A being existed. Small and weak, but existing. Lacking a physical form, but existing. Incapable of thought, but existing. It existed in limbo. Somehow one fine morning in the vast emptiness the being found something. A thought, or more specifically, the mere idea of thought. With much effort it latched onto the idea, the thought. It realized that the idea of thinking existed, and that the fact that it knew this must mean that it was capable of thought and knowing. The being, now knowing that it was capable of thought, thought of this simple thought and thought it again and again.
Now that it knew that it could know, it realized that it was starving. That was the second thought that the being thought, that it was starving, that it wanted, needed, more thoughts, that it thrived off of them.
The third thing the being thought was that it was alive. It realized that in order for it to be capable of want it had to exist, and that if it existed it was alive.
The first thing the being felt was happiness, happiness because it existed, and happiness simply for the sake of happiness. It was alive, why shouldn't it be happy. It was alive.
The fourth thing the being thought was that it could feel.
The first thing the being wondered was, what else could it feel?
"I have felt happiness" it thought "Could there be more?" It wondered hungrily.
The second thing the being wondered was,what else existed.
"Is it just me?" it thought "Or is there anything else"
The second thing it felt was sadness, sadness this new world of conciseness it had discovered was so void of meaning...well, so void of anything ,of course, sadness simply for the sake of sadness.
The first thing the being remembered was the triangle. Not the word, just the three sided shape. It saw it in it's mind and realized that it could see, not physically, but it was capable of visualizing things.
The third thing the being felt was overwhelmed, it couldn't deal with these complicated things with it's limited thoughts and emotions. It didn't understand that strange feeling way in the back of it's mind that was triggered by the triangle, and it didn't want to, it was...scary...and...distasteful.
The third thing the being felt was confusion. How could something so amazing as thought and memory hold such upsetting things? Sadness and triangles had no right to exist, it thought to itself.
The second thing it remembered was pain. A physical feeling it was disturbed by. Though it decided to nurture this memory for reasons it couldn't explain. Maybe it was because pain was part of life and it wanted so so badly to feel alive.
The third thing it remembered was a tree. the tree in question was a especially tall one of the pine variety. The being felt excited, it had discovered life. A tree was alive so then it was not the only one. Or at least it had not been the only one some time ago.
Then the being realized that time existed. that events could happen in the past, the present, and the future. "what is my past?" the being wondered, realizing that the fact that it had memories meant that it was not a new born like it had thought.