Indeed, for a beginning out of the void - ex nihilo - a sum of zero energy would be expected.
No question about that, Alamo-Girl. Yet the resultant universe seems to be very energetic. That is, not zero in terms of nominal energetic capabilities, but on an energetic scale astronomically greater than anything we can imagine. All starting from nothing, from "null," and riotously propagating, evolving from there. Always seemingly according to "a rule"....
I was grateful to RWP for suggesting that "our" [closed or open — I still can' decide, LOL!] (universal) system — "X" — should it be found to exchange energy/matter with another system — "Y" — then "X" would have to become "'X' plus 'Y'." This would be, of course, the naturalist answer, be it methodological or materialist in basic persuasion.
What I should have asked RWP but didn't at the time — hope he's here now, I pinged him — is since we're going all-hoopy all over the place these days with "conjectures," may I conjecture that the "system" may interact — exchange matter/energy — with systems that are not "natural?"
To put it another way, what if the physical universe considered as the global system (open or closed, we can dither over that later) interacts — exchanges energy — with another system which is not "natural," but precisely is "beyond" the "natural?" That is to say, that our system "exchanges energy" with God?
Does this mean that we would have to adjust RWP's formula, "X+Y" to accommodate yet another term, "Z?" As in "the Universe is X+Y+Z?"
In which case, we would need to ask whether RWP might be a closet Buddhist or something — for that tradition puts God in the world (i.e., pantheism), where the classical Greek, Jewish, and Christian traditions insist that God is ever "outside" or "beyond" it.
Just asking. It's late, I'm sleepy, and so am going to bed. Tommorrow's another day. And TGIF!
Good night dear friends, sleep well, be rested, and see you soon! May God bless and be with you always.
And thank you so much for writing, dear Alamo-Girl, and for all your kind encouragements.