what was it before?

From the minds of children..........A question from one of my kids;-

If the universe was created by the 'big bang', then what was it before it exploded, and where was it ? What was it part of if anything at all ?

Suddenly I feel really, really small.

FATMAN

[edit on 1-8-2006 by fatman]

One of the newer theories that is getting more and more acceptance, is that the big bang is just one in an unending series of big bangs..

In another way, the universe explodes, expands, then contracts and reexplodes. And this repeats over and over... Personally, it makes way more sense to me than 100% energy goes boom and suddenly consists of matter & energy.

the point to teh question is "what came before"

no creation theory is really ever going to be complete. "what came before"will always be a viable question, and will always be used by people attempting to 'disprove' a creation theory. what came before god? what came before the karmic cycle? what happened before membranes?

Yes, but the biggest problem with the whole 'what came before' question is the fact that without space you cannot have time, and therefore 'before' becomes a meaningless concept. Plus we are conditioned by our lives to think about the 'before' automatically. We are linear creatures - we see the world in terms of our own life spans. (That's why when wrinkled old men say 'dagnabit I've been livin' under this here mountain for 60 years and she ain't erupted yet and she never will' it's a sure sign that something's going to happen.)
I seem to be very existential this morning. Must be lack of coffee.

no, you're right. the problem is that we're trying to answer questions outside the scope of our abilities.