Volume Zero: Independence Day

The architect Louis Kahn spoke of the "momentous event in architecture when the wall parted and the column became", which inspired a post of mine some months (years?) ago.  An appropriate metaphor for transformation, for a phase change of a particular order.  I think it makes sense to extend the idea further, if we must speak of phase changes, pushing it back to that moment when the universe expanded, and the world Became.  From the singularity of which the physicists speak, the infinitesimal point that contained everything that was, is and will be, into the manifestation of them in which we live.

This is beginnings, of which Mr. Kahn was also quite fond.  He spoke often of reading "Volume Zero", that book of history that exists before History.  In other words, what occurred before the recording of history became possible, at least in a more enduring format than oral tradition.

Volume Zero:  the history before the singularity expanded.  The roots of what we were, are and will be. I seek Volume Zero, because it holds confirmation of what we were before the singularities of us expanded, and we became.  Maybe it is quixotic on my part, but that volume may tell us who were meant to be. 

With today being Independence Day here in the United States, beginnings are on my mind.  July 4th marks the birth of  a nation.  Nations, in the fine grain detail, are made of people. And people are made of us.

Amongst the flags and the parades and the picnics and the fireworks, it is a fine thing to celebrate the independence of a nation that allows us, mostly, to be who we want to be.  I will offer my respects, and my gratitude, as is fitting.

I will also meditate on my Volume Zero, seeking the roots of who I was meant to be.  Seeking my own independence of the soul, I hope also to determine if who I want to be...is who I was meant to be.

On Independence Day 1, in Volume Zero, the universe expanded and we became.  Let us keep looking for the light of that expansion.