  Inflationary models, especially those with plateau-type potentials, are
consistent with the cosmological data, but inflation itself does not resolve
the initial singularity. This singularity is resolved, for example, by the idea
of the quantum creation of the Universe from nothing such as the tunneling and
no-boundary proposals. The simplest one predicts a closed Universe. Motivated
by these facts, we investigate the classical dynamics of a closed universe with
a plateau-type potential. Depending on the initial inflaton field value, the
universe can undergo a variety of events: an immediate big crunch, a bounce or
cyclic phase, and inflation. Although the non-inflationary solutions may appear
irrelevant to our Universe, they can be turned into single or multiple bounces
followed by inflation, taking into account the interactions necessary for the
reheating of the Universe after inflation. Thus, the dissipative mechanism in
our setup explains both the graceful entry to and exit from inflation and gives
us an indirect observational handle on the Universe just after creation. We
also comment on the implications of these solutions for probabilistic
interpretations of the wave function of the Universe.
