1. The universe does not require God/free will to create (or is called intelligent design). Nature can evolve everything and explain everything.
2. Self-consciousness is equivalent to fire, which is only a phenomenon, not an entity. (Fire exists, but fire with "fire element" does not exist; similarly: self-awareness exists, but "self-awareness" with "free will" does not exist, that is, autonomous consciousness does not exist
3. Free will is similar to paper flying freely in the wind. It seems to be flying by itself, but in fact it is the wind that is doing the work.
Some concepts:
"I": self-consciousness with free will (illusion), that is, autonomous consciousness. (This is what Descartes said "I think, therefore I am" and the "I" in Buddhism's "All dharmas have no self, get rid of self-grasping". The foundations of these two theories are exactly opposite.)
Soul: Free will that can be separated from matter.
God: The Prayer Sutra system is generally considered to be the supreme soul, the designer/creator of the universe that precedes nature.
Consciousness: The essence of consciousness is logical operations, just like the operation of CPU on memory data. As long as logical operations are performed, everything can be classified into consciousness. By this definition, consciousness is universal. From a biological perspective, any creature with a nervous system that can respond to external stimuli is, by this definition, conscious. Those who can distinguish "self" from the outside world have "self-awareness". The "mirror test" is a typical experiment. Advanced thinking only exists after consciousness forms language. Only with advanced thinking can we think about questions such as "What is 'I', what is the meaning and value of 'I', and whether 'I' am free".