How it came in my mind?

Have you ever taken a moment to sit down and think about how big the universe might be? If you’re even a little curious about the universe, you probably have. Well, I thought about it too. It happened during my exam week, a year ago while I was studying, a sudden question struck my mind: “Why am I so worried about this exam?”

I’m just a human living on a planet that looks like a tiny dot when compared to a galaxy and there are countless galaxies out there. Whether I pass or fail the exam, it won’t make any real difference to the universe. It will continue moving forward just as it always has. That thought led me to wonder if the universe is that vast, what exactly is its size? Does it have a limit? Could it possibly have an end or an edge?

Well, my readers, the day before my exam, I let my imagination explore the edge of the universe and this blog captures everything I imagined.

The Real Question

This blog is all about how I imagine it would be like if anybody tries to cross the edge of the universe. Let’s start with a first question:

Does the universe actually have an edge?

Assumption 1

The universe must be limitless, right? But, I made an initial assumption that:

Universe has the edge!

Now, what is that edge of the universe made up of? Is it made of rock? Or is it made of liquid? It might also be gas. But wait a minute! If the edge of the universe is made of rock or any other physical material, then there will always be something outside that physical boundary. So, physical material can’t be considered as the true boundary of the universe. It’s like going inside a Football and saying there is nothing outside the boundary of the football. Of course there is!

Then what should be the edge of the universe made up of? Before answering that we should ask:

What is the universe itself made up of?

If we follow the Theory of General Relativity, the universe is made up of Space and Time. In simple terms, Space is what surrounds us, and Time is what makes us move forward. If so, then the edge of the universe must not be any object but the end of Space-Time. You can imagine it as a pond full of water. A pond is made up of water and the edge of the pond is the end of the water surface.

Now, you might wonder what’s outside this pond of Space-Time. Well, since Space-Time has come to an end at the edge. So, there is Nothingness outside the universe. This means there is literally nothing, not even a vacuum. Even vacuum contains space capable of holding physical objects, beyond the universe's edge there is absolute absence.

Assumption 2

Another assumption is:

The universe is infinite!

It's hard to imagine something as infinite. Imagine something that doesn't have an end. It's difficult right? But there are ways to imagine that. Our universe can be infinite even though it is finite, with the help of loop. Let us imagine, an astronaut made it till the end of the universe. The moment he steps ahead from the edge, he gets back to the other side of the universe. And this loop repeats. You can think of it as the classic SNAKE GAME in the old black and white Nokia phone, where the snake can move infinitely through the walls and reappear from the opposite side of the screen. Another infinite assumption can be that the end of Space-Time can make the time to stop at the edge of universe, making the universe relatively infinite for any observer inside it, even though it is finite.

While these concepts originated as fictional imagination, I must acknowledge the books, films, and online resources that gave me a bit more understanding about the universe.

Why all this imagination?

Enough about cosmic theories. Why am I concerned about these matters at all? After all, astrophysics isn't my chosen career path. I’m professionally aligned to tech and coding. Astronomy is my hobby which I enjoy. When I think about all these bigger things, life's problems seem to be small in front of it. This bigger picture makes me realize how insignificant it is to be angry about small problems in life. Most of us tend to get stressed about things that are not even significant to us after a few days. We should only be worried about things that matter. Now, what if the stress is never ending? Sometimes we might feel like the problem is going to last forever. Then, we need to remember this: The entire world is not going to be there forever. We are all here with a limited temporary lifespan and we won’t last forever too. So, all the stresses in life are automatically temporary. Hence, no matter how long the problem and stress seem in life, it is certain that it is going to end. This perspective gives me hope and courage to tackle stress.

So, the message that I’m trying to convey from this blog is that whenever we are dealing with some issues in life, it is helpful to pause, step back and think of the bigger picture. Then compare the significance of that problem with respect to the grand scheme. Will it actually affect us in the long run? If not, that stress might just be a delusion.

How did my exam go?

Did my cosmic perspective magically erase all my exam stress? The problem didn’t disappear entirely, but it was surely easier to carry. Also, my exam went well, and the bonus part was that I came up with a useful trick for dealing with these kinds of situations.

After all, we're tiny beings on a pale blue dot. Our stresses matter... just not as much as they feel like they do at the moment.