Tuesday, April 16

The Universe Is Just Like A Dot On A Balloon

Balloon with dots

I have rambled on at times about how the universe may have possibly began and have asked many questions. What was there before the Big Bang, for instance?

Today in the Daily Mail, on a letters page, there was an answer to one of my questions: What lies beyond the edge of the universe? The answer was from Michael Tempest. See what you think of his take on this:

Big Bang universe
"This is a question very similar to 'what happened before the universe was created?' And the answer to both is essentially the same: nothing.

However, saying there is nothing beyond the edge of the universe doesn't mean that space is empty - it means the space doesn't exist.

As the universe expands it creates time and space, and the difficulty we have is that the concepts of time and space on a cosmic scale are alien to our domestic experience and we find it difficult to comprehend them.

We on Earth are, at one and the same same time, both at the centre of, and the extremity of, the universe.

This apparently perverse situation is explained by Stephen Hawking using the analogy of an inflated balloon covered in dots. No dot is in the middle of, nor at the edge of, the surface.

The same applies to the universe but with the an extra dimension added. It is quite conceivable that there are multiple universes, but if so, by definition, we'll never know."

Undefinable God
Okay, all well and good, but I still can't get my head properly around the idea that there was nothing prior to the so called Big Bang or that there is nothing at the edge of the universe. How can something come from absolutely nothing? I guess this is why God often comes into the equation ... er, but if there was nothing where was God ... does this mean He is nothing too?

Perplexing questions! But, as Xenophanes, suggested - but in different words - How Can Man Imagine A God Who Is Undefinable? I guess one day we will understand, or is that wishful or even delusional thinking?

Other Rambles:
A How Did It All Begin Ramble
Words Of Immortality And The Big Bang

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8 comments:

  1. I think god comes into the equation because scientists can't provide an explanation about something coming from nothing. Interesting post!

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    1. That's right man creates his God - be that the sun, a mystic being or whatever. It's a simple solution to difficult problems.

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  2. I don't get that there could have been nothing - how can anything come from nothing? It's mind numbing when I think about it, especially as I'm having a late lunch hour at work and trying to switch off! Fascinating though.

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    1. It is hard to understand, because we have our own set of rules for how things are.

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  3. But Brother Consolmagno in a booklet entitled, Intelligent Life in the Universe? Catholic Belief and the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligent Life, wrote: "However you picture the universe being created, says Genesis, the essential point is that ultimately it was a deliberate, loving act of a God who exists outside of space and time."

    So God is nothing...and everything.

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    1. Agree, if God is everything he must be nothing as well. Life is one big koan.

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  4. I really like Trish & Rob's answer. Can't wait to hear the actual realistic answer... and I think it's coming one day. Haha.

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    1. The answer is coming soon but will it ever be the final answer?

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