The Unanswerable Question
This question baffles even the most “genius-level” scientific minds of our time. It is such a perplexing question that many people find it easier to simply become atheists and proclaim God does not exist. But even then, with their simple way out of acknowledging God, how do atheists truly answer even the scientific conundrums like how big is the universe, or where do atoms and their subatomic particles of protons, neutrons, and electrons come from, or why do subatomic particles exist in their particular configurations?
If subatomic particles come from the “big-bang” (another overly simplistic explanation that tries to negate the existence of God), then where did the “big-bang” come from? Where did the material that enabled the “big-bang” come from? It is impossible to get something from nothing, so where did the primordial “something” come from?
Of course, the “genius-level” minds of our time will tell me that I’m being naïve; that I am using a simple way out by saying that everything comes from God and that God cannot be explained in human terms. My genius compatriots will tell me that I am being lazy by simply accepting God without question or proof.
Perhaps my genius compatriots are right. However, I will challenge them with this: I do not simply surrender and accept God without consideration; I wrestle with the existence, presence, and identity of God every day. I try to understand – even with my tiny human mind. Below is what I offer.
The universe never had a beginning; it always was. There has never been (a time of) no existence. From my perspective, I ask the question: why do humans find this so difficult to accept? Things occur or exist whether we accept them or not – it’s just fundamental truth. Why do we have to make it such that unless humans can see and explain it in their terms it’s just not possible? God is whether we believe it or not.
The universe has no boundary or end. The "edge of the universe" is a false assumption because humans cannot grasp the fundamental truth of infinity. Humans feel secure knowing that space and time is contained. Humans can control something within finite boundaries; they cannot control infinity. So to keep ourselves comfortable and flattered with our own ego-centric sense of superiority, we imagine a place with frontiers that we can eventually conquer. Sadly, this is just another demonstration of the “flat earth” theory. I disrupt it by asking: what lies beyond the boundary? What’s on the other side of our falsely constructed “wall”? Is that where God resides? This is part of our problem – if we locate God beyond the reaches of our boundaries, it’s no wonder many of us have trouble connecting with and believing in God. The fundamental fact (whether we accept it or not) is that God is here, now, everywhere, all the time – God is around us and inside us – every one of us.
The notion of a beginning and an end to the universe is naively transferred from the finite human condition bookended by our birth and death. We, as individuals, have a start and end (from our birth and death), but where did we come from? Our parents, of course. And where did they come from? Our grandparents. And where did they come from? And so on. In fact, we have no beginning; as a form of life, we have no end.
All life – existence in its entirety – is energy, which is expressed at our most basic level as protons, neutrons, and electrons. What about the things smaller than protons, neutrons, and electrons (e.g. fermions, bosons, quarks, leptons, and baryons), or the things smaller than those (that we have yet to discover)? Energy, and therefore life or existence, is infinite. What’s more, infinity expands outwards into a large universe, as well as inwards into a microscopic universe. Humans cannot grasp that the same thing – infinity – can be both endlessly large and endlessly small at the same time. I think that’s the most amazing thing: that something so large can be so small, and vice versa. In an attempt to grasp this, readers should examine the phenomenon of the boundaries within the Mandelbrot set.
While grossly inadequate, this article attempts to expose the nature of God. There is no creation, as in a starting point to all life; there is just life, for infinity. What’s the opposite of life? The answer is: oblivion; nothingness. Try to contemplate that: complete darkness and emptiness; no consciousness of anything whatsoever. If you can get anywhere close to it you’ll find it terrifying. In reality, you cannot ever grasp it, because it’s infinite in the absolute.
The universe was not created by God, rather God is the universe.
Image: Swiss-Italian Alps, Switzerland. Copyright - Michael Beaton
NOTE: This is a photo of the Alps taken somewhere between the Swiss town of Visp and the Matterhorn. I chose it for this article because it represents the grandeur and infinity of life, accompanied by mystery (represented by the mist and clouds).
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