To many devoutly religious people, God is responsible for the existence of all species that populate the earth. On the other hand, most secular folks look to Darwin’s theory of evolution and its subsequent development to explain how all species on earth came to be. According to this rubric, as it has progressed, the evolution of new species occurs when random DNA mutation gives rise to advantages that enable a species to better compete for survival against its rivals. In so doing, the mutation perpetuates itself within the descendants of the being in question and becomes part of their genome.
At the risk of angering many Darwinian-oriented folks, I would like to throw my support to a notion of “intelligent design” that blends spiritual and scientific perspectives of evolution. In this regard, my perspective on intelligent design posits roles for the divine and for natural selection that complement each other. While the Darwinian view sees the emergence of evolutionary advantages through random mutation, it is my view that the divine sometimes plays a role in determining and guiding such changes. Once an evolutionary step has taken place, Darwinian principles become applicable, and the change will become part of the species if it confers a survival advantage on it. This perspective helps explain how incredibly complex structures, such as the eye and bacterial flagellum, and the intricacies of DNA replication came to be, while at the same time saving room for the Darwinian perspective on whether such changes will become part of the genome of a species.
Such an approach has been represented both in religious doctrine and in popular culture – think of the mysterious monoliths in 2001: A Space Odyssey. In this latter regard, Star Trek: The Next Generation explains the proliferation of humanoid species on various worlds as the product of genetic seeding by a primordial race of beings. Whether induced by God or by space aliens, there is more than just random change at work; there is a role for powerful forces to shape the development of species, including homo sapiens. Admittedly, I cannot prove this, but my intuition guides my thinking on it. For those of my readers who might bristle at reliance on intuition, a number of advances in physics and other areas of science, such as Einstein’s concept of gravity as a warp in the fabric of space/time, arrived through what can only be called intuition (and I would say divinely inspired intuition at that).
The notion that divine forces may guide evolution introduces the possibility of their being a purpose in what is often viewed as a purposeless natural process. While Darwinian evolution is typically seen as unguided, the idea of divine influence introduces teleology — the philosophical study of purpose and design in nature. The suggestion that divine intervention could work alongside natural selection opens the door to a deeper discussion about the nature and purpose of evolution. Does the involvement of divine intervention imply a broader goal or end for the human species or life in general? What are the implications of such a belief for humanity’s understanding of its place in the universe?
It is my hope that, at some point, there will be an evolutionary leap that will enable us to fully, or at least more fully, understand reality and the universe. Because the physical universe in which we exist and evolved is limited in certain respects, our minds cannot really fathom certain aspects of reality. Trying to grapple with these concepts is much like the challenge a child faces in trying to understand the adult world through the lens of their child-world; the child is limited in its ability to understand the adult world until its brain develops in a way that will allow the child to understand it. This process is one that is undoubtedly marked by much frustration along the way. For example, our understanding of how the universe came to be is hampered by our difficulty with grasping how something can be created out of nothing. In other words, how can we come to understand something that exists without their being a “first cause?” The list of phenomena that we cannot perceive or comprehend in our current evolutionary state might also include theoretical concepts such as Kant’s “noumenon,” which refers to the reality that exists beyond human perception, and Plato’s “forms,” or abstract, perfect, and unchanging concepts or ideals that transcend time and space, only the shadows of which define the reality in which we exist. Likewise, the concept of infinity is elusive to us (except theoretically), because everything in our reality has an outside limit.
Some thinkers have spoken of how it is through the creation of human consciousness that the universe comes to understand and become conscious of itself. That consciousness will need to evolve beyond where it finds itself at present in order for our minds to be able to make sense of these phenomena. Whether that evolution involves a change in the structure of the human brain or some other vehicle, such as technological augmentation or spiritual transformation, is a question that we cannot answer at present.
