In the Beginning

"And God said, 'Let there be light.' And there was light."

The grandeur of the universe stupefies. Indeed, its very existence, its origins and dimensions, are baffling.

How could it have begun, morphing over the course of billions of years into something so grand while emerging from something so null? No stuff, no space, no time, no nothing. And then poof. Or bang. And voila. Shooting stars and tuna melts.

Or perhaps it has been there all along, existing for ever and all time, never a start, not knowing before?

Which makes more sense, a universe that stretches on forever and ever and ever and ever in space as it does in time, or one that starts (magic!) and then stops. Period. The End. Which is easier to grasp: absolute boundedness with nothing, nothing, on the other side (not even a side to consider "other"), or eternity, endlessness upon endlessness? How can we even wrap our minds around such concepts?

Add to that the fact that we are told the universe is mostly dark energy and dark matter; that it curves around on itself so finitude and infinity may eventually meet; that our senses and instruments limit the ways we know things so, like the characters in Flatland (a playful - if gender-biased - sociology of perception in the land of geometry), we can hardly imagine the worlds lying beyond us; and suddenly the next trip to the dentist seems oddly reassuring.

There is a blessing we are asked to say when we see lightning, shooting stars, a particularly spectacular sunset, and breathtaking vistas like the Grand Canyon: Blessed are you Adonai our God ruler of the Universe who continually (re)makes the work of creation... Oseh ma'asei bereishit.

I wonder what the rabbis of old would have said if they knew of miniature radios and microwave ovens, MRI machines, cell phones, fractal geometry and the stuff in the photographs from NASA's "Image of the Day". Our days would be spent in one long mantra of praise for the Creator.

Those of us who are easily distracted by the physics of a tube of toothpaste (never mind the crack of spaghetti) might want to consider adding oseh ma'asei bereishit to our daily morning fare, to cover all the miracles we encounter in the awe that accompanies us throughout the day.

(Photo: It was this photo that stimulated this entry. The Starburst Galaxy, Messier 82, where stars are being born. The galaxy is remarkable for its bright blue disk, webs of shredded clouds and fiery-looking plumes of glowing hydrogen blasting out of its central regions. From NASA's image of the day)