Before all, there was Chaos.

"The first men created and formed were called Wizards of Fatal Laughter, Wizards of the Night, The Negligent, and Black Wizards... They were endowed with intelligence and knew everything in the world. When they looked, they instantly saw everything around them, and they contemplated the arc of the heavens and the round face of the earth... [Then the Creator said]: 'They know everything... what shall we do with them now? Let their vision reach only what is nearby; let them see only a small part of the face of the earth!... Are they not, by nature, simple creatures resulting from our work? Should they also be gods?"

— The Popol Vuh of the Maya Quiché.

"In the beginning, the god Tupã lived in the void, in endless darkness. First, Tupã created the sky and the stars, where he made his dwelling, and below, he created the waters. Then, Tupã descended from above, in a great whirlwind. As soon as Tupã touched the waters, the sun appeared in the arc of the sky. When the sun reached its highest point, its heat cracked Tupã's skin. And finally, when the sun disappeared on the other side of the sky, Tupã's skin fell from his body, stretched over the waters, and formed the lands. On the next day, the sun appeared in the sky and noticed the change. The sun reached the highest point again, and Tupã took a little clay, kneaded and molded the first Man. He blew into his nose and gave him life. The Man grew and became as big as Tupã, but he couldn't speak. The great god blew into his mouth, and he began to speak. Then, Tupã blew intelligence into his left ear and wisdom into his right ear. On the Man's head, Tupã drew the sacred rays and thunders that are the thoughts. On the Man's body, Tupã placed the waters of emotions and desires that move to create or destroy. Finally, Tupã gave Man the power to choose between creating and destroying. After the creation was finished, Tupã returned to the sky mounted on his whirlwind."

Source: CLARO, Regina. Encontros de história: do arco-íris à lua, do Brasil à África. São Paulo: Cereja, 2014, p. 4.
The Myth of Tupã, Genesis, and the Big Bang seek, each in its own way, to provide explanations for the creation of the universe, capturing the human imagination by addressing the fundamental mystery of our existence. However, when inquiring about what could have existed before the Big Bang, we enter a territory of conjectures. Physicist Stephen Hawking suggests that real time in the third dimension is replaced by imaginary time, a fourth-dimensional aspect of space. This approach shifts time from its linear nature to an abstract entity, offering an intriguing prologue to Chapter 1 of existence, which is the Big Bang.

The concept of imaginary time challenges the rigidity of conventional measurements and frees us to explore living and creating from alternative paradigms. In a mental space of infinite possibilities, where the separation between chaos and order dissolves, existence becomes a constant dance of movement. In this context, everything that exists is valid simply for existing, and new reference universes emerge from chaos, being systematized through an order that, ultimately, remains a mystery.
The immutability of natural orders, such as summer following spring, youth succeeding childhood, and the river flowing into the sea, is contrasted by the uncertainty that surrounds the origin of these orders.

This mystery, the fundamental spice of our existence, is incessantly present in our daily lives. Who decides the characteristics of the tropics, the content of a coconut, and the aroma of flowers remains an enigma.

By confronting this mystery, humans engage in creation as an attempt to decipher the unknown. And within the radicality of their own existence, they try, unsuccessfully, to explain this mystery to themselves.

The ability to create thus becomes an expression of the attempt to tame the inexplicable, to shed light on the shadows that permeate our understanding of the world. We create not only out of practical necessity but as an instinctive act of unraveling what unfolds before us.
It is in the forge of these experiences that we find meaning and connection with the universe that surrounds us. Experience then emerges as the fundamental tool to explore the complexities of human existence. By accepting the central role of mystery in our journey, we transform the unknown into fertile ground for constructing narratives that give shape, color, and texture to our perception of the world.

Fundamentally, experiences shape identities. Each encounter, challenge, and triumph contributes to the unique building of the self. These experiences sculpt our perspectives, values, and emotions, serving as a solid foundation upon which our identity stands. Over time, it becomes evident that identity is not a static entity but rather a dynamic continuum, an intricate web of unpredictabilities that enriches the fabric of life with countless unexplored nuances. And there lies the beauty that resides in chaos.