Difficult questions can have surprising answers

ONE of the great life-giving forces in Emmanuel House in Nottingham, where services are provided for homeless people, comes from the many volunteers who bring their energy and joy and give freely, their time and skills to people in need.

- Faith Denis Tully

Over a sink full of dishes a conversation evolved between myself and another volunteer, a PhD physicist about purpose and function. What is the purpose of a planet, I am asked? It prompted me to ask myself, “what is the purpose of a person?”

This all started when I was told that there are two trillion galaxies! This is an inconceivable thought. How does it all hang together?

One of the great facts about the universe is that everything is so logical. One thing impacts on another, all underpinned by a set of laws. Logic enables us to predict consequences out of a set of circumstances.

I asked the physicist the question whether the principles of physics and mathematics existed before the Big Bang. “We don’t know”, she answered.