नेति नेति

नेति नेति

Peter Venable

—a Sanskrit expression meaning “not this, not that” or “neither this, nor that.”

I want to know how God created this world.
—Albert Einstein (The Expanded Quotable Einstein, Princeton University Press.)

Why, more nothing than something?
Was there always something? Or
did something come from nothing?
Creatio ex nihilo? A what or a Who?

Before this material universe began, Nil. No spacetime
no relativity no force no vacuum no energy no heat no cold
no quantum wave-particle “foam” no void no light no dark
no infinitely dense spacetime singularly to ignite all.
No point. No nothing. Not nothing. No period.

Ockham’s razor pares away a steady-state universe, bubble universes,
an oscillating universe, quantum cosmology, gravitons, matrixes,
Creatio ex materia (creation out of some pre-existent eternal matter),
and panspermia (ET’s seeded life on earth) . . .

What or who was the uncaused cause? We hypothesize:
this universe—designed with—or without a designer?
On the fence many straddle between random Materialism
Or the Uncaused Causer, an Intelligent Designer.

Which side do we jump? Into the black abyss of
blue stars, frozen moons, galactic pinwheels, cosmic drains
or into an infinite, immortal, invisible Creator?

Before nothing there and nothing not there: I AM.

---

Peter Venable
Poet & Writer

The writer has written sacred and secular verse for many decades. He’s appeared in Ancient Paths, Third Wednesday, THEMA, The Windhover, Prairie Messenger, The Christian Century, The Merton Seasonal, Windhover, Ekstasis, and others. He is a septuagenarian, happily married, “Poppy” to two granddaughters, a Christ follower, and volunteers at a prison camp. His Jesus Through A Poet’s Lens is available at Amazon. He is at petercvenable.wordpress.com and www.facebook.com/peter.venable.14

Photography by Tim Mossholder