The Roots - Cosmology

"From the Tao came One,
from One came Two,
from Two came Three
and from Three came The Ten Thousand Things."
Tao Te Ching Chapter 42

I'm going to try and describe how I see the universe before I place labels on my beliefs.  If you've read my preamble you must have some ideas, but I'd like to present them without using names or titles.

Everything that is is part of something greater than itself.  Everything That Is is part of something greater than Itself.  It is greater than Itself in the way that the sum may be greater than the total of its parts.  That Which Is Greater Than Everything That Is is the origin as far as our perspectives may see.  As far as we understand the concept of origin, or as far as origin can fit That Which Is Greater Than Everything That Is.

I fear that I may need to make acronyms.

The animating spirit of the universe, the source, the Prime Mover may as well be infinite, or limitless.  It is aware, and sapient, though I acknowledge that those words are based on our observation of Everything That Is as That Which Is Greater Than Everything That Is causes it to change.  Everything That Is is a manifestation of it, and every thing that is is a manifestation of it.  There is not that is not It.

There are levels of existence, veils, steps, between what we perceive now and That Which Is Greater.  The origins of these steps and reason for them is a subject I will return to at a later point.  There are distinct personalities, archetypes, entities, that are closer to That Which Is Greater.  Like us but bigger.  It would stand to reason that there would be entities or what have you further away.  I have theories about this, again a subject for later discussion.

Some see these entities as all being reflections of That Which Is Greater.  Some see them as servants.  Some see them as enemies.  I call them Gods.

Allright, so the label sneaked in there.  I suppose it was time.

What I have outlined above is how I see the upper levels of reality.  Here's a more poetic version:

In the sea, She looked at herself and saw a reflection.  She reached out to touch it and met Her own finger tips.  She Above The Waves withdrew to observe.  She Below The Waves saw, and saw the ocean about her, and felt alone.  She looked up to look at her distorted reflection in the water's surface, and touched it.  She gripped on to a pair of hands and drew it into the ocean with her.  It was not Her, it was Him.  They have been dancing, and loving, and proCreating ever since.