In the Beginning

How, on the one hand, the universe is all there is and, on the other hand, it had a beginning?

From a scientific viewpoint the universe as we know it came about 13.8 billion years ago from a hot and dense state. If we imagine that a hot and dense state is the universe in a different configuration, then we can surmise that the universe always existed, but only differently. Life as we know it is self-created without purpose having taken advantage of the fundamental constants and laws of nature.

From a philosophical or theological perspective, some form of omnipotent and eternal energy or being created the universe. Such a perspective opens the door to life being purposeful. 

The scientific viewpoint seems the easiest to defend, mostly because it doesn't require an act of creation so avoids all the unanswerable why questions associated with the omnipotent God. On the other hand, it appears to require the same amount of unscientific faith in an eternal universal as it does unscientific faith in a higher power. We seem to lack an equal amount of evidence for both.

Stephen Hawking: When you look at the vast size of the universe, and how insignificant and accidental human life is in it, the existence of a God seems most implausible.