But in the realm of all possibilities, there was the possibility of something—a something with parts, a something that could change. And so within the possibility was space and time itself, with all of its dimension and all of its expressions,
.....and it was good.
And the possibility was unified by being full of the nature and the principles that could shape its continual becoming, and it had diversity with unpredictability and randomness in some of its parts, and all of this could give rise to newness and richness, and to wonder and to mystery,
.....and it was good.
And the possibility came into being. And what came into being was everything—there was nothing else and there was nowhere else—and according to its nature, its dimension grew and it increased, without special favour to any portion, and it continued to increase and the various parts combined and acted on one another to shine forth and to produce stars and groups of stars and nebulae and galaxies and groups of galaxies, and planets and systems of planets and all the agencies and bodies of the heavens, and all the parts of the earth,
.....and it was good.
And in the realm of all possibilities, there was the possibility for the bodies and the agencies, in time, to combine within their parts and begin to replicate and to reproduce and to give rise to living creatures, and for the creatures to develop in all manner of places and in all manner of forms. And they did,
.....and it was good.
And in the realm of all possibilities, there was the possibility as the myriads of creatures developed for some to form communities with customs and rituals and cultures, communities in which they could grow and know each other and know themselves, and in which to belong. And there was the possibility, in their development, for some to begin to be aware and to make conscious choices and to display imagination and wills with freedom. And in the course of time they did,
.....and it was good.
And there was the possibility that the human family portion of the creatures would form great societies rich with stories and myths, and with knowledge and cultural expression, and sacred worship practices. And it was possible that it would become necessary for the human family to learn how to live fully in community and how to live with other communities: to adapt and to adjust its customs; to live with a deepening and unfolding spirituality; to strive for justice, and to live with love. And in the realm of all possibilities, there was the possibility for the creating, transforming, embracing spirit that was present from the beginning to be specially with them, to continue with them and to never leave them.
And there was the possibility for all of this to be a place for you and for me.
And in the fullness of time these possibilities came into being,
.....and it was very good.
Notes:
1. This doesn’t mention the agency that brought the initial possibility into actuality, i.e. when “the possibility came into being”. The above assumes that the agency—if it needs to be described—is not one that is describable by natural processes, but this is a point that is still being pursued by cosmologists (e.g. loop quantum gravity, the unending cyclical collapsing-expanding universe,...). A deeper question surrounds all of this, namely, is this a question only for physics, or is it a question for philosophy, for metaphysics, for faith; can it be answered from within the universe itself according to the natural order? The religionists and spiritually-oriented will say that it must be answered from “outside” of the universe, with one of the satisfying ways of stating it being the metaphorical-symbolic statement “And God said, let it be” (some scientists will say that they don’t know what “outside” the universe means and what that statement “And God said, let it be” means, except perhaps for it being a literary device).
2. From a scientific point of view, “the realm of all possibilities” is perhaps akin to the statistical notion of ensemble space in which a (sometimes infinite) population of potential realizations of a phenomenon “exist” and can be drawn on to provide statistical measures and realized examples. Ensemble space in one sense is an idealization, and the profound question here concerns the sense in which “the realm of all possibilities” exists (like asking in what sense does God exist) given that not all possibilities are ever actualized as far as we know (although in multiple universe cosmologies and philosophies perhaps they are). While the notion of ensemble space may be mathematically very productive, in a human sense it is not very inviting or very warm-hearted.
3. From a theological point of view, the “realm of all possibilities” is not different from the realm of God because God, in God’s omnipotence, is understood as the one through whom all possible things are possible. God is not describable in the ordinary sense, and so God’s existence is not an ordinary kind of existence. Perhaps it is correct to say that God does not exist as the universe exists, but even so, God is. In accordance with some of the early historical descriptions of God (particularly in Islam) God is, and God is not. Existential-ontological theology would say that God is Being itself and so there is no question regarding God’s existence, and the action of bringing the universe into being is simply a mode of God’s self-expression. The phrase “realm of all possibilities” also accords with Tillich's expression for God as the "ground of being-itself".
4. Relating the coming into being of (a) everything when the universe began with (b) our own coming into being, i.e. for the religionists and spiritually-oriented, God’s cosmic act of creation being equated with God’s act of creation of ourselves, in whatever nascent form, has the appearance of equating the universe itself with each of us as human persons. However, the enormity of the difference in size alone can raise strong questions in the minds of the naturally-oriented about this “equality”. Nevertheless, we human persons are capable of apprehending the entire universe—so we think, anyway—and we are very complex creatures, many of us having had experiences that we interpret as pointing beyond the “mystery” of it all, so “equality’s” apparent absurdity may not be quite so absurd as it seems.
5. The spiritually-oriented want the statement “And God said, let it be” or something equivalent as the bridging statement, because it acts to put all of existence in a framework that also contains morality, ethics, purpose, and perhaps more importantly, not just origins, but human destination as well (individually and collectively). The naturally-oriented want morality, ethics, etc. to arise as natural adjuncts of the universe—and human life—but without referring to any kind of “beyond”. The spiritually-oriented find this too restrictive, and they find it so not on the basis of wishful thinking but on the basis of what for them is very real revelatory experience. For them an entirely naturally-based worldview of the whole of existence is incomplete.
6. The statements “And it was good” and “and it was very good” are included to parallel the Genesis account.