If this grand idea is correct, then the universe is larger than we ever could have imagined. The answer, according to some cosmologists, is truly mind-boggling. If the universe sprung forth in this manner, then probably inflation has occurred in other places, perhaps an infinite number of places, beyond our horizon and outside of our time. The implication is that there are other universes, perhaps similar to ours or vastly different, each in its own space and begun in its own time. The universe began with a vast explosion that generated space and time.
Inflation implies a vastly expanded concept of what the universe is.
But the concept is also helping us to understand the universe we see around us. The discovery of cosmic acceleration was made by examining the light of supernovae. Redshift refers to a color shift in the light of galaxies toward the red end of the spectrum as they race away from us. The faster a galaxy is moving away, the redder its light becomes. Take the case of a universe with so much matter that gravity arrests the expansion and everything finally collapses in on itself.