We must understand that it is not so: the various different things we see in the world are not totally separate, unconnected items created for all kinds of different reasons. There is one single reason for everything: everything is part of a single order that is made up of many particulars – these being its various branches. There are just as many branches as there are creatures. You cannot ask: “Why aren’t there any more?” For in order to accomplish the goal intended by the Supreme Mind, it was necessary to have precisely this number of different creatures.