Without the agency of a creator to provide an ultimate beginning and start the whole process, the human mind struggles to find an explanation for the existence of anything. The alternative to a beginning is no beginning, so it has been postulated that there might be an infinite number of beginnings; as the universe expands and then contracts to form a super-dense mass which then explodes to repeat the expansion/contraction cycle endlessly38. The case for this hypothesis is as follows. It is a fact that the universe is expanding. The forces of mutual attraction which are continuously exerted on the various bodies by gravitation fields will tend to oppose and gradually slow down this process until finally the expansion will stop. At this time, gravity will cause the same bodies to be sucked inward to collide in a further Big Bang, which will start the whole thing off again. The system, usually termed the pulsating universe, continues to oscillate in this manner like some sort of giant Newton’s cradle.

Whether this view is correct or not is presently a subject of hot debate: the calculation is a mathematical one and the resolution of this issue depends upon the nature of what has become known as dark matter. The physicists believe that dark matter exists: it is a substance which is not visible but which apparently ‘makes up ninety per cent of the universe39’; though some estimates are lower. Because it has all the properties of normal matter, it is absolutely crucial in the calculations as to whether there is enough gravitational force to finally reverse the expansion of the universe. So the ‘ultimate fate of the universe, whether it will end in a big crunch or a cosmic whimper or big chill depends on its precise nature40’ .

There is an additional suggestion, advanced by Stephen Hawking in his popular book A Brief History of Time, which we must now consider: the prospect that the universe might indeed be finite and yet have no beginning. This proposal is based on the existence of a higher dimension which Hawking calls ‘imaginary time41’ .For mathematicians, the idea is straightforward enough. Imaginary numbers - those numbers which when squared yield a negative result - are represented along an axis which is at right-angles to that upon which real numbers appear; providing an extra numerical dimension. This proposition has permitted those awkward quadratic equations which have two possible roots, one of which is negative, to be mathematically resolved.

However, the concept of the existence of additional, higher dimensions is a very difficult one to imagine. We can gain insight into the proposal only by analogy; by considering what it would be like, for example, to live in a three-dimensional world; that is, two space dimensions and one time dimension. In 1884, the clergyman Edwin A Abbott wrote Flatland, a brilliant work of mathematical fiction in which Mr A Square - a two-dimensional creature - is introduced to both one-dimensional and three-dimensional forms. In his initiation to these mysteries, the square possesses higher knowledge than the King of Lineland, a one-dimensional creature with whom he talks; and lower knowledge than the Sphere, a three-dimensional creature who is responsible for his initiation.