The Universe as Spontaneously Created out of Nothing: Whitehead, Vilenkin, and Quantum Cosmology

The Universe as Spontaneously Created out of Nothing

Whitehead, Vilenkin, and Quantum Cosmology

Alexander Vilenkin is one of the world's leading cosmologists and a pioneer in the development of inflationary cosmology and multiverse theory. A professor at Tufts University and founding director of its Institute of Cosmology, he is especially known for proposing the “tunneling from nothing” model of cosmic origins and, with Alan Guth and Arvind Borde, for demonstrating that inflationary universes cannot be extended infinitely into the past. His work has profoundly shaped contemporary discussions of the origin, structure, and possible multiplicity of universes. In this video "Vilenkin explores the theoretical origins of the cosmos by examining how inflation might have started. Through the lens of quantum cosmology, the discussion investigates the mathematical possibility of a universe spontaneously emerging from a state of nothingness governed by the laws of physics."

A Whiteheadian Understanding of
Creation out of Nothing

Alexander Vilenkin and Inflationary Cosmology

I offer a Whiteheadian understanding of creation out of nothing, influenced by the work of the physicist Alexander Vilenkin. Vilenkin proposes that the universe spontaneously emerged from a state of nothingness describable in terms of quantum physics. In his view, universes can arise without pre-existing matter, energy, space, or time, through quantum processes associated with inflationary cosmology.

Inflationary cosmology is the idea that, immediately after the universe emerged, it underwent an extraordinarily rapid expansion. In a tiny fraction of a second, the universe expanded from an unimaginably small state into something vastly larger, creating the conditions for the later formation of stars, galaxies, planets, and life. In many versions of inflationary theory, this expansive process never completely ends but continues in different regions of reality, giving rise to multiple universes or an ever-evolving multiverse. At the heart of Vilenkin's approach is the idea that quantum possibilities and fluctuations can give rise to a universe.

The Primordial Nature of God

My own proposal builds on Vilenkin while moving in a more explicitly metaphysical direction.

It goes like this: Prior to the emergence of the universe there was no space, no time, no matter, no energy, and no vacuum. There were only pure possibilities, describable by equations. These equations were not floating in a vacuum. They were felt or prehended by God. God was, as it were, the non-temporal "home" of these non-temporal possibilities.

God did not force the universe into existence by actualizing the equations. But God did actualize those equations which would make for the general conditions for a universe to emerge, should it emerge. These conditions are very general categories of obligation concerning harmony, intensity, unity, and diversity. Once actualized, they became real and relevant potentialities, should a universe come into existence.

The Popping into Existence out of Creativity

Happily, with those conditions in place, the universe popped into existence out of nothing. The popping—the bubbling up—was not caused by prior material conditions, nor coercively caused by God. It arose as the spontaneous actualization of possibilities: that is, by a formless creativity which is itself the ground of God. It emerged out of quantum potentialities.

Thus the universe was, in its own way, a virgin birth occurring in the womb of the divine mind. Once actualized, time and space came into existence and a universe began to unfold through the ongoing self-creativity of finite occasions. This ongoing self-creativity now occurs in the mind of God.

Divine Yearning and the Birth of the Cosmos

To say that the universe popped into existence out of nothing, through a spontaneous act of creativity, is not to say that the primordial nature of God was indifferent to that occurrence. To the contrary, the primordial nature, while not causing the occurrence in a coercive way, included an appetitive yearning for such a birth to occur. Conceptual prehensions in the divine life were accompanied by subjective forms—emotional tones or appetitions through which possibilities are valued and desired. Thus the emergence of the universe satisfied a divine longing for actuality, intensity, beauty, and relational life. It was good news, even for God.

It is also possible that God's yearning for there to be a universe affected the ordering of the primordial possibilities themselves. In Whitehead's philosophy, the primordial nature of God is not emotionally neutral. The pure possibilities or "equations" are not merely contemplated; they are valued, graded, and felt in terms of their potential for intensity, harmony, beauty, and richness of experience. In this sense, the divine yearning for actuality may have shaped the relevance and attractiveness of certain possibilities for realization, even though the actual emergence of the universe was not coercively caused by God. This is one way of affirming the biblical idea, found in the first creation story, that the universe is "called" into existence.

Island Universes and the Adventure of Novelty

Once creation gets started, novelty unfolds endlessly. In Vilenkin's picture of eternal inflation, universes continue to emerge like islands in an ever-expanding cosmic sea. Bubble universes continually form, expand, and differentiate. Some may contain stars, galaxies, and life forms quite unlike our own. Others may collapse almost immediately. Still others may embody laws of physics radically different from those operative in our universe. Gravity, time, matter, dimensionality, and even the mathematical constants of nature may differ from one cosmic island to another.

From a Whiteheadian point of view, this ongoing proliferation of universes illustrates the inexhaustible creativity of reality itself. Once the initial birth occurs, creation is no longer a single event confined to the distant past. It becomes an ongoing adventure of novelty. Reality continually experiments with new forms, new structures, new intensities, and new possibilities for value. The multiverse thus becomes not merely a scientific hypothesis, but a metaphysical vision of a cosmos endlessly creating itself into new forms of existence.

Why This Approach May Matter

I realize that this version of creation out of nothing will be entirely unsatisfying to those who are committed to a notion of divine unilateral power. They want God not simply to provide the conditions for the universe, nor to yearn for its emergence, but directly and decisively to cause it by sheer omnipotent will. However, the Whiteheadian approach may satisfy other concerns that many people have today.

For one thing, it preserves the spontaneity and creativity of the universe itself. The cosmos is not a puppet show mechanically controlled from outside, but an ongoing process of self-creation. Second, it allows modern cosmology and theology to remain in dialogue rather than opposition. The universe can genuinely emerge through natural processes without thereby being devoid of sacred meaning. Third, it offers a vision of God compatible with relationality, freedom, and love rather than domination and coercion. Fourth, it avoids imagining God as arbitrarily intervening in the world while still affirming that the world is grounded in a deeper divine reality. And finally, it provides a way of understanding the universe as both scientifically intelligible and spiritually meaningful: a cosmos emerging through lawful processes, yet also sustained by a primordial yearning for beauty, intensity, value, and relational life.

Last but not least, it does preserve the intuition that the universe had a beginning—whether that beginning is called a Big Bang, a primordial birth, or a cosmic popping into existence. In this sense, the universe is not eternal in the past, even if it may be everlasting in the future. There is, after all, a genuine novelty in there being something rather than nothing.

Many Worlds in One

Among his peers, Alex Vilenkin is regarded as one of the most imaginative and creative cosmologists of our time. His contributions to our current understanding of the universe include a number of novel ideas, two of which―eternal cosmic inflation and the quantum creation of the universe from nothing―have provided a scientific foundation for the possible existence of multiple universes.

With this book―his first for the general reader―Vilenkin joins another select group: the handful of first-rank scientists who are equally adept at explaining their work to nonspecialists. With engaging, well-paced storytelling, a droll sense of humor, and a generous sprinkling of helpful cartoons, he conjures up a bizarre and fascinating new worldview that―to paraphrase Niels Bohr―just might be crazy enough to be true.