Infinity is a tough concept and is one of those words that is used by different people for different reasons. Mathematicians, scientists, philosophers and, actually, all of the rest of us have used the notion of infinity at one time or another. For most of us, infinity is short-hand for a really large number. The Romans used the symbol for infinity to represent 1000, a BIG number to them. Today, for instance, we might say that there is an infinite number of mosquitoes out tonight or even that there are an infinite number grains of sand on the beach. And while these may be very big numbers, what if we add one more to the total? If we can add one more, then, by definition, the first amount is not infinite nor will the second amount be. So what is infinite? We might at one time have thought that the number of fish in the oceans was infinite. Later we learned that the capacity of the environment to absorb CO2 was also inconveniently not infinite.
How about the number of atoms in the universe? Is that an infinite number? Physicists go back and forth about that one. Einstein would say no, that the number of atoms are fixed (please consult another blog to brush up on your E=MC2). Others point to indications that all of the matter in the universe is not accounted for by the stars and planets and other “material” and that perhaps an expanding universe is creating new matter. Maybe the universe not really expanding but oscillating and is only temporarily (a few tens of billions of years) in the expansion phase before it shrinks again. Consider this: the universe is a big place. The light that is visible from exploding stars at the farthest reaches of the universe took 13 billion years to get here. That event happened 13 billion years ago, but we are only seeing it now. Or did it happen 13 billion and one day ago? Oops, not infinite.
The dictionary says that infinity is an unlimited extent of time, space, or quantity : boundlessness<http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/boundlessness>. I love the notion of boundlessness because it takes infinity out of the realm of space and time and out of the realm of theoretical mathematics and evokes the realm of consciousness. I think it is beautiful that all physical measurements are limited and that it is only when you look within yourself - when you consider the life that we all share - that there is something that is truly infinite. The Quakers say that there is that of God within each person. I feel this must be true because you cannot add even “one” more to the total Light within to make it bigger.