The Principle of Contingent Causation: The Impossibility of Infinite Regress.

[Belacqua]

As a Panentheist, I would say that the Totality may indeed satisfy as Necessary Being, however, that is not necssarrily the same as the physical universe. I say that because, the physical universe is a particular thing with particular features which IMHO triggers the princple of sufficient reason.

I'm not sure what people mean by "the totality" here, or what it means to say that the universe itself may suffice as a necessary cause.

Obviously, when we total up all the stuff that's out there -- all the stuff that makes up the universe -- nearly all of it is clearly contingent. So we can't just say that "the universe" is non-contingent. We have to point to one aspect or level of the universe that is necessary in order to give rise to all the contingent things. 

And then I think we're back at the beginning, asking what part of everything there is is necessary for the rest of it.