Astrophysicists, cosmologists, astronomers, and the scientific community as a whole are generally in agreement that space is as much a creation as the matter which occupies it – or displaces it, depending on your point of view. This is a good starting point for rationalizing the scope of the Universe.
Given that the accepted theory of creation subscribes to a beginning wherein a “Big Bang” produced all the matter in the Universe today, and also that there is an infinite amount of matter in this Universe, we are presented with a bit of a conundrum, a contradiction of sorts, in that this infinite matter theory conflicts with the idea of a single giant explosion. How can any “thing” explode an infinite amount of matter outward?
What has not been acknowledged as yet, officially at least, is the theory that the beginning of creation, this “Big”, continues Banging at the periphery of the Universe. If we accept this idea then the contradiction ceases to exist. Since time is also a creation, like space and matter, the creation front exists in a perpetual “Now”, an infinitely occurring beginning.
In order to more fully grasp this model of the Universe we should consider that there is nothing on the other side of the periphery where the creation front continues expanding the Universe’s volume by creating space and matter, and of course time. In other words, we can’t go farther than this place to look back at it, or poke through it from the inside. “Nothing” is not something you can walk around in, or wave your hand through, or poke with a stick.
“Nothing” is infinitely dense, and therefore represents infinite potential, which was the state before the so-called Big Bang. This infinite potential allows for the continued creation of the Universe for perpetuity and the potential for the never to be realized infinite scope of the Universe.
The logical conclusion that we can draw concerning the scope of the Universe at any given time then, is that it is finite, and that it will continue to grow forever increasing in volume and mass.
This article does not attempt to address the issue of what started this process, but some groundwork for understanding it can be provided. The crucial factor is time. The beginning of creation represents the beginning of time, so that the entire history of the Universe has no content or context before it begins. To simply say that “it happens” is sufficient, because it is doing that, “out there”.
