Beginning with the fact that something exists, something that we can even call the null (or empty) set, the set that contains nothing. Only something could engage in the concept of nothing — in fact, it might even need to. If there is such a non-element, then immediately, from the ‘that’, we deduce a ‘this’, from the ∅ we have a ‘not-∅’ or a non-empty set. Because we know of the existence of something (by the very fact of my own existence, as well as the existence of everything that is necessary for my very existence).

Knowing of the existence of something, suggests the existence of a non-empty set, a set that is different from the empty set. Let us refer to that empty set as the set of nothingness, as it had nothing in it prior to the arising of existence. It is a set that is distinct from this element of existence.

There exists a set that has discrete elements in it, one of which can be chosen.

Thus we arrive at the Axiom of Choice, which says that we can basically choose any place as our point of origin. Any place, as our beginning. Which requires the Axiom of Existence, which proposes existence of something.

Imagine a collection of baskets, each of which are non-empty. What the axiom of choice then says is that we can choose a member from any basket in that collection. This is an expression of free will. We have a choice, and through these choices we create our future. This path is one’s golden thread, around what one may call one’s vector of existence, and is often referred to as one’s personal narrative.

Choice

Choice can only occur in a complexity.

Choice invites complexity. When choice arises in a situation, it already has many variables that will have to have been set in place.

• Element that IS different from its surroundings
• Thus we need “surroundings” and a distinct element
• This element also needs to be able to change (whether direction, or something more complex is irrelevant). So there must be the possibility for change within the system – and thus one would assume the surroundings can change too.
• Then there has to be at least two choices, i.e., two paths, that the element can take. So there need to be “coherent” – or at least locally continuous – pathways, recognisable even as patterns in surroundings.
• Then the element has to have the capacity to make choice. This would require an ability to recognise different possible paths.
• Finally, where does the concept or idea of choice even come from in the first place?

The conditions to enable or create the condition(s) of choice means that we have contain an element at least equivalent to the Creator, For, in order to be able to have the ability to choose in a world of “perfection” — the realm of the Creator — requires a being that has at least one of the abilities of the Creator — and that is the ability to affect your destiny, by choosing one.

That is where the archangel Satan, or Lucifer: the fallen angel of Light, appears. Kabbalah calls it the spark of Divine Light that is in each of us. Lucifer, as the temptor, will attempt to influence our choice. But to have choice in an omnipotent universe is one of our core existentialist issues.

We are not an other. Nor are we beset by one, as a punishment. But are constrained by the natural order of things, by the natural order of existence, produced by the self-regulating nature of the universe. This is a behaviour that arises at certain levels of complexity.