Abstract
We humans are concerned about the beginning of everything and are equally curious about the end. It’s purely logical to think of the end of the universe, since we have already talked about the beginning. The knowledge of the end often makes humans appreciate and enjoy the lively present. Familiar objects, life, planets and stars will all fade in the great cosmic circus that has been unfolding for billions of years. The departing galaxies, matter, and the universe itself will follow the same path. For us, this might paint a gloomy picture of the future and the danger of emptiness, but for the grand cosmos there are no such distinctions. For the universe, emptiness does not necessarily mean non-existent or non-reality but is another form of expression.
“I had a dream, which was not all a dream.
The bright sun was extinguished, and the stars
Did wander darkling in the eternal space,
Rayless, and pathless, and the icy earth
Swung blind and blackening in the moonless air.”
– Lord Byron, English poet of the Romantic Period (Excerpt taken from the poem “Darkness”)
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The ultimate Illusion.
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Mathew, S. (2014). The End of Everything. In: Essays on the Frontiers of Modern Astrophysics and Cosmology. Springer Praxis Books(). Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-01887-4_12
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