A Poem by Hyatt Carter
In the beginning, once upon a void,
A pulse, first quantum throb, felt and enjoyed:
From the many random emerges one,
In dipolar rhythm where before was none;
One after another now, pulsing free—
A social process of self-creativity.
If, in nature, consciousness be the crown,
Experience, at least, goes all the way down.
In people, yes, but in photons too we find,
As in all natural unities, the light of mind.
And now a Presence—silent, soft as air,
Flowing within, without, and everywhere.
Through renewal from this divine connection
Life endures by constant resurrection.
Every new moment, in a twinkling of eyes,
Numberless minds perish, and as quickly arise.
Fresh in the flow of this interweaving stream,
Mutual immanence is the universal theme.
Rhythmic adventures, process ever new,
A quantum world where time is quantum, too.
Each quantum a threshold, another chance
For beauty, goodness, creative advance.
In the beginning, God and creatures meet;
What God begins, the creatures then complete.
This, alone, the way of God’s creation—
Not through fiat, but by evocation.
Power is relational, not only from above:
Not almighty force, but all-persuasive love.
HyC