why does there have to be a beginning?

Question

what is the reasoning for searching for a beginning of the universe or the last crunch or bang or the one before that and so on, why must it have started?

if you think about nothing really starts around us, its just a change of form (e.g biological growth) so why do we search for a beginning?

Answer 1

it doesn't have to. people just like personifying everything; human conceiousness has a begining so everything else must be the same way.

Answer 2

Virtually everyone responding is just taking it for granted that physicists are going around looking for a beginning because of some hole in their psyche that compels them to explain everything. On the contrary; physicists are not searching for a beginning; it found them first. Before the data compelled it, few thought there "had" to be a beginning. In fact, in the early 20'th century, there was a very strong prejudice amongst physicists (most notably Dr. Einstein) that there was *not* a beginning, and that the universe has been in a "steady state" forever. Creation stories were supposed to be part of the quaint mythologies of primitive societies. It was the measurement of such things as the Hubble constant and microwave background radiation that lead to the conclusion that there was a beginning. After that, Dr. E had to go back and erase a fudge factor (cosmological constant) he originally scribbled into General Relativity to force a steady state state solution.

Answer 3

The really funny thing about searching for the beginning of the universe is the fact that they know that there are many universes out there, and so when you find, if it is possible at all to find, the beginning you are or going to also find a way into another universe that will have to be searched too. The most common understanding of universes today is that they are actually layer upon one another. Weird isn't it, knowing that we have so much to look for . And search for, and actually will never find the true answers too. Adventure,,,,ain't it wonderful

Answer 4

Cool question. Because humans need a straight answer. They hate not being able to understand. It is frustrating to not know how it all started. You could say there was a biological growth but what caused the biological growth? You could say there was a Creator but what caused this Creator to be?

It is fair to suggest that why should we always imply there was a beginning - why should we be concerned when we don't know what happened - yet people just can't rest. Human curiosity.

Answer 5

Because the concept of "eternity," in either direction, is difficult to grasp. In our daily existence, everything has a beginning AND, eventually, an end.

Television shows "premier," and they have "final episodes." Babies are born and people die. The longest trips start somewhere, and eventually, one arrives at the destination.

Except for the thought, in abstract, about "what if?" the idea of having no beginning is alien, and not a natural part of human existance. The search for the beginning of time is as natural as the search for new lands, new experiences and, all knowledge, in general.

Answer 6

Perhaps the answer is in the question. 'There has to be a beginning.' :)
I believe the reason why so many search for the answer to this question? --- so they can create a foundation upon which to lay all other beliefs. Without a foundation, how do you create an interlocking belief system?
It's awfully scary for most folks to feel as if they are floating naked in the middle of a bunch of stars.
Perhaps, our quest for the answer to this and like-others - can be blamed squarely on the 'temple' of the heart (biological fact: little spot in the flesh and blood organ called the temple - noone knows what its for).
Or maybe the fact that we ask this question, unless we've adopted an 'I already know, so I don't need to ask' stance, is indicative of the importance of asking. It certainly shifts our focus from self to higher-than-self (?).

Answer 7

You ask two questions.
1) As a "beginning" there does not have to be a beginning. Beginning(s) for there are an infinite number of such, are merely a function of time. Remove time and there is no beginning. Eternity and infinity by definition have no beginniing.
2) We search for beginnings in hopes of finding more about who we are. There is an assumption that knowing about our past will assist us in knowing our future. Consider a BORING party scheduled for 2 hours. If you know its beginning, then you know how much longer you have to act nice.

Answer 8

to understand. to understand better. if you start from the middle -- or if you start from now to the end. then you have to explain the "now" -- how did we get here and why? and where are we all going-- humanity or other living creatures! It is a complex and complicated question -- which has no definite one answer -- but may be many and I for sure can not give you a definite one. One man's name could : Albert Einstein (no longer in this world). He said -- there must be a beginning and a Creator. (In similar words). Hope it helps, thanks for asking.

Answer 9

There's a beginning to everything. You began to breath, read, do math, ect. The world had to begin as well. The only problem is, there had to already be something in order to make the world, and humans have trouble with the "And where did that come from?" question. Myself, I believe God created the world.

Answer 10

There doesn't have to be a beginning. I think the search for the beginning is because western thinkers still are under the influence of Christian thought, whether they are christian themselves or not.

Answer 11

People search for answers, that's what they do.
They believe that time has a beginning and an end so they look for them. If they realized there wasn't such a thing they would realize they were wasting their time and look for something else!