12-04-2009, 02:37 AM
(12-03-2009, 11:49 PM)Peregrinus Wrote:(12-03-2009, 10:00 PM)Questioner Wrote: Does this mean that the current universe will definitely end in a "big crunch?"
Both galaxies and universe yes, but that is a long time away.
Well, I like to think long term.
The "big crunch" concept used to terrify me, but not quite as much as the concept of infinite cold from an endlessly expanding universe that was eventually equally empty everywhere. Those concepts terrified me because I thought of consciousness as an emergent property of physical 3D matter interacting with itself over time. Both crunch and emptiness scenarios called for the ultimate destruction of consciousness and the impossibility of any further experience or thought.
Now that I use faith to believe that 3D matter and time are a subset or artifact of a higher metaphysical reality, the idea that we'll get back together eventually, physically and metaphysically, is a comfort.