Before the big bang we have no trace of anything. Time does not pass because time does not exist yet. According to Einstein, if one were to move at the speed of light, time would essentially stand still. So before the big bang we are essentially a beam of light traveling at light speed.

The image above is one of the most detailed maps of dark matter in our universe ever created. The location of the dark matter (tinted blue) was inferred through observations of magnified and distorted distant galaxies seen in this picture
13.6 billion years ago some matter split off in a bubble and got pushed out ahead of that beam of light. We've been traveling just a bit slower than that beam of light ever since, giving our universal time a direction. Our universe has been slowing down relative to the speed of that beam. As seen in the picture, if you illuminate the dark matter you can actually see the beam of light catching back up to us

The image above is one of the most detailed maps of dark matter in our universe ever created. The location of the dark matter (tinted blue) was inferred through observations of magnified and distorted distant galaxies seen in this picture
13.6 billion years ago some matter split off in a bubble and got pushed out ahead of that beam of light. We've been traveling just a bit slower than that beam of light ever since, giving our universal time a direction. Our universe has been slowing down relative to the speed of that beam. As seen in the picture, if you illuminate the dark matter you can actually see the beam of light catching back up to us








