The Nested Soul - Preview

Introduction: Of Dark Matter and Light

This poetry collection follows the journey of an individual soul from birth to its eventual return beyond the veil.

There Lies a Shape, a Subtle Form—

First, we witness the act of creation, the beginnings of a soul as it awakes from out of darkness and deep hibernation. As dawn breaks, its path is slowly illuminated, that long trek from birth to death. And as the sun rises higher in the sky, more of the road ahead is revealed, as are the challenges to be faced along the way.

A Fractal’s Curl, a Spiral’s Grace—

The soul continues along its epic journey, encountering light and darkness with every step—but not all of these are as they first seem. The lessons imparted from these challenges with the darkness are what spur its greatest growth—learning to see beyond false binaries, beyond arrogance and hubristic plans, beyond “us” vs. “them.” The soul begins to understand that a higher, unseen power pulls on and intertwines the threads of fate. Though the way is not always a linear one, the soul moves, step by step, further out of shadow and into light. But on this spiral-shaped path, it also learns that the light and the dark have an essential symbiotic relationship—that one cannot exist without the other.

Patterns Hidden, Yet Leave a Trace—

At the end of its earthly life, the soul arrives at the “veil beyond knowing.” And here, as it crosses back over to rejoin the unseen realm from which it came, memory and experience begin to coalesce in a new, transcendent way. It hears the voice of the unseen force vibrating between atoms and particles—Gaia, dark matter, dark energy—and finally understands how an individual soul is truly just a small part of a much greater whole, that everyone and everything are deeply, inextricably connected. Here, time folds and spirals, layered in ways beyond human knowing. And slowly, the soul shifts—not lost, but spun into a single thread and woven once more into the vast unseen fabric of existence—rejoining the interconnected whole from which it came.

The Unforeseen

From the shadowed veil, a gentle stirring,
like dawn breaking through the quiet of night,
an echo of possibilities yet to bloom,
rising from the soul’s deep slumber.

Before emotion glimmered over the horizon,
we wandered, curious,
along the edges of understanding,
where no shadow of anger
or longing
yet cast its form.

Curiosity ripened—
a fruit heavy with questions,
tempting eager hands to reach,
to taste the unknown,
to feel the world beyond.

In that first tender bite,
emotion stirred—
love entwined with sorrow,
joy braided with fear,
a tangled root of beauty
and chaos. Yet wisdom—

ah, wisdom clung to the branches above,
its whispers hushed beneath
the new hunger and sweetness of feeling.
We reached,
but it tumbled from our grasp
like the wind through trembling leaves—
always glimpsed, never held.

What we sought to know
became what slipped beyond us—
emotion unraveled from reason—
curiosity’s gift,
both blessing
and curse.

Our emotions surged, untamed,
our thoughts branching wild,
and in that quiet hush,
evil took root—
not as a beast, baring fangs,
but as a shadow
slow and still,
growing in the silent cracks
of all we once believed.
It wore the face of desire,
of longing unfulfilled,
murmuring in our own voices.

We did not see its tendrils creep
until they coiled themselves
around reason,
until love twisted
into a mirror’s gaze,
reflecting a face we no longer knew.