In short: Mindless mathematical laws encode all kinds of patterns. Our brains also encode patterns in them. These patterns mirror the outside world. Once you

In short: Mindless mathematical laws encode all kinds of patterns. Our brains also encode patterns in them. These patterns mirror the outside world. Once your brain models "the state of the world" it can also model the configuration space of the world: the ways things could be. An aim or intention is an ordering in that configuration space. "I could have many things for breakfast; what I'd prefer is X" is an ordering on your internal representation of breakfast-space.