As far as I can deduct with my human brain, the universe has always been in existence. If there is a before we are not able to percieve it as and before is outside of the light cone of the Big Bang, therefore irrelevant.

Watch science channel How the Universe Works ,great show and anyone who watches should not be a believer.

I have to say gazing at the night sky, seeing the Milky Way in all her grandeur is one of the most therapeutic experiences anyone can contemplate. Religious people often say “If you don’t believe in God, how do you cope during the hard times?” I feel that by looking up at the heavens and reflecting on the vastness of the universe, it puts our meager earthly problems in perspective and suddenly, our troubles not that big a deal any more.

I find that looking up at the stars helps to keep my ego in check and it broadens my perspective of what reality is to the point that any religion is just too small and limiting to have any grounding in reality. Religious leaders don't want humankind expanding into the cosmos because it would cut off at the knees their whole relevance to humanity.

You are right - The Universe is infinite and eternal - always been here - extends forever.

How could there be an end or beginning to the universe? Anything beyond or before or after it is still something even if it is nog. I'm a bit skeptical about the multiverse but I don't know much about the theory. It is all amazing though.. to to comprehend in areal way sometimes.

I think religion made more sense before we advanced scientifically. People needed ways to explain things and deal with death. I find reality much more complicated and beautifully magical

The Universe is Really !! I mean Really Big,And Huge, And Full Of Stuff!

I agree.

I was reading about the expansion of the universe. Eventually cosmological event horizon will occur, whereby the speed of acceleration outwits the speed of light. The universe will become a very dark and lonely place.

It's then theoried a 'rip' might occur and I wonder if this rip could in fact activate another singularity creating another big bang. Does our observable universe exist within the remains of a previous universe?

There are no answers, for now. I still worry about my rent and electricity bill.. This is life.

It makes me wonder how many civilizations have found each other and answered the question most assuredly, are we alone?

I agree that no 'creator' is needed to explain "Life, the Universe & Everyg". (42) There are a number of current scenarios physicists & cosmologists have for the future of our particular Universe. Whether it will eventually end in 'heat death' or some other way, all speculation right now & may continue to be so. Will there or are there other Universes in the Cosmos? Again, speculation & interesting, but we really don't know now, & again may never. I think these are still questions worth pursuing, but I'll worry more about what we can know now & in the near future. How we can make the world a better place for all of us & all that lives on this Earth with us. To assure the free access to knowledge & education for all. To guarantee, as much as possible, health & safety for all. Yes, the vastness of the Universe, the wonder of the small of the quantum realm, the majesty & diversity of life. I am amazed & stand in awe & thirst for knowledge & understanding of it all! Even with the madness all around us, I'm glad to be alive right now, & able to ask these questions & know we can find some of the answers!

there are other children on a world we can't imagine looking at our pinpoint of light and wondering if we exist.

The sizes, ages and distances within the Universe are actually INCOMPREHENSIBLE! Everything looks so close when viewing a dark sky full of stars, but when you put it all into perspective and thing that just our Milky way Galaxy is over 100,000 feakin' light years across, you start to get the idea. And that every single star we can see with the naked eye is in just our little arm of the Milky Way... we need telescopes to see individual stars beyond that. And when you see a galaxy-packed image from a powerful scope like Hubble, you're looking back across billions of years and time-lines that almost certainly had advanced civilizations evolve and crash millions of times over, just within the field of that view looking back 10-billion years or more. Ya can go a little crazy thinking about it all.

I am with you re many big bangs, I believe they come and go all the time (in a cosmic timescale) and believe there is more than one "universe" quite often.