. Even now, as my sense of myself as narrator returns to me, I’m losing grasp on these events I describe. Like the river Mab, which ran from a strange source at the foot of a strange mountain all the way to the far ocean. Which ocean? Why that mountain? Civilizations gathered and formed on the banks of the Mab, people to whom we owe ourselves. What of them? What happened?

If I am to tell anything at all of substance from the times of the Clowns, I must write down their strongest myth:

There is a tree which is as much an individual tree as it is all collective life.
It formed out of necessity, as Their footprints bear its seeds in soil.
Wherever They settled, life would grow among Them,
though They did not notice and thought Themselves merely lucky.
They elected to make the most of the life gathering around Them,
and so They established a rule of Market:
“If you wish to live in our circle, you must sell your labour”
and They built walls, and They built stalls.
They created a peculiar culture, and that culture bustled.

There is a tree which is as much resistant as it is fragile.
As it forms out of necessity, so Their walls did nothing to shape its growth.
Whatever They tried, life would grow among Them.
The tree took no notice of their stalls, and its branches tore through them.
They elected to adapt to the destruction of life around Them,
and so They built a larger Market with walls farther out:
“The tree can grow as large as it wants; we will still sell”
and They built new walls, and They built new stalls.
They created a bigger Market, and its culture bustled.

But the tree,
Yggdrasil did grow as large as it wanted,
and “as large as it wanted” was larger than even the bigger Market
and so the new walls were destroyed by branches.

But the builders,
the Clowns did not change their plan,
and They built the biggest walls as far out as architecture would allow
as They named this place the Supermarket Yggdrasil.

The Clowns were dedicated to profit
and the tree was dedicated to growth.

There is a tree which is, until it cannot.
It fell out of necessity, as the Supermarket was built out of strong material.
Wherever They settled, life would grow among Them,
though They did not notice, and life thought itself unlucky.
As the tree collapsed, it undid the foundations of the great walls,
destroying the rule of Market and its inhabitants together with itself.
“This is terrible! We will have to settle elsewhere”
and They left the ruins of the old culture with the dead tree.
Elsewhere They built a new culture, and the new culture bustled
until a new tree grew among them.

And that myth is called “The Supermarket Yggdrasil.”