Did space and time exist before anything else?
We rarely question this. Space is where things exist. Time is the flow in which events occur. Before the universe began, the stage was already set — or so we assume.
But was it?
At the frontier of contemporary physics, this assumption is being challenged.
A framework known as Emergent Spacetime proposes that space and time are not fundamental constituents of the universe. They may instead emerge from deeper quantum processes — arising rather than pre-existing. The stage did not come first. It appeared when the performers did.
Katakamuna Verse 05 describes this in five sounds.
HI FU MI YO I
The process from HI through YO operates in a dimension where neither time nor space yet exists. It occurs within Planck time — a scale of duration so small it lies beyond the reach of human perception or instrumentation.
At I (5), the minimal particle emerges. Space is formed. Time (YO) and space (I) are created simultaneously.
Matter does not appear inside a pre-existing space. Space appears because matter does.
This is not a description of a singular event at the origin of the universe.
According to Katakamuna, this process operates continuously — everywhere in the present cosmos. In the space where you are sitting now. Within the interior of your body.
Space and time are not the stage.
They arrive with the first performer.
Read the full analysis → Katakamuna Verse Analysis Vol. 05
Related Notes