This article offers a critical discussion on the question of the existence of the Universe, starting with creation myths of a variety of different cultures and ending with cutting-edge ideas from modern cosmology. Emphasising the polarised tension between Being and Becoming and its religious and philosophical origins, this article argues that this tension is unavoidable and still very much present. Further, the logical insolvability of the problem of the First Cause is examined, showing the conceptual inappropriateness of current scientific models that claim to offer a solution.

We investigate the emergence of time-dependent nonperturbative configurations during the evolution of nonlinear scalar field models with symmetric and asymmetric double-well potentials. Complex spatio-temporal behavior emerges as the system seeks to establish equipartition after a fast quench. We show that fast quenches may dramatically modify the decay rate of metastable states in first order phase transitions. We discuss possible applications in condensed matter systems and in inflationary cosmology.