The Eternal Dance

  1 The sum of all that can be made is Ahm.

  And also, all that was unmade is Ahm.

  And all that’s seen and unseen shall be Ahm.

  Thus, Ahm shall be the count of everything.

  1-1 The breadth of Ahm extendeth past all sight,

  Although Ahm is not without its limit.

  No journey throughout Ahm shall find an edge,

  And every course returneth whence it came.

  1-2 Every mote of matter has been numbered—

  The farthest speck adrift upon the void,

  And every grain kicked loose by trampling foot.

  …Not one mote of Ahm has been forsaken.

  2 All that be of Ahm shall be for seeing.

  And all that’s seen of Ahm may be re-known,

  And all that’s known is known by spirit-mind,

  For Ahm is flesh and spirit is The One.

  2-1 Knowing is the paramount of virtue,

  The mind, a boundless vessel to be filled,

  Ahm, the body always reaching further,

  The One’s fulfillment comes in knowing Ahm.

  2-2 And thusly, they cavort in endless dance:

  Spirit delving into edgeless body,

  The One forever understanding Ahm,

  And Ahm’s eternal changing thus revealed.

  3 Ahm has no beginning nor an ending,

  The One eternally with body Ahm.

  And though no moment shall recur the same,

  All that was the past shall be the future.

  3-1 The farthest speck adrift upon the void

  Was bound to brightest archon in past times.

  And every mote within the archon pyres

  Was once the farthest speck upon the void.

  3-2 Ahm shall not persist for any moment,

  As not one mote of Ahm shall be transfixed.

  The One extends its knowing into Ahm,

  But reaching shall exceed its knowing grasp.

  4 If something can be made it can be seen.

  If something can be seen it can be known.

  Ahm is all that’s seen and yet is unseen.

  Seeing the unseen becomes its purpose.

  4-1 Ahm forever melds all forms of matter,

  The mountains and the oceans and the plain,

  The flame, the stone, the water, and the wind,

  These are the expressions of the body.

  4-2 And where the body reaches to the void,

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  It withers elsewhere by that equal sum.

  Nothing shall be made without unmaking.

  Nothing is destroyed without renewal.

  4-3 And that which we call ‘fire’ is but flames—

  Each flame its own design of dancing heat.

  No two flames an image of the other—

  The fire shares no moments in its dance.

  4-4 Not one mote of Ahm shall be fixated,

  Nor does the body reach the infinite.

  The farthest speck adrift upon the void

  Shall journey back into the body’s heart.

  4-5 Thus, a mote that travels on one pathway

  Will not do so for all eternity.

  Straightest paths, in time, will be impacted.

  By this, all that is known shall be transformed.

  4-6 The mind shall guide the body to create,

  Yet forever, Ahm exceeds all knowing.

  Like flames that flicker in an endless fire,

  Creation is a dance of ceaseless change.

  5 That which has been made of Ahm may flourish,

  But nothing made to flourish shall not wane.

  And though the oceans and the mountains rise,

  All that has arisen shall be leveled.

  6 There cannot be a flow without an ebb,

  And there is no above without below.

  For what can be below with naught above?

  And what is ebb but absence of a flow?

  7 And there can be no shade without the light.

  For what is shade but blocking of the light?

  How can one exist without the other?

  Without shade, the light would blind all vision.

  8 The purpose of The One is knowing Ahm.

  In order to be known, Ahm must be seen.

  Thus, The One gives sight unto its making.

  Seeing is the light of understanding.

  9 From The One the living gains perception,

  And everything that sees must be alive.

  Only that which lives can have a vision.

  Thus, life fulfills the purpose of The One.

  10 The One wills life unto that which is made,

  All that has been made will yet be unmade.

  Life thus comes into that which is remade.

  Creation is The One’s eternal toil.

  These are the first quatrains of the Book of Vê.

  Ahm (or the body): All the inanimate matter within the cosmos, assembling and disassembling for all eternity.

  Seen (or seeing): As used here, means perceived or perceiving.

  The One: The spirit mind of the cosmos extending throughout Ahm (the body) wherever there is life. It can guide the evolution of life forms and affect the transformation of matter to the extent that it can perceive it, but what is unseen by the The One evolves completely independent of it, according to deterministic laws.

  Archon: Refers both literally to the brightest light, and figuratively to the most-high or most powerful. The stars of the night sky are regarded as archons or pyres, but stars are only visible on Vé when viewed from above the mists of the great garden valleys.

  The body (or Ahm): As used here, the cosmos, or all the matter in the universe. The body is finite, but without an edge. Reduced: it is as the surface of a sphere to a being that can only perceive forwards, backwards, left, and right. No matter what path it takes, it will never find an edge. And whichever path it takes, it will eventually come back to where it started.