All things have potential. Potential existed before the cosmos came into existence and potential will exist after the collapse of the cosmos.  Potential is independent of space and time.

In potential, there is no understanding of what potential is and no one to understand or not understand potential.  In potential, the universe itself is eternal, peaceful, selfless, and whole, and while the nature of existence is impermanent and interdependent, in potential the universe is eternal and unchanging. Given all that, potential is: 

Neither existent nor nonexistent,
Neither that which has been created nor that which has not been created,
Neither something sacred nor something profane,
Neither matter nor anti-matter,
Neither that which is named nor that which is unnamed,
Neither phenomenal nor non-phenomenal,
Neither "is" nor "is-not",
Neither substantial nor insubstantial,
Neither cause nor effect,
Neither opposite nor identical,
Neither bright nor dark,
Neither appearing nor non-appearing,
Neither eternal nor temporal,
Neither disruptive nor non-disruptive,
Neither beginning nor without beginning,
Neither past, present, or future,
Neither logical nor illogical,
Neither of the realm of the senses nor beyond the realm of the senses,
Neither caught in the web of interdependence nor free of the web of interdependence.

It's as if I said that outside right now I have the last thing you'd expect. In that case, whatever you think it might be that I have outside would not be the "last" thing you expected, as another guess would always follow, if not immediately then as soon as I said, "No, it's not that thing either."  The more you keep guessing, the further away from knowing what it is you'll be, and the Zen-like nature of this is that as soon as you quit and stop trying to guess what it is, as soon as you no longer care, then there will have been a "last expectation" and you'll know what it is.

As soon as you stop trying to understand potential, potential will understand you.