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In reply to the discussion: When you die, there will be nobody waiting to greet you [View all]Cal33
(7,018 posts)compare the physical with the non-physical any more than you can compare
apples with oranges.
By the way, some physicists are beginning to toy with the idea that since
sub-atomic particles seem to have some properties ascribed to the
non-physical, maybe apples and oranges can be compared some time
in the future? Could sub-atomic particles be a bridge to future understanding
of what we can't grasp now?
Let me try to make it a bit clearer with another example: Many scientists
believe that space and time began in our universe with the Big Bang. Through
mathematical formulas they are able to trace TIME back to 0.000 many zeroes 1 part of a
second, but they couldn't reach the exact time of the Big Bang itself. At that time,
this whole universe of ours was roughly the size of an apple!
And SPACE itself is still expanding at roughly the speed of light in all directions.
Most of us already think of space as being made of nothing. We use the
common phrase "empty space." So, what is space expanding into? What's
on the other side of the space of our universe as we know it?
To people in our universe TIME also began with the Big Bang. What was there
before the Big Bang?
At this moment, all one can try to say is the nebulous "There was NO TIME and
NO SPACE." With our human minds, who can imagine what "no time" and "no
space" really mean? Our human bodies are part of the physical world, and so
are our brains. It's tough to try to understand what is of a dimension different
from what we know and are used to -- to say the least.