Three Hundred Forty-Nine

The age of the universe is, according to theorists well-versed in such things, 13.79 billion years, give or take 21 million years. That, they theorize, is the amount of time that’s lapsed since the Big Bang. Prior to the Big Bang there was…nothing? I cannot wrap my head around that concept, that there was nothing that became something…or that the pre-universe was an ultra-dense mass that suddenly and violently exploded to create…everything. Scientists in the 19th and early 20th century (not all of them, I suppose) believed the universe was simply an eternal, steady state of existence. Other theories suggest our universe is simply one of an infinite number of multiverses. No wonder people believe in some form of deity; reality is too hard to understand without relying on supernatural magic. I don’t need a deity; I’m perfectly happy to be utterly confused by reality.