Why Is There Anything At All Rather

I Hold That The Mark Of A Genuine Idea Is That Its Possibility Can Be Proved, Either A Priori By Conceiving Its Cause Or Reason, Or A Posteriori When Experience Teaches Us That It Is In Fact In Nature.

Now, As There Is An Infinity Of Possible Universes In The Ideas Of God, And As Only One Of Them Can Exist, There Must Be A Sufficient Reason For God's Choice, Which Determines Him Toward One Rather Than Another. And This Reason Can Be Found Only In The Fitness, Or The Degrees Of Perfection, That These Worlds Contain, Since Each Possible Thing Has The Right To Claim Existence In Proportion To The Perfection It Involves.

There Is No Way In Which A Simple Substance Could Begin In The Course Of Nature, Since It Cannot Be Formed By Means Of Compounding.

We May Say, That Not Only The Soul (the Mirror Of An Indestructible Universe) Is Indestructible, But Also The Animal Itself Is, Although Its Mechanism Is Frequently Destroyed In Parts.

But In Simple Substances The Influence Of One Monad Over Another Is Ideal Only.