Did the universe exist BEFORE it came into existence?

Question

Is it safe to say the universe cannot be self-caused nothing can create itself, because that would mean that it existed before it came into existence which is a logical absurdity. Do you believe this or am I the only one? Is there another explanation?

Answer 1

Very excellent question. Your logic is amazing and is very true, but we do not know what caused the universe to originate. So for all we "don't" know, the universe could have created itself.

Answer 2

You're asking some pretty big questions, Zorro.

The fact is, nobody can really know, but there's some good ideas being raised here. Like Anthony S says, if the universe didn't exist at some point, nor would time (time and space are kind of the same thing), so there still wouldn't be any time before the universe was created, even if it hasnt existed forever.

you say nothing can create itself... this principle will still get you in trouble if you believe in a creator. Did God create itself? "Did God exist BEFORE god came into existence?" Whether you believe in a creator or not, you're stuck with the same question: "Did God/the Universe always exist, or was it created?".

I think lilmiss has hit the nail on the head... this is a question that human logic can probably never answer. Of course, we should still keep asking it.

Answer 3

Actually according to the Bible, nothing existed except God. Vs 1:1-2 of Genesis clearly indicates that. As does Hebrews 11:3. "By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God's command so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible." (Heb 11:3). Subatomic paricles are invisible to the naked eye. So this seems to be in line with Heb11:3 Also, there is the principle of causality; basically cause and effect. For there to be an effect, there has to be a cause. That the particles that were the precursors of our universe to be in existence, something else had to be there to put them there. According to the principle of causality, they could not have always existed. Also, matter cannot be created nor destroyed, it only redistributes itself. Therefore, those same particles must have logically, according to these principles, have a creator. If not God, than who, or what? According to science, light was the very first thing that was created, or caused by the erruption of the particles in the "cosmic egg" (for old terminology). According to the Bible, light was the first thing to be created. So these two stand in agreement. After the introduction of soundwaves, the paricles inside the egg began to be set into motion and the friction of the moving subatomic particles caused such a heat from that great friction that photon energy burst forth from the 'egg' at a speed of 186,282.397 miles per second, (i.e. the ' big bang') thusly setting things into motion for the creation of our universe and thusly expanding the universe as we know it in all directions outwards. According to Genesis 1:1-2; there was no universe and no earth. It was "formless and empty." what is formless except nonexistent? According to 1:3 "And God said, 'let there be light." Said = sound waves; Light = photon energy. Light travels at a speed of 186,282.397 miles per second. Light expands our universe. And without light, nothing that exists would exist. The universe is dependant upon light, and the travelling thereof. I don't see the problem here? There really is no dispute between what the Bible says, and what science says, for the most part; the only issue is God. People are always trying to find a way around him. *silly people* :P ♥

Answer 4

Yes, there is "another explanation". Check out "multiverses". No, it's not a "logical absurdity". And, no, it's not necessarily true that "this universe is self-caused". The hard thing for most people to understand that there are "other forms" of time and space which aren't like the kind we're familiar with, so that there can be a "beginning" of THIS spacetime. That does not preclude other universes in a multiverse, which can have wildly different laws of physics and even lack spacetime. Theories of multiverses are under construction.

Physicists have learned the hard way that even when equations of physics can seem nonsensical, they can nevertheless yield accurate representations of reality that are experimentally verified. What matters is that they be mathematically consistent and follow a small number of principles, such as the relation between symmetry and conservation laws. Intuition is frequently a poor guide in deciding "what makes physical sense and what does not".

Answer 5

The general scientific view is that the universe initially consisted or a singularity, something the size of a grain of sand that weighs as much as all the stars and planets in the universe today. A grain of sand with so much mass that light can't escape. And this exploded and created the spherical boundary of the universe as it expanded out.

Now an alternative theory is that space is limitless and that singularity occupied an area of it and when it exploded the mass was thrust out into that void.

Another alternative theory is that a singularity existed drawing in matter until there was not more "light" matter and it continued to suck in the "dark" matter until the exlosion and that put "light matter" into the universe pushing the Black matter out to the extremes reaches.

What we do know is that there is "dark" behind the light, probably because it is naturally dark or because light hasn't reach it yet.

We know the universe is expanding at 186,000 miles each second as the light and gamma radiation from the bang continues to travel until such a time as a singularity draws it back, should that ever happen.

Answer 6

Nobody knows. But there is some interesting theory. You could read some cosmology books, like Brian Green's "The Elegant Universe" for some amazing explanations to your question.

Some of this theory goes something like this: When you consider very minute teeny tiny time spans and distances, like the first gazillionth of a second of the universe, things get very fuzzy. Time does not necessarily move in a forward direction on such scales, but backwards and perhaps, with a few more dimensions, sideways. In quantum physics, the Planck length, Planck time, and Planck scale come into play when things are smaller than an atomic nucleus. On very small scales, the word "before" doesn't have much meaning. Amazingly, astrophysicists can explain the mechanics of the early universe down to the first 10 ^ -35th of a second. "Before" that time has been described by mathematicians as a "scalar field" or "false vacuum." The energy at any given point in that field, or vacuum, would measure zero -- there's nothing there. With quantum indeterminacy (and it only had to happen once) the energy measurement at some infinite point had a virtual potential of greater than zero. This imbalance caused an incredible release of energy, causing the universe to unfurl in 3 spatial dimensions and one time dimension. String Theory has it that seven other dimensions curled up real small, smaller than the Planck length, but are an integral part of our universe. Those dimensions are (theoretically of course) what determine the properties of, say, an electron. In this "false vacuum", perhaps other universes have come into existence. As unappetizing as I find Multiverse Theory, it may come to a point in scientific inquiry where we can no longer dismiss it outright, that we are just one universe among for all means and purposes an infinite number of universes. It's fun to think about but my point is that "before" is a human concept living in time. Time itself is a slippery thing and not the same for everthing and everywhere and everywhen.

Answer 7

Before the "big bang," (if there was such an event), there was no dimension of time, so there is no standard by which to measure the "time" before the big bang. The universe at that point was infinitely small and infinitely dense. Science doesn't explore the time before the universe because:

1) They consider it pointless
2) The anthropic principle serves to explain why the universe exists; "The universe is the way it is, because if it were different, we wouldn't be here to ponder the nature of the universe."

Answer 8

The Universe was created in what is known as the Big bag thoery
where 2 massive membranes of vast energys collided. There are many other universes out there like there are multiple dimensions. This means the universe did not create itself it was created by the membranes of stretched out strings (tiny vibrating forms of energy).

Answer 9

Before time zero nothing existed.
the universe is finite so it did not exist at one time.
When the universe goes out of existence it will enter a state of eternal non existence.
Before it began it was then in a state of non existence but it had to be finite or it could not have initiated it"s beginning..
Before time zero a potential of finite endurance was the precursor to the universe we experience to-day.

Answer 10

You want to know how everything started to exist! That is one of the things that I can not think about because my head will hurt too much. That is such a hard question. I have no I dea but I believe in your idea and personally I have no theory of my own because I am just a small piece in this puzzle.