Cosmos From Nothing?

The Christian Century ^ | June 3, 2015 | Karl W. Giberson

[lbryce]

Freshman astronomy books typically include a timeline outlining the major events of the universe over the past 13.7 billion years, from the appearance of our universe to the present. Most timelines put a question mark at the very beginning to reflect the incomplete state of our knowledge about how the universe got started. We don’t know what lit the spark that launched the grand adventure of our universe, despite millennia of wondering and decades of intriguing progress.

Remarkably, we know a lot about what happened a fraction of a second after the Big Bang. We have robust theories that have been tested in laboratories like that of the European Organization for Nuclear Research, where the early moments of the universe are simulated in high-energy experiments.

One thing we do know now about that mysterious beginning is that it proceeded according to a precise set of rules. We don’t know whether these rules preexist our universe. We just know that they are there “in the beginning” and that they constrain what can and cannot happen.

These rules are surprisingly simple. One states that a negatively charged particle like an electron can exist only if there is a positively charged particle to balance it, so the total charge is always zero. Another rule states that all particles must have charge of -1, 0, or +1.

Quarks, however, are particles with a fractional charge of -2/3, -1/3, +1/3, or +2/3, but according to another rule of the universe quarks must assemble themselves into larger, composite particles, like protons or neutrons, that have a charge of either 0 or 1. (A proton is composed of two quarks with charges of +2/3 plus one quark with a charge of -1/3, for a net charge of 1.) The simplicity of these rules is mind-boggling.

[SgtHooper]

You’ll need to die to find out.

[Nuc 1.1]

Quite interesting.

[rightwingcrazy]

Another perspective: our manifest existence is limited. Some things are possible; some not. Why? Instead of asking how something came from nothing, it’s more instructive to ask how and why a limited something came from unlimited possibility.

[Agamemnon]

"Spontaneous uniform creation of matter, coupled with the partly attractive and partly repulsive force of gravity mentioned in Section 3 resulted in the observed large-scale galactic structure of the universe. Creation of matter continues to this day...."

...so that 3 different values of D are found to satisfy the criterion that the area of a sphere of diameter D be equal to t at the beginning of time...."

Describing the existence of a three dimensional mass of some sort as a predicate for the appearance of matter is a distinction without a difference. It is a description of pre-existent matter creating itself, not...

Spontaneous uniform creation of matter,...

For all of Heim's mathematical calisthenics and convolutions, he has come nowhere near to describing any mechanism where matter allegedly arises from nothing.

From the first moment on the universe begun to expand,...

Heim would do well to re-acquaint himself with Newton's Laws of Motion.

FReegards!

[SubMareener]

With 32 mystical paths of Wisdom engraved Yah the Lord of Hosts the God of Israel the living God King of the universe El Shaddai Merciful and Gracious High and Exalted Dwelling in eternity Whose name is Holy— He is lofty and holy— And He created His universe with three books (Sepharim), with text (Sepher) with number (Sephar) and with communication (Sippur).

Kaplan, Aryeh (2004-03-15). Sefer Yetzirah: The Book of Creation in Theory and Practice (Kindle Locations 434-449). Red Wheel Weiser. Kindle Edition.

Sefer Yetzirah now begins to define the word Sefirah, the Hebrew designation for the divine emanations that form the basis of creation. The Hebrew word for book, Sepher ( ), has the same root as the word Sephirah ( ), except that the former is masculine and the latter is feminine. These three books are said to be “text, number, and communication.” The Hebrew word for “text” here is Sepher ( ), which literally means “book.”“Number” is Sephar ( ), from which the English word “cipher” is derived. “Communication” is Sippur ( ), which more literally is “telling.” These three divisions respectively represent quality, quantity, and communication. These are the letters, numbers, and the manner in which they are used. These three books correspond to the three divisions of creation defined by Sefer Yetzirah, namely, “Universe, Year, and Soul.” In more modern terms, these would be called space, time and spirit. “Universe” refers to the dimensions of space, “year” to time, and “soul” to the spiritual dimension.

Kaplan, Aryeh (2004-03-15). Sefer Yetzirah: The Book of Creation in Theory and Practice (Kindle Locations 710-721). Red Wheel Weiser. Kindle Edition.

Heim’s three spheres are the three books. His theory maps with observed reality and with the Word of YHVH.

[Agamemnon]

With 32 mystical paths of Wisdom engraved...

This holds no meaning for me. Care to clarify?

Aryeh Kaplan attempts to quantify "God spoke" and makes the whole concept a lot more difficult that it needs to be.

In the end he's resorting to throwing around a lot of numbers un-tethered to any objective measure and still winds up tangling himself up in tautologies with regard to mass and matter.

Aryeh Kaplan expresses mere conceit by trying to place the power of God into some mathematically defined box.

FReegards!

[hlmencken3]

Aryeh Kaplan (who died in 1983) was translating an ancient, difficult text. He didn’t project ideas into ‘Sefer Yetzirah’ that weren’t there.