The Divine Universe

Why is there a universe? Why is there anything rather than nothing? Scientists are beginning to ask this question, although it is agreed that science cannot answer the question of what caused the big bang. The laws of physics break down before a certain point in time. This is a very short period, called the Planck era after the mathematical physicist, Max Planck, who calculated it. Planck time is 10-44 seconds (less than a thousandth of a trillionth of a second.)
Big bang theory holds that there was never a singularity of zero size. The embryo universe began with a diameter of one Planck length (10-35 meters - about a trillionth of a millimeter) and consisted of undifferentiated, totally uniform energy. There were no particles or distinct fields. It is believed that gravity separated from the rest of the cosmic energy at Planck time and that this was the effective beginning of the universe. The separation of the electromagnetic field and the generation of quarks, the smallest known elements of matter, was the next step. The two subatomic forces emerged later, leading to the formation of atoms. The big bang story goes on from there.

Big bang theory is extremely interesting and thought provoking, but it does not address the question of why there is anything rather than nothing. Nevertheless, it has given philosophers of science a good starting point to address it. So far as physics is concerned, the big bang was an uncaused, random event, but some physicists and philosophers of science are not satisfied to leave it there.
First we must ask, what is nothing? What is no-thingness? Theoretical physicists have addressed this question. They propose that pure, homogeneous energy, without a boundary, is not a thing. If something has a boundary it is a thing. Our universe appears to have a boundary, but it is expanding and, as this expansion is accelerating, it seems that this expansion must unlimited. The boundary is potentially infinite. There is no “outside” of the universe.
The universe we know is full of things with defined space and time boundaries. The smallest things for which there is evidence, quarks, are immeasurably small; the largest is the known universe itself.
Intergalactic space is almost empty of matter: just a few lonely hydrogen atoms floating around, almost freezing to death. These atoms are delicately constructed, dynamic formations of energy. In between the atoms is pure, chaotic energy - no-thingness. Physicists call this emptiness the quantum vacuum. Although there are no specific things, the quantum vacuum is the all-pervading sea of energy from which matter is formed. This is not, in the strictly philosophical sense, absolutely nothing. though there is nothing that can be called a thing. The quantum vacuum has been crudely described as foaming energy, consisting of not quite realized quantum events. Particles and antiparticles continuously come momentarily into being and instantly annihilate each other. They never reach Planck size or endure for Planck time so they do not qualify as things.
The quantum vacuum has no boundary so it cannot be referred to as a thing either. All things are made of energy, so the quantum vacuum is, so to speak, the raw material of the universe.
Does the quantum vacuum exist? The word exist comes from the Latin word meaning to stand under. Scientifically speaking the quantum vacuum does not stand under anything else, so it does not, properly speaking, exist. Everything comes from it, everywhere, but there is nothing else for it to exist in relation to, except God perhaps.
God is, by definition, not a thing, nor even a person. God is pure, infinite, eternal being. It is also strictly incorrect to refer to God as existing because, by definition again, God cannot ‘stand under’ anything. So, in addressing the question of why is there anything rather than nothing is a theological issue. Many scientists look beyond the quantum vacuum to the pure absolute source and essence of all being. Religious people call this ultimate being God.
But there is a further complication. Theologians tell us that God “created the universe ex nihilo” – from nothing. The nearest thing to nothing that science can propose is the quantum vacuum. Philosophers say that the concept of absolute nothingness is without meaning. Aristotle was very clear about that. The quantum vacuum is not nothing in this absolute, philosophical sense, though it is not a thing. In terms of natural philosophy or theoretical physics then, the quantum vacuum is the “nothing” from which God created the universe. Beyond that there is only God. We could reasonably say, I think, that God created the quantum vacuum from God, because, as theologians tell us, there was nothing but God for God to use.
To take this discussion any further I would have to enter the field of Christian theology, the doctrine of the Holy Trinity and God incarnate in the Second Person. To find out more about that see my essay A Teapot Orbits Pluto.
Finally, to address the original question, I could only say that there is something and not nothing because it was willed into being. Beyond everything and within everything, there is a ‘desire’ for ‘thingness’. The words ‘willed’ and ‘desire’ refer to human experience, but humans are an integral, organic part of the cosmos, so human experience reflects the nature of the cosmos. The fact that you and I want to exist has cosmic significance. It also has philosophical and theological significance.