About 15 billion years ago, astronomers tell us, there was nothing at all, not even space. Then suddenly the entire universe emerged from a single point called a singularity. Everything that would ever be in our universe was contained in that single point which proceeded to explode outward creating the space it now occupies with it. The universe is still expanding and much of the focus of today's astronomy is on the question of whether the universe will continue to expand indefinitely or will it eventually fall back onto itself and collapse into a singularity again.
The act of creation was really the creation of the rules by which the universe operates. Without rules the universe does not exist. So one could say the first step in creation of the universe was "Let there be rules..." Once the rules were in place the universe had to come into existence because the rules required it.
This idea of conformance with physical law is important because it explains everything. Every process in the universe is in conformance. Every process from the lifecycle of stars to the drop of water dripping from your faucet obeys these rules. All the processes in the universe obey including the one going on inside your head.
Thinking is a physical process. It happens inside your brain as the result of very carefully organized electrochemical events. The fact that you rely on your brain's physical process to create your "thoughts" is easy to demonstrate:
- Get a hammer.
- Hit yourself in the head with the hammer.
- Did you lose consciousness? If not, repeat step 2 with greater force.
The fact that your "thoughts" change according the physical condition of your brain (drinking, drugs, insanity, hammers) suggests that thinking is itself a physical process and as such conforms to physical law.
Thinking is a physical process and it always conforms with the rules. Every thought that occurs to you must be at the exact time and place dictated by the rules that govern your brains's physical process. You never think of anything unless the rules tell you to.
It is easier to visualize the thinking process as being somewhat like a program running on a computer. It is a set of instructions being executed on a processor. Granted, the brain is very different from the computers we create today, but the fact that the brain is a physical machine remains true.