Swerve

Epicurus’s theories about the world were pretty simple: everything is either atoms or the void. Atoms are the smallest particles of matter, so small that you cannot see them (this term was later adapted by scientists) and their random motion causes everything to happen.

He also theorized that atoms have a natural tendency to fall down (as in gravity) because that is their original state of being. So at the beginning of the universe, atoms simply fell down until they hit each other and formed compounds, which triggered the creation of the universe.

Critics found a flaw in this logic, namely, if the atoms fell straight down, how would they hit each other?

Epicurus’s answer is rather simple: one swerves.

For pretty much no reason, one tiny atom decided it had enough of this monotony and altered its path by the tiniest amount. This led to the formation of everything that exists today, including you and me. If one atom can trigger all this just by swerving by the tiniest amount, imagine what you can do when you decide to change something! If one atom can bring the universe into existence, then a being made up of trillions of atoms can rip it apart, or bring another into formation. The possibilities are endless.

So have faith in yourself, because that little atom has faith in you!

(Of course, critics also ripped apart this answer, since no reason was given for the swerve. But Cicero in his critique pointed out that we give no explanation for mental decisions, so that is what I’m going with here.)