Nothing Can Be Created From Nothing

We can observe for ourselves that nothing ever arises from nothing, and that nothing is ever completely destroyed. From this starting point we can deduce that all the material in the universe that has ever existed continues to exist, and was never created by supernatural gods. As Epicurus wrote to Herodotus "Nothing is created out of that which does not exist: for if it were, everything would be created out of everything with no need of seeds." (Bailey - line 38) Here we see how Epicurus thinks - he always combines his doctrines with the reasoning behind it, and in this case Epicurus is pointing out that all things which come into existence do not arise randomly, but naturally from elemental particles, and that the elemental particles determine what can, and what cannot, come into being. Based on this observation, and the observation that nothing is every destroyed completely to nothing, Epicurus deduced that the universe as a whole is eternal in time, and was not created by supernatural gods or forces. The universe as a whole has always existed and will always exist.

• Epicurus wrote in his letter to Herodotus, at line 38 (Bailey): "[N]othing is created out of that which does not exist: for if it were, everything would be created out of everything with no need of seeds."

• Lucretius wrote at 1:146 (Bailey): "This terror then, this darkness of the mind, must needs be scattered not by the rays of the sun and the gleaming shafts of day, but by the outer view and the inner law of nature; whose first rule shall take its start for us from this, that nothing is ever begotten of nothing by divine will." Note: A more precise translation than Bailey renders would likely be: "Nothing can be created from that which did not previously exist." In general the point is that everything comes from that which already exists, meaning that nothing comes from that which does not already exist.""