{"id":4274,"date":"2007-09-08T12:24:00","date_gmt":"2007-09-08T12:24:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2007\/09\/the-expanding-universe\/"},"modified":"2007-09-08T12:24:00","modified_gmt":"2007-09-08T12:24:00","slug":"the-expanding-universe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2007\/09\/the-expanding-universe.html","title":{"rendered":"The Expanding Universe"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Recently, I experienced a moment in which I didn\u2019t simply know theoretically that I am a complex combination of subatomic particles and mostly empty space. I felt<\/em> it. And as I thought about this further, I wondered whether, if one could view a life form such as a human being at the subatomic level, one would see anything other than what we see looking out into space: elements of complex structural arrangements stretching off beyond the edge of the furthest reaches of our vision.<\/p>\n

The universe appears to be expanding. One explanation is that it originated via an explosion from a singularity. Another proposal involves branes which cause this effect when they come into contact, and envisages a cyclical universe. I want to ask a question about this. Might the universe be growing<\/em>? How, if at all, would the universe look different if it is part of something for which the closest analogy on our level of existence would be a life form<\/em>, although by definition this transcendent reality would be something intrinsically unimaginable. Might the universe be part of something that is alive and is thus growing <\/em>rather than merely expanding<\/em>? <\/em>If so, how might we be able to tell, from our perspective?<\/p>\n

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Recently, I experienced a moment in which I didn\u2019t simply know theoretically that I am a complex combination of subatomic particles and mostly empty space. I felt it. And as I thought about this further, I wondered whether, if one could view a life form such as a human being at the subatomic level, one […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":136,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4274","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Expanding Universe<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Recently, I experienced a moment in which I didn't simply know theoretically that I am a complex combination of subatomic particles and mostly empty\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2007\/09\/the-expanding-universe.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Expanding Universe\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Recently, I experienced a moment in which I didn't simply know theoretically that I am a complex combination of subatomic particles and mostly empty\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2007\/09\/the-expanding-universe.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Religion Prof: The Blog of James F. 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