My beliefs – Awe and Wonder – The Big Bang.

Posted on by Opher

My beliefs – Awe and Wonder – The Big Bang.There are a number of things that simply do not make sense to me. They are hard for my mind to comprehend. That is probably not at all surprising given that the human brain is tiny and limited and the concepts we are trying to deal with are ginormous. We’ll probably never know. I find them fascinating to think about. They fill me with awe and wonder.The Big Bang – The universe is expanding. If we extrapolate it back to a point we are back at the beginning.I believe that this universe started with a big bang; that all matter and energy was spontaneously created out of nothing. Matter and antimatter, dark matter and energy burst into being and the universe came into existence.I do not know how. I do not know if we are one of an infinite number of polyverses. I do not know what was before the Big Bang.I believe science will tell us more and more but may never know. It might be beyond mankind’s understanding.This is hard to accept.I do not believe that this presumes the presence of a god – the creator. That is convenient but explains nothing to me. It seems a very human response and merely puts the mystery one step further away – where did god come from? Where was he living? What was there before god? Who gave him these divine powers? That seems even more simplistic and far-fetched.I believe there is a mystery that is awe inspiring. Whatever caused it leaves me full of wonder.

The Universe Came From Nothing!! Or Did It?

Posted on by Opher

I find it fascinating to begin to engage with the fundamental mysteries of the universe – such as how something came from nothing.

There are three basic possibilities:

a. All matter and energy came from nothing in the Big Bang – creating a universe of matter and antimatter in an instant.

b. God (a supernatural being) made the universe from nothing.

c. Matter and energy was always there.

It seems to me that all three propositions are almost equally impossible to comprehend.

Proposition A

Now proposition A is impossible. We have nothing and suddenly matter is formed spontaneously. There is a Big Bang and all the matter, energy, antimatter and antienergy(?) is formed in an instant and we have our universe.

Doesn’t make sense to me.

Proposition B

Proposition B is even more absurd. In order to explain the impossibility of proposition A we invent a supernatural being who makes the universe out of nothing. This solves nothing for me. All it is doing is kicking the can down the road.

  • Firstly you are still left with all the matter and energy in the universe being created from nothing
  • Secondly we have invented an even more complex being who has immense powers to do such a thing so is more complex than the universe itself
  • Thirdly there is no attempt to explain where this being was before the universe was created so we have to invent a further, even more complex, universe in which the being resides (heaven, paradise, valhalla, whatever).
  • Fourthly there is no explanation of how this supernatural being came into being in the first place – which is even more problematical and fantastical than a universe spontaneously springing into life out of nothing.
  • Fifthly – it smacks of human thinking when faced with proposition A. We have a need to solve problems. God is our creation.

Proposition C

The universe was always here. It keeps expanding and contracting. Possibly there have been an infinite number of singularities and an infinite number of Big Bangs. It never began and it will never end.

Well that doesn’t make sense to human minds either. How can things have always been here? How can they never end?

It is looking as if the expansion of the universe will continue and it will eventually break down to hydrogen and heat through its own entropy and die. So the cycles of expansion and contraction are not a possibility.

 

Well, that’s it as far as I can see. You pays your money and you takes your choice. I think all three are beyond imagination. What do you think?