Where did the Universe Come From?

Here is a good question to ponder at night when you can´t get off to sleep!

Where did the Universe come from? Was it created - and if so, by "what" or "whom"? Or maybe it´s always been "here"? Or the question is irrelevant? Sorry, but I don´t have the answer and neither does anyone else. I am not a cosmologist nor anything else relevant, unless you consider an accountant/language teacher/salesman/investment adviser/property agent relevant. Some cosmologists say, truthfully, that no-one has the answer to such questions, while others come up with possibilties that are at best far-fetched. Where theories are advanced, they border on mysticism - looking for logical explanations where there can be none.

There only seem to be three possibilties: the Universe has existed eternally or it was created by something outside of itself or it "made itself". The trouble is that all of these seem logically impossible.

If the Universe has existed for ever, then it is hard to see how anything can happen, such as me sitting here typing this, as everything would already have happened an eternity ago. Our universe would have existed and then vanished again an eternity ago, next year´s Olympics would already have happened, yesterday and tomorrow have both been and gone an eternity ago.

The idea that the Universe was created, possibly by God or some other agency, seems a bit of a cop-out, as it just moves the question a step further back. Where did God or the other agency come from?

Also, it does not answer the question "why?". If it was created as a conscious decision, then why did the creator do it - what was his/her/its purpose? Could there possibly be a purpose?

Did the Universe create itself? This seems like another cop-out. How could it create itself, if, before it existed, there was absolutely nothing at all of any kind. Nothing, nothing.......nothing. Anyway, where did the rules and regulations and laws allowing it to create itself come from?

If you have a good convincing answer - then you are deluding yourself!!!!!!!!!