The Big Bang

 
 
What caused the big bang? What was before the big bang? Whatever really lies
 beyond the big bang, what has all this got to do with our beliefs, 
behavior, and future, as well as our life and lifestyle.

The Seven Moments of Creation

Paul J. Dejillas, Ph.D.

November 13, 2017

 

There have been many stories explaining the creation and evolution of our Cosmos. These stories were told and re-told to us in the form of myths, legends, parables, and theories. They were meant to help us understand who we are, what our role and mission on Planet Earth is, and what our destiny will be.

Below, I am presenting a creation story narrated by quantum physics with a sprinkling of Religion and Mysticism.

I condensed this long creation epic into seven moments paralleling the seven days of creation in the Judeo-Christian tradition. These seven moments are:

1. First Moment: The primal state of nothingness and oneness;

2. Second Moment: The appearance of the sub-atomic particles;

3. Third Moment: The formation of the macrocosmic realm;

4. Fourth Moment: The birth of our solar system;

5. Fifth Moment: The emergence of life;

6. Sixth Moment: The birthing of humanity; and

7. Seventh Moment: The period of rest and celebration of creation.

I will only present the First Moment of Creation below. The rest will be presented in my subsequent posts.

First Moment: The Primal State of Nothingness and Oneness

From the perspective of modern science, nothing existed in the beginning. There was no time, no past, no future. There was no space either, no here and there, no left or right, no up or down, no forward or backward.

There were no solid particles, no physical objects, no forms and structures, no diversities and complexities, no dualities and opposites, no subjects and objects, no observers and observed.

There was as well no separation, no distinction, no differentiation. There was only oneness and unity.

But its concept of nothingness is not a total vacuum nor is it absolutely empty. Nothingness is not passive for it contains several hidden particles ready to manifest in various ways and forms at any moment given the appropriate time and conditions.

In this vacuum state, these particles exist merely as potentialities and possibilities. This is what theoretical physicists call the quantum state where energy is at its lowest possible condition or at its zero-point level or ground state (see photo below).

Professor in Mathematics Russell K. Standish explained this quantum state in computer lingo whose alphabets only contain the symbols “0” and “1.” According to him, “0” symbolizes zero information, whereas “1” signifies the state of “something appearing out of nothing (0).”

The virtual particles have indeed been discovered and are now identified as the quarks and leptons which, in the quantum field theory, are no longer considered as point-like particles, but one-dimensional vibrating filaments of energy called strings, picturesquely likened to a guitar string, which continually vibrates when plucked (see photo below).

All particles we see around us today are simply manifestations of the vibrations of the strings in their compressed form (see photo below).

In this state of nothingness, all virtual particles together with time, space, and gravity are all tightly packed in the quantum singularity awaiting to explode into a Fiery Big Bang. The quantum singularity is known to be so hot and of infinite density that no particles could be manifested.

The concept of string developed into a theory naturally called the String (or Super String) theory, which then evolved further to become the M (for Membrane or Brane for short) theory.

The ramifications of this theory are wide and complex. I will discuss this matter further in the subsequent creation moments.

In ancient times, Greek scientists thought of this singularity and nothingness as the atom which is indivisible, indestructible, and conceived as the ultimate building block of the Cosmos.

But with today’s high-density energy colliders, atoms have been smashed and cut into pieces, which were discovered to contain other hidden or “ghost” particles now known as quarks whose energy or force carriers are called gauge bosons (see photo below).

As a result, atoms were replaced as the fundamental building blocks that gave birth to our universe. These were the virtual particles that became the cosmic dusts chaotically swarming all over the regions of space and across time almost instantly after the fiery Big Bang.

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This concept of nothingness is often depicted by the world’s ancient religious beliefs as water or the deep watery substance described as dark, muddy, chaotic but not stagnant, dead, passive, and dormant, because it is bubbling with tremendous energy occasioned by the “Spirit of the Lord hovering over it."

In the beginning, there was also no distinction since everything was united and merged as One. The Hindus pointedly referred to the One as the Cosmos, who is at the same time the Brahman. Sudhakar S. Dishit called this Holy One the Universal Consciousness, which is the source and origin of the existence of the entire Cosmos.

The Chinese sage Lao Tsu referred to this Holy One as the All-Pervading and the Subtle Way.

From the perspective of contemporary science, however, there was no God who created the Cosmos because the atoms and their sub-particles were self-propelling, self-creating, self-sustaining, and self-evolving.

But, with the recent developments of the String and M theories, quantum physicists are beginning to entertain the idea that there must have been some unknown force or hidden energy that propels the strings to vibrate, in the same manner that the gauge bosons are the force carriers that ignite the manifestations of the quarks and leptons (see photo below).

This energy is now traced back to the Cosmic Primal Energy in Albert Einstein’s formula E=mc2 that triggers the particle or mass (m) to manifest and move.

Such was the First Moment of creation. Watch for my next post for the continuation. ###

Before the Big Bang

July 2, 2017

 

What was before the big bang? Was there something before it happened?

Quantum physics (QP) argues that there was indeed something before the Big Bang. It explains the pre-Big Bang events in its theory, now known as the String theory and its extension, the M theory.

QP discovers that strings have companion elements called branes or membranes. Strings continually collide with each other puffing off light that signals the creation of new and parallel universes.

This idea is quite revolutionary since it suggests that we are no longer living alone in the Cosmos. There are, according to this view, not only one but several universes.

Physicists even maintain that there could be an infinite number of universes parallel to ours that could be inhabited by higher forms of intelligence with highly advanced civilizations existing in various levels. There is the solar system, galaxy, constellation, as well as blackholes, wormholes, dark matter, dark energy.

In Religion and Mysticism, we are also reminded of the various realms of life and existence. In Christianity, there is heaven, hell, and purgatory. In Buddhism, there is the lowest level hell, ascending to a higher level heaven and Buddhahood. In Hinduism, there is the heavenly, earthly, and hellish planes.

Could it be, then, that Science (S), Religion (R), and Mysticism (M) are describing the same Cosmos using different labels, tools, and methods just as the seven blind men were describing the same elephant?

In the final analysis, all the three descriptions of our Cosmos could be accurate and true in their own unique perspectives. Our challenge is to come up with a more holistic, cosmic, and interdisciplinary view, rather than limit ourselves to the restrictive views of SRM.