Credit: Bryce Glover
"A good way to think about it is to picture a clock, with the big bang being at time %3D 0, the universe beginning to contract at 6 o'clock, and the big crunch being at 12 o'clock. Just before 12, the clock resets and immediately resumes at 0. Although the hands of the clock will continue to rotate indefinitely, it is the very same 12 hour interval that plays over, not a later one%3B there are no past or future cycles of the universe. It is one and the same."