Our universe was an an act of volition.

We are here. This had to have come about via some kind of mechanism. Someone or something had to put something in motion to create us. Why was there a big bang at all? "It's turtles all the way down" is not an adaquate answer. The universe exists, and we grope for reasons why it is so.

What threw the switch? What force or entity made the decision and/or intitiated the action to create the universe that spawned us?

Even if you are an atheist, you have to acknowledge that there has to be a beginning of some kind. Conversely, your favorite flavor of God may or may have not done the trick.

We may not know the nature of the miracle of existence, but that doesn't mean that we should not appreciate it. Whether you believe in Adam's rib or in Darwin' fish, you have to appreciate that once there was a time where we did not exist (and eventually will no longer exist). Some agent, be it divine or mundane, started a process that lead to us.


On a related note, the underlying fact that this universe exists and operates the way it does means that there are levels of complexity far deeper than we may probably ever be able to determine. Any theory we may put forward is an approximation at best. For example, Superstring theory is a mathmatical model at best, and does not describe with any reality the true nature of the universe.

Thanks to isogolem for pointing out Godel's theorem for incompleteness. Which makes me think of Plato's cave.