I would like to introduce that expansion of our minds we may regard as outside of the ALIEN ET BOX. That which we can share as outside of this Omniverse as the ET Creator Deities also known as ALPHA and OMEGA or the Beginning and End. We have all heard of the seven (7) heavens or have we? They are : Universe, Multiverse, Metaverse, Xenoverse, Omniverse, Alphaverse,Omegaverse.
ALPHA & OMEGA SYNERGY ENERGY FOR OUR ASCENSION AGE (Golden Age Cosmology)
ACE Folklife is about the “Common Folk” of the world.
Some may say in today’s time, OMG WWJD?
We all are experiencing our past, present, future as the IMMORTALS of our SOULS!
Those who I am finding out on earth that are humanoids have large holes in their education about who they are, why there are here, what they are to explore, and what will happen to them when they leave earth.
Therefore, I am inclined to share what was sent to me as inspired thoughts about the ASCENSION CENTER and the symbol. For those who desire to know, the Golden Age of Cosmology is shared with the ACE Folklife common folk of the world.
One may have noticed that the “COMMON FOLK” are those who are in the streets these days uniting for common causes. It is said that there are only 10% classed as the wealthiest in the world while the other 90% is not. Does that mean that there is no middle ground for the middle class?
We share the planet as humanoid sentient intelligent beings and we are all considered one species. Why is it that there has been allowed in the past the corporations with their investors to believe that their CEO should make 550 times that of the common employee? It is not fair and there has to be some changes made in the world of corporate power and greed.
We believe in the social entrepreneurs of the social networks. We also know that it is entrepreneurs of the world that learn to find their passion, go out to create a better world with products and services, find their teams and groups to work on their new projects to be called corporations then go out and find their investors as angels for their investment capital. This is the way it has always been since the world decided to revolve around corporations and then came the stock markets.
Now, we can share the future Ascension Age as the Golden Age of Cosmology and the NEW AGE ACE FOLKLIFE will share our cultural refinements that include the changes to be made in politics and religions. We are seeing a major change among the common folk all over the world. So, to those who believe in ALIENS and ET one might believe that I am a messenger. I believe I am based on my past life and death experiences in this lifetime and my memories of reincarnation. I share what I can as what is now referred to as a Spiritual Teacher or Spiritual Guide. Some believe that Avatars are reincarnated spirits and I tend to agree.
There are spiritual avatars and internet avatars and in some ways we are similar. Please share this article with those who believe in the Alien ET Ascension Age. Some of us don’t only believe but we know of our existence as those who are to share parts of ourselves. We know that something wonderful is happening and occurring right now today as in the PRESENT!
We who are called PSYCHICS and REMOTE VIEWERS have all learned to astral travel in a manner of speaking. We can share the various time frames and dimensions we share in space that we call the cosmos. I shall end this with a quote of Carl Sagan’s Cosmos but please take the time to read this article and copy it to your “Hidden Archive Treasure FILES”. (Reason being many files are archived or removed or simply cease to exist in cyberspace.)
We are all “IMMORTAL SOULS” – Ascension Center Organization teachers share the awakened awareness of the continuous process of the expansion of our souls creations. We are eternal essence. Theresa (Tara) J. Thurmond Morris – Founder of Ascension, ET Spirit, TJ
Alien to our own way of thinking is that which we call the God force also known as the God Particle or ET particle in the cosmos. We of the world that are sharing the word “FUTURISTS” as “SEERS” also enjoy knowing that we can use our “Screen of the mind” or our “PSYCHE”.
I have shared a part of me in three (3) as that which has my signature on what we call creation of websites on the Internet Online which is our cyberspace reality in the cosmos.
1. AscensionCenter.org, 2. ETSpirit.org, 3. TJMorris.org as my contribution to our future Esprit de Corps. I am choosing to share that which I would normally place on these websites as that which also should be welcomed by Dirk Vander Ploeg of UFO Digest.com.
We share our thoughts and creations on earth and welcome all others who desire to link to us and our creations as websites in cyberspace. Virtual reality is one layer of our existence.
It is time we all gravitate toward our other selves as real-time Avatars in Cyberpsace in the WEB online. We are all now realizing we are much more than our physical selves. We can create our thoughts into websites and blogs in space that is electronically engineered in cyberspace that we call the Web on the Internet online. Things are changing and so are we.
Please READ the FOLLOWING in it’s entirety in order to understand more about the PAST-PRESENT-FUTURE of all of us!
That which claims to be both politics and religion are changing in this world and we the people as the common folk are the reason. We can see that the world we live that includes television and the entertainment media is changing along with us. We have interests and now the Internet is recording our interests and our involvement with our Internet is now being archived not only as common groups with similar interests but as individuals. This is also done in space by those we call “ALIENS” and “ET”.
GET READY FOR THE ASCENSION AGE!
THE COSMOS
“I am that I AM” is a famous saying. We can all say and know that as the God Particle Energy in each and everyone of us. However, can we all agree that there is an outside force that flows inside of us all as that which is also called the “I AM”?
Alpha and Omega in Greek is the same as in English saying A and Z in the literal translation of thought and the way we think and surmise on earth. However, we are now learning to accept the new age we call the “ASCENSION AGE” in which we call our way of knowing and becoming awake and aware of our own “Mortality”. Just as Steven Jobs passed on or died at the young “Babyboomer” age of 56 years, this has left us all confronting our own “Mortality” and “Immortality”.—
For the biography, see Steve Jobs (biography). – Photo suppled on Wikipedia.
| Steve Jobs | |
|---|---|
 Jobs holding a white iPhone 4 at Worldwide Developers Conference 2010 | |
| Born | Steven Paul Jobs February 24, 1955[1][2] San Francisco, California, U.S.[1][2] |
| Died | October 5, 2011 (aged 56)[2] Palo Alto, California, U.S. |
| Cause of death | Respiratory arrest/pancreatic cancer[3] |
| Nationality | American |
| Alma mater | Reed College (one semester) |
| Occupation | Co-founder, Chairman and CEO,Apple Inc., CEO, Pixar, |
| Years active | 1974–2011 |
| Net worth |  $7.0 billion (September 2011)[4] |
| Board member of | The Walt Disney Company,[5] Apple Inc. |
| Religion | Buddhism[6] |
| Spouse | Laurene Powell (1991–2011, his death) |
| Children | 4 |
| Relatives | Mona Simpson (sister) |
| Signature |  |
Steven Paul “Steve” Jobs
(February 24, 1955 – October 5, 2011) Steve Jobs was an American business magnate and inventor. He was co-founder, chairman, and chief executive officer of Apple Inc. Jobs was co-founder and previously served as chief executive of Pixar Animation Studios; he became a member of the board of directors of the Walt Disney Company in 2006, following the acquisition of Pixar by Disney.
In the late 1970s, Jobs – along with Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, Mike Markkula and others – designed, developed, and marketed one of the first commercially successful lines of personal computers, the Apple II series. In the early 1980s, Jobs was among the first to see the commercial potential of Xerox PARC‘s mouse-driven graphical user interface, which led to the creation of the Apple Lisa and, one year later, the Macintosh. After losing a power struggle with the board of directors in 1985, Jobs left Apple and founded NexT, a computer platform development company specializing in the higher-education and business markets.
In 1986, he acquired the computer graphics division of Lucasfilm Ltd, which was spun off asPixar Animation Studios.[7] He was credited in Toy Story (1995) as an executive producer. He remained CEO and majority shareholder at 50.1 percent until its acquisition by The Walt Disney Company in 2006,[8] making Jobs Disney’s largest individual shareholder at seven percent and a member of Disney’s Board of Directors.[9][10] Apple’s 1996 buyout of NeXT brought Jobs back to the company he co-founded, and he served as its interim CEO from 1997, then becoming permanent CEO from 2000 onwards, spearheading the advent of the iPod, iPhone and iPad.[11] From 2003, he fought a eight-year battle with cancer,[12] and eventually resigned as CEO in August 2011, while on his third medical leave. He was then elected chairman of Apple’s board of directors.
On October 5, 2011, around 3:00 p.m., Jobs died at his home in Palo Alto, California, aged 56, six weeks after resigning as CEO of Apple. A copy of his death certificate indicated respiratory arrest as the immediate cause of death, with “metastatic tumor” as the underlying cause. His occupation was listed as “entrepreneur” in the “high tech” business.
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ALPHA and OMEGA CREATOR DEITIES of the Alphaverse, and Omegaverse home to our own Omniverse
I have been impressed or inspired to share that which has come to me due to questions that I have been asked about our Creator Deities and the Omniverse in which we live.
The fact that I thought that I was not allowed to venture further our of my known conscious existence as that of the Omniverse has changed in the last week.
I should point out to my readers that if one challenges their minds to look back in the history of my writings on UFO Digest of which I am a contributing syndicated columnist one will find a history of how I have grown in my own particles and waves flux and flows.
I am very happy to report that I now have the awakened awareness that we have that of which I have known in the furthest solar core of my own soul as the Alpha and Omega.
The Alphaverse and Omegaverse to show those who are only into the physical reality of science that there can be seven (7) levels and dimensions to our souls eternal source and life force we presently address as energy and essence.
Our energy and essence is expressed in this lifetime as our SPIRIT!
We have learned that we all share something in common besides our own physical makeup as humanoids with a head, trunk, and limbs. We have a brain that allows us to think for ourselves. Inside our brain and inside our mind also exists our own awareness of life that we call our conscious awareness of the fact that we are alive.
Some of us are only thinking about that which we can see, feel, touch, taste, hear, and smell with what we are told are our five (5) senses.
We now know that our emotional state of being with our nervous system in tact allows us to also understand and react to the outside stimulus we encounter on a daily basis.
It has now come to the attention of this one person also known as a humanoid sentient intelligent being that we are much, much more than what we perceive. We are all the creations that are here to explore our way back to the creator deities of both Alpha and Omega.
Alpha is the male energy and Omega is the female energy that we are all created with and sent in tachyon energy as the strongest force that is now not understood.
The Alpha wraps around the Omniverse. The Omega is the entire womb of that which we call Alphaverse and Omniverse in one manner of thinking in the Physical Cosmology.
In the Religious Cosmology the Alphaverse is the outer creation of the Omniverse, as well as, the Omega is the outer creation of the Omniverse.
We now are in the quandary as to which came first the chicken or the egg. We need both in order to understand the other. Therefore we are now at the crossroads in Quantum Physics and the study of Quantum Entanglement with what we call the Higgs-Boson Theory which is only one of many new theories of everything.
(The theoretical ‘God’ particle might have a mass between 120 and 140GeV – looked much less conclusive among new statistics received from the experiment. Guido Tonelli, spokesman for the Compact Muon Solenoid Detector, a huge particle detector at CERN employing 3,600 scientists, told the BBC’s Today programme this week, ‘If we exclude the existence of the Higgs this will be a major discovery
– it would completely review our vision of nature.’)
One of the biggest questions in science – does ‘the God particle’ exist? – is likely to be answered by the end of next year, it was claimed yesterday.
The Higgs boson, nicknamed the God particle, is theoretically responsible for mass, without which there would be no gravity and no universe.
(Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2037722/God-particle-goes…) – Also refer to wikipedia for various dictionary explanations of words.
No one being can create that which gives us the spirit and soul. We can clone animals but do they have the same soul content makeup of the humanoids?
Please begin updating your information on our COMMON and PRACTICAL history of the past way we have been programmed.
We will now all be able to become more as we learn to receive divine revelations from that which we call the alpha and omega forces direct.
Father Alpha and Mother Omega which is inside us all as both a male and female energy entity. We will learn some new ways to be, do, have, think, exist, and what we thought in the past will now become history in various forms. We share our Metaphysical, Physical, and Religious Cosmology in our ACE FOLKLIFE on earth. The Alpha and Omega allows us to now know that “ALIEN CIVILIZATIONS EXIST!”
CDM or Lambda-CDM is an abbreviation for Lambda-Cold Dark Matter, which is also known as the cold dark matter model with dark energy. It is frequently referred to as the standard model of big bang cosmology, since it attempts to explain:
the existence and structure of the cosmic microwave background
the large scale structure of galaxy clusters
the distribution of hydrogen, helium, deuterium and lithium
the accelerating expansion of the universe observed in the light from distant galaxies and supernovae
It is the simplest model that is in general agreement with observed phenomena.
Creator Deity -Metaphysical Cosmology
(Physical Cosmology & Religious Cosmology)
Main article: Cosmology (metaphysics)
In philosophy and metaphysics, cosmology deals with the world as the totality of space, time and all phenomena. Historically, it has had quite a broad scope, and in many cases was founded in religion.
The ancient Greeks did not draw a distinction between this use and their model for the cosmos. However, in modern use it addresses questions about the Universe which are beyond the scope of science. It is distinguished from religious cosmology in that it approaches these questions using philosophical methods (e.g. dialectics).
Modern metaphysical cosmology tries to address questions such as:
What is the origin of the Universe?
What is its first cause?
Is its existence necessary? (see monism, pantheism, emanationism and creationism)
What are the ultimate material components of the Universe? (see mechanism, dynamism, hylomorphism, atomism)
What is the ultimate reason for the existence of the Universe?
Does the cosmos have a purpose? (see teleology)
Does the existence of consciousness have a purpose?
How do we know what we know about the totality of the cosmos?
Does cosmological reasoning reveal metaphysical truths?
Creator Deity
A creator deity is a deity responsible for the creation of the world (or universe). In monotheism, the single God is necessarily also the creator deity, while polytheistic traditions may or may not have creator deities. A number of monolatristic traditions separate a secondary creator from a primary transcendent being, identified as a primary creator.
Cosmology is the discipline that deals with the origin, structure, and space-time relationships of the universe or a theory or doctrine describing the natural order of the universe .
Cosmologists study the universe as a whole: its birth, growth, shape, size and eventual fate. Modern cosmology is dominated by the Big Bang theory, which brings together observational astronomy and particle physics.
Though the word cosmology is recent (first used in 1730 in Christian Wolff’s (Cosmologia Generalis), the study of the universe has a long history involving science, philosophy, esotericism,metaphysics, and religion. (See Cosmogony for the study of origins of the Universe and Cosmography for the features of the Universe.)
Physical cosmology, as a branch of astronomy, is the study of the largest-scale structures and dynamics of the universe and is concerned with fundamental questions about its formation and evolution.
For most of human history, it was a branch of metaphysics and religion. Cosmology as a science originated with the Copernican principle, which implies that celestial bodies obey identical physical laws to those on Earth, and Newtonian mechanics, which first allowed us to understand those laws.
Physical cosmology, as it is now understood, began with the twentieth century development of Albert Einstein’s general theory of relativity and better astronomical observations of extremely distant objects.
These advances made it possible to speculate about the origin of the universe, and allowed scientists to establish the Big Bang Theory as the leading cosmological model. Some researchers still advocate a handful of alternative cosmologies; however, cosmologists generally agree that the Big Bang theory best explains observations.
Cosmology draws heavily on the work of many disparate areas of research in physics. Areas relevant to cosmology include particle physics experiments and theory, including string theory,astrophysics, general relativity, and plasma physics. Thus, cosmology unites the physics of the largest structures in the universe with the physics of the smallest structures in the universe.
History of physical cosmology.
(See also: Timeline of cosmology and List of cosmologists)
Modern cosmology developed along tandem tracks of theory and observation.
In 1915, Albert Einstein formulated his theory of general relativity, which provided a unified description of gravity as a geometric property of space and time. At the time, physicists believed in a perfectly static universe that had no beginning or end. Einstein added a cosmological constant to his theory in order to force it to model a static universe containing matter. This so-called Einstein universe is, however, unstable; it will eventually start expanding or contracting. The cosmological solutions of general relativity were found by Alexander Friedmann, whose equations describe the Friedmann-Lemaître-Robertson-Walker universe, which may expand or contract.
In the 1910s, Vesto Slipher (and later Carl Wilhelm Wirtz) interpreted the red shift of spiral nebulae as a Doppler shift that indicated they were receding from Earth.
However, it is difficult to determine the distance to astronomical objects. One way is to compare the physical size of an object to its angular size, but a physical size must be assumed to do this. Another method is to measure the brightness of an object and assume an intrinsic luminosity, from which the distance may be determined using the inverse square law. Due to the difficulty of using these methods, they did not realize that the nebulae were actually galaxies outside our own Milky Way, nor did they speculate about the cosmological implications. In 1927, the Belgian Roman Catholic priest Georges Lemaître independently derived the Friedmann-Lemaître-Robertson-Walker equations and proposed, on the basis of the recession of spiral nebulae, that the universe began with the “explosion” of a “primeval atom”—which was later called the Big Bang. In 1929, Edwin Hubble provided an observational basis for Lemaître’s theory. Hubble showed that the spiral nebulae were galaxies by determining their distances using measurements of the brightness of Cepheid variable stars. He discovered a relationship between the red shift of a galaxy and its distance. He interpreted this as evidence that the galaxies are receding from Earth in every direction at speeds directly proportional to their distance. This fact is now known as Hubble’s law, though the numerical factor Hubble found relating recessional velocity and distance was off by a factor of ten, due to not knowing at the time about different types of Cepheid variables.
Given the cosmological principle, Hubble’s law suggested that the universe was expanding. There were two primary explanations put forth for the expansion of the universe. One was Lemaître’s Big Bang theory, advocated and developed by George Gamow. The other possibility was Fred Hoyle’s steady state model in which new matter would be created as the galaxies moved away from each other. In this model, the universe is roughly the same at any point in time.
For a number of years the support for these theories was evenly divided. However, the observational evidence began to support the idea that the universe evolved from a hot dense state. The discovery of the cosmic microwave background in 1965 lent strong support to the Big Bang model, and since the precise measurements of the cosmic microwave background by the Cosmic Background Explorer in the early 1990s, few cosmologists have seriously proposed other theories of the origin and evolution of the cosmos. One consequence of this is that in standard general relativity, the universe began with a singularity, as demonstrated by Stephen Hawking and Roger Penrose in the 1960s.
Light elements, primarily hydrogen and helium, were created in the Big Bang.
These light elements were spread too fast and too thinly in the Big Bang process (see nucleosynthesis) to form the most stable medium-sized atomic nuclei, like iron and nickel. This fact allows for later energy release, as such intermediate-sized elements are formed in our era.
The formation of such atoms powers the steady energy-releasing reactions in stars, and also contributes to sudden energy releases, such as in novae. Gravitational collapse of matter into black holes is also thought to power the most energetic processes, generally seen at the centers of galaxies (see quasars and in general active galaxies).
Cosmologists are still unable to explain all cosmological phenomena purely on the basis of known conventional forms of energy, for example those related to the accelerating expansion of the universe, and therefore invoke a yet unexplored form of energy called dark energy] to account for certain cosmological observations. One hypothesis is that dark energy is the energy of virtual particles (which mathematically must exist in vacuum due to the uncertainty principle).
There is no unambiguous way to define the total energy of the universe in the current best theory of gravity, general relativity. As a result it remains controversial whether one can meaningfully say that total energy is conserved in an expanding universe. For instance, each photon that travels through intergalactic space loses energy due to the red shift effect. This energy is not obviously transferred to any other system, so seems to be permanently lost. Nevertheless some cosmologists insist that energy is conserved in some sense.
Thermodynamics of the universe is a field of study to explore which form of energy dominates the cosmos – relativistic particles which are referred to as radiation, or non-relativistic particles which are referred to as matter. The former are particles whose rest mass is zero or negligible compared to their energy, and therefore move at the speed of light or very close to it; the latter are particles whose kinetic energy is much lower than their rest mass and therefore move much slower than the speed of light.
As the universe expands, both matter and radiation in it become diluted. However, the universe also cools down, meaning that the average energy per particle is getting smaller with time. Therefore the radiation becomes weaker, and dilutes faster than matter. Thus with the expansion of the universe radiation becomes less dominant than matter. In the very early universe radiation dictates the rate of deceleration of the universe’s expansion, and the universe is said to be ‘radiation dominated’. At later times, when the average energy per photon is roughly 10 eV and lower, matter dictates the rate of deceleration and the universe is said to be ‘matter dominated’. The intermediate case is not treated well analytically. As the expansion of the universe continues, matter dilutes even further and the cosmological constant becomes dominant, leading to an acceleration in the universe’s expansion.
History of the Universe
See also: Timeline of the Big Bang
The history of the universe is a central issue in cosmology. The history of the universe is divided into different periods called epochs, according to the dominant forces and processes in each period. The standard cosmological model is known as the CDM model.
Equations of motion
Main article: Friedmann-Lemaître-Robertson-Walker metric
The equations of motion governing the universe as a whole are derived from general relativity with a small, positive cosmological constant.
The solution is an expanding universe; due to this expansion the radiation and matter in the universe are cooled down and become diluted. At first, the expansion is slowed down by gravitation due to the radiation and matter content of the universe. However, as these become diluted, the cosmological constant becomes more dominant and the expansion of the universe starts to accelerate rather than decelerate. In our universe this has already happened, billions of years ago.
Particle physics in cosmology
Main article: Particle physics in cosmology
Particle physics is important to the behavior of the early universe, since the early universe was so hot that the average energy density was very high. Because of this, scattering processes and decay of unstable particles are important in cosmology.
As a rule of thumb, a scattering or a decay process is cosmologically important in a certain cosmological epoch if the time scale describing that process is smaller or comparable to the time scale of the expansion of the universe, which is
1 / H with H being the Hubble constant at that time. This is roughly equal to the age of the universe at that time.
Timeline of the Big Bang
Main article: Timeline of the Big Bang
Observations suggest that the universe began around 13.7 billion years ago. Since then, the evolution of the universe has passed through three phases. The very early universe, which is still poorly understood, was the split second in which the universe was so hot that particles had energies higher than those currently accessible in particle accelerators on Earth.
Therefore, while the basic features of this epoch have been worked out in the Big Bang theory, the details are largely based on educated guesses. Following this, in the early universe, the evolution of the universe proceeded according to known high energy physics.
This is when the first protons, electrons and neutrons formed, then nuclei and finally atoms. With the formation of neutral hydrogen, the cosmic microwave background was emitted. Finally, the epoch of structure formation began, when matter started to aggregate into the first stars and quasars, and ultimately galaxies, clusters of galaxies and superclusters formed. The future of the universe is not yet firmly known, but according to the CDM model it will continue expanding forever.
(Areas of study for those interested.)
Below, some of the most active areas of inquiry in cosmology are described, in roughly chronological order. This does not include all of the Big Bang cosmology, which is presented in Timeline of the Big Bang.
The very early universe
While the early, hot universe appears to be well explained by the Big Bang from roughly 10-33 seconds onwards, there are several problems. One is that there is no compelling reason, using current particle physics, to expect the universe to be flat, homogeneous and isotropic (see the cosmological principle). Moreover, grand unified theories of particle physics suggest that there should be magnetic monopoles in the universe, which have not been found. These problems are resolved by a brief period of cosmic inflation, which drives the universe to flatness, smooths out anisotropies and in homogeneities to the observed level, and exponentially dilutes the monopoles. The physical model behind cosmic inflation is extremely simple, however it has not yet been confirmed by particle physics, and there are difficult problems reconciling inflation and quantum field theory.
Some cosmologists think that string theory and brane cosmology will provide an alternative to inflation.
Another major problem in cosmology is what caused the universe to contain more particles than antiparticles.
Cosmologists can observationally deduce that the universe is not split into regions of matter and antimatter. If it were, there would be X-rays and gamma rays produced as a result of annihilation, but this is not observed.
This problem is called the baryon asymmetry, and the theory to describe the resolution is called baryogenesis. The theory of baryogenesis was worked out by Andrei Sakharov in 1967, and requires a violation of the particle physics symmetry, called CP-symmetry, between matter and antimatter. Particle accelerators, however, measure too small a violation of CP-symmetry to account for the baryon asymmetry. Cosmologists and particle physicists are trying to find additional violations of the CP-symmetry in the early universe that might account for the baryon asymmetry.
Both the problems of baryogenesis and cosmic inflation are very closely related to particle physics, and their resolution might come from high energy theory and experiment, rather than through observations of the universe.
Big bang nucleosynthesis
Main article: Big bang nucleosynthesis
Big Bang Nucleosynthesis is the theory of the formation of the elements in the early universe. It finished when the universe was about three minutes old and its temperature dropped below that at which nuclear fusion could occur. Big Bang nucleosynthesis had a brief period during which it could operate, so only the very lightest elements were produced. Starting from hydrogen ions (protons), it principally produceddeuterium, helium-4 and lithium. Other elements were produced in only trace abundances. The basic theory of nucleosynthesis was developed in 1948 by George Gamow, Ralph Asher Alpher and Robert Herman. It was used for many years as a probe of physics at the time of the Big Bang, as the theory of Big Bang nucleosynthesis connects the abundances of primordial light elements with the features of the early universe. Specifically, it can be used to test the equivalence principle, to probe dark matter, and test neutrino physics. Some cosmologists have proposed that Big Bang nucleosynthesis suggests there is a fourth “sterile” species of neutrino.
Cosmic microwave background
Main article: Cosmic microwave background
The cosmic microwave background is radiation left over from decoupling after the epoch of recombination when neutral atoms first formed. At this point, radiation produced in the Big Bang stopped Thomson scattering from charged ions. The radiation, first observed in 1965 by Arno Penzias and Robert Woodrow Wilson, has a perfect thermal black-body spectrum. It has a temperature of 2.7 kelvins today and is isotropic to one part in 105. Cosmological perturbation theory, which describes the evolution of slight in homogeneities in the early universe, has allowed cosmologists to precisely calculate the angular power spectrum of the radiation, and it has been measured by the recent satellite experiments (COBE and WMAP) and many ground and balloon-based experiments (such as Degree Angular Scale Interferometer, Cosmic Background Imager, and Boomerang). One of the goals of these efforts is to measure the basic parameters of the Lambda-CDM model with increasing accuracy, as well as to test the predictions of the Big Bang model and look for new physics. The recent measurements made by WMAP, for example, have placed limits on the neutrino masses.
Newer experiments, such as QUIET and the Atacama Cosmology Telescope, are trying to measure the polarization of the cosmic microwave background. These measurements are expected to provide further confirmation of the theory as well as information about cosmic inflation, and the so-called secondary anisotropies, such as the Sunyaev-Zel’dovich effect and Sachs-Wolfe effect, which are caused by interaction between galaxies and clusters with the cosmic microwave background.
Formation and evolution of large-scale structure
Main articles: Large-scale structure of the cosmos, Structure formation, and Galaxy formation and evolution
Understanding the formation and evolution of the largest and earliest structures (i.e., quasars, galaxies, clusters and superclusters) is one of the largest efforts in cosmology. Cosmologists study a model of hierarchical structure formation in which structures form from the bottom up, with smaller objects forming first, while the largest objects, such as superclusters, are still assembling. One way to study structure in the universe is to survey the visible galaxies, in order to construct a three-dimensional picture of the galaxies in the universe and measure the matter power spectrum. This is the approach of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey and the 2dF Galaxy Redshift Survey.
Another tool for understanding structure formation is simulations, which cosmologists use to study the gravitational aggregation of matter in the universe, as it clusters into filaments, superclusters and voids. Most simulations contain only non-baryonic cold dark matter, which should suffice to understand the universe on the largest scales, as there is much more dark matter in the universe than visible, baryonic matter. More advanced simulations are starting to include baryons and study the formation of individual galaxies. Cosmologists study these simulations to see if they agree with the galaxy surveys, and to understand any discrepancy.
Other, complementary observations to measure the distribution of matter in the distant universe and to probe reionization include:
The Lyman alpha forest, which allows cosmologists to measure the distribution of neutral atomic hydrogen gas in the early universe, by measuring the absorption of light from distant quasars by the gas.
The 21 centimeter absorption line of neutral atomic hydrogen also provides a sensitive test of cosmology
Weak lensing, the distortion of a distant image by gravitational lensing due to dark matter.
These will help cosmologists settle the question of when and how structure formed in the universe.
Dark matter
Main article: Dark matter
Evidence from Big Bang nucleosynthesis, the cosmic microwave background and structure formation suggests that about 23% of the mass of the universe consists of non-baryonic dark matter, whereas only 4% consists of visible, baryonic matter. The gravitational effects of dark matter are well understood, as it behaves like a cold, non-radiative fluid that forms haloes around galaxies. Dark matter has never been detected in the laboratory, and the particle physics nature of dark matter remains completely unknown. Without observational constraints, there are a number of candidates, such as a stable supersymmetric particle, a weakly interacting massive particle, an axion, and a massive compact halo object. Alternatives to the dark matter hypothesis include a modification of gravity at small accelerations (MOND) or an effect from brane cosmology.
Dark energy
Main article: Dark energy
If the universe is flat, there must be an additional component making up 73% (in addition to the 23% dark matter and 4% baryons) of the energy density of the universe. This is called dark energy. In order not to interfere with Big Bang nucleosynthesis and the cosmic microwave background, it must not cluster in haloes like baryons and dark matter. There is strong observational evidence for dark energy, as the total energy density of the universe is known through constraints on the flatness of the universe, but the amount of clustering matter is tightly measured, and is much less than this. The case for dark energy was strengthened in 1999, when measurements demonstrated that the expansion of the universe has begun to gradually accelerate.
Apart from its density and its clustering properties, nothing is known about dark energy. Quantum field theory predicts a cosmological constant much like dark energy, but 120 orders of magnitude larger than that observed.
Steven Weinberg and a number of string theorists (see string landscape) have used this as evidence for the anthropic principle, which suggests that the cosmological constant is so small because life (and thus physicists, to make observations) cannot exist in a universe with a large cosmological constant, but many people find this an unsatisfying explanation. Other possible explanations for dark energy include quintessence or a modification of gravity on the largest scales. The effect on cosmology of the dark energy that these models describe is given by the dark energy’s equation of state, which varies depending upon the theory.
The nature of dark energy is one of the most challenging problems in cosmology.
A better understanding of dark energy is likely to solve the problem of the ultimate fate of the universe. In the current cosmological epoch, the accelerated expansion due to dark energy is preventing structures larger than superclusters from forming. It is not known whether the acceleration will continue indefinitely, perhaps even increasing until a big rip, or whether it will eventually reverse.
Other areas of inquiry
Cosmologists also study:
Whether primordial black holes were formed in our universe, and what happened to them.
the GZK cutoff for high-energy cosmic rays, and whether it signals a failure of special relativity at high energies
the equivalence principle, whether or not Einstein’s general theory of relativity is the correct theory of gravitation, and if the fundamental laws of physics are the same everywhere in the universe.
See also
Physics portal
String cosmology
Physical ontology
List of cosmologists
References
^ For an overview, see George FR Ellis (2006). “Issues in the Philosophy of Cosmology”. In Jeremy Butterfield & John Earman. Philosophy of Physics (Handbook of the Philosophy of Science) 3 volume set. North Holland. pp. 1183ff. arXiv:astro-ph/0602280. ISBN 0444515607.
^ Science 20 June 2003:Vol. 300. no. 5627, pp. 1914 – 1918 Throwing Light on Dark Energy, Robert P. Kirshner. Accessed December 2006
^ e.g. Liddle, A.. An Introduction to Modern Cosmology. Wiley. ISBN 0-470-84835-9. This argues cogently “Energy is always, always, always conserved.”
^ P. Ojeda and H. Rosu (Jun 2006). “Supersymmetry of FRW barotropic cosmologies”. Internat. J. Theoret. Phys. (Springer) 45: 1191–1196.arXiv:gr-qc/0510004. Bibcode 2006IJTP…45.1152R. doi:10.1007/s10773-006-9123-2.
.
Polytheism
In polytheistic creation myths, the world often comes into being organically, e.g. sprouting from a primal seed, sexually, by miraculous birth(sometimes by parthenogenesis), by hierosgamos, violently, by the slaying of a primeval monster, or artificially, by a divine demiurge or “craftsman”. Sometimes, a god is involved, wittingly or unwittingly, in bringing about creation. Examples include:
African contexts:
Mbombo of Bakuba mythology, who vomited out the world upon feeling a stomach ache;
Egyptian mythology
Atum in Ennead, whose semen becomes the primal components of the universe
Ptah creating the universe by speaking
Unkulunkulu in Zulu mythology
American contexts:
Nanabozho (Great Rabbit,) Ojibway deity, a shape-shifter and a cocreator of the world.
The goddess Coatlique in Aztec mythology;
Viracocha in Inca mythology;
A trickster deity in the form of a Raven in Inuit mythology;
Asian contexts:
El or the Elohim of Canaanite mythology (see Genesis creation myth)
Esege Malan in Mongolian mythology, king of the skies
Kamuy in Ainu mythology, who built the world on the back of a trout;
Izanagi and Izanami in Japanese mythology, who churned the ocean with a spear, creating the islands of Japan
Marduk killing Tiamat in the Babylonian Enuma Elish
Vishvakarman in Vedic mythology, responsible for the creation of the universe (while in later Puranic period, Brahma, Vishnu and Shivaare for creation, maintenance and destruction, respectively)
European contexts:
The sons of Borr slaying the primeval giant Ymir in Norse mythology
Rod in Slavic mythology.
Oceanic contexts:
Ranginui, the Sky Father, and Papatuanuku, the Earth Mother in Maori mythology
Platonic demiurge
Main article: demiurgeFurther information: Neoplatonism and Gnosticism and Great Architect of the Universe
Plato, in his dialogue Timaeus, describes a creation myth involving a being called the demiurge (“craftsman”). This concept was continued in Neoplatonism and Gnosticism. In Neoplatonism, the demiurge represents the second cause or dyad, after the monad. In Gnostic dualism, the demiurge is an imperfect spirit and possibly evil being, transcended by divine Fullness (Pleroma). Unlike the Judeo-Christian God, Plato’s demiurge is unable to create ex-nihilo.
Monolatrism
See also: Brahma
Monolatristic traditions would separate a secondary creator from the primary transcendent being, identified as a primary creator. According to Gaudiya Vaishnavas, Brahma is the secondary creator and not the supreme. Vishnu is the primary creator. According to Vaishnavabelief Vishnu creates the basic universal shell and provides all the raw materials and also places the living entities within the material world, fulfilling their own independent will. Brahma works with the materials provided by Vishnu to actually create what are believed to be planets in Puranic terminology, and he supervises the population of them.
Monism
Main article: Monism
Monism has its origin in Hellenistic philosophy as a concept of all things deriving from a single substance or being. Following a long and still current tradition H.P. Owen (1971: 65) claimed that:
“Pantheists are ‘monists’…they believe that there is only one Being, and that all other forms of reality are either modes (or appearances) of it or identical with it.”
Although, like Baruch Spinoza, some pantheists may also be monists, and monism may even be essential to some versions of pantheism (like Spinoza’s), not all pantheists are monists. Some are polytheists and some are pluralists; they believe that there are many things and kinds of things and many different kinds of value.
Not all monists are pantheists. Exclusive monists believe that the universe, the God of the pantheist, simply does not exist. In addition, monists can be Deists, pandeists, theists or panentheists; believing in a monotheistic God that is omnipotent and all-pervading, and both transcendent and immanent.
There are monist pantheists and panentheists in Hinduism(particularly in Advaita and Vishistadvaita respectively), Judaism (monistic panentheism is especially found in Kabbalah and Hasidic philosophy), in Christianity (especially among Oriental Orthodox, Eastern Orthodox, and Anglicans) and in Islam (among the Sufis, especially the Bektashi).
In Advaita Vedanta, Brahman is the abstract notion of “the Absolute” from which the universe takes its origin and at an ultimate level, all assertions of a distinction between Brahman, other gods and creation are meaningless (monism).
Buddhism
The Buddha explicitly rejects a creator, denies endorsing any views on creation and states that questions on the origin of the world are worthless.
Some gods in Buddhism have the view that they are creators of the world. For example, Baka Brahma. However, Buddha pointed out to them that they do not know the whole extent of the universe (he said they have no knowledge of some of the highest heavens), and further, the spiritual power of the Buddha was greater than the spiritual power of these gods who thought they created the world. One of the Suttasdealing with this subject is the Kevaddha Sutta.
The Buddha said (in DN1 – the Brahmajala Sutta or The Net of Views) that their view of being the creator of the world is a misconception, and that these Brahma-gods actually have a cause which lead their origination (taking birth as a Brahma-god). Buddha even tells how the views concerning ‘creator gods’ originate in the world – through junior Brahma-gods (with a more limited life-span) who, on their passing away, get reborn as a human, and through practicing meditation are able to remember their previous life as a junior god to a Brahma god. Then, he starts to preach this view of a ‘creator god’ to others (see DN1 – the Brahmajala Sutta) starts to preach this view of a ‘creator god’ to others (see DN1 – the Brahmajala Sutta).
Hinduism
Main article: Hindu creationism
Hinduism includes a range of viewpoints about the origin of life, creationism and evolution. The accounts of the emergence of life within the universe vary in description, but classically the god Brahma, from a Trimurti of three gods also including Vishnu and Shiva, is described as performing the act of creation, or more specifically of “propagating life within the universe” with the other two deities being responsible for preservation and destruction (of the universe) respectively.[ Most Hindu schools do not regard the scriptural creation myth as a literal truth, and often the creation stories themselves do not go into specific detail, thus leaving open the possibility of incorporating at least some theories in support of evolution. Some Hindus find support for, or foreshadowing of evolutionary ideas in scriptures, namely the Vedas.
An exception to this acceptance is the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), which includes several members who actively oppose “Darwinism” and the modern evolutionary synthesis.
Jainism
Main article: Jainism and non-creationism
Jainism does not support belief in a creator deity. According to Jain doctrine, the universe and its constituents – soul, matter, space, time, and principles of motion have always existed (a static universe similar to that of Epicureanism and steady state cosmological model). All the constituents and actions are governed by universal natural laws. It is not possible to create matter out of nothing and hence the sum total of matter in the universe remains the same (similar to law of conservation of mass). Similarly, the soul of each living being is unique and uncreated and has existed since beginningless time.
The Jain theory of causation holds that a cause and its effect are always identical in nature and therefore a conscious and immaterial entity like God cannot create a material entity like the universe. Furthermore, according to the Jain concept of divinity, any soul who destroys its karmas and desires, achieves liberation. A soul who destroys all its passions and desires has no desire to interfere in the working of the universe. Moral rewards and sufferings are not the work of a divine being, but a result of an innate moral order in the cosmos; a self-regulating mechanism whereby the individual reaps the fruits of his own actions through the workings of the karmas.
Through the ages, Jain philosophers have adamantly rejected and opposed the concept of creator and omnipotent God and this has resulted in Jainism being labeled as nastika darsana or atheist philosophy by the rival religious philosophies. The theme of non-creationism and absence of omnipotent God and divine grace runs strongly in all the philosophical dimensions of Jainism, including its cosmology, karma,moksa and its moral code of conduct. Jainism asserts a religious and virtuous life is possible without the idea of a creator god.
Monotheism
Judaism, Christianity, Islam and Sikhism teach that creation is the origin of the universe by the action of God.
Among monotheists it has historically been most commonly believed that living things are God’s creations, and are not the result of a process inherent in originally non-living things, unless this process is designed, initiated, or directed by God; likewise, sentient and intelligentbeings are believed to be God’s creation, and did not arise through the development of living but non-sentient beings, except by the intervention of God.
Baha’i
Bahá’í teachings state that God is too great for humans to fully comprehend, or to create a complete and accurate image of, by themselves. Therefore, human understanding of God is achieved through his revelations via his Manifestations. In the Bahá’í religion God is often referred to by titles and attributes (e.g. the All-Powerful, or the All-Loving), and there is a substantial emphasis on monotheism.
Chinese Mythology
Pangu can be interpreted as another creator deity. In the beginning there was nothing in the universe except a formless chaos. However this chaos began to coalesce into a cosmic egg for eighteen thousand years. Within it, the perfectly opposed principles of yin and yang became balanced and Pangu emerged (or woke up) from the egg. Pangu is usually depicted as a primitive, hairy giant with horns on his head (like the Greek Pan) and clad in furs. Pangu set about the task of creating the world: he separated Yin from Yang with a swing of his giant axe, creating the Earth (murky Yin) and the Sky (clear Yang). To keep them separated, Pangu stood between them and pushed up the Sky. This task took eighteen thousand years, with each day the sky grew ten feet higher, the Earth ten feet wider, and Pangu ten feet taller. In some versions of the story, Pangu is aided in this task by the four most prominent beasts, namely the Turtle, the Qilin, the Phoenix, and theDragon.
Shangdi is another creator deity, possibly prior to Pangu sharing concepts similar to abrahamic faiths.
After the eighteen thousand years had elapsed, Pangu was laid to rest. His breath became the wind; his voice the thunder; left eye the sunand right eye the moon; his body became the mountains and extremes of the world; his blood formed rivers; his muscles the fertile lands; his facial hair the stars and milky way; his fur the bushes and forests; his bones the valuable minerals; his bone marrows sacred diamonds; his sweat fell as rain; and the fleas on his fur carried by the wind became human beings all over the world. The distance from Earth and Sky at the end of the 18,000 years would have been 65,700,000 feet, or over 12,443 miles.
The first writer to record the myth of Pangu was Xu Zheng during the Three Kingdoms period.
Christianity
See also: Christ the Logos
It is a tenet of Christian faith (Roman Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant) that God is the creator of all things from nothing but by his word, and has made human beings in the Image of God, who by direct inference is also the source of the human soul. Within this broad understanding, however, there are a number of views regarding exactly how this doctrine ought to be interpreted.
Some Christians, mainly evangelical Protestants, particularly Young Earth creationists and Old Earth creationists, interpret Genesis as a historical, accurate, and literal account of creation. Others, in contrast, may understand these to be, not statements of historic fact, but rather spiritual insights more vaguely defined.
While the synoptic gospels do not address the question of creation, the Gospel of John famously begins:
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being … And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth” <John 1:1-3 and 1:14>.
The Epistle to the Hebrews, a book of the New Testament, contains another reference to creation:
“For by faith we understand the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things which are visible” <Hebrews 11:3>.
Thus, in Chalcedonian Christology, Jesus is the Word of God, which was in the beginning and, thus, is uncreated, and hence is God, and consequently identical with the Creator of the world ex nihilo.
The Catholic Church allows for either a literal or allegorical interpretation of Genesis, so as to allow for the possibility of Creation by means of an evolutionary process over great spans of time, otherwise known as theistic evolution. It believes that the creation of the world is a work of God through the Logos, the Word (idea, intelligence, reason and logic).
The New Testament claims that God created everything by the eternal Word, Jesus Christ his beloved Son. In him
“all things were created, in heaven and on earth.. . all things were created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.
Surrounded by a pervasive culture of rationalism, relativism and secularism, the Catholic Church has asserted the primacy of reason inChristian Theology. In a 1999 lecture at the University of Paris, then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger said:
“The question is … whether reason, being a chance by-product of irrationality and floating in an ocean of irrationality, is ultimately just as meaningless; or whether the principle that represents the fundamental conviction of Christian faith and of its philosophy remains true: “In principio erat Verbum” — at the beginning of all things stands the creative power of reason. Now as then, Christian faith represents the choice in favor of the priority of reason and of rationality. […] there is no ultimate demonstration that the basic choice involved in Christianity is correct. Yet, can reason really renounce its claim to the priority of what is rational over the irrational, the claim that the Logos is at the ultimate origin of things, without abolishing itself?””Even today, by reason of its choosing to assert the primacy of reason, Christianity remains “enlightened,” and I think that any enlightenment that cancels this choice must, contrary to all appearances, mean, not an evolution, but an involution, a shrinking, of enlightenment.”
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
Followers of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and others within Mormonism, believe that “the elements are eternal” (Doctrine & Covenants § 93:33), and that God (our Father in Heaven–the Creator, Sustainer, and Governor of the Universe)–organized or wrought the creation of the Earth through His Son, Jesus Christ (known as YHWH “Jehovah” of the Old Testament), Who was with Him in the beginning (John 1:1-2, 14): “And by the word of my power have I created them [i.e., the Earth and its many inhabitants], which is mine Only Begotten Son, who is full of grace and truth” (Moses 1:32). God, the Father, had His Son fashion the eternal elements into the Earth upon which we live over the course of six creative periods that He called “days” (yom in Hebrew, Genesis 1:5)(note, however, that there is nothing to suggest that these six days were either immediately contiguous or of 24 hours duration (indeed, as to the latter, the data suggests that these “days” were rather longer)). “We will go down,” said Jehovah, “for there is space there, and we will take of these [already existing] materials, and we will make an earth whereon these [i.e., us] may dwell” (Abraham 3:24). But Latter-day Saint theology does not perceive God as the Creator of our Earth alone, but of countless worlds: “worlds without number have I created; and I also created them for mine own purpose; and by the Son I created them, which is mine Only Begotten” (Moses 1:33), ” By him, and through him, and of him, the worlds are and were created, and the inhabitants thereof are begotten sons and daughters unto God” (Doctrine & Covenants 76:24).
In short, the Creator is an architect and organizer of pre-existing matter and energy, who constructed our original Earth and other worlds out of this raw material according to the laws and principles He has decreed shall govern such things.
Creationism
Main article: Creationism
Christian fundamentalism in the USA since the 1930s has pursued Biblical literalist doctrines of “Creationism” as a counter-hypothesis opposing the scientific community, with concepts such as flood geology, creation science and intelligent design proposed as syntheses of Christian creation beliefs and scientific method.
Judaism
Further information: Genesis creation myth
Orthodox Judaism historically affirms that one incorporeal God (self-identified to Moses as Yahweh) is the creator of all things (many references available, see Job 38-41, for example), and that this same one created Adam and Eve personally (directly). They affirm that this Being is an indivisible one, incomparable to any created thing, and immutable.
Islam
Main article: Islamic creationism
According to Islam, God, known in Arabic as Allah, is the all-powerful and all-knowing Creator, Sustainer, Ordainer, and Judge of the universe. Islam puts a heavy emphasis on the conceptualization of God as strictly singular (tawhid). God is unique (wahid) and inherently one (ahad), all-merciful and omnipotent. According to tradition there are 99 Names of God (al-asma al-husna lit. meaning: “The best names”) each of which evoke a distinct attribute of God.
All these names refer to Allah, the supreme and all-comprehensive divine name. Among the 99 names of God, the most famous and most frequent of these names are “the Compassionate” (al-rahman) and “the Merciful” (al-rahim).
Creation is seen as an act of divine choice and mercy, one with a grand purpose: “And We did not create the heaven and earth and that between them in play.”Rather, the purpose of humanity is to be tested: “Who has created death and life, that He may test you which of you is best in deed. And He is the All-Mighty, the Oft-Forgiving; “Those who pass the test are rewarded with Paradise: “Verily for the Righteous there will be a fulfillment of (the heart’s) desires;”.
According to the Islamic teachings, God exists above the heavens and the creation itself. The Qur’an mentions, “He it is Who created for you all that is on earth. Then He Istawa (rose over) towards the heaven and made them seven heavens and He is the All-Knower of everything. “At the same time, God is unlike anything in creation:
“There is nothing like unto Him, and He is the Hearing, the Seeing.”
Nobody can perceive God in totality:
“Vision perceives Him not, but He perceives [all] vision; and He is the Subtle, the Acquainted.”
God in Islam is not only majestic and sovereign, but also a personal God: “And indeed We have created man, and We know what his ownself whispers to him. And We are nearer to him than his jugular vein (by Our Knowledge).”
Allah commands the believers to constantly remember Him (“O you who have believed, remember Allah with much remembrance”) and to invoke Him alone (“And whoever invokes besides Allah another deity for which he has no proof – then his account is only with his Lord. Indeed, the disbelievers will not succeed.”)
Islam teaches that God as referenced in the Qur’an is the only god and the same God worshipped by members of other Abrahamic religions such as Christianity and Judaism. (29:46).
Sikhism
Main article: Sikh beliefs
One of the biggest responsibilities in Sikhism is to worship God as “The Creator”, termed Waheguru who is shapeless, timeless, and sightless, i.e., Nirankar, Akal, and Alakh Niranjan. The religion only takes after the belief in “One God for All” or Ik Onkar.
MYTHOLOGICAL COSMOLOGY also RELIGIOUS COSMOLOGY
A Religious cosmology (also mythological cosmology) is a way of explaining the origin, the history and the evolution of the universe based on the religious mythology of a specific tradition. Religious cosmologies usually include an act or process of creation by a creator deity or a larger pantheon.
Buddhism
Main article: Buddhist cosmology
In Buddhism, the universe comes into existence dependent upon the actions (karma) of its inhabitants. Buddhists posit neither an ultimate beginning or final end to the universe, but see the universe as something in flux, passing in and out of existence, parallel to an infinite number of other universes doing the same thing.
The Buddhist universe consists of a large number of worlds which correspond to different mental states, including passive states of trance, passionless states of purity, and lower states of desire, anger, and fear. The beings in these worlds are all coming into existence or being born, and passing out of existence into other states, or dying. A world comes into existence when the first being in it is born, and ceases to exist, as such, when the last being in it dies.
The universe of these worlds also is born and dies, with the death of the last being preceding a universal conflagration that destroys the physical structure of the worlds; then, after an interval, beings begin to be born again and the universe is once again built up. Other universes, however, also exist, and there are higher planes of existence which are never destroyed, though beings that live in them also come into and pass out of existence.
As well as a model of universal origins and destruction, Buddhist cosmology also functions as a model of the mind, with its thoughts coming into existence based on preceding thoughts, and being transformed into other thoughts and other states.
Hebrew Bible
Further information: Biblical cosmology and Genesis creation myth
The main Judeo-Christian religious text, the Bible, opens with a story of creation. The first two chapters of the Book of Genesis describe the creation of heaven and earth by God (called both Elohim and Yhvh) in six successive days.
First day: God creates light (“Let there be light!”)[Gen 1:3]—the first divine command. The light is divided from the darkness, and “day” and “night” are named.
Second day: God creates a firmament (“Let a firmament be…!”)[Gen 1:6–7]—the second command—to divide the waters above from the waters below. The firmament is named “heaven” (shamayim).
Third day: God commands the waters below to be gathered together in one place, and dry land to appear (the third command).[Gen 1:9–10]”earth” and “sea” are named. God commands the earth to bring forth grass, plants, and fruit-bearing trees (the fourth command).
Fourth day: God creates lights in the firmament (the fifth command)[Gen 1:14–15] to separate light from darkness and to mark days, seasons and years. Two great lights are made and the stars.
Fifth day: God commands the sea to “teem with living creatures”, and birds to fly across the heavens (sixth command)[Gen 1:20–21] He creates birds and sea creatures, and commands them to be fruitful and multiply.
Sixth day: God commands the land to bring forth living creatures (seventh command); He makes wild beasts, livestock and “every thing that creepeth upon the earth”.[Gen 1:24–25] He then creates humanity in His “image” and “likeness” (eighth command).[Gen 1:26–28] They are told to “be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it.” The totality of creation is described by God as “very good.”
Seventh day: God, having completed the heavens and the earth, rests from His work, and blesses and sanctifies the seventh day.[Gen 2:2]
Christianity:
See also: Biblical cosmology, Ex nihilo, and Creationism
It is a tenet of Christian faith (Roman Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant) that God is the creator of all things from nothing, and has made human beings in the Image of God, who by direct inference is also the source of the human soul. In Chalcedonian Christology, Jesus is the Word of God, which was in the beginning and, thus, is uncreated, and hence is God, and consequently identical with the Creator of the worldex nihilo.
The New Testament claims that God created everything by the eternal Word, Jesus Christ his beloved Son. In him
“all things were created, in heaven and on earth.. . all things were created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.
Mormon
Main article: Mormon cosmology
Mormon cosmology draws from Biblical cosmology, but has many unique elements provided by Latter Day Saint movement founder Joseph Smith, Jr.
According to Mormon cosmology, there was a pre-existence, better described as a pre-mortal life, in which human spirits were literal children of heavenly parents.
Though their spirits were created, the essential “intelligence” of these spirits is considered eternal, and without beginning. During this pre-existence, two plans were said to have been presented, one championed by Lucifer (Satan) that would have involved loss of moral agency, and another championed by God the Father. When his plan was not accepted, Lucifer is said to have rebelled and taken a third of the hosts of heaven with him to the earth to serve as tempters. According to a plan of salvation as described by God the Father, Jesus would create the earth, under the direction of God the Father, as a place where humanity would be tested. After the resurrection all men and women except spirits that followed Lucifer and the sons of perdition would be assigned one of three degrees of glory. Within the highest degree, the Celestial Kingdom, there are three divisions, and those in the highest of these divisions would become gods and goddesses through a process called exaltation or “eternal progression”. This would involve having spirit children and populating new worlds.
The Earth’s creation, according to Mormon scripture, was not ex nihilo, but organized from existing matter. The faith teaches that this earth is just one of many inhabited worlds, and that there are many governing heavenly bodies, including a planet or star Kolob which is said to be nearest the throne of God. According to some Mormon sources, God the Father himself was once like a human, and lived on a planet with his own higher god.
Hindu
Main article: Hindu cosmology
The Hindu cosmology and timeline is the closest to modern scientific timelines and even more which might indicate that the Big Bang is not the beginning of everything but just the start of the present cycle preceded by an infinite number of universes and to be followed by another infinite number of universes.
The Rig Veda questions the origin of the cosmos in: “Neither being (sat) nor non-being was as yet. What was concealed? And where? And in whose protection?…Who really knows? Who can declare it? Whence was it born, and whence came this creation?
The devas were born later than this world’s creation, so who knows from where it came into existence? None can know from where creation has arisen, and whether he has or has not produced it. He who surveys it in the highest heavens, he alone knows-or perhaps does not know.” (Rig Veda 10. 129)
Large scale structure of the Universe according to one Hindu cosmology.
Intermediate neighborhood of the Earth according to one Hindu cosmology.
We have the neighborhood of the Earth according to one Hindu cosmology.
The Rig Veda’s view of the cosmos also sees one true divine principle self-projecting as the divine word, Vaak, ‘birthing’ the cosmos that we know, from themonistic Hiranyagarbha or Golden Womb.
The Hiranyagarbha is alternatively viewed as Brahma, the creator who was in turn created by God, or as God (Brahman) himself. The universe is considered to constantly expand since creation and disappear into a thin haze after billions of years.[citation needed] An alternate view is that the universe begins to contract after reaching its maximum expansion limits until it disappears into a fraction of a millimeter.
The creation begins anew after billions of years (Solar years) of non-existence.
The puranic view asserts that the universe is created, destroyed, and re-created in an eternally repetitive series of cycles. In Hindu cosmology, a universe endures for about 4,320,000,000 years (one day of Brahma, the creator or kalpa) and is then destroyed by fire or water elements. At this point, Brahma rests for one night, just as long as the day. This process, named pralaya (Cataclysm), repeats for 100 Brahma years (311 Trillion, 40 Billion Human Years) that represents Brahma’s lifespan. It must be noted that Brahma is the creator but not necessarily regarded as God in Hinduism. He is mostly regarded as a creation of God / Brahman.
We are currently believed to be in the 51st year of the present Brahma and so about 156 trillion years have elapsed since He was born as Brahma. After Brahma’s “death”, it is necessary that another 100 Brahma years (311 Trillion, 40 Billion Years) pass until a new Brahma is born and the whole creation begins anew. This process is repeated again and again, forever.
Brahma’s day is divided in one thousand cycles (Maha Yuga, or the Great Year).Maha Yuga, during which life, including the human race appears and then disappears, has 71 divisions, each made of 14 Manvantara (1000) years. Each Maha Yuga lasts for 4,320,000 years. Manvantara is Manu’s cycle, the one who gives birth and governs the human race.
Each Maha Yuga consists of a series of four shorter yugas, or ages.
The yugas get progressively worse from a moral point of view as one proceeds from one yuga to another. As a result, each yuga is of shorter duration than the age that preceded it. The current Kali Yuga (Iron Age) began at midnight 17 February / 18 February in 3102 BC in the proleptic Julian calendar.
Space and time are considered to be maya (illusion). What looks like 100 years in the cosmos of Brahma could be thousands of years in other worlds, millions of years in some other worlds and 311 trillion and 40 billion years for our solar system and earth.
Islam
Main articles: Islamic cosmology and Sufi Cosmology
Islam preaches that God, or Allah, created the universe, including Earth’s physical environment and human beings. The highest goal is to visualize the cosmos as a book of symbols for meditation and contemplation for spiritual upliftment or as a prison from which the human soul must escape to attain true freedom in the spiritual journey to God. Islam elaborates on cosmology in many instances. A modern English translation of the Quran describes the creation of the universe as follows:”We have built the heaven with might, and We are Steadily Expanding it.”51:47
Earlier English translations like for example Ahmed Ali, The Noble Qur’an, Pickthal, Shakir and Yusuf Ali never specify the expansion as a process that is still going on so it seems to be an addition after the expansion of the universe became a generally accepted scientific fact.
Below here there are some other citations from the Quran on cosmology.
“Do not the Unbelievers see that the heavens and the earth were joined together (as one unit of creation), before we clove them asunder? We made from water every living thing. Will they not then believe?” 21:30 Yusuf Ali translation
“The Day that We roll up the heavens like a scroll rolled up for books (completed),- even as We produced the first creation, so shall We produce a new one: a promise We have undertaken: truly shall We fulfil it.” 21:104 Yusuf Ali translation
Jainism
Main article: Jain cosmology
Jain cosmology considers the loka, or universe, as an uncreated entity, existing since infinity, having no beginning or an end.
Jain textsdescribe the shape of the universe as similar to a man standing with legs apart and arm resting on his waist. This Universe, according to Jainism, is narrow at the top, broad at the middle and once again becomes broad at the bottom.
Mahapura’a of Acarya Jinasena is famous for this quote: “Some foolish men declare that a creator made the world. The doctrine that the world was created is ill advised and should be rejected. If God created the world, where was he before the creation? If you say he was transcendent then and needed no support, where is he now? How could God have made this world without any raw material? If you say that he made this first, and then the world, you are faced with an endless regression.”
Taoism
Main articles: Chinese creation myth and Tian
The cosmology of Taoism beliefs is a complex mixture of different beliefs. There is a “primordial universe” Wuji (philosophy), and Hongjun Laozu, water or qi.
It transformed into Taiji and multiplied into everything.
The Pangu legend tells a formless chaos coalesced into acosmic egg. Pangu emerged (or woke up) and separated Yin from Yang with a swing of his giant axe, creating the Earth (murky Yin) and theSky (clear Yang). To keep them separated, Pangu stood between them and pushed up the Sky. After Pangu died, he became everything.
See also
Bahá’í cosmology
Raelian cosmology
Zoroastrian cosmology
References:
^ CCC Search Result – Paragraph # 291
^ LDS Church (1995) (“Each [human] is a beloved spirit son or daughter of heavenly parents.”); LDS Church (1997, p. 11) (“Man, as a spirit, was begotten and born of heavenly parents, and reared to maturity in the eternal mansions of the Father.”).
^ http://www.oxfordislamicstudies.com/article/opr/t125/e459?_hi=10&_pos=2
^ “This universe is not created nor sustained by anyone; It is self sustaining, without any base or support” “Nishpaadito Na Kenaapi Na Dhritah Kenachichch Sah Swayamsiddho Niradhaaro Gagane Kimtvavasthitah” [Yogasastra of Acarya Hemacandra 4.106] Tr by Dr. A. S. Gopani
^ See Hemacandras description of universe in Yogasastra “…Think of this loka as similar to man standing akimbo…”4.103-6
See also
Biblical cosmology
Brahma
Cosmogony
Cosmological argument
Cosmology
Dating Creation
Day-Age Creationism
Deism Existence
Gap Creationism
Great Spirit
Intelligent designer
Jainism and non-creationism
Old Earth Creationism
Tzimtzum
Young Earth Creationism
Alpha and Omega
The term Alpha and Omega comes from the phrase “I am the alpha and the omega” (Koiné Greek: an appellation of Jesus in the Book of Revelation (verses 1:8, 21:6, and 22:13). In the Book of Revelation, it reads “I am the Alpha and Omega, the first and the last.
”The first part of this phrase (“I am the Alpha and Omega”) is first found in Chapter 1 verse 8, and is found in every manuscript of Revelation that has 1v8. Several later manuscripts repeat “I am the Alpha and Omega” in 1v11 too, but it does not receive support here from most of the oldest manuscripts, including the Alexandrine, Sinaitic, and Codex Ephraemi Rescriptus.
It is, therefore, omitted in some modern translations. Scholar Robert Young stated, with regards to “I am the Alpha and Omega” in 1v11, that the “oldest MSS. omit” it.
Its meaning is found in the fact that alpha and omega are respectively the first and last letters of the Classical (Ionic) Greek alphabet. This would be similar to referring to someone in English as the “A and Z”. Thus, twice when the title appears it is further clarified with the additional title “the beginning and the end” (21:6, 22:13).
Though many commentators and dictionaries apply this title both to God and to Christ, some secular sources argue otherwise.
Barnes’ Notes on the New Testament (1974) claims: “It cannot be absolutely certain that the writer meant to refer to the Lord Jesus specifically here… There is no real incongruity in supposing, also, that the writer here meant to refer to God as such.” However, most Christian denominations teach that it does apply to Jesus and God as they are one; Revelation Chapter 22 has Jesus himself saying the words: “I am the Alpha and Omega, the First and the Last”.
Therefore the letters Alpha and Omega in juxtaposition are often used as a Christian visual symbol (see examples). The letters were shown hanging from the arms of the cross in Early Christian art, and some crosses in precious metal have formed letters hanging in this way. In fact, despite always being in Greek, the letters became more common in Western than Eastern Orthodox Christian art. They are often shown to the left and right of Christ’s head, sometimes within his halo, where they take the place of the christogram used in Orthodox art.
This symbol was suggested by the Apocalypse, where many believe that Christ, as well as the Father, is “the First and the Last” (ii, 8); “the Alpha and Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end” (cf., xxii, 13; i, 8). Clement of Alexandria (2nd century, philosopher and commentator on pagan and Christian information) speaks of the Word as “the Alpha and the Omega of Whom alone the end becomes beginning, and ends again at the original beginning without any break” (Stromata, IV, 25). Tertullian (lawyer, theologian) also alludes to Christ as the Alpha and Omega (De Monogamiâ, v), and from Prudentius (Cathemer., ix, 10) we learn that in the fourth century the interpretation of the apocalyptic letters was still the same: “Alpha et Omega cognominatus, ipse fons et clausula, Omnium quae sunt, fuerunt, quaeque post futura sunt.” It was, however, in the monuments of early Christianity that the symbolic Alpha and Omega had their greatest vogue.
This phrase is interpreted by many Christians to mean that Jesus existed from eternity (as the second person of the Trinity), and will exist eternally. Alpha and omega are the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet, signifying that God is “the beginning and the end,” or eternal. The symbols were used in early Christianity and appear in the Roman catacombs.
The Alpha and Omega symbols are often combined with the cross, chi rho, or other Christian symbols.
Judaism
In Rabbinic literature, the word emet (meaning “truth”), one of the names of God in Judaism, has been interpreted as consisting of the first, middle and final letters of the Hebrew alphabet.
Islam
The Qur’an gives al’Awwal meaning “The First” and al’Akhir , meaning “The Last” as two of the names of God: 57:3.
Babylonian cosmology
Babylonian literature (1900-1200 BC) Plurality of heavens and earths The Earth and Heavens are a “spatial whole, even one of round shape,” revolving around the “cult-place of the deity”[clarification needed] rather than the Earth,[6] and there is a plurality of heavens and earths.
Brahmanda (Hindu Cosmology)
Hindu Rigveda(1700–1100 BC) Cyclical or oscillating, Infinite in time The universe sustains for around 311,040,000,000,000 years, or 100 Years of Brahma. There is a smaller period of unmanifestation in around 4 billion years, that is, one Day of Brahma. The universe cycles between expansion and total collapse. After one cycle of the life of Brahma another universe follows for infinity, each of which exists for a time period of 311 trillion 40 billion years. It also speaks of an infinite number of universes at one given point of time. The Universe expanded from a concentrated form, a point called a Bindu.
The universe, as a living entity, is bound to the perpetual cycle of birth, death, and rebirth.
Atomist universe Anaxagoras (500-428 BC) & later
Epicurus Infinite in extent –
The universe contains only two things: an infinite number of tiny seeds, or atoms, and the void of infinite extent. All atoms are made of the same substance, but differ in size and shape. Objects are formed from atom aggregations and decay back into atoms. Incorporates Leucippus’ principle of causality: “nothing happens at random; everything happens out of reason and necessity.” The universe was not ruled by gods.
Pythagorean universe Philolaus (d. 390 BC) Existence of a “Central Fire” at the center of the Universe. At the center of the Universe is a central fire, around which the Earth, Sun, Moon andplanets revolve uniformly. The Sun revolves around the central fire once a year, the stars are immobile. The earth in its motion maintains the same hidden face towards the central fire, hence it is never seen. This is the first known non-geocentric model of the Universe.[8]
Stoic universe Stoics(300 BC – 200 AD) Island universe The Cosmos is finite and surrounded by an infinite void. It is in a state of flux, as it pulsates in size and periodically passes through upheavals and conflagrations.
Aristotelian universe Aristotle (384-322 BC) Geocentric, static, steady state, finite extent, infinite time Spherical earth is surrounded by concentric celestial spheres. Universe exists unchanged throughout eternity. Contains a fifth element, called aether (later known as quintessence), added to the four Classical elements.
Aristarchean universe Aristarchus(circa 280 BC) Heliocentric Earth rotates daily on its axis and revolves annually about the sun in a circular orbit. Sphere of fixed stars is centered about the sun.
Seleucian universe Seleucus of Seleucia(circa 190 BC) Heliocentric Modifications to the Aristarchean universe, with the inclusion of the tide phenomenon to explain heliocentrism.
Ptolemaic model (based on Aristotelian universe) Ptolemy(2nd century AD) Geocentric Universe orbits about a stationary Earth. Planets move in circular epicycles, each having a center that moved in a larger circular orbit (called an eccentric or a deferent) around a center-point near the Earth. The use of equants added another level of complexity and allowed astronomers to predict the positions of the planets. The most successful universe model of all time, using the criterion of longevity. Almagest (the Great System).
Aryabhatan model Aryabhata (499) Geocentric or Heliocentric The Earth rotates and the planets move in elliptical orbits, possibly around either the Earth or the Sun. It is uncertain whether the model is geocentric or heliocentric due to planetary orbits given with respect to both the Earth and the Sun.
Abrahamic universe Medieval philosophers (500-1200) Finite in time A universe that is finite in time and has a beginning is proposed by the Christian philosopher, John Philoponus, who argues against the ancient Greek notion of an infinite past. Logical arguments supporting a finite universe are developed by the early Muslim philosopher Alkindus, the Jewish philosopher Saadia Gaon and the Muslim theologianAlgazel.
Multiversal cosmology Fakhr al-Din al-Razi (1149–1209) Multiverse, multiple worlds & universes There exists an infinite outer space beyond the known world, and God has the power to fill the vacuum with an infinite number of universes.
Maragha models Maragha school(1259–1528) Geocentric Various modifications to Ptolemaic model and Aristotelian universe, including rejection ofequant and eccentrics at Maragheh observatory, and introduction of Tusi-couple by Al-Tusi. Alternative models later proposed, including the first accurate lunar model by Ibn al-Shatir, a model rejecting stationary Earth in favour of Earth’s rotation by Ali Kusçu, and planetary model incorporating “circular inertia” by Al-Birjandi.
Nilakanthan model Nilakantha Somayaji (1444–1544) Geocentric and Heliocentric A universe in which the planets orbit the Sun and the Sun orbits the Earth, similar to the later Tychonic system.
Copernican universe Nicolaus Copernicus (1543) Heliocentric The geocentric Maragha model of Ibn al-Shatir adapted to meet the requirements of the ancient heliocentric Aristarchean universe in his De revolutionibus orbium coelestium.
Tychonic system Tycho Brahe(1546–1601) Geocentric and Heliocentric A universe in which the planets orbit the Sun and the Sun orbits the Earth, similar to the earlier Nilakanthan model.
Static Newtonian Sir Isaac Newton(1642–1727) Static(evolving), steady state, infinite Every particle in the universe attracts every other particle. Matter on the large scale is uniformly distributed. Gravitationally balanced but unstable.
Cartesian Vortexuniverse René Descartes
17th Century Static (evolving), steady state, infinite A system of huge swirling whirlpools of aethereal or fine matter produces what we would call gravitational effects. His vacuum was not empty. All space was filled with matter that swirled around in large and small vortices.
Hierarchical universe Immanuel Kant,Johann Lambert
18th century Static (evolving), steady state, infinite Matter is clustered on ever larger scales of hierarchy. Matter is endlessly being recycled.
Einstein Universe with a cosmological constant
Albert Einstein1917 Static (nominally). Bounded (finite) “Matter without motion.” Contains uniformly distributed matter. Uniformly curved spherical space; based on Riemann’s hypersphere. Curvature is set equal to ?. In effect ? is equivalent to a repulsive force which counteracts gravity. Unstable.
De Sitter universe Willem de Sitter
1917 Expanding flat space.
Steady state. ? > 0 “Motion without matter.
” Only apparently static. Based on Einstein’s General Relativity. Space expands with constant acceleration. Scale factor (radius of universe) increases exponentially, i.e. constant inflation.
MacMillan universe William Duncan MacMillan 1920s Static &
steady state
New matter is created from radiation. Starlight is perpetually recycled into new matter particles.
Friedmann universe of spherical space Alexander Friedmann 1922 Spherical expanding space.
k= +1 ; no ? Positive curvature. Curvature constant k = +1
Expands then recollapses. Spatially closed (finite).
Friedmann universe of hyperbolic space Alexander Friedmann 1924 Hyperbolicexpanding space.
k= -1 ; no ? Negative curvature. Said to be infinite (but ambiguous). Unbounded. Expands forever.
Dirac large numbers hypothesis Paul Dirac 1930s Expanding
Demands a large variation in G, which decreases with time. Gravity weakens as universe evolves.
Friedmann zero-curvature, a.k.a. the Einstein-DeSitter universe Einstein & DeSitter 1932 Expanding flat space.
k= 0 ; ? = 0 Critical density Curvature constant k = 0. Said to be infinite (but ambiguous). ‘Unbounded cosmos of limited extent.’ Expands forever. ‘Simplest’ of all known universes. Named after but not considered by Friedmann. Has a deceleration term q =½ which means that its expansion rate slows down.
BIG BANG THEORY = Only One Theory!
The original Big Bang. a.k.a. Friedmann-Lemaître Model
Georges Lemaître1927-29 Expansion
? > 0 ? > |Gravity| ? is positive and has a magnitude greater than Gravity. Universe has initial high density state (‘primeval atom’). Followed by a two stage expansion. ? is used to destabilize the universe. (Lemaître is considered to be the father of the big bang model.)
Oscillating universe
(a.k.a. Friedmann-Einstein; was latter’s 1st choice after rejecting his own 1917 model) Favored by Friedmann
1920s Expanding and contracting in cycles Time is endless and beginningless; thus avoids the beginning-of-time paradox.
Perpetual cycles of big Bang followed by the big Crunch.
Eddington Arthur Eddington1930 First Static
then Expands Static Einstein 1917 universe with its instability disturbed into expansion mode; with relentless matter dilution becomes a DeSitter universe. ? dominates gravity.
Milne universe of kinematic relativity Edward Milne, 1933, 1935;
William H. McCrea, 1930s Kinematic expansion with NO space expansion Rejects general relativity and the expanding space paradigm. Gravity not included as initial assumption. Obeys cosmological principle & rules of special relativity. The Milne expanding universe consists of a finite spherical cloud of particles (or galaxies) that expands WITHIN flat space which is infinite and otherwise empty. It has a center and a cosmic edge (the surface of the particle cloud) which expands at light speed. His explanation of gravity was elaborate and unconvincing. For instance, his universe has an infinite number of particles, hence infinite mass, within a finite cosmic volume.
Friedmann-Lemaître-Robertson-Walker class of models Howard Robertson, Arthur Walker, 1935 Uniformly expanding Class of universes that are homogenous and isotropic. Spacetime separates into uniformly curved space and cosmic time common to all co-moving observers. The formulation system is now known as the FLRW or Robertson-Walker metrics of cosmic time and curved space.
Steady-stateexpanding (Bondi & Gold) Herman Bondi,Thomas Gold1948 Expanding, steady state, infinite Matter creation rate maintains constant density. Continuous creation out of nothing from nowhere. Exponential expansion.
Deceleration term q = -1.
Steady-state expanding (Hoyle) Fred Hoyle 1948 Expanding, steady state; but unstable Matter creation rate maintains constant density. But since matter creation rate must be exactly balanced with the space expansion rate the system is unstable.
Ambiplasma Hannes Alfvén1965 Oskar Klein Cellular universe, expanding by means of matter-antimatter annihilation Based on the concept of plasma cosmology. The universe is viewed as meta-galaxiesdivided by double layers —hence its bubble-like nature. Other universes are formed from other bubbles. Ongoing cosmic matter-antimatter annihilations keep the bubbles separated and moving apart preventing them from interacting.
Brans-Dicke Carl H. Brans;Robert H. Dicke Expanding Based on Mach’s principle. G varies with time as universe expands. “But nobody is quite sure what Mach’s principle actually means.”
Cosmic inflation Alan Guth 1980 Big Bang with modification to solve horizon problem and flatness problem. Based on the concept of hot inflation. The universe is viewed as a multiple quantum flux —hence its bubble-like nature. Other universes are formed from other bubbles. Ongoing cosmic expansion kept the bubbles separated and moving apart preventing them from interacting.
MULTIVERSE THEORY
Eternal Inflation (a multiple universe model) Andreï Linde 1983 Big Bang with cosmic inflation
A multiverse, based on the concept of cold inflation, in which inflationary events occur at random each with independent initial conditions; some expand into bubble universes supposedly like our entire cosmos. Bubbles nucleate in a spacetime foam.
Physical cosmology, as a branch of astronomy, is the study of the largest-scale structures and dynamics of the universe and is concerned with fundamental questions about its formation and evolution.
For most of human history, it was a branch of metaphysics and religion. Cosmology as a science originated with the Copernican principle, which implies that celestial bodies obey identical physical laws to those on Earth, and Newtonian mechanics, which first allowed us to understand those laws.
Physical cosmology, as it is now understood, began with the twentieth century development ofAlbert Einstein’s general theory of relativity and better astronomical observations of extremely distant objects.
These advances made it possible to speculate about the origin of the universe, and allowed scientists to establish the Big Bang Theory as the leading cosmological model. Some researchers still advocate a handful of alternative cosmologies; however, cosmologists generally agree that the Big Bang theory best explains observations.
Cosmology draws heavily on the work of many disparate areas of research in physics.
Areas relevant to cosmology include particle physics experiments and theory, including string theory,astrophysics, general relativity, and plasma physics. Thus, cosmology unites the physics of the largest structures in the universe with the physics of the smallest structures in the universe.
Universal Disciplines
In recent times, physics and astrophysics have played a central role in shaping the understanding of the universe through scientific observation and experiment. What is known as physical cosmology shaped through both mathematics and observation the analysis of the whole universe. It is generally understood to begin with the Big Bang combined with cosmic inflation – an expansion of space from which the universe is thought to have emerged ~13.7±0.2×109 (roughly 13.5-13.9 billion) years ago.
Physical cosmologists propose that the history of the universe has been governed entirely by physical laws. Such theories of an impersonal universe governed by physical laws were first proposed by Roger Bacon.
Between the domains of religion and science, stands the philosophical perspective of metaphysical cosmology. This ancient field of study seeks to draw intuitive conclusions about the nature of the universe, man, a supernatural creator and/or their relationships based on the extension of some set of presumed facts borrowed from spiritual experience and/or observation.
Metaphysical Cosmology
Metaphysical cosmology has also been described as the placing of man in the universe in relationship to all other entities. This is exampled by the observation made by Marcus Aurelius of a man’s place in that relationship: “He who does not know what the world is does not know where he is, and he who does not know for what purpose the world exists, does not know who he is, nor what the world is.”
Cosmology is often an important aspect of the creation myths of religions that seek to explain the existence and nature of reality. In some cases, views about the creation (cosmogony) and destruction (eschatology) of the universe play a central role in shaping a framework of religious cosmology for understanding humanity’s role in the universe.
A more contemporary distinction between religion and philosophy, esoteric cosmology is distinguished from religion in its less tradition-bound construction and reliance on modern “intellectual understanding” rather than faith, and from philosophy in its emphasis on spirituality as a formative concept.
History of Physical Cosmology.
See also: Timeline of cosmology and List of cosmologists
Modern cosmology developed along tandem tracks of theory and observation. In 1915, Albert Einstein formulated his theory of general relativity, which provided a unified description of gravity as a geometric property of space and time. At the time, physicists believed in a perfectly static universe that had no beginning or end. Einstein added a cosmological constant to his theory in order to force it to model a static universe containing matter.
This so-called Einstein universe is, however, unstable; it will eventually start expanding or contracting. The cosmological solutions of general relativity were found by Alexander Friedmann, whose equations describe the Friedmann-Lemaître-Robertson-Walker universe, which may expand or contract.
In the 1910s, Vesto Slipher (and later Carl Wilhelm Wirtz) interpreted the red shift of spiral nebulae as a Doppler shift that indicated they were receding from Earth. However, it is difficult to determine the distance to astronomical objects. One way is to compare the physical size of an object to its angular size, but a physical size must be assumed to do this. Another method is to measure the brightness of an object and assume an intrinsic luminosity, from which the distance may be determined using the inverse square law. Due to the difficulty of using these methods, they did not realize that the nebulae were actually galaxies outside our own Milky Way, nor did they speculate about the cosmological implications. In 1927, the Belgian Roman Catholic priest Georges Lemaître independently derived the Friedmann-Lemaître-Robertson-Walker equations and proposed, on the basis of the recession of spiral nebulae, that the universe began with the “explosion” of a “primeval atom”—which was later called the Big Bang. In 1929, Edwin Hubble provided an observational basis for Lemaître’s theory. Hubble showed that the spiral nebulae were galaxies by determining their distances using measurements of the brightness of Cepheid variable stars. He discovered a relationship between the redshift of a galaxy and its distance. He interpreted this as evidence that the galaxies are receding from Earth in every direction at speeds directly proportional to their distance. This fact is now known as Hubble’s law, though the numerical factor Hubble found relating recessional velocity and distance was off by a factor of ten, due to not knowing at the time about different types of Cepheid variables.
Given the cosmological principle, Hubble’s law suggested that the universe was expanding. There were two primary explanations put forth for the expansion of the universe. One was Lemaître’s Big Bang theory, advocated and developed by George Gamow. The other possibility wasFred Hoyle’s steady state model in which new matter would be created as the galaxies moved away from each other. In this model, the universe is roughly the same at any point in time.
For a number of years the support for these theories was evenly divided. However, the observational evidence began to support the idea that the universe evolved from a hot dense state. The discovery of the cosmic microwave background in 1965 lent strong support to the Big Bang model, and since the precise measurements of the cosmic microwave background by the Cosmic Background Explorer in the early 1990s, few cosmologists have seriously proposed other theories of the origin and evolution of the cosmos. One consequence of this is that in standard general relativity, the universe began with a singularity, as demonstrated by Stephen Hawking and Roger Penrose in the 1960s.
Light elements, primarily hydrogen and helium, were created in the Big Bang.
These light elements were spread too fast and too thinly in the Big Bang process (see nucleosynthesis) to form the most stable medium-sized atomic nuclei, like iron and nickel. This fact allows for later energy release, as such intermediate-sized elements are formed in our era. The formation of such atoms powers the steady energy-releasing reactions in stars, and also contributes to sudden energy releases, such as in novae. Gravitational collapse of matter into black holes is also thought to power the most energetic processes, generally seen at the centers of galaxies (see quasars and in general active galaxies).
Cosmologists are still unable to explain all cosmological phenomena purely on the basis of known conventional forms of energy, for example those related to the accelerating expansion of the universe, and therefore invoke a yet unexplored form of energy called dark energy to account for certain cosmological observations. One hypothesis is that dark energy is the energy of virtual particles (which mathematically must exist in vacuum due to the uncertainty principle).
There is no unambiguous way to define the total energy of the universe in the current best theory of gravity, general relativity. As a result it remains controversial whether one can meaningfully say that total energy is conserved in an expanding universe. For instance, each photonthat travels through intergalactic space loses energy due to the redshift effect.
This energy is not obviously transferred to any other system, so seems to be permanently lost.
Nevertheless some cosmologists insist that energy is conserved in some sense.
Thermodynamics of the universe is a field of study to explore which form of energy dominates the cosmos – relativistic particles which are referred to as radiation, or non-relativistic particles which are referred to as matter. The former are particles whose rest mass is zero or negligible compared to their energy, and therefore move at the speed of light or very close to it; the latter are particles whose kinetic energy is much lower than their rest mass and therefore move much slower than the speed of light.
As the universe expands, both matter and radiation in it become diluted.
However, the universe also cools down, meaning that the average energy per particle is getting smaller with time.
Therefore the radiation becomes weaker, and dilutes faster than matter. Thus with the expansion of the universe radiation becomes less dominant than matter. In the very early universe radiation dictates the rate of deceleration of the universe’s expansion, and the universe is said to be ‘radiation dominated’. At later times, when the average energy per photon is roughly 10 eV and lower, matter dictates the rate of deceleration and the universe is said to be ‘matter dominated’. The intermediate case is not treated well analytically. As the expansion of the universe continues, matter dilutes even further and the cosmological constant becomes dominant, leading to an acceleration in the universe’s expansion.
History of the Universe
See also: Timeline of the Big Bang
The history of the universe is a central issue in cosmology. The history of the universe is divided into different periods called epochs, according to the dominant forces and processes in each period. The standard cosmological model is known as the CDM model.
Equations of motion
Main article: Friedmann-Lemaître-Robertson-Walker metric
The equations of motion governing the universe as a whole are derived from general relativity with a small, positive cosmological constant.
The solution is an expanding universe; due to this expansion the radiation and matter in the universe are cooled down and become diluted. At first, the expansion is slowed down by gravitation due to the radiation and matter content of the universe. However, as these become diluted, the cosmological constant becomes more dominant and the expansion of the universe starts to accelerate rather than decelerate. In our universe this has already happened, billions of years ago.
Particle physics in cosmology
Main article: Particle physics in cosmology
Particle physics is important to the behavior of the early universe, since the early universe was so hot that the average energy density was very high. Because of this, scattering processes and decay of unstable particles are important in cosmology.
As a rule of thumb, a scattering or a decay process is cosmologically important in a certain cosmological epoch if the time scale describing that process is smaller or comparable to the time scale of the expansion of the universe, which is
1 / H with
H being the Hubble constant at that time. This is roughly equal to the age of the universe at that time.
Timeline of the Big Bang
Main article: Timeline of the Big Bang
Observations suggest that the universe began around 13.7 billion years ago. Since then, the evolution of the universe has passed through three phases. The very early universe, which is still poorly understood, was the split second in which the universe was so hot that particles had energies higher than those currently accessible in particle accelerators on Earth. Therefore, while the basic features of this epoch have been worked out in the Big Bang theory, the details are largely based on educated guesses. Following this, in the early universe, the evolution of the universe proceeded according to known high energy physics. This is when the first protons, electrons and neutrons formed, then nuclei and finally atoms. With the formation of neutral hydrogen, the cosmic microwave background was emitted. Finally, the epoch of structure formation began, when matter started to aggregate into the first stars and quasars, and ultimately galaxies, clusters of galaxies and superclusters formed. The future of the universe is not yet firmly known, but according to the CDM model it will continue expanding forever.
Areas of study
Below, some of the most active areas of inquiry in cosmology are described, in roughly chronological order. This does not include all of the Big Bang cosmology, which is presented in Timeline of the Big Bang.
The very early universe
While the early, hot universe appears to be well explained by the Big Bang from roughly 10-33 seconds onwards, there are several problems. One is that there is no compelling reason, using current particle physics, to expect the universe to be flat, homogeneous and isotropic (see the cosmological principle). Moreover, grand unified theories of particle physics suggest that there should be magnetic monopoles in the universe, which have not been found. These problems are resolved by a brief period of cosmic inflation, which drives the universe to flatness, smoothes out anisotropies and inhomogeneities to the observed level, and exponentially dilutes the monopoles. The physical model behind cosmic inflation is extremely simple, however it has not yet been confirmed by particle physics, and there are difficult problems reconciling inflation and quantum field theory.
Some cosmologists think that string theory and brane cosmology will provide an alternative to inflation.
Another major problem in cosmology is what caused the universe to contain more particles than antiparticles. Cosmologists can observationally deduce that the universe is not split into regions of matter and antimatter. If it were, there would be X-rays and gamma raysproduced as a result of annihilation, but this is not observed. This problem is called the baryon asymmetry, and the theory to describe the resolution is called baryogenesis. The theory of baryogenesis was worked out by Andrei Sakharov in 1967, and requires a violation of the particle physics symmetry, called CP-symmetry, between matter and antimatter. Particle accelerators, however, measure too small a violation of CP-symmetry to account for the baryon asymmetry. Cosmologists and particle physicists are trying to find additional violations of the CP-symmetry in the early universe that might account for the baryon asymmetry.
Both the problems of baryogenesis and cosmic inflation are very closely related to particle physics, and their resolution might come from high energy theory and experiment, rather than through observations of the universe.
Big bang nucleosynthesis
Main article: Big bang nucleosynthesis
Big Bang Nucleosynthesis is the theory of the formation of the elements in the early universe. It finished when the universe was about three minutes old and its temperature dropped below that at which nuclear fusion could occur. Big Bang nucleosynthesis had a brief period during which it could operate, so only the very lightest elements were produced. Starting from hydrogen ions (protons), it principally produceddeuterium, helium-4 and lithium. Other elements were produced in only trace abundances.
The basic theory of nucleosynthesis was developed in 1948 by George Gamow, Ralph Asher Alpher and Robert Herman. It was used for many years as a probe of physics at the time of the Big Bang, as the theory of Big Bang nucleosynthesis connects the abundances of primordial light elements with the features of the early universe. Specifically, it can be used to test the equivalence principle, to probe dark matter, and test neutrino physics. Some cosmologists have proposed that Big Bang nucleosynthesis suggests there is a fourth “sterile” species of neutrino.
Cosmic microwave background
Main article: Cosmic microwave background
The cosmic microwave background is radiation left over from decoupling after the epoch of recombination when neutral atoms first formed. At this point, radiation produced in the Big Bang stopped Thomson scattering from charged ions. The radiation, first observed in 1965 by Arno Penzias and Robert Woodrow Wilson, has a perfect thermal black-body spectrum. It has a temperature of 2.7 kelvins today and is isotropic to one part in 105. Cosmological perturbation theory, which describes the evolution of slight inhomogeneities in the early universe, has allowed cosmologists to precisely calculate the angular power spectrum of the radiation, and it has been measured by the recent satellite experiments (COBE and WMAP) and many ground and balloon-based experiments (such as Degree Angular Scale Interferometer, Cosmic Background Imager, and Boomerang). One of the goals of these efforts is to measure the basic parameters of the Lambda-CDM model with increasing accuracy, as well as to test the predictions of the Big Bang model and look for new physics. The recent measurements made by WMAP, for example, have placed limits on the neutrino masses.
Newer experiments, such as QUIET and the Atacama Cosmology Telescope, are trying to measure the polarization of the cosmic microwave background. These measurements are expected to provide further confirmation of the theory as well as information about cosmic inflation, and the so-called secondary anisotropies, such as the Sunyaev-Zel’dovich effect and Sachs-Wolfe effect, which are caused by interaction between galaxies and clusters with the cosmic microwave background.
Formation and evolution of large-scale structure
Main articles: Large-scale structure of the cosmos, Structure formation, and Galaxy formation and evolution
Understanding the formation and evolution of the largest and earliest structures (i.e., quasars, galaxies, clusters and superclusters) is one of the largest efforts in cosmology. Cosmologists study a model of hierarchical structure formation in which structures form from the bottom up, with smaller objects forming first, while the largest objects, such as superclusters, are still assembling. One way to study structure in the universe is to survey the visible galaxies, in order to construct a three-dimensional picture of the galaxies in the universe and measure the matter power spectrum. This is the approach of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey and the 2dF Galaxy Redshift Survey.
Another tool for understanding structure formation is simulations, which cosmologists use to study the gravitational aggregation of matter in the universe, as it clusters into filaments, superclusters and voids.
Most simulations contain only non-baryonic cold dark matter, which should suffice to understand the universe on the largest scales, as there is much more dark matter in the universe than visible, baryonic matter. More advanced simulations are starting to include baryons and study the formation of individual galaxies.
Cosmologists study these simulations to see if they agree with the galaxy surveys, and to understand any discrepancy.
Other, complementary observations to measure the distribution of matter in the distant universe and to probe reionization include:
The Lyman alpha forest, which allows cosmologists to measure the distribution of neutral atomic hydrogen gas in the early universe, by measuring the absorption of light from distant quasars by the gas.
The 21 centimeter absorption line of neutral atomic hydrogen also provides a sensitive test of cosmology
Weak lensing, the distortion of a distant image by gravitational lensing due to dark matter.
These will help cosmologists settle the question of when and how structure formed in the universe.
Dark matter
Main article: Dark matter
Evidence from Big Bang nucleosynthesis, the cosmic microwave background and structure formation suggests that about 23% of the mass of the universe consists of non-baryonic dark matter, whereas only 4% consists of visible, baryonic matter. The gravitational effects of dark matter are well understood, as it behaves like a cold, non-radiative fluid that forms haloes around galaxies. Dark matter has never been detected in the laboratory, and the particle physics nature of dark matter remains completely unknown. Without observational constraints, there are a number of candidates, such as a stable supersymmetric particle, a weakly interacting massive particle, an axion, and a massive compact halo object. Alternatives to the dark matter hypothesis include a modification of gravity at small accelerations (MOND) or an effect from brane cosmology.
Dark energy
Main article: Dark energy
If the universe is flat, there must be an additional component making up 73% (in addition to the 23% dark matter and 4% baryons) of the energy density of the universe. This is called dark energy. In order not to interfere with Big Bang nucleosynthesis and the cosmic microwave background, it must not cluster in haloes like baryons and dark matter. There is strong observational evidence for dark energy, as the total energy density of the universe is known through constraints on the flatness of the universe, but the amount of clustering matter is tightly measured, and is much less than this. The case for dark energy was strengthened in 1999, when measurements demonstrated that the expansion of the universe has begun to gradually accelerate.
Apart from its density and its clustering properties, nothing is known about dark energy. Quantum field theory predicts a cosmological constant much like dark energy, but 120 orders of magnitude larger than that observed. Steven Weinberg and a number of string theorists (see string landscape) have used this as evidence for the anthropic principle, which suggests that the cosmological constant is so small because life (and thus physicists, to make observations) cannot exist in a universe with a large cosmological constant, but many people find this an unsatisfying explanation. Other possible explanations for dark energy include quintessence or a modification of gravity on the largest scales. The effect on cosmology of the dark energy that these models describe is given by the dark energy’s equation of state, which varies depending upon the theory. The nature of dark energy is one of the most challenging problems in cosmology.
A better understanding of dark energy is likely to solve the problem of the ultimate fate of the universe. In the current cosmological epoch, the accelerated expansion due to dark energy is preventing structures larger than superclusters from forming. It is not known whether the acceleration will continue indefinitely, perhaps even increasing until a big rip, or whether it will eventually reverse.
Other areas of inquiry
Cosmologists also study:
Whether primordial black holes were formed in our universe, and what happened to them.
the GZK cutoff for high-energy cosmic rays, and whether it signals a failure of special relativity at high energies the equivalence principle, whether or not Einstein’s general theory of relativity is the correct theory of gravitation, and if the fundamental laws of physics are the same everywhere in the universe.
See also:
Physics portal
String cosmology
Physical ontology
List of cosmologists
References:
^ For an overview, see George FR Ellis (2006). “Issues in the Philosophy of Cosmology”. In Jeremy Butterfield & John Earman. Philosophy of Physics (Handbook of the Philosophy of Science) 3 volume set. North Holland. pp. 1183ff. arXiv:astro-ph/0602280. ISBN 0444515607.
^ Science 20 June 2003:Vol. 300. no. 5627, pp. 1914 – 1918 Throwing Light on Dark Energy, Robert P. Kirshner. Accessed December 2006
^ e.g. Liddle, A.. An Introduction to Modern Cosmology. Wiley. ISBN 0-470-84835-9. This argues cogently “Energy is always, always, always conserved.”
^ P. Ojeda and H. Rosu (Jun 2006). “Supersymmetry of FRW barotropic cosmologies”. Internat. J. Theoret. Phys. (Springer) 45: 1191–1196.arXiv:gr-qc/0510004. Bibcode 2006IJTP…45.1152R. doi:10.1007/s10773-006-9123-2.
Further reading
Popular
Brian Greene (2005). The Fabric of the Cosmos. Penguin Books Ltd. ISBN 0-14-101111-4.
Alan Guth (1997). The Inflationary Universe: The Quest for a New Theory of Cosmic Origins. Random House. ISBN 0-224-04448-6.
Hawking, Stephen W. (1988). A Brief History of Time: From the Big Bang to Black Holes. Bantam Books, Inc. ISBN 0-553-38016-8.
Hawking, Stephen W. (2001). The Universe in a Nutshell. Bantam Books, Inc. ISBN 0-553-80202-X.
Simon Singh (2005). Big Bang: the origins of the universe. Fourth Estate. ISBN 0-00-716221-9.
Steven Weinberg (1993; 1978). The First Three Minutes. Basic Books. ISBN 0-465-02437-8.
clic model Paul Steinhardt;Neil Turok 2002 Expanding and contracting in cycles; M theory. Two parallel orbifold planes or M-branes collide periodically in a higher dimensional space. With quintessence or dark energy
Cyclic model Lauris Baum;Paul Frampton 2007 Solution ofTolman’s entropy problem Phantom dark energy fragments universe into large number of disconnected patches. Our patch contracts containing only dark energy with zero entropy.
Table notes: the term “static” simply means not expanding and not contracting. Symbol G represents Newton’s gravitational constant; (Lambda) is the cosmological constant.
Physical cosmology
Main article: Physical cosmology
Physical cosmology is the branch of physics and astrophysics that deals with the study of the physical origins and evolution of the Universe. It also includes the study of the nature of the Universe on its very largest scales. In its earliest form it was what is now known as celestial mechanics, the study of the heavens.
The Greek philosophers Aristarchus of Samos, Aristotle and Ptolemy proposed different cosmological theories. In particular, the geocentric Ptolemaic system was the accepted theory to explain the motion of the heavens until Nicolaus Copernicus, and subsequently Johannes Kepler and Galileo Galilei proposed a heliocentric system in the 16th century. This is known as one of the most famous examples of epistemological rupture in physical cosmology.
With Isaac Newton and the 1687 publication of Principia Mathematica, the problem of the motion of the heavens was finally solved. Newton provided a physical mechanism for Kepler’s laws and his law of universal gravitation allowed the anomalies in previous systems, caused by gravitational interaction between the planets, to be resolved. A fundamental difference between Newton’s cosmology and those preceding it was the Copernican principle that the bodies on earth obey the same physical laws as all the celestial bodies.
This was a crucial philosophical advance in physical cosmology.
Modern scientific cosmology is usually considered to have begun in 1917 with Albert Einstein’s publication of his final modification of general relativity in the paper “Cosmological Considerations of the General Theory of Relativity,” (although this paper was not widely available outside of Germany until the end of World War I). General relativity prompted cosmogonists such as Willem de Sitter, Karl Schwarzschild and Arthur Eddington to explore the astronomical consequences of the theory, which enhanced the growing ability of astronomers to study very distant objects. Prior to this (and for some time afterwards), physicists assumed that the Universe was static and unchanging.
In parallel to this dynamic approach to cosmology, one long-standing debate about the structure of the cosmos was coming to a climax. Mount Wilson astronomer Harlow Shapley championed the model of a cosmos made up of the Milky Way star system only ; while Heber D. Curtis argued for the idea that spiral nebulae were star systems in their own right – island universes. This difference of ideas came to a climax with the organization of the Great Debate at the meeting of the (US) National Academy of Sciences in Washington on 26 April 1920. The resolution of this debate came with the detection of novae in the Andromeda galaxy by Edwin Hubble in 1923 and 1924. Their distance established spiral nebulae well beyond the edge of the Milky Way and has galaxies of their own.
Subsequent modeling of the universe explored the possibility that the cosmological constant introduced by Einstein in his 1917 paper may result in an expanding universe, depending on its value. Thus the big bang model was proposed by the Belgian priest Georges Lemaître in 1927 which was subsequently corroborated by Edwin Hubble’s discovery of the red shift in 1929 and later by the discovery of the cosmic microwave background radiation by Arno Penzias and Robert Woodrow Wilson in 1964.These findings were a first step to rule out some of many alternative physical cosmologies.
Recent observations made by the COBE and WMAP satellites observing this background radiation have effectively, in many scientists’ eyes, transformed cosmology from a highly speculative science into a predictive science, as these observations matched predictions made by a theory called Cosmic inflation, which is a modification of the standard big bang model. This has led many to refer to modern times as the “Golden age of cosmology
.”
(Source: Wikipedia)
Further reading
Popular
Brian Greene (2005). The Fabric of the Cosmos. Penguin Books Ltd. ISBN 0-14-101111-4.
Alan Guth (1997). The Inflationary Universe: The Quest for a New Theory of Cosmic Origins. Random House. ISBN 0-224-04448-6.
Hawking, Stephen W. (1988). A Brief History of Time: From the Big Bang to Black Holes. Bantam Books, Inc. ISBN 0-553-38016-8.
Hawking, Stephen W. (2001). The Universe in a Nutshell. Bantam Books, Inc. ISBN 0-553-80202-X.
Simon Singh (2005). Big Bang: the origins of the universe. Fourth Estate. ISBN 0-00-716221-9.
Steven Weinberg (1993; 1978). The First Three Minutes. Basic Books. ISBN 0-465-02437-8
See also:
Astronomy portal
Absolute time and space
Astrology
Astronomy
List of astrophysicists
Non-standard cosmology
Taiji
Tao
Mahapurana (Jainism)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Mahapurana is a major Jain text composed largely by Acharya Jinasena during the rule of Rashtrakuta ruler Amoghavarshaand completed by his pupil Gunabhadra in the 9th century CE. The section composed by Gunabhadra is called “Uttarapurana”. The completed and edited text was released by Lokasena, pupil of Gunabhadra in a celebration at Bankapura in the court of Vira-Bankeyarasa in 898 CE. The first 42 Parvans of this text were written by Jinasena, while remaining 34 Parvans were composed by Gunabhara.
This text gives an encyclopedic account of the Jain tradition.
—————-The text is widely quoted.
A widely used quote from Carl Sagan’s Cosmos, page 140 is:
“Some foolish men declare that Creator made the world. The doctrine that the world was created is ill-advised, and should be rejected. If god created the world, where was he before creation? If you say he was transcendent then, and needed no support, where is he now?”,
—————-
A number of Jain and non-Jain texts have been influenced by the Mahapurana. Mahapurana was the model for Saiva SiddhantaPeriyapuranam which gives biographies of the 63 individuals.
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