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You're confusing the issue - you're assigning cause and effect where there need not be any.
The rules of our universe only apply to our universe. Time, cause and effect, before and after.. hell the laws of conservation. All of it is a function of our universe. Assuming there are other universes like ours, they may follow identical rules or they may be radically different. It's hard to say.
Time is tied into space; therefore before and after (and, by extension, cause and effect) are dependent on being where we are. We cannot explore outside our universe, therefore these are laws that always apply to us. It is, however, a logical fallacy to assume they always apply to everything.
Asking what caused the universe to be is implicitly asking what came before the universe. This is not only a question that we are entirely unable to answer, it's a question that has no answer. It's completely meaningless, because there was no time prior to the big bang - it is functionally the beginning of time and space.
I like to use an analogy commonly attributed to Dr. Hawking. When asked what came before teh big bang, he responded with the question "what's north of the north pole?" Neither question is answerable, because they both hit the limits of the measurements used.
From a more theoretical standpoint, Charlatan touched on what's known as the Anthropic Principle. Essentially it states that things are the way they are, because if they weren't we wouldn't be here to question them. The universe necessarily exists because you're questioning it's existence. If it didn't exist in the form it's in, you wouldn't be able to ask the question you do. When taken in conjunction with the quantum theory of probability and multiple time lines, it creates a fascinating overall view - because it's possible, however improbable, that this universe exists, it must do so on some timeline. And because it must exist, we must necessarily be here to ask why.
I have a feeling this might cause more confusion than it clears up, but whatever.
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I wake up in the morning more tired than before I slept
I get through cryin' and I'm sadder than before I wept
I get through thinkin' now, and the thoughts have left my head
I get through speakin' and I can't remember, not a word that I said
- Ben Harper, Show Me A Little Shame
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