Inflation in Torah
From pages 233-236, The Heavenly Time Machine
One should not be surprised that the Bible
does not directly describe this unique event, given that all
of creation is presented in just a few terse sentences. There
is, however, a unique, one-time-only happening as we are told
in Genesis 1:2 that "the Divine Presence hovered."
Schroeder analyzes this statement and identifies it, in his writings,
as the initiation of the inflationary process. We also have another
event, in Genesis 1:6, involving the "firmament" which
is connected to the conclusion of the inflationary time frame
by commentary from Rashi and Nachmanides, and the Talmud Tractate
Chagigah.
Rashi notes that the heavens were created
in a "flexible state" and only became fixed in the
final form when "He said" "Let there be a firmament."
Rashi arrives at this conclusion by analysis of Job 26:11. The
significance of the above is in the originally "flexible"
– changeable, malleable, dare we say expanding – state
of the heavens, and the reference to Job which is also given
in Chagigah. The significance of Nachmanides is in two
parts – what he says and what he chooses to conceal. It
is significant that Nachmanides explains that the originally
insubstantial substance, "created from nothing," should
now become a firmament of real substance. This is also what inflation
proposes as the original quantum fluctuation substance went through
a phase transition to become the permanent stuff of this universe.
He then tells us that there is more involved here but "to
give the interpretation is forbidden." What additional information
is Nachmanides concealing here? He does not say.
We then come to Chagigah page 12a,
where the expansion of the universe is clearly described. Not
only that, but the manner in which this expansion was stopped
is also given to us. Rav Yehudah speaking in the name of Rav
says that when the world was created, "it was expanding
continuously." This process did not continue but was arrested
at the appropriate time, which Rav Yehudah derives from an analysis
of Job 26:11. Resh Lakish then tells us that the cessation of
the process is connected to the Divine name, El Shaddai,
because, "I am the One Who [sha] told the world,
enough [dai]." Furthermore, speaking of this Name,
which first appears in Genesis 17:1, Nachmanides says, "with
it are done hidden miracles." Rabbi Dr. Chavel comments
on this matter on page 215 of his English translation and commentary
on Nachmanides. He explains that "hidden" miracles
are ones that people can deny and claim to be part of the natural
order. And why was it necessary to stop the expansion at that
moment and not some other time? There are a number of comments
on this, all providing a similar answer. The rapid expansion
had to stop so that the heavens and earth would "stand together"
The meaning of this phrase is explained in Chagigah 12a
as, "they will not slip away from each other." Thus,
we read in Isaiah 48:13 that after the heavens and earth were
put in place, "I call to them and they stand together."
"I call to them" stops the rapid expansion, as explained
by Resh Lakish, "and they stand together" so that the
universe will not separate into useless bits of matter. Scientific
theory also tells us that the initial rate of expansion was perfectly
balanced to produce a universe where we can exist.
Chagigah clearly
tells us that there was an expansion of the beginning universe.
It also tells us that the expansion stopped just in time to give
us our kind of universe. We also learn that this was accomplished
through a hidden miracle. But does the Torah describe an inflationary
expansion? I do not know. The Hebrew statement is that the universe
got wider – marchiv veholech. Marchiv means
to widen, expand or dilate. Holech usually means to go.
In this construction, the phrase would imply an ongoing expansion,
and the English rendition in the Art Scroll translation has it
as, "it was expanding continuously." The expansion
was continuous as in smooth rather than a start-stop-and-start-again
manner. But it was not of long duration, and we are clearly informed
that the expansion was soon arrested. We are also informed how
this expansion was stopped. There are many other aspects to this
issue that I am not discussing, because these fall into the hidden
knowledge which I am not qualified to discuss. We are told, for
instance, that the expansion was like two threads unraveling
in a loom. We know from basic Kaballistic discourse that these
threads are analogues of the primordial matter out of which the
heavens and the earth were constructed. Possibly there is some
hidden understanding in the loom analogy respecting the acceleration,
or lack thereof, of this expansion. But I have no knowledge of
it. All I can say is that the Torah clearly indicates that the
early universe underwent a brief period of expansion – and
that the nature of this expansion was that of a hidden miracle,
which means that it can be explained by means of natural law.
And that the substance of the universe was transformed by this
process from being insubstantial to firm, natural matter. As
I said, inflation does not directly appear in the Torah, but
we do have hints of it.
Guth, on page 171 of his book, provides an
illustrative analogy to explain the repulsive force that drives
the inflationary expansion of the false vacuum. He shows a cylinder
filled with false vacuum and a hand pulling on the piston to
increase the volume of the cylinder. He then asks, rhetorically,
where the energy to pull on the cylinder comes from. His answer
is that it comes from the "hand that moves the piston outward."
I am sure that Guth means nothing special by this phrase. But
it conjures up a powerful image for someone familiar with the
analogy involving the hand of Hashem used in Torah. There is
no fundamental conflict here between science and Torah, because
Torah supports the idea of a rapidly expanding universe, and
it also supports the idea of a natural-seeming explanation for
the expansion. A deeper analysis shows that there is more than
that involved here. But we need to consider a few more aspects
of the beginning of the universe before taking up a more detailed
comparison of Torah and science on the matter of inflation.
|
