The question was asked by a few people commenting on my previous post about the link between Darwinism and God, here is my answer:I agree that Darwinism doesn't have anything to do with Christianity, the point I was making was that if I had of just rattled off some prophetic dream and claimed that it was a vision from God people couldn't prove that it wasn't anymore than I can prove that it was. Just as Abraham claimed that God spoke to him and the Jewish people up until Moses had little more than this to tie their religion together.
Some further thoughts on our place in the universe and other things:
As it turns out a highly developed mind is an evolutionary trump card. Physically we are articulate rather than fast the thumb is unique to primates and facilitates tool use, the human foot can't grip limbs or run very fast, it is more designed to travel long distances through various environs. Mentally we are a colossus in comparision to our none human brethren. Our evolutionary configuration has allowed us to be master of all the planet. We can now move faster than a cheetah, fly higher than any bird and move faster through the water than any fish. We can ambush, or hunt and kill anything. The upshot of this is that we have a broad enough view of the planet/universe and recognise that our place is not to subjugate and anhialate but is more of a stewardship to be held accountable like a president or a prime minister. The downside of this is that I fear we may have got a concensus on this all to late. This remarkable tool is as complex, intricate and mysterious as human social interaction. Why have we advanced so far down this evolationary line? One of Darwins most baffling questions was not posed by man but by nature. That being 'what was the evolutionary advantage of the peacocks tail'. The answer to this was the renaming of the theory to sexual selection in which the female via the use of sexual selection use certain markers to choose their mate. The healthy peacock tail is the marker of a healthy peacock and a healthy peacock is a testament to it's ability to gather food and fend for itself. This has by accident and on occasions had an adverse effect. The Irish Elks sexual trigger was the size of their antlers and as a result their antlers got so big that they couldn't escape their hunters and they are now extinct.
This reinforces my veneration of the feminine as the pivot driving force of our evolutionary journey. When a married woman is asked why she loves her husband she will usually note mental attributes such as "he makes me laugh", "he understands me", "he is a good man/father/provider" and rarely for such things as big shoulders, narrow hips, muscular physique. Though they will say that the later are involved strongly in the initial attraction and (in my opinion) the physical markers of a mans ability to survive the physical world, attributes that would also help her own offspring to survive. This is why is it that a woman looking for a one nighter would choose a man more on their physical appearance.
I see parrallels between ourselves and the Irish Elk. This tool that has served us so well appears to be possibly if not likely the instrument of our distruction. Putting aside the ideas of divine destruction be it Norse Ragnarok or Christo-islamic-judiac Armageddon we see a general consensus that the greatest threat to our survival is man-made. Whether is it war, or planetory desolation all of these are a direct result of post-historic human activity. The difference may lie in that our tool is more flexible than the Irish Elk. We alone have the advantage of retrospect transending generations. We can also compose thoughts and construct mechanisms that can destroy this life or project it, not so much into eternal life as into eternal regeneration.
Wednesday, January 3, 2007
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1 comment:
Hey :)
Interesting thoughts... but have we truly advanced? Look at sportspeople (and mainly men). They are the physical specimen's - they are the ones who would be able to survive in a physical world. They are the ones who have the muscle, the stamina, the strength. And most of them are still treated like gods!! When did you last see someone like Steve Hawking mobbed by women? When was the lastest Mensa meeting, promoted with cheerleaders and half time shows?
Ky..
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