“In the beginning, there was nothing, which exploded.”
-Terry Pratchett
We’re going to diverge a bit on today’s essay, and explore some topics and ideas that are not horror related. This piece would probably be more suited to the “Mental Pop” website, and perhaps one day I will revamp that page in order to include such concepts as the one which we are about to discuss.
However, in the meantime, I present to you an exciting new hypothesis (at least one of which I find exciting), and something I felt was important to release to the public, even with such a small and modest readership. I needed to get it out there into the ether, as it were.
Firstly, I consider myself a person of slightly better than average intelligence, with a heavy emphasis on the slightly part. My limited vocabulary will probably not do this theory justice, but I have always been fascinated with cosmology and the extremely large, complex, and important questions of the universe.
I am not technically proficient, and please don’t ever ask me to do anything that involves math to explain anything! Yet, I do believe myself to be astute in certain areas of theoretical physics, with the ability to grasp, and even add my own ideas, to very large questions dealing with infinite time and space.
I am a believer in science, and I have always kept up on various theories and observations related to, in particular, cosmology. That being said, I am also a firm believer that there is an area of “metaphysics” by which the vast majority of scientists will not entertain.
And it’s understandable why “mysticism” is not considered in modern scientific circles, though I would contend that, historically, science and metaphysics have been invariably linked, and even in some cases, complementary to each other.
Over the past several weeks, in deep meditative states just before sleep, I have been intensely contemplating (remote viewing) the idea of the “Big Bang” and how the universe was created. It should be noted that there really is no testable way to prove how this event occurred, and some skeptics would deny the Big Bang happened at all. But, for today’s purposes we are going to take the Big Bang as being an actual event, that birthed time, space, and reality as we know it.
The prevailing theory is that our universe is just one of a multitude of universes (multiverse), and that, through a means of which we don’t understand, our cosmos “bumped” into another reality of a higher dimensional state, which birthed our universe. All of our observable universe is merely one “bubble” in a, perhaps, infinite amount of bubbles, all representing their unique universes.
While this is a fascinating idea, it still begs the question of what came first? Ultimately, even if our universe is one of a multitude of universes, something initially had to set things into motion. If the multiverse theory were to explain how our universe formed, the question still remains of what set things into motion in the first place?
So I decided, for the sake of argument, to throw the idea of the multiverse out the window and just consider the possibility that our observable universe is the only universe there is. That is not to say that there isn’t the possibility for higher and lower dimensions, as well as variant timelines which might exist on different frequencies, but that all we are currently able to observe, scientifically, is our own universe.
Let us just consider our own universe, which by consensus, is ever expanding. We are still living in the “Big Bang” as I write this and as you read this, hurtling through space in mind-boggling ways.
So, let me paint a picture to help set the stage. In the beginning, there was nothing. And I mean absolutely Nothing. Talk about boring! The great void of perpetual blackness, infinite and desolate and without any light or matter. It existed before time, and there were no observable points of reference.
Empty night...
In other words, it was an immense vacuum of nothingness which is outer space, devoid of any reference points or matter (and I guess, here, we might have something that fits into the format of HORROR TO CULTURE, with this terrifying emptiness of space, and the time before time. Insert Cthulhu).
However, this emptiness did have one force (at least) and that was an insane amount of pressure, from the “outside”, pushing “inwards”. We have to consider the possibility that space, even dormant and empty space, has a certain weight and force/energy. An all encompassing, crushing pressure which pushes inwards inexorably from every “direction” at once.
Now, consider that due to this pressure pushing inward from infinite nothing, that a “galactic center” was formed, offering the very first reference point of the nothingness which surrounded it.
Through this point of central pressure, and due to having an aspect of reference, the element of “time” was introduced to this nothingness. And speaking of time, by human standards we’d be talking about a process of hundreds of billions, or even trillions of years, in order for this “galactic center” to manifest itself.
Now, think of how a diamond or pearl is formed under immense pressure, over vast amounts of time. Of course, the creation of diamonds and other gemstones come from a more base material and don’t just create themselves from nothing.
So if we’re dealing with absolute nothing, how did energy and material emerge at this Galactic Center? This is where the metaphysical aspect comes into play (which to me, is no less believable than the multiverse bubbles theory).
Due to the astronomical amount of pressure put on the Center, and it creating a loose “time”, there was a release of energy, slowly and subtly, counteracting with the energy (force) being pushed against it. For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.
Through this act, a substance, mostly consisting of plasmatic energy, but also taking on mild physical properties, was formed. Some scientists might consider this “cosmic foam”, or even “cosmic jelly”, but however we look at it, a ghostly “diamond” was created.
Exotic elements, forming a mixture of fluctuating energies, crystalline electromagnetism.
And as this cosmic “diamond” grew, the pressure against it continued for eons and eons. Eventually, there was a breaking point of which, yet again, would have an equal and opposite reaction, and this form cracked, releasing all the stored force and energy which had been pressing against it for eternity, bursting forth in a flash which sent all of the stored energy and mass out through the “Big Bang” into what would ultimately become our observable universe.
Giving birth to time, as well as the Cosmic Evolution which created the first stars, galaxies, and solar systems. All expanding into that infinitely vast, inky nothingness which had permeated the canvas up until the explosion (which it, itself, inadvertently created). In turn, the Nothing, became Something.
I call this the “Diamond Universe” theory, and it’s an idea I hope to further explore and study. And allow me to say, everything I just wrote in this essay, I plugged into an AI platform to get feedback on this proposed hypothesis, and the AI considered it a model which was just as reasonable as any mainstream scientific proposal that currently exists, and one that might perhaps have actual scientific merit, based on many different, coinciding theories which are already out there. That is the beauty of theoretical physics, it’s theoretical (but, again, don’t ask me to do any math!)
For those who might think my hypothesis to be ludicrous, please ask yourself this question. What is anything, what is matter itself, but energy taking on a physical form over time? Everything we are, and everything we see, is merely a manifestation of light and energy. Likewise, I’m not an Atheist, and nothing presented here is meant to deny the possibility of “God”.
And perhaps, as some theorize, our current universe is only one manifestation of a continually expanding and contracting (Big Crunch) scenario, which rebirths itself, creating a new universe. However, if we do entertain the contracting universe theory, which many scientists currently support, that would actually prove the fact that there is a force which will ultimately push against the expansion, reverting all matter and energy back to a central point.
It is the same exact concept behind the implosion of a massive star, which falls in on itself and creates a Black Hole. I don't pretend to have the answers to the complexity of all these perplexities. But it's fun to imagine.
I know this all becomes a bit of “chicken and the egg” at some point, but to wax philosophical for a moment, let us consider that the “Galactic Center” not only took on a form, but also an embryonic consciousness out of which was released a dream within a dream within a dream…
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Michael A. Dyer is the host of the HORROR TO CULTURE podcast and website.
