Reference: Mindfulness Research
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God versus Science
In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth, which were yet unformed, void and enveloped in darkness. From this then came the following at the pleasure of God.
- Day 1 – Formation of light from darkness
- Day 2 – Formation of firmament from waters
- Day 3 – Formation of earth and plant life from the seas
- Day 4 – Formation of regularity in terms of day, night, year and seasons
- Day 5 – Formation of sea life in water and fowl on land
- Day 6 – Formation of higher animal life and humans.
The formation ends here because “God rested on the seventh day”. The world then runs as formed.
To look at the above scientifically, we just have to make the following change.
God is the fundamental principle of “order precipitating from chaos”. The chaos is, of course, the yet unformed, void and dark “heaven and earth”.
And the order precipitates from chaos in the following stages:
- From electromagnetic energy to matter
- From matter to animation
- From animation to life
- From life to thought
These stages are studied as follows:
- Stage 1 is the subject of PHYSICS & COSMOLOGY
- Stage 2 is the subject of CHEMISTRY & BIOCHEMISTRY
- Stage 3 is the subject of BIOLOGY & PROGRAMMING
- Stage 4 is the subject of AWARENESS & MINDFULNESS
There are more details here compared to the descriptions in the Bible. This is not surprising because civilization has made considerable progress since the time Bible was written. But the big realization comes as follows.
The fundamental principle of order precipitating from chaos never rests. In other words, from the view of science God never rests.
The Principle of God
The fundamental principle is that order precipitates naturally from chaos. In fact, this universe is the manifestation of the cumulative order that has precipitated. Without this principle, there wouldn’t be a universe.
God is the principle that order precipitates naturally from chaos.
Some may argue that order could just as well be converting back to chaos. That may be so. But, evidently, there is a net increase in order at any point in time. In fact, time itself may be the very manifestation of this irreversibility.
Time is the irreversibility of the precipitation of this order.
The Bible represents chaos as the “yet unformed, void and dark heaven and earth”. Science may call it “potential order”. Here we may have hidden stages of earlier creation. In fact, ancient texts hint at the universe forming and dispersing cyclically. But these are fuzzy grounds.
Chaos may, at best, be defined as “potential order”.
Evidently, evolution proceeded with trial and error in the beginning. That is why the earlier stages took so long. Evolution is occurring much faster only at the current stage of “from life to thought”. Intelligence and imagination are phenomena that have emerged only at the current stage.
Considering God to be a supernatural being with intelligence is a big leap of imagination.
We are on a firm ground when we look at God to be the principle of order precipitating naturally from chaos. This fundamental principle continues to drive the formation of this universe even at this very moment.
Creativity at any place, and in any form, is a manifestation of the principle of God.
The Creative Evolution
The “days” from the Bible, and the “stages” from science, simply describe the sequence of evolution. Each cycle in this evolution is “start, change, and stop”. For life organisms, this cycle becomes “birth, survival, and death.”
Evolution is a sequence of creative cycles.
The evolution takes place in the ‘death to birth’ phase, based on learning that takes place during the ‘survival’ phase. Death clears away the older, used up forms; and birth brings about the newer, updated forms. Over each cycle the evolution may be infinitesimal, but over trillions of cycles there is a net evolution, and that evolution is creative.
Cycles are the clearing away of older forms and the generation of new ones.
The popular belief that “God rested on the seventh day,” may lead one to believe that there is no more creation, and life is all about surviving. This brings about the human desire to survive forever. But the reality of death and birth is natural. It serves a creative function. The desire to live forever is subjective and unnatural. God is more concerned with evolving than with surviving.
The fundamental directive of this universe is EVOLVE and not SURVIVE!
The Characteristics of Order
Evolution is bringing about order that is becoming increasingly complex. To understand where we are headed at this stage, it is necessary to understand the earlier stages
When we look at Stage 1 – “From electromagnetic energy to matter,” we find that the electromagnetic spectrum is flanked by space on one side and matter on the other. As the frequency goes to zero, the electromagnetic energy reduces to space. As the frequency goes very high the electromagnetic energy collapses into matter. We see this in the structure of the atom, in which the field of electromagnetic energy extends from space to the material nucleus. This tells us that there is continuity from space to matter through a field of electromagnetic energy. The purpose of this stage is to arrive at some form of stability.
The universe is fundamentally continuous.
When we look at Stage 2 – “From matter to animation,” we find that inanimate molecules evolve into self-animated RNA and DNA molecules. These complex molecules have enough electrons in their external orbits to form programmable circuits like that in a computer. There is a harmonious internal motion in all molecules, but it then starts to evolve into a series of external motions that are repetitive and in harmony with the internal motions. The purpose of this stage is to arrive at some form of harmonious external motion.
The universe is fundamentally harmonious.
When we look at Stage 3 – “From animation to life,” we find that self-animated molecules evolve into self-reproducing life organisms. The repetitive external motions, in harmony with similar motions from other molecules, are able to build complex motions of a cell that are able to reproduce the whole cell. This ability to reproduce itself repetitively defines life. The cells than combine with other cells and grow into infinite and complex varieties of life organisms that can also reproduce themselves. There is consistency throughout this complex growth in the ability to reproduce oneself repetitively. The purpose of this stage is to arrive at the capability of reproducing itself.
The universe is fundamentally consistent.
The characteristics of order in this universe are continuity, harmony and consistency.
Life and Organisms
The first action of evolution was to establish something stable to build a structure with. It then built a structure that could be programmed. The structure was then programmed to reproduce itself. Here we have the emergence of life. Life manifests itself by mobilizing the elements from the environment into a body and then making that body reproduce itself repetitively. And so we have life organisms.
The basic characteristic of life is to bring order to the environment by developing organisms and enabling the organisms to reproduce.
Mind and Free Association
The seat of life is generally referred to as the mind. The fundamental activity of the mind is to support complex evolution by ensuring continuity, harmony and consistency. The mind operates on the fundamental principle of “chaos to order”. It associates perceptions from the environment freely to determine the order needed. It then mobilizes the organism to implement that order in the environment.
The mind uses the fundamental logic of continuity, harmony and consistency to freely associate the perceptions from the environment to organize it better.
The Emergence of Thought
The most advanced form of life organisms is the human form. Evolution introduces something new at this level—thought. Thought has the capability to generate new and creative associations above and beyond the free associations of the mind. The purpose of thought is to speed up evolution through the complexity of life. It does that by resolving discontinuities, disharmonies and inconsistencies at all stages of evolution.
Thought is on a mission to resolve discontinuities, disharmonies and inconsistencies at all stages of evolution.
Summary
The above is an outline of the evolution up to the current stage of “from life to thought”. In the next chapter we look more closely at the human mind, which is the seat of thought and free association.
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Next chapter: The Mind as a Matrix
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