Section 1
Current Creation Theories and Ideas
Let’s go. The beautiful thing about the Origin model is that there is no requirement for you to have any knowledge of complex mathematics or science for you get a grasp of how the Universe came to be and, in turn, how everything came to be, including yourself. In fact, the less you know, or think you know, the easier and more valuable this journey will be. All that is required to understand and embody the essence and value of this work is for you to bring an openness and willingness to observe and apply your own experience of living. By this measure, it is possible for everyone to understand, because everyone has lived experience…
Throughout the work there will be references to the better-known and accepted fields of science that underpin our understanding of the Universe and its functioning―specifically Relativity and Quantum Mechanics―so if you do wish to get a general overview of this, alongside an equally general overview of the search for meaning that led to them, then please go here.
And finally, before leaping down this eternally deep rabbit hole, it is important to note that the approach taken in developing the Origin model is very different―in fact quite the opposite―to the traditional approach taken when trying to understand things. Rather than examining, deconstructing, and analysing ‘what is out there’―existence―in an attempt to understand what it is and where it came from, the approach here is to start with an understanding of where it came from―the beginning itself―and then logically extrapolate development from there.
This is an undertaking never attempted before, and the starting point is to gain a clear understanding of creativity, or how the creative process works. This is foundational to your understanding, because everything in the physical world exists by way of it being created by someone, or something, somehow. This is indisputable. All things in existence are the end result of a creative process. Therefore, to be successful in any attempt to understand any of these things, it is imperative that the creative process itself is thoroughly explored and well understood.
But before we get into these exceedingly new and liberating ideas, let’s first have a quick look at the current beliefs about Universal creation and the substance it is made of.
The prevailing cosmological model of the origins of the Universe, and the one that is currently taught in schools throughout the world today, is the Big Bang theory. According to this theory, the Universe came into existence during a period of ‘inflation’ about 13.7 billion years ago. Not unlike a balloon will expand when blown up, the Big Bang theory tells us that the Universe swelled at an incomprehensible rate, from an infinitesimal something to almost the current size it is today within only a fraction of a second. It states that the early Universe consisted only of energy and that this energy then somehow congealed into particles, which then assembled themselves into simple atoms like hydrogen and helium. These atoms clumped into galaxies, then stars, and within these fiery furnaces, all the other elements were then forged. All this occurred with a healthy dose of some inexplicably mysterious gravity, and a touch of the other fundamental forces as well.
Einstein’s theory of General Relativity goes further than this to predict that the state of the Universe before the Big Bang was something called a singularity. Although this hypothesis is questioned by some today, there is no evidence to disprove it and no definitive alternatives offered. So, stay with me―and one of history’s most brilliant minds―to see how the singularity will now take on new meaning.
The singularity is hypothesised to be a one-dimensional point containing infinite mass (energy) in an infinitely small space.
Let’s unpack what this definition is telling us. ‘Infinite mass’ effectively means ‘absolutely everything physical in the Universe’, and ‘infinitely small’ is the next best thing to ‘nothing at all’. This statement, then, makes no real sense. It is a complete paradox―everything inside nothing, or nothing containing everything. By this definition the singularity, then, is pure and ultimate potential only, which is fair enough given it is hypothesised that everything has arisen from it.
The singularity is not only the hypothesised state of potential before the Big Bang. It is also thought to occur at the centre of a black hole which, as the name suggests, is an invisible hole in space. Black holes are celestial phenomena that exhibit intense gravitational pull and, as a result, nothing―not matter, radiation, or even light (hence the blackness)―can escape from them. They suck in everything that goes near them, and this makes them a tough phenomenon to study. Nonetheless, the existence of them is apparent to astronomers through the effect that they have on their surroundings. What happens inside them, however, is a complete mystery, except to say that the singularity is at the centre. This doesn’t help us much because that, too, is a complete mystery―and a hypothetical one at that.
Black holes have a boundary or edge to them, and this is called the event horizon. The event horizon describes and defines the place where energy can only just begin to escape from the intense effect of a black hole’s gravitational pull. Effectively, this creates a spherical zone around the centre as a field, or shell, that defines the hole, and it becomes a ‘point of no return’ for anything that approaches it. See figure D.
Figure D ― A Black Hole (Image courtesy of Simulating eXtreme Spacetimes (SXS) collaboration)
Small black holes are scattered throughout the Universe, and they are believed to have formed after the collapse of stars that have burned out, or ‘used up’, all their fuel. There are also other black holes that are supermassive and are found at the centre of every galaxy.
It is interesting that the Big Bang theory cannot seem to get any further back or behind this idea of the singularity being there at the beginning of the Universe. Noticeably, this suggests that the singularity is something from which everything came or emerged, and consequently something that is always there at the beginning of creation.
Equally, because the singularity is believed to be something that remains or occurs when a star ceases to be, this indicates that it is also there at the end of creation.
Further, because the singularity is hypothesised to be at the centre of every galaxy as well, this suggests that it is present in and throughout creation as it unfolds in every moment.
And finally, because the singularity cannot actually be found in existence, but everything still points to it being there, then clearly it must be something that is non-physical or non-existent. Logically then, when we put all these indicators together, we can see that the singularity is simply always there, or in other words, it is a creative potential that is eternally present.
The possibility now arising that the singularity is an ever-present potential within, or behind, or at the core of, creation suggests that there may be something about it that could provide us with valuable clues to understanding the creative process by which all things come and go in existence.
Traditionally, and certainly in any attempt to explain the nature and process of creation to date, a theorist must make several assumptions upon which to build the theory. For example, the Big Bang theory assumes that there was some kind of ‘bang’ or rapid expansion effect that began the Universe, and although there may appear to be evidence that would support this, it is not necessarily true. Furthermore, a bang is an effect, so the next reasonable and perhaps even obvious question to ask after such an assumption is, ‘What was the cause of the bang?’
This question has been investigated and debated since the Big Bang theory first arose, and at this point the agreement is that there doesn’t need to be a cause of the Bang because the maths doesn’t require it. But is this really a satisfactory explanation for an intelligent person? The fact that Quantum physics shows us that some events can happen randomly and spontaneously is no evidence that there is not a cause. It is merely a convenient way to avoid a seemingly impossible challenge, yet a challenge that must ultimately be met and understood.
The increasingly popular M-theory and String theory that attempt to explain the nature of matter (existence) and the way it works are also built upon quite a few assumptions. They are emerging models that assume or theorise the idea that ‘vibrating strings’ form the basis of all matter. The idea of vibration being at the heart of existence is perfectly reasonable, as it is one that corresponds with many metaphysical models of the nature of existence as well. But nonetheless, if it is true, then what is it that causes these strings to vibrate? This is obviously a reasonable and intelligent question to ask both the physicist and meta-physicist.
Both M-theory and String theory, as they stand today, are also heavily dependent on the existence of around ten or eleven extra dimensions to help hold the theories together. The idea of these is purely hypothetical, however, and to date no such dimensions have been found.
Assumptions are not only the domain of science. People who believe strictly in the word of the Bible, for example―specifically the opening chapters of Genesis―believe that everything was created by Divine will; that the Universe came into existence only as an expression of one all-powerful Being, God.
If this is the truth, however, then a fair and reasonable question arises, ‘Where did the ideas come from for the vast array of fantastic, elaborate creations and intelligent creatures that have come into the world?’ Is the suggestion that Almighty God just made it happen because He/She wanted to, a satisfactory explanation for the reason and purpose of life as we know it? And if so, what would be the mechanism of this God’s creating?
It comes down to the notion that although it is logical for us to think that for anything to come into existence it must come from somewhere or something, it has proved exceedingly difficult for us to discover or work out what it might be. Therefore, without knowing the answer, it leaves us with little choice other than to make assumptions to then build on. Those assumptions feed the theory, and the closer a theory comes to explaining the situation, the more that we are compelled to discover or prove the assumptions the theory is based on, not unlike the futile search for the luminiferous ether back in the early 1900s. But these days, investigations of this nature come at great expense to people, economies, and the environment; and most often with no real result in terms of getting any closer to truly understanding the nature of matter and how things are created.
Unlike any other investigation into the beginning of the Universe and the nature of existence, the Origin model makes no assumptions at all. There is no requirement for you to assume anything for the model to develop, and because of this it is possible for you to build a very thorough and powerful understanding.
So, in full agreement with the predictions made by general relativity, Origin accepts the idea that the singularity was the pre-existent state from which the Universe emerged. However, while that is easy to say, it doesn’t really tell us that much. What exactly is this singularity? Is it only something hypothetical, or might it speak to something quite real? How can we move forward in developing the model when this singularity is something so mysterious, and yet we are to make no assumptions about anything?
In the next section we look at the singularity in a completely new way to reveal something never considered before ...