Nature, i.e., the universe as a whole, cannot be created or annihilated . . .
it cannot come into or go out of existence. Whether its basic constituent
elements are atoms, or subatomic particles, or some yet undiscovered forms of
energy, it is not ruled by a consciousness or by will or by chance, but by the
law of identity. All the countless forms, motions, combinations and
dissolutions of elements within the universe—from a floating speck of dust to
the formation of a galaxy to the emergence of life—are caused and determined
by the identities of the elements involved. Nature is the metaphysically
given—i.e., the nature of nature is outside the power of any volition.