...Time is Time...

In Deep Thought
This past weekend, a few friends and I had an interesting conversation that covered a multitude of philosophical conundrums. There was one subject, however, that seemed to dominate the discussion:

"If God is eternal, with no beginning and no end, then how can there have been a "time" when our universe did not exist? Would not our universe have always existed to God at the "moment" He created it?"

This concept was illustrated in our discussion in an interesting way. The illustration came about because somebody said something about being "in the middle of nowhere" and I, jokingly, asked, "Can you be in the middle of nowhere?" This is the illustration:

Illustrating Infinity

"If 'nowhere' is infinite, with no boundaries, then how can a point exist at any specific location within that 'nowhere.' Would not any point placed in 'nowhere' instantly be 'everywhere' within 'nowhere' because there is nothing in 'nowhere' to define where that point is located?"

[Notice that this parallels the main subject question] This started us into a discussion of the nature of "nowhere" and the nature of points within "nowhere." Here's a little visual aid:

The gray area is known as "nowhere." It is infinite, and since I can't display an infinite image of nothing, it fades out. This is our window into "nowhere." We see that somebody has placed a point in "nowhere." However, this cannot really be defined as a point, because it has absolutely no graphical location. "Nowhere" is infinite, and has nothing rigid within it to designate a relative position with that point. Basically, this "point" might as well be anywhere in our view, or perhaps not in our view at all, because there is no defined location of this point.However, if a point could be successfully placed in "nowhere," it would take on the graphical status of (0,0,0), as in (x,y,z).

Now, anywhere in "nowhere" is "somewhere," because any point in "nowhere" now has a graphical relationship to our original point...

...Just like (9,9,13). Now, "nowhere" is able to be graphed fractally -- that is, the x axis, y axis, and z axis all extend indefinitely, but with regular graduations. Indeed, anywhere in "nowhere" is now "somewhere," even though there is an infinite number of "somewheres."

Putting It Together
With these concepts in mind, we return to the question of the nature of time "before," "during," and "after" our universe. We're actually downgrading from the three-dimensional "nowhere" to a one-dimensional timeline. We know that God existed infinitely before the creation of our universe. We also know that God is not bound by time, and is basically infinitely viewing all points of time as we know it. But then, how could there have been a time when our universe did not exist if God is viewing it all at once. Thinking fractally, this concept is pretty easy to grasp.

Encompassing Infinity
This is the concept we developed: Time is extending infinitely forward and infinitely backward. The "infinitely backward" part is the hard part to grasp, but not when you think of time as a fractal. A fractal, by nature, is infinitely repeating in all dimensions that it covers. You could zoom in on a fractal and never find the "smallest part" of the image, because it has an infinite vertex resolution. You could zoom out and never see the whole picture because it continually and regularly expands. In the fractal of time, there is an infinite length (in both directions) of God's existence (eternity), but there are still increments that separate the existence of our universe from its non-existence. So, we are existing at this very moment on the infinite numberline of time, and yet at an exact point. God, however, is somehow not only at this point, but also at every point. God does something with his fractal of time that we cannot do, even with our fractals we create: He zooms all the way out, and sees infinity all at once. It's a paradox. Time as infinity is contained within the "more" infinite boundaries of God.

In conclusion, on this timeline, there is a definite point where, to the left, there was no universe, and to the right, there is a universe. Also, there is an unknown point of Jesus' return. At that point, I believe we all begin to experience the rest of infinity -- we follow the rightmost arrow in the figure. Eternity and infinity are very real.

Where will you be infinitely?