17 April 2010
The Soul and Evolution
Is it possible that God created humans by infusing living mammals with an eternal soul? That is my understanding of the story of Adam and Eve. It has always confounded my reconciliation of religious belief with the science of evolution.
Along with physical changes in the human species over time, our cognitive abilities have also been transformed from the instincts of the hunter-gatherer to the compulsive creativity of engineers, artists, scientists, managers and producers. Leaving aside how presumptuous it may be to assign a higher value to mankind’s more recent accomplishments than to its early survival, it is mystifying that the Supreme Being would have chosen to breathe spiritual life into hominid organisms that would take millennia to build the cultures and civilizations needed to presume an ability to dispense with Him.
Did He not see this coming? Does His existence depend on their worshipful or indifferent acknowledgement? If so, does it matter?
Miracles are what we call positive interventions in worldly life by spiritual beings; they are an alternative to coincidence. If that is all they are, there may not be any other evidence of an everlasting life. In fact, luck and happenstance are probably more rational explanations of miraculous events. They offer a plausible basis for the origin of the universe, as well.
At one time, it was thought that a metaphysics of spiritual life was needed in order to keep order in society. Evolution, and now DNA research and genetic engineering, have been seen as dangerous challenges to that system of social power. The information technology revolution may bring an end to that seeming antagonism between orderly human behavior and freedom from domination. A widely knowledgeable population will more willingly behave in a way that is supportive of the common good. We may be able one day to live in a Rawlsian universe (cf. John Rawls, A Theory of Justice) that is free of the menacing fantasy of life after death
Is it possible that God created humans by infusing living mammals with an eternal soul? That is my understanding of the story of Adam and Eve. It has always confounded my reconciliation of religious belief with the science of evolution.
Along with physical changes in the human species over time, our cognitive abilities have also been transformed from the instincts of the hunter-gatherer to the compulsive creativity of engineers, artists, scientists, managers and producers. Leaving aside how presumptuous it may be to assign a higher value to mankind’s more recent accomplishments than to its early survival, it is mystifying that the Supreme Being would have chosen to breathe spiritual life into hominid organisms that would take millennia to build the cultures and civilizations needed to presume an ability to dispense with Him.
Did He not see this coming? Does His existence depend on their worshipful or indifferent acknowledgement? If so, does it matter?
Miracles are what we call positive interventions in worldly life by spiritual beings; they are an alternative to coincidence. If that is all they are, there may not be any other evidence of an everlasting life. In fact, luck and happenstance are probably more rational explanations of miraculous events. They offer a plausible basis for the origin of the universe, as well.
At one time, it was thought that a metaphysics of spiritual life was needed in order to keep order in society. Evolution, and now DNA research and genetic engineering, have been seen as dangerous challenges to that system of social power. The information technology revolution may bring an end to that seeming antagonism between orderly human behavior and freedom from domination. A widely knowledgeable population will more willingly behave in a way that is supportive of the common good. We may be able one day to live in a Rawlsian universe (cf. John Rawls, A Theory of Justice) that is free of the menacing fantasy of life after death
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