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Once upon a time ....
Oops - we can't start there for two simple reasons. Firstly, our story starts before time started. Oh dear, this is getting complicated; how can it start "before" time started unless time had already started? You can't have a "before" or a "now" or an "after" unless you already have time. Let's leave the first reason for a moment because the second reason is much simpler. "Once upon a time" sounds like the start of a fairy story, and this is certainly not a fairy story (though a lot of people might think it is.)
Well, whatever the reason, we will try starting with something else.
In the beginning ....
Oh dear, here we go again. Can we really say "in the beginning" without also asking "what about before the beginning?" So, we are back to time again.
This story is never going to start. We will make one final attempt to get going or this is will be a very short story!
There was, is and always will be, something without beginning and without end.
There, we managed a whole sentence without getting stuck.
Now we can dive in at the deep end - that "something" was, is and always will be, The Pink Hippo.
The Pink Hippo is timeless because She never had a beginning, She is around now and She will be around forever. For a very long time She was the only thing that existed, and maybe She will be the only thing that remains if and when the Universe comes to an end.
It would be nice to say that The Pink Hippo woke up one morning and decided to create the Universe. The only trouble is, there were no mornings for Her to wake up to - and, since She is everlasting, She never needs to go to sleep.
Anyway, the "when" does not really matter because at some point She simply decided to create the Universe - and She did. Everything popped into existence in a split second. The galaxies we can see in the sky appeared from nowhere, the black holes that absorb light appeared and promptly disappeared, the stars in the galaxies suddenly lit up and the planets around some of those stars began their orbits.
On some of the planets, just like the Earth, all the rocks and hills and mountains and fields and deserts and streams and rivers and lakes and seas sprang into existence. All the tiny particles inside atoms, and the atoms inside molecules and the molecules inside everything else - appeared at that same instant.
The Pink Hippo was particularly clever because She also created fossils inside the rocks She placed on Earth - this explains why you can find fossils of sea shells right at the top of Mount Everest!
The Pink Hippo also created life. SHe created simple creatures like amoeba and plankton and germs and viruses and bacteria, and all the higher creatures such as insects, reptiles, fish, birds and mammals. Each of them appeared, perfectly formed, in that tiny fraction of a second when The Pink Hippo created everything.
To put the icing on the cake of everything She had created, The Pink Hippo also created humanity - an animal with consciousness and language. She created people of every sort, of every race, of every colour. She created males and females and young and old. The Earth was populated with all the races we know today - all ready to go about their daily business.
It is amazing to understand that from absolutely nothing, The Pink Hippo created everything we can see, hear, smell, touch, feel or know about - in an instant - with a single flick of Her fingers. Actually She doesn't have fingers but you know what we mean.
Then, having created everything in an instant, The Pink Hippo said "Go!" Well, She didn't really say "Go" because we are not sure what language She speaks and She certainly did not say it in all the different languages spoken by all the peoples She had created on all the planets that supported intelligent conscious life. What really happened was the same as a traffic light turning green - everything sprang into action and the Universe began to go about its business - just as we see it all around us today.
You have to agree that this is clever stuff! The Pink Hippo is some smart person! Sorry, we keep saying "she" and things like that but in fact The Pink Hippo has no sex, she (or he) is an "it".
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