[    ]  what is in between the brackets – nothing?  is there such a thing as nothing.  Couldn’t one say that white is in between the two brackets?  or that atoms exist between the two brackets? wrapping your mind around nothing….  scientists such as stephen hawking contend that life started from nothing and they have theoretical mathematics and physics to help prove their theory.  Conceptually, something coming from nothing doesn’t make much sense.  We know from our own reproduction systems, that we create from a union of both sexes.  or how we know that we create machines from components.  We don’t how to create something from nothing, because we don’t know how to conceptualize nothing.  Maybe because there isn’t such a thing as nothing.  But then if there is no nothing, then what was at the beginning.  No molecules, no atoms, no cells.  Was there a god at the beginning.  and if so, what created god.  what created the thing that created god, and what created it, and so on…  it reminds me of when you look at your reflection in a 3 sided mirror,where behind you you see yourself and then again you see yourself, and then yourself, and so on…forever – infinite amount of times.  So maybe that’s the point, infinity…there is no start because it is infinite.  And thus, there would be no end.  I think if we could actually understand infinity, then we could unlock some true secrets to our universe.  Another thought would be if we return to the idea of the three sided mirror, that when you look in front of you and behind you, you can see an infinite amount of reflections of yourself.  However, the reflection began at a single point in the middle.  So, maybe the idea of the big bang was similar in that it started with a single point of action, which expanded outwards in all directions.  But, in that there would be or should be an end.  Definitely, has a beginning and end.  But, again, the idea of nothing and that nothing cannot exist defeats this idea of creation.  Maybe it’s that infinity can exist and nothing cannot exist.  Therefore, there cannot be a beginning or a starting point.  The universe and beyond it has always been here and will continue to be here forever.  Not to say that things in the universe have a definite life cycle, but the universe (and beyond) possible does not.