“Aristotle believed the universe was always here and did not come into existence. Nature always existed, nor will it go out of being. Nature, or the entire system of existence, exists independently of us and is a given. Human beings have a hard time assimilating that things exist apart from themselves and insist that a superhuman or a deity be given credit for everything that ever was. Some people believe that the universe must be without a beginning in time, owing no credit and acting with spontaneity, as can be seen when volcanoes erupt or floods wipe out entire towns.” – Moya K. Mason, Is There Any Chance Involved in the Evolutionary Process? A Look at Aristotle’s Physics II.

For Aristotle, the universe is eternal. He also believed that the universe emerged from a  natural creative intelligence, a natural thought or desire because nothing happens even by chance without an…