Philosophy does not advocate belief in the orthodox Christian theory that the universe was created from nothing, nor its related notion of a sudden first creation, which is an equally untenable assumption. There is no moment when the universe has not existed, either latently or actively, and consequently there will be no moment when it will not continue to exist, either latently or actively. This is so because the world does not arise by a sudden act of creation but by a gradual process of manifestation. Since there is no particular moment in the universe's long history when it could be said to have been first created, it has never had a beginning and consequently will never have an end. It has never been started so it can never be finished. It is eternal and self-sustaining because it is the body of God, who is eternal and self-sustaining. Creation begins and ends nowhere and nowhen. The conception of the universe which presumes to assign a date to creation is a nebulous one and will vary with the mere caprice of the "dater." He will hatch out a creation theory to suit himself, depending therefore on human temperament and taste. Philosophy repudiates the mentalistic theory as generally interpreted, for external Nature is not regarded as unreal. It is a fact that our experience of the world's appearance is ephemeral but our experience of the world's existence is essentially real. It follows therefore that those who would turn the world into an illusion to which no value should be attached are compelled to recognize its presence and evolve their theory to account for it. The truth is that the cosmos is truly a self-revelation of the World-Mind. It is spun out of God's very self. Thus instead of an absentee God, we have an everywhere-present one who is the very essence of the world.
-- Notebooks Category 19: The Reign of Relativity > Chapter 1 : The Cosmos of Change > # 56
