The Universe is so called due to mankind’s somewhat arrogant assumption that there cannot be more than one universe and that the universe fills the heavens as far as the eye can see. I suppose that was not too unreasonable an assumption in times when mankind’s knowledge was more limited. Mankind however is rather like a worm in a hole whose knowledge about it’s surroundings is limited by what it can see through the top of the hole. As the worm gradually emerges from it’s hole, it can see more detailed surroundings that it never knew existed before. Mankind is in a not dissimilar position and as our knowledge of the universe expands, so do our thoughts on possibilities we had never considered before.
How was the universe created? Well no one really knows. What we do have at the moment is what is known as “Big Bang” theory. The theory is not an unreasonable one as we are aware the universe is continually expanding rather like a misshapen balloon further and further into the nothingness of the cosmos. I suppose given the endlessness of time, the universe will eventually dissipate, not into nothing, but like the minute droplets of a bubble when it bursts and no longer forms a cohesive structure. It’s possible galaxies will remain intact as growing evidence seems to suggest they are bound together by the immense gravitational forces of a black hole at the centre of each galaxy.
It’s not impossible to deduce that if the universe is expanding, by rolling back the millennia of time, the universe must have originated from one location in the heavens. Given the vast magnitude of matter within the universe of which our own solar system does not form a pin head in an ocean, the event that caused all this matter to form out of nothingness was of a awesome magnitude that is currently beyond our understanding. Physicists will speculate what the new born universe was like down to microseconds after it’s creation but none as far as I am aware, will speculate on what conditions, if any, existed micro-seconds before it’s creation. To do so would more than touch on the realm of the divine. I suspect the arguments between physicists and theologians will rage on for many more centuries to come. Argument, theory and belief do at the moment share one common bond, they like I have no evidence as to the cause of the creation of the universe.
Although the mechanics of how the universe was created is not yet known, it is not at all unreasonable, even to a layman like myself to ask, as it has already clearly happened with the creation of the universe, could it not have happened before in the vast emptiness of nothingness?
Concept of Nothingness
If we try to visualise in our minds what lies beyond the boundaries of our Universe we also have to try to understand the concept of nothingness. This is more difficult than one might first think. What is nothingness? Apart from being a literal oxymoron, nothingness is exactly what it implies a sort of empty vacuum that goes on and on without end for eternity. There can be no barriers or edges preventing our mental journey into nothingness be they gravitational, energy, magnetic, physical or even a great wall of jelly. The moment any form of barrier prevents our never-ending journey it ceases to be nothingness. There is no up or down, east or west, nor even one sub-atomic particle, just a continued nothingness. There is however one big flaw in the concept of nothingness and that is the universe itself. If nothing else, we all know our own universe exists in this sea of nothingness. From that one simple premise, irrelevant of how far our minds can cope with a nothingness extending into infinity, we can never consider it as a nothingness again as it contains least has one thing, our universe.
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Latest estimates put the age of the universe at about 13.75 billion years old and it’s width to be at least 156 billion light years. As the speed at which light travels is constant this means there are parts of the universe which will always be beyond our vision. What we can now see is described as the observable universe. Even those parts of the universe that we can observe is not how it actually is today but how it was when light from different parts of the universe started it’s journey. What we see is not only the observable universe, it is also a historic universe. The light from Alpha Centauri, one of the nearest stars to Earth still takes 4.37 million light years to reach us. That means the Alpha Centauri we see today from Earth is how it was 4.37 million years ago. Although unlikely, by now the star could have exploded/imploded and we would not know it for at least several million years.
Given as I believe with good reason that time does not exist, (see Time), then time is also infinite in the same way nothingness is. It is without beginning or end. It would seem to me highly logical that whatever circumstances led to the creation of the universe, could also have occurred in the past, possibly an incalculable number of times and will similarly occur a incalculable number of times in the future. Whether that past or future be trillions of billions of years away is irrelevant, time and nothingness are without end.
One might ask why is it we cannot see or detect these other universes if they exist? The answer is simply due the constant speed of light and the vastness of distances. It’s the same answer that prevents us seeing all of our own universe let alone what lies beyond it. There is a possibility that we might be able to see another universe without realising it. One of the faintest glimmers of light that can be detected in the heavens and we which we interpret as a distant star in our own universe, could also be the entirety of light from another universe so far distant we have no way of distinguishing between the two. Measurement of distance is not an exact science without another reference point to use for comparison. Our second reference observation point would probably have to be from another galaxy where the same point of light could be observed.
There are certainly pro’s and con’s to my thoughts. One of the con’s is that we understand from science, matter and energy cannot be created or destroyed, only transformed. Although this is true as far as our understanding of physics stands at the moment, there clearly has to be a missing equation somewhere otherwise Big Bang could never have occurred. Some would say that it was matter that was created from energy during the process of Big Bang but I as an individual do not accept this on the simple premise as the energy would also be required to be created from nothingness.
Multi-dimensionalists may well argue that matter and energy came from another unspecified dimension, but this premise, even if true, suffers from the same weakness that matter and energy would still need to come into existence in that undefined dimension. The other con against my thoughts that I am aware of are those that think the nothingness beyond our universe eventually curves back on itself. Again this is another premise I find this hard to accept as this would mean that the entirety on nothingness would in a way be contained within another form of nothingness.
There is also those that would cite for divine intervention. I would not argue for or against this simply because I like they have no evidence one way or another other than personal belief. I never argue for or against a persons faith and beliefs as it is such a personal thing and each persons right to verbally express it as they think fit.
If Multiverses are eventually proved to exist I can foresee interesting theological debate as to whether each universe has it’s own divine creator/being or whether there is just one divine being throughout the entire infinite vastness of nothingness. It’s certainly not within the wit of mankind to read Gods mind if he exists, but one might well understand if a divine being had existed for billions or trillions of years in complete nothingness, the need to create the universe(s).
Filed under: Universe or Multiverse | Tagged: age of universe, concept, cosmos, creation, creation of universe, galaxies, millenia, multiverse, nothingness, time, universe |
Mick's Muses's 
Indeed those microseconds, minutes, hours, or who knows how long before creation of “our” universe are the biggest mystery. What existed before our existence?
its funny I was on about the Universe in my other comment. Certainly a bit mind boggling . I believe God created the Universe as even if it was a big bang from matter, where did the matter come from? But like you say there’s a lot of arguments about this sort of thing and no one really knows the answer. Certainly I don’t but I do get revelation and insights into things.
You see I look at things this way. When God created the 1st man and woman, seems a pretty good arrangement, otherwise He could have made 2 men or 2 women. But there’s something that doesn’t seem quite right about that, and judging by the arguments today pro and against gay marriage for instance, makes you wonder. God had things well in hand I think.. the other thing is that mankind, even if there had been no rebellion against God, mankind would not have been content to stay as he was, when originally created. Eventually people would have advanced to how they are today. I cant see that there would have been no conflict or division. It would have come to the same thing as now. If we, as imperfect beings have invented so much in a relatively short time judging by the speed of things, a perfect race of people might have gone a lot further, but I cant see that there would necessarily been harmony as it doesn’t seem to go together. Therefore mankind would have become like they are now. I think God knew this in advance, but we had the choice anyway.
After Noah and the flood, everything started up again. Noah was saved because he was righteous. But it wasn’t long before it went back to how it was. So, cant really blame God for human nature. Im sure one day we will solve all these mysteries. Maybe that’s it we are finding out about all these things and who knows one day we might learn how to live at peace with one another and that would be the greatest discovery of all.