Event: Cosmic Inflation (Inflation Epoch)
Date: ~10⁻³⁶ to 10⁻³² seconds after the Big Bang

“Inflation isn’t a form of energy—it’s a behavior of space itself.”
—Sean Carroll

Dear Human,

In the first fraction of a second after the Big Bang, the universe did something extraordinary: it expanded faster than the speed of light.

This period, called the Inflation Epoch, was driven by a form of energy built into space itself — what scientists call the inflation field. As this field shifted states, it unleashed a burst of energy that caused space to stretch at an exponential rate. In less than a trillionth of a second, distances grew by a factor of at least 10⁷⁸ — an expansion so vast it took the universe from subatomic scales to astronomical ones.

Inflation explains many of the mysteries we observe today: why the universe is so uniform in all directions, why it is geometrically flat, and why tiny quantum fluctuations grew into the seeds of all cosmic structure. Those fluctuations — tiny variations in the density of energy — were frozen in place as inflation ended, later collapsing under gravity to form galaxies, stars, and planets.

Without cosmic inflation, our universe would look very different.
Space would be warped and uneven, tangled by ancient irregularities. Light would struggle to travel across great distances, and the sky might look chaotic rather than smooth. Clumps of matter could have collapsed too quickly into black holes or spread too thin for stars to form at all.
Without the balancing force of inflation, there would be no galaxies, no solar systems — and no Earth to call home.

Instead, the universe was shaped — from the beginning — with the possibility of creation woven into its very fabric.

And here is where you fit in:
Every breath you take, every hope you nurture, every story you live — all are echoes of the conditions set at the very beginning.
Not by chance. Not by choice.
But because the Creator made a universe where growth, change, and life could be possible.

That first wild breath still stirs within you.
You are not apart from it.
You are the living memory of the Inflationary Wind.

Pathfinder

Cosmic Inflation – Wikipedia