We have come to the end of our voyage. In the creation of something as complex as the Universe, we can only accept two possibilities: either the Universe created itself out of nothing and by sheer good fortune aided with a staggering amount of extraordinarily lucky coincidences set the stage for many wonderful things to take place in its scenario, things of which we bear witness and admiration every single day of our lives; or the Universe was actually the result of extremely careful planning on the part of some highly intelligent being capable of existing beyond the limitations of space-time itself in some other realm or dimension which we cannot even possibly fathom with our physical senses alone. If we take the first possibility, then nothing more need be said.
But if we take the second possibility, then we must accept the unavoidable conclusion that whoever could have been responsible for the creation of our Universe would be well worthy of our highest praises and admiration, and the wisdom exercised in the handling of the initial conditions at the moment of creation with which the Universe is now bearing his mark would be, for all practical purposes, boundless. He would be nothing less than the greatest mathematician we can think of, nothing less than the greatest chemist, the greatest physicist, and the greatest artisan we could ever imagine. With the start of the third millennium and all of the scientific discoveries we have already inherited from the second millennium, we are now barely beginning to grasp the enormous difficulties involved in actually bringing into reality a grand scenario that has allowed life forms with some type of limited intelligence such as ourselves to evolve.
For ages, religions throughout the world have told us that a careful planning did indeed take place before all that is known came into being. Mystics, sages and prophets have proclaimed the existence of such a being, who in turn they claim has come to them through some kind of revelation. Yet, in the past, we have often used against such notions a fully deterministic, materialistic point of view, shrouded in a blanket we call science, which in the past has rejected that possibility altogether. Now, our own discoveries are coming back to haunt us, after many scholars have realized that they have allowed their skepticism to drive them into a dead-end alley beyond which there is absolutely “nothing”, literally nothing, to the fullest extent of the word.
It is not in the current evolution of the Universe, it is not in its current state of affairs where we can expect to find the presence of a master creator, where we can expect to find his objective reality. It is in the initial conditions which were ready at the moment of the primordial explosion marking the path to be traveled, the same initial conditions which have set the route for the development of our home Universe, where we can expect to find the true originality of the work done by a master planner, where we can find his imprint. All else derives directly from those conditions. All else is sheer effect.
And if indeed we can read in those initial conditions the growing possibility for the existence of such a master planner, having discarded all other possibilities, then we must consider the possibility that the Universe may not be an end in itself but just a temporary means to achieve another purpose, another end. With the Universe continually expanding and with the second law of thermodynamics constantly at work, the “thermal death” of the Universe is something that will inevitably take place (unless there is another surprise yet in store for us!), not within our lifetimes, not in a long time to come, but it will almost certainly take place. It stands to reason that a master planner who was intelligent enough and capable enough of setting correctly everything into motion some ten to fifteen billion years ago in the manner we have already seen may still have some other important purpose yet to be accomplished.
As to what that purpose might be, this book will now come to an end, to give the reader an opportunity to continue the quest on his own.
