Of course, Jastrow’s imaginary scenario was pure conjecture—and solved nothing concerning the actual origin of energy or of the universe. Jastrow was trapped in the vortex of an endless speculative regression of “before that . . . and before that . . . and before that. . . .” There had to have been an actual beginning of all physical existence. Jastrow was only deferring the moment of truth. He declared:

“Recent developments in astronomy have implications that may go beyond their contribution to science [1] itself. In a nutshell, astronomers . . . have been forced to the conclusion that the world began suddenly, in a moment of creation, as the product of unknown forces.

“[I]f we go back far enough in time, we find that at a certain critical moment in the past all the galaxies in the Universe were packed together into one dense mass at an enormous density, pressure and temperature. Reacting to this pressure, the dense, hot matter must have exploded with incredible violence [that] marked the birth of the Universe.

“The seed of everything that has happened in the Universe was planted in that first instant; every star, every planet and every living creature in the Universe came into being as a result of events that were set in motion in the moment of the cosmic explosion. It was literally the moment of Creation . . . the origin of the world—for which there is no known cause or explanation within the realm of science [1] . . . we cannot find out what caused that to happen.

“This is a distressing result for scientists because, in the scientist’s view . . . he must be “able to find an explanation for the beginning of the Universe . . . that fits into the framework of natural rather than supernatural forces.

“So, the scientist asks himself, what cause led to the effect we call the Universe . . . [and] he sees that he is deprived—today, tomorrow, and very likely forever—of finding out the answer to this critical question.

“Why is that. . . ? At that time it must have been compressed to an enormous—perhaps infinite-density, temperature and pressure. . . .

“The shock of that moment must have destroyed every . . . clue to the cause of the great explosion . . . to the nature of the forces—natural or supernatural—that conspired to bring about the event we call the Big Bang.

“This is a very surprising conclusion. . . . The scientist . . . goes . . . back . . . feeling he is close to . . . the answer to the ultimate question of beginning—when suddenly the chain of cause and effect snaps. The birth of the Universe is an effect for which he cannot find the cause. . . .

“This is why it seems to me and to others that the curtain drawn over the mystery of creation will never be raised by human efforts. . . . Although I am an agnostic, and not a believer “I still find much to ponder in the view expressed by the British astronomer E. A. Milne, who wrote, ‘We can make no propositions about the state of affairs [in the beginning]; in the Divine act of creation God is unobserved and unwitnessed.’”