Why is there something rather than nothing?

mankkeli

Hi,

I suppose both theists and atheists can answer this question, although if theists do, maybe they could explain why it is they believe God made creation and they are free to quote scripture if they choose. For my own answer I believe He made it because He loved it and therefore made it exist, because it was therefore good (Genesis 1:31 And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good.)

I'm especially interested though in the answer from the perspective without faith. It seems that many atheists believe that the physical universe has always existed and did not have a cause, but what I am asking is why it is that the universe and reality should exist in the first place. Does it exist without a reason for its existence, does it exist with a reason for its existence (and if so, hopefully one will elaborate), does it exist and one doesn't know if it has a reason or not for its existence, or does it exist and one knows that it must have a reason, but one does not know what that reason is? Are there other possible answers I am not thinking of?

I hope /\ that made sense...

Thank you in advance for all of your thoughts.

sinis

With over two hundred billion galaxies in the universe, and more being discovered every single day, it is mathematically certain that we are not alone. I firmly believe in the Sumerian and other ancient texts that indicate that the gods were nothing more than an advanced race that made man as a slave race. To believe that we are the only creatures in this universe is insane and not logical. For me, its fun to speculate where we came from, but why bother? We will never know, and it just hurts my brain... did we evolve? Who knows. Yet I do now from my research that "god" is not who you think it is, given the plethora of ancient texts and writings. Which then begs the question where did this other race come from, and on and on...

String theory and other sciences have indicated that this entire thing may be a matrix of sort - waves of individual frequencies given the appearance of reality, when in reality we are all of the same source, with differing frequencys of energy giving the perception of individuality, reality and solid, tangible objects...

N.drew

who are you?

sinis

Energy occupying space and time... perhaps to be repeated again in some future/past setting...

N.drew

Funny!! Isn't forum the funniest thing? Of course I meant The OP. But I like your answer.

I think the entity (can't call you creature) that believes atheism and reason would be impossible??

gubberningbody

Because nothing is unstable

EntirelyPossible

Why should it be reasonble to expect something from nothing rather than that the something that is here has always been here?

mindwise

JonathanH

Why wouldn't there be something rather than nothing? Why would whatever essense of reality have a preffered state of nothingness, rather than somethingness? The problem with the idea that there should be nothing rather than something comes from a flawed inductive reasoning, assuming that because in our macro view of a universe where there is already something, something "new" (that is to say transformed from a previous state, not really something "new") only exists if there was a contingent event prior to it. But this only applies to a mechanistic things on a macro scale in a universe where alot of something already exists. Trying to take that reasoning and induce that because that is true, "something" rather than "nothing" is a state counter to what would be expected unless there was a prior something, is faulty and nonsensical. All things being neutral, "nothing" is neither more or less preferable than "something."

wobble

I don't know of any rational person who now believes that the Universe we live in has always existed, unless you mean that the energy that gave rise to the matter that the universe contains has always existed, if you mean that, then why not ?

Why does energy have to have a "beginning" ?

Already we are seeing the need to define our terms and refine our questions if we are going to have a meaningful discussion.

(What do we mean by beginning, by time, etc etc)

The philosophers of 150 years ago discussed how God was being pushed further and further back as science gained more knowledge.

Because at present we cannot explain something, that does not mean we have to insert "god" in there, what has been termed the "god of the gaps"

We are pretty sure we know most of what went on after the first Plank second of the universe's existence, it is what went on "before" that which is still a puzzle.

Many theories abound, but the one that has no possibility of being correct, IMHO, is that the god of the bible had anything to do with it.

Why does the Universe exist ? again, you would be hard pressed to even begin to convince me that a loving god would bring this Universe in to existence.

Why is there something rather than nothing?

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