Doctrine & Covenants 93:23 has just made my afternoon terribly unproductive:
Ye were also in the beginning with the Father; that which is Spirit, even the Spirit of truth.
How am I supposed to get through today's study when I've started wondering what exactly it means to be "in the beginning" and, by extension, why anything exists at all?
I've wondered these things before, fortunately forgetting them quicky amidst much more pressing, mundane matters. I never really resolved the question, though. I know next to nothing about physics and cosmology, but it seems to me that I would have heard by now if they had fully developed a satisfacty explanation. Perhaps there was a Big Bang, but what went "bang" in the first place? Whether scientifically or spiritually based, ex nihilo creation is utterly nonsensical. I've gotten so confused by the matter that today it even occurred to me to think that, in fact, the universe doesn't exist.
That one thought pretty quickly showed me what was wrong with my reasoning: I've always assumed that existence was an anomaly amidst a prevalence of nothing, that there had to be a cause for it. Obviously, though, things do exist, and my premises are therefore wrong. There is a universe, and it doesn't matter why or how it got here because maybe it didn't. The beginning of existence is probably the most amazing thing that never happened.
That wasn't as overtly spiritual as may have been expected here, but really, all subjects, spiritual and scientific, are one in the end. this question, in particular, is exceedingly important to the understanding or even acceptance of spiritual concepts. At any rate, now I can finally return to everyday, rational thought.
Ye. I have gone through a very similar thing--if you really think about it, it is such a profound complexity. The entire question of existence and the universal beginning has tangled my brain for hours on end since I was a little girl. I was so wrapped into trying the tease the beginning out of my skein of thoughts that I finally had to stop as my brain was exhausted from the effort. :)In the end, thought won't reach the limits of the idea and I have finally resorted to the old standby of faith!
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