Delete all of the thoughts, posts, arguments, ideas and words that came before this post.
That is what I have to do to mentally prepare myself to answer this question.
I need a clean slate.
Though I hope my answer is not "lacking" or "unsatisfactory" to some, I cannot control how my words are received, I can only control how they are formed and sent. I do not enjoy seeing people becoming armchair philosophers, armchair scientists, armchair quarterbacks or armchair theologians when answering this question. This question of "How did the Universe begin" or "what happened at the beginning of time" or "How did everything that is come to be" is a question that is being answered by people; people of all types with all types of flaws, strengths, biases and weaknesses.
Keeping all of that in mind, my answer to the question is this: Gathering, collecting and acquiring all of the information we possibly can about the origin of the universe then analyzing, reanalyzing, cross-examining all of that information may lead us back to where we began-without a "correct" answer. In other words, the universe or multiverse or string of verses or whatever this vast or small or perfectly sized expanse of things that both exist and do not exist may not just be stranger and more mysterious than we imagined, but it may be more strange and more mysterious than we can imagine. To put it simply; the answers we find may not be the ones we need but at some point we may realize they were the ones we were looking for all along and they are enough for us to give up on our previously trivial pursuits and endeavors.
That is what I have to do to mentally prepare myself to answer this question.
I need a clean slate.
Though I hope my answer is not "lacking" or "unsatisfactory" to some, I cannot control how my words are received, I can only control how they are formed and sent. I do not enjoy seeing people becoming armchair philosophers, armchair scientists, armchair quarterbacks or armchair theologians when answering this question. This question of "How did the Universe begin" or "what happened at the beginning of time" or "How did everything that is come to be" is a question that is being answered by people; people of all types with all types of flaws, strengths, biases and weaknesses.
Keeping all of that in mind, my answer to the question is this: Gathering, collecting and acquiring all of the information we possibly can about the origin of the universe then analyzing, reanalyzing, cross-examining all of that information may lead us back to where we began-without a "correct" answer. In other words, the universe or multiverse or string of verses or whatever this vast or small or perfectly sized expanse of things that both exist and do not exist may not just be stranger and more mysterious than we imagined, but it may be more strange and more mysterious than we can imagine. To put it simply; the answers we find may not be the ones we need but at some point we may realize they were the ones we were looking for all along and they are enough for us to give up on our previously trivial pursuits and endeavors.