Creation

In the Beginning, there was Void, Nothingness. And in that Void floated a single speck of Possibility, of power and chances and potential. And it floated forever, for an instant, in a time before Time began. Nothing changed, everything in perfect stasis, until the speck of Possibility became aware of itself, and thought "I am."

There was not room, in that speck, for both what was there and awareness of Itself. And that speck of Possibility exploded into energy, expanding rapidly, changing from only possible to actual. Both physical and spiritual in every particle, a thinking, self-aware Universe exploded into reality.

As the Universe physically expanded, rapidly changing from superheated plasma to energy and matter, coalescing into suns and planets, it watched itself with amazement. Without frame of reference, there was nothing to compare its changes to, but changes were happening nevertheless, and each change was something new to wonder at.

In time, however, the Universe stopped changing so quickly. Change became predictable, regular, and boring. But awareness did not cease, so the Universe sought for that which would be interesting, different, new. As fascinating and beautiful as everything was, everything was somehow static. And so the Universe sought for something different, something to occupy the time.

A small corner of its body, a small planet, caught the Universe's attention, and it looked closer at the strange tickling sensation it felt there. There was life there, rapidly changing life, and even as the Universe looked more closely the burgeoning life changed more rapidly. It seemed even the very awareness of life's existence, and the noticing of it, changed that life and made it multiply and change even faster. And the Universe began to wonder, to speculate on what this life could become.

The first time the Universe saw one piece of itself consume another, however, it began to rethink the entire idea. How could one eat another? How could one piece be valued above another? For a long moment, the Universe speculated destroying this small world, finding a way to extinguish the teeming life that preyed upon itself for survival. But during the speculation, the Universe saw signs of communication, of awareness. Of something that might someday lead to intelligence. And curiosity of what might be became more important than the methods of survival. Currently, there was only rudimentary communication, seeking mates, seeking food. But if life could communicate with itself, however rudimentarily, perhaps someday something would be able to communicate with the Universe itself.

For the first time, with the possibility of companionship, the Universe felt desire. And it began pushing the possibilities of life around, attempting to force, as quickly as possible, that which would be company. A creature that would be sentient, that could be made in the image of the Universe itself, possessed of a mind, a body, and a soul. Anything that could be manipulated was for the desired effect, and ignored when they no longer served the main desire.

Finally, there was humanity. Using tools, using their minds. Capable of having souls in the image of the Universe, the Universe sectioned off parts of itself to be the souls of these humans, that which would see and remember, and learn from all that happened. And the combination of their more complex brain, and the soul, allowed for a mind that could ask deeper questions, have more complex thoughts than simple questions of food and mates. In them, the Universe saw the possibility of communication directly. To answer their questions of why even as it gave them, and give them hope as they gave It.

Communication proved to be harder than anticipated, however. The mind of the Universe is vast and complicated, and the simple act of touching that mind to the human drove the person insane. To understand the vast totality of the Universe was too much for any individual to comprehend, much less cope with. There needed to be intermediaries, or some other way of communicating that did not do so much harm, some way that would actually lead to effective conversation in time.

So the Universe created Gods, separate beings, but aware of their connection to each other and the Universe itself. And the Gods lived in the bits and pieces of human minds that they weren't using, and communicated with humanity. Some followed the wishes of the Universe, and tried to teach about the interconnectedness of all things, and advance humans to where they could speak directly with the Universe. Others were selfish, and tried to deny their nature, and sought to gain more worshippers for themselves, and live in more minds to the exclusion of other Gods. And the Universe itself sought for minds that could handle the contact.

And so we live, children of the Universe and yet still part of It, struggling to achieve that same sense of connection that the Universe itself craves. Struggling to find community and understanding, for our souls are also reflections of the greater Universe, and aware of loneliness even though we can never be truly alone, for we are all a part of something greater.

Questions:
Why is it nigh-impossible to communicate directly with the Divine?
What does Creation mean to you? Being a part of a greater whole instead of a specially created individual? Being a special individual instead of just part of a greater whole?
Why are we forever lonely and alone? How do we cope and adapt? How do we make life less lonely?