On a spiritual level and athieistic level, what do you think there was before the big bang?

Question

What might that "singularity" be?

I'm intrested what you have to say and what your own thoughts are.

Personally, I believe that everything was perfect and that singularity is perfection. But, somehow that perfection had to be broken if it were to explode. Result: philosophers came up with the best way they could to understand this: religion. This has lead me to think that maybe religion is just a simple form of science.

Answer 1

Before the big bang, there was no matter, thus no light, no gravity of any kind, therefore, time had no reference, so time did not exist either. Singularity? Perhaps.

Because we live in a world of matter, there is reference to gravity, light and vibration. So, we can perceive our existence. The trouble is that we can only perceive it as linear. Beginning to end or coming from a perceived beginning and going to a perceived end.

If we truly have a conciousness that is not dependant on biological matter for it's existence, then, when it is released from that matter, is when our comprehension will lose it's linear perception.

That Police song, "Spirits in a Material World", is probably not far off in putting this all into context.

Answer 2

If every event was a matter of cause and effect then nothing would ever have happened at all (because there could never have been an uncaused event that started it all off). So, the big bang had to be an uncaused event, or it was caused by something else which was itself uncaused, or... etc. In other words, somewhere along the line, something happened that wasn't the result of any other prior event, but which resulted in the existence of the universe that we live in.

Now, some people put a beard on that 'first cause' and call it God, but this doesn't really make sense - How can you explain the existence of something remarkable (the universe) by supposing that something infinitely more remarkable exists (an entity capable of creating a universe) which doesn't have, and doesn't need, an explanation for its existence? Clearly, this is no answer at all. The idea of an intelligent creator has no explanatory value - it just poses an infinitely greater, and in fact insoluble problem.

I think the answer is that all of existence is a matter of probability - of random and uncaused events. We know from quantum theory and from real objective experimental evidence that particles come into existence at random and uncaused - indeed, what we think of as 'empty space' is actually a seething froth of virtual particles coming into existence and (usually) annihilating each other again. If particles can come into existence uncaused, then why not a universe? Why not an infinity of universes?

This explanation avoids the logical impossibility of an infinite regression of causes, or an intelligent creator - we just have to accept that the nature of existence is not what our common-sense tells us it ought to be... and considering that we're talking about something as far removed from everyday life as it's possible to get, this is entirely to be expected.

Answer 3

Believe what you want about the singularity, it will not change the facts.

Current cosmological theory is that the "singularity" is the result of a collision of 11 dimensional membranes and is indeed not a singular event. This implies that there are many/infinite "universes" or 4-dimensional spaces that are somewhat similar to our own. Essentially this 4D space that we call the universe is just one of many and is nothing special.

As far as I can tell, there is no reason that "nothing" is the start state or that there ever had to be "nothing".

Edit:
It's interesting that Christians with no understanding of super string theory, quantum mechanics or science in general can blithely say that it is inconceivable and therefore god had to make it happen.

Answer 4

i believe that if you take things back far enough there are things that at this time we just don't know the answer to. Unlike allot of people I'm fine with that I'm curious as to what it was but refuse to just make up something and pretend I have the answer without any reason or proof for doing so. While I'm an atheist I also count myself as agnostic believing that the ultimate knowledge of the universe's creation is at this time beyond our reach. I have always felt that " I don't know " is an acceptable answer to a question.

Answer 5

I am sorry but the atheist answers for this question are the most illogical and most ridiculous answers I have ever heard. First off the uncaused cause is God by all definitions. Secondly, you have to have something before the Big Bang. The Big Bang could not cause itself because it took certain properties that had to already exist to cause the Big Bang. This is the ultimate proof for God. If you deny it then you are by all definitions "insane."

Oh! You cannot have infinite universes because then there is no beginning and no end and you will never reach the present. Therefore, you have non-existence. We know we exist. We have a beginning when we are born. We have a present which is now and we have an end when we die. Everything has a beginning and an end except God because He transcends all these things.

Answer 6

I am one of those weird people that believes in multiple Big Bangs. Not just one Big Bang repeating itself in one spot, but different explosions all over the place. I don't think we have enough knowledge to say that the universe created by our Big Bang is the only one that exists.

Answer 7

Silence

Answer 8

Nothing.

It's so simple. Maybe Universe existed in some form forever.


But I'll go with Unicorn Theory.

Answer 9

there had to be some form of energy or matter....conservation of energy states that energy cannot be created nor destroyed, only converted, so perhaps there was just energy that formed into the singularity that is matter as we know it.

Answer 10

Who knows...Nobody was around to say for sure. Science doesn't pretend to know. But inserting god into the answer doesn't solve the question either.