I n the beginning was the Logos; the Logos was with God, and the Logos was God.
... All things were made by the Logos; without him nothing was made. It was by him that all things came into existence.
... What came about in him [the Logos] was life, and the life was the light [of God] in man. The life shines in the darkness [of world-manifestation], but the darkness did not understand it.

quote 3642 | Jesus Christ
John: 1:1

T his ordered universe, which is the same for all, was not created by any one of the gods or by man, but always was, is, and shall be, an ever-living Flame that is first kindled and then quenched in turn. [The universe bursts forth and then is reabsorbed, yet its Source is ever-living, like a Sun that never sets] and who can hide from that which never sets? [That eternal Intelligence in man] is forever beyond change;

candle

quote 3630 | Heraclitus
Adapted from fragments of Heraclitus found in Freeman, K., 1962; pp. 24-34. Fragment nbr. 30, 16, 34a

A t the end of the 'night' of time, all things return to My Prakrti; and when the new 'day' of time begins, I bring them again into manifestation.

Thus, through My Prakrti, I bring forth all creation, and all these worlds revolve in the cycle of time. But I am not bound by this vast display of creation; I exist alone, watching the drama of this play. I watch, while Prakrti brings forth all that moves and moves not; thus the worlds go on revolving. But the fools of the world know Me not; ... they know not the supreme Spirit, the infinite God of all.

Still, there are a few great souls who know Me, and who take refuge in Me. They love Me with a single love, knowing that I am the Source of all.

They praise Me with devotion; ... their spirit is one with Me, and they worship Me with their love. They worship Me, and work for Me, surrendering themselves in My vision. They worship Me as the One and the many, knowing that all is contained in Me.

temple_hindu

quote 3611 | The Bhagavat Gita
9:7-15; based on Mascaro, Juan, 1962

W hen that 'day' comes, all visible creation arises from the Invisible; and when the 'night' of dissolution comes, all creation disappears.

temple_hindu

quote 3610 | The Bhagavat Gita
8:18; based on Mascaro, Juan, 1962

G od made me [Wisdom] in the beginning of His works, as the first of His acts.

... Before God made the earth and the fields or the first dust of the world,when He set up the heavens, I was there;

... When He laid the foundations of the earth, I existed as His instrument. I was His delight every day, playing always before Him, playing on His inhabited earth, and my delights are with human beings.

synagogue

quote 3586 | The Book of Proverbs
8:22-30

B ut, after all, who knows, and who can say whence it all came, or how this creation came about?
The gods, themselves, came later than this world's creation, so who truly knows whence it has arisen?
Whence all creation had its origin, only He, whether He fashioned it or not
He, who surveys it all from highest heaven-He knows.
Or perhaps even He does not!

temple_hindu

quote 3584 | The Rig Veda
x.129.2-7

I n the beginning, darkness lay wrapped in darkness; All was one undifferentiated (apraketa) sea (salila). Then, within that one undifferentiated Existence, [Something] arose by the heat of concentrated energy (tapas).

What arose in That in the beginning was Desire (kama), [Which is] the primal seed of mind (manas).

temple_hindu

quote 3581 | The Rig Veda
x.129.2-7

T hen, neither the non-Real (asat) nor the Real (sat) existed.
There was no sky then, nor the heavens beyond it.
What was contained by what, and where, and who sheltered it?
What unfathomed depths, what cosmic ocean, existed then?

Then, neither death nor deathlessness existed;
Between day and night there was as yet no distinction.
That ONE (tad ekam), by its own power (svadha) breathlessly breathed.

temple_hindu

quote 3580 | The Rig Veda
x.114

I n the beginning, there was only the Self. ... He reflected, and saw that there was nothing but Himself, whereupon he exclaimed, "I am" (Aham). Ever since, He has been known within as "I." Even now, when announcing oneself, one says, "I am …” and then gives the other name that one bears.

He was afraid. Even today, one who is alone is afraid. But then he realized, '"Since there is nothing else but myself, what is there to fear?" It is only from [the presence of] a second [entity] that fear need ever arise. However, he was still unhappy. Even today, one is unhappy when alone. He desired a mate. And so he took of the form of a being the size of a man and woman joined in a close embrace; and then He separated into two individuals: a man and a wife. Therefore, as the sage Yajnavalkya has declared, this body, by itself, is like half of a split pea. [In order to become whole again,] this empty space must be filled by a woman. The male [half] then embraced the female [half], and from that the human race arose.

But the female wondered: "How can he unite with me, whom he has produced from himself'? Well then, let me hide!" She became a cow; he became a bull and united with her, and from that cattle arose. She became a mare; he became a stallion. She an ass, he a donkey and united with her; and from that solid-hoofed animals arose. She became a goat, he a buck; she a sheep, he a ram and united with her; and from that goats and sheep arose. In this way, he poured forth all pairing creatures, down to the ants. Then he realized: "All this creation is actually myself; for I have poured forth all this." One who knows this truth realizes that he, himself, is truly the creator [living] within his own creation.

temple_hindu

quote 3575 | The Upanishads
Mundaka Upanishad, 3:1

W isdom was the first of all created things;
Intelligent purpose has been there from the beginning.

synagogue

quote 3033 | Jeshua ben Sirach
The New English Bible. New York: Oxford University Press, 1961, Chapter 1, verses 1-10, and Chapter 4, verses 11-13.

I n the beginning
There was neither existence nor nonexistence,
Neither sky nor heaven beyond …

That One breathed, without breath,
By his own breathless power.

The first born was the Creative Will,
The primordial seed of the mind.
All else followed.
The sages, searching for the truth within themselves,
Discovered the eternal bond between the seen and unseen.
This bond was an endless line stretched across the heavens.
What was above?
What was below?
Primal seeds were sprouting, mighty forces were moving;
Pulsation from below, pure energy above.

Who here knows? Who can say for sure? …
When it began and from where it came-this creation?
The gods came afterwards
So who really knows?

From where this creation came,
By what means it was formed,
Only He who watches from the highest heaven knows
or perhaps even He does not know!

temple_hindu

quote 3007 | The Rig Veda
Rig Veda, Book X, 129

A ll creation is calling upon God. You cannot hear or see it on the outside, but the essence in everything is continuously remembering and calling upon God.

mosque

quote 2951 | Sheikh Muzaffer
Essential Sufism, by James Fadiman & Robert Frager, Harper SanFrancisco, p.210

G od was asked why creation came into being. I was a hidden treasure. I longed to be known, so I created all of creation.

mosque

quote 2920 | Muhammad
Hadith, Essential Sufism, by James Fadiman & Robert Frager, Harper SanFrancisco, p.92

F our thousand years before God created these bodies, he created the souls and kept them beside himself and shed a light upon them. He knew what quantity each soul received and he showed favor to each in proportion to its illumination. The souls remained all that time in light, until they became fully nourished. Those who in this world live in joy and agreement with one another must have been akin to one another in that place. Here they love one another and are called the friends of God, and they are brothers who love one another for God’s sake. These souls know one another by smell, like horses.

mosque

quote 2900 | Abu Sa'id

E very form that you see has its original in the divine world. If the form passes away, it is of no consequence, because its original was from eternity. Be not grieved that every form that you see, every mystical saying that you have heard will pass away. The fountainhead is always bringing forth water. Since neither ceases, why should you complain? Consider this spirit as a fountain; rivers flow from it. Put regret out of your thoughts, and keep on drinking from the rivulet. Do not be afraid. The water is limitless.
When you came into the world of created beings, a ladder was set before you, so that you might pass out of it. At first you were inanimate, then you became a plant; afterward you were changed into an animal. At last you became human, possessed of knowledge, intelligence, and faith. Next, you will become an angel. Then you will have finished with this world, and your place will be in the heavens. Be changed also from the station of an angel. Pass into that mighty deep, so that the one drop, which is yourself, may become a sea.

mosque

quote 2894 | Jalâl ud Dîn Rumi
Essential Sufism, by James Fadiman & Robert Frager, Harper SanFrancisco, p.75

I f they say to you,
"Where did you come from?"
Say to them,
We came from the light,
The place where light came into being
Of its own accord
And established itself
And became manifested through their image.

church

quote 2726 | Jesus Christ
Logion 50, Gospel of Thomas, adapted from translations of the Gospel of Thomas by Anthony Duncan in Jesus: Essential Reading (Crucible Press, 1986).

A T FIRST was neither Being nor Nonbeing.
There was not air nor yet sky beyond.
What was its wrapping? Where? In whose protection?
Was Water there, unfathomable and deep?

There was no death then, nor yet deathlessness;
of night or day there was not any sign.
The One breathed without breath, by its own impulse.
Other than that was nothing else at all.

Darkness was there, all wrapped around by darkness,
and all was Water indiscriminate.
Then that which was hidden by the Void, that One, emerging,
stirring, through power of Ardor, came to be.

In the beginning Love arose,
which was the primal germ cell of the mind.
The Seers, searching in their hearts with wisdom,
discovered the connection of Being in Nonbeing.

A crosswise line cut Being from Nonbeing.
What was described above it, what below?
Bearers of seed there were and mighty forces,
thrust from below and forward move above.

Who really knows? Who can presume to tell it?
Whence was it born? Whence issued this creation?

Even the Gods came after its emergence.
Then who can tell from whence it came to be?

That out of which creation has arisen,
whether it held it firm or it did not,
He who surveys it in the highest heaven,
He surely knows-or maybe He does not!

temple_hindu

quote 2626 | The Rig Veda
Rig Veda 10.129, from The Vedic Experience: Mantramanjari by Raimundo Pannikar (Delhi: Motilal Banarsidas, 1977).

I n its original state of Great Vacuity, material force (Qi) is absolutely tranquil and formless. As it is acted upon, it engenders the two fundamental elements of yin and yang, and through integration gives rise to forms. (1)

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quote 2376 | Chang Tsai
Chang Tsai, Cheng-meng, Ch.1, in Wing-Tsit Chan, Chinese Philosophy, Chapter 30

(1) Generally referring to physical forms and specifically referring to the Four Secondary Forms or Modes variously identified as Metal, Wood, Water, and Fire or yin, yang, strength, and weakness, or major and minor yang and major and minor yin.

T he Great Harmony is called the Way (Tao, Moral Law). It embraces the nature which underlies all counter processes of floating and sinking, rising and falling, and motion and rest. It is the origin of the process of fusion and intermingling, of overcoming and being overcome, and of expansion and contraction. At the commencement, these processes are incipient, subtle, obscure, easy, and simple, but at the end they are extensive, great, strong, and firm. It is ch'ien (Heaven) that begins with the knowledge of Change, and k'un (Earth) that models after simplicity. That which is dispersed, differentiated, and capable of assuming form becomes material force (ch'i), and that which is pure, penetrating, and capable of assuming form becomes spirit. Unless the whole universe is in the process of fusion and intermingling like fleeting forces moving in all directions, it may not be called Great Harmony.

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quote 2355 | Chang Tsai
Chang Tsai, Cheng-meng, CORRECTING YOUTHFUL IGNORANCE, Ch.1, in Wing-Tsit Chan, Chinese Philosophy, Chapter 30

T he Great Ultimate is the One. It produces the two (yin and yang) without engaging in activity. The two (in their wonderful changes and transformations) constitute the spirit. Spirit engenders number, number engenders form, and form engenders concrete things.

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quote 2342 | Shao Yong
Shao Yung, Supreme Principle Governing the World (Huang-Chi Ching Shu), 8B:23a, in Wing-Tsit Chan, Chinese Philosophy, Chapter 29

In saying that the Great Ultimate produces without activity, Shao Yung is different from Chou Tun-i who said that the Great Ultimate generates yang through movement . Shao, did not want to differentiate activity and tranquillity or yin and yang sharply as in the case of Chou. As Huang Yueh-chou said in his commentary, the point is that spirit produces the two not as two separate entities but the two embraced in the One, namely, the Great Ultimate

B y its nature, the Great Ultimate is unmoved. When it is aroused, it becomes spirit. Spirit leads to number. Number leads to form. Form leads to concrete things. Concrete things undergo infinite transformations, but underlying them is spirit to which they must be resolved.

candle

quote 2338 | Shao Yong
Shao Yung, Supreme Principle Governing the World (Huang-Chi Ching Shu), 7B:23b, in Wing-Tsit Chan, Chinese Philosophy, Chapter 29

A s the Great Ultimate becomes differentiated, the Two Modes (yin and yang) appear. Yang descends and interacts with yin, and yin rises to interact with yang, and consequently the Four Forms (major and minor yin and yang) are constituted. Yin and yang interact and generate the Four Forms of Heaven: the element of weakness and the element of strength interact and generate the Four Forms of Earth; and consequently the Eight Elements (heaven, water, fire, thunder, wind, water in motion, mountain, and earth) are completed. The Eight Elements intermingle and generate the myriad things. Therefore the one is differentiated into the two, two into four, four into eight, eight into sixteen, sixteen into thirty-two, and thirty-two into sixty-four. Thus it is said (in the Book of Changes) that "they are distinguished as yin and yang and the weak and the strong are employed in succession. Thus in the system of Change there are six positions and the pattern is complete. (1) Ten is divided to become 100, 1,000, and 10,000. This is similar to the fact that the root engenders the trunk; the trunk, branches; and the branches, leaves. The greater the division, the smaller the result, and the finer the division, the more complex. Taken as a unit, it is one. Taken as diffused development, it is the many.

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quote 2336 | Shao Yong
Shao Yung, Supreme Principle Governing the World (Huang-Chi Ching Shu), 7A:24b, in Wing-Tsit Chan, Chinese Philosophy, Chapter 29

(1) Changes, "Remarks on Certain Trigrams," ch. 2. Cf. Legge, Yi King, p. 423.

T he Ultimate of Non-being and also the Great Ultimate (T'ai-chi)!
The Great Ultimate through movement generates yang. When its activity reaches its limit, it becomes tranquil. Through tranquillity the Great Ultimate generates yin. When tranquillity reaches its limit, activity begins again. So movement and tranquillity alternate and become the root of each other, giving rise to the distinction of yin and yang, and the two modes are thus established.
By the transformation of yang and its union with yin, the Five Agents of Water, Fire, Wood, Metal, and Earth arise. When these five material forces (ch'i) are distributed in harmonious order, the four seasons run their course.
The Five Agents constitute one system of yin and yang, and yin and yang constitute one Great Ultimate. The Great Ultimate is fundamentally the Non-ultimate. The Five Agents arise, each with its specific nature.
When the reality of the Ultimate of Non-being and the essence of yin, yang, and the Five Agents come into mysterious union, integration ensues. Ch'ien (Heaven) constitutes the male element, and k'un (Earth) constitutes the female element. The interaction of these two material forces engenders and transforms the myriad things. The myriad things produce and reproduce, resulting in an unending transformation.
It is man alone who receives (the Five Agents) in their highest excellence, and therefore he is most intelligent. His physical form appears, and his spirit develops consciousness. The five moral principles of his nature (humanity or jen, righteousness, propriety, wisdom, and faithfulness) are aroused by, and react to, the external world and engage in activity; good and evil are distinguished; and human affairs take place.

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quote 2315 | Chow Tun-i
Chou Tun-yi, An Explanation of the Diagram of the Great Ultimate, in Wing-Tsit Chan, Chinese Philosophy, Chapter 28

A ll being originated from non-being. The time before physical forms and names appeared was the beginning of the myriad things. After forms and names appear, Tao (the Way) develops them, nourishes them, and places them in peace and order; that is, becomes their Mother. This means that Tao produces and completes things with the formless and nameless. Thus they are produced and completed but do not know why. Indeed it is the mystery of mysteries.

quote 2273 | Wang Bi
WANG PI, Lao Tzu chu, or Commentary on the Lao Tzu, ch. 1, in Wing-Tsit Chan, Chinese Philosophy, Chapter 19.

B efore heaven and earth took shape, there was only undifferentiated forrmlessness. Therefore it was called the great beginning. (1) Tao originated from vacuity and vacuity produced the universe (of space and time). (2) The universe produced the material force. The material force was extremely secure. (3) That which was clear and light drifted up to become heaven, and that which was heavy and turbid solidified to form earth. It was especially easy for the clear and refined to unite but extremely difficult for the heavy and turbid to solidify. Therefore heaven was formed first and the earth became definite later. The material forces (4) of Heaven and Earth combined to form yin and yang. The concentrated forces of yin and yang became the four seasons, and the scattered forces of the four seasons became the myriad things. When the hot force of yang accumulated, fire was produced and the essence of the material force of fire became the sun. When the cold force of yin accumulated, water was produced and the essence of the material force of water became the moon. The excess of the essence of the sun and moon became the stars and planets. Heaven received the sun, moon, and stars, while earth received water and soil.

quote 2270 | The Huai-Nan Tzu
Huai-nan Tzu, SPPY, 3: 1 a, in Wing-Tsit Chan, Chinese Philosophy, Chapter 17.

(1) Read chao (light) as shih (beginning), according to Wang Nien-sun (2) According to Kao Yu, yu-chou (universe) means space (yu) and time (chou). (3) Instead of translating the Chinese phrase as "having limits" as practically all other translators have done, I have followed Kao Yu's interpretation. (4) Ching means material force, according to Kao Yu.

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