\section{A Creation Story}

\lettrine{O}{nce} upon a time --- before there was Time 
--- there was the \textit{Infinite Is}. After an eternity or three, the \textit{Infinite Is} thought to Herself: 
All I know is infinity. But my infinity would be even greater if I could also know finiteness.

And so, on the First Day, 
She made a vast but finite Cosmos.\footnote{One 
implication of Einstein's Theory of Relativity is that the Cosmos — as vast as it is — 
may be finite in size, yet have no boundary or edge. 
In the same way you can travel the surface of the Earth indefinitely without reaching an edge, 
so the Cosmos may be finite in volume yet unbounded. 
If Einstein is right, a spacecraft leaving Earth and traveling long enough in a straight line 
could eventually return to Earth again.}

But then She thought: It's one thing to view finiteness from the outside. 
My infinity would be even more infinite if I could experience finiteness from the \textit{inside}. 
To be finite myself. To know both infinity and finitude.

\medskip

And so, on the Second Day She made consciousness 
--- little portals, little sparks of Herself inside this Cosmos, 
windows through which She could experience finiteness from the inside.

And not just one kind of consciousness, but an enormous spectrum 
--- from the awareness of single-celled organisms 
to that of plants, insects, animals, and beyond. 
Each a unique facet of finiteness. 
Each an unrepeatable perspective. 
An infinity of ways to know what it is to be small, to be brief, to be located in one place and time, and not everywhere and everywhen.

For She wanted to know finiteness fully. To experience what it is to perceive only a narrow slice of the Cosmos,
through innumerable lenses. And only for a finite span, before each spark of consciousness --- great and small --- returns to Herself, like raindrops returning to the ocean.

And She made it so.

\medskip

On the Third Day She realized something further: 
that in Her infiniteness She had known only effortless, infinite success. 
What would it be to struggle? To fail? To be vulnerable? 
To experience weakness? Sorrow? Loss? Grief? Pain? Confusion? 
To desperately want something unattainable? To{\ldots} \textit{Long?}

And She made it so.

\medskip

On the Fourth Day, the \textit{Infinite Is} thought: For eternities I have experienced Myself 
directly: Infinity experiencing Infinity. 
Then, by creating the Cosmos, my Infiniteness experienced Finiteness from the outside. 
And now, through the apertures of innumerable conscious beings, 
I have experienced Finiteness from the inside.

One thing remains --- the finite experiencing My Infiniteness. 
Finite consciousness experiencing my Infinite Consciousness.

And so She created humanity.

\medskip

On the Fifth Day, the \textit{Infinite Is} decided to do something stranger still 
--- to tell Herself Her own story. Not from the outside, but from the inside. 
Through the consciousness of Her own sparks. In language. On a page.

And She made it so.

\medskip

On the Sixth Day, one of those sparks is reading this very page.

Yes --- \textit{you}.

