Hawking, bless his heart, is a four year old among two year olds. Despite all his human intellect, he has nary a clue what happened before the "big bang" (assuming there was a "big bang"), and moreover, he is incapable of knowing. None of us are capable of knowing. It must gnaw at him to no end. If Hawking is good, God may tutor him on some truly advanced physics after he's checked out of this life.