War of the Worldviews: Science vs. Spirituality by Deepak Chopra; Leonard Mlodinow

Author:Deepak Chopra; Leonard Mlodinow
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Non-Fiction, Religious Studies, Science, Philosophy, 21st Century, New Age, Religion, v.5, Amazon.com, Mysticism, Retail
ISBN: 9781611733204
Publisher: Harmony
Published: 2011-10-03T15:00:00+00:00

11

Did Darwin Go Wrong?

DEEPAK

Spirituality owes heartfelt thanks to Charles Darwin, although he would be surprised to hear it. When people wake up all around the world with similar aspirations—“I want to better myself, I want to grow, I want to fulfill my potential”—they are taking personal advantage of Darwin’s great discovery, evolution. Darwin didn’t intend for people to think of their personal evolution, much less their spiritual evolution. A disillusioned theology student who harbored a bitter distrust of the Victorian God—benign, merciful, and a loving father to humankind—Darwin struck the decisive blow against that God. The theory of evolution liberated science from religion, toppled the myth of perfection in Nature, and supplied an airtight mechanism for how each species came into being.

Yet great ideas spread far beyond their discoverer’s control. Darwin’s blow against perfection was also a blow against sin, the “human stain” that could be atoned for but would always return. Evolution opened a way to escape the trap of sin by offering hope for progress in all aspects of life, although it took a long time for such a humane implication to strike home. At first people seized on another aspect of Darwin’s theory: the violent struggle for survival that left only the fittest standing. Alpha-male industrialists could abuse their workers on the grounds that Nature intended the strong to rule over the weak, and tyrants could justify themselves the same way. But today it is in the interest of spirituality to promote evolution over materialism. Where Darwin went wrong was to see evolution as a mindless mechanism. Spirituality can restore it as a mindful way to make life better, through higher consciousness. Wake up and evolve.

It’s fascinating to follow the bright-eyed young naturalist as he set sail for South America in 1826 on the HMS Beagle, a voyage that would last five years. He dug up the fossilized skulls of giant extinct mammals and wondered how they related to present-day mammals. He pondered why the sea iguanas of the Galápagos Islands, among all iguanas in the world, took to the ocean for their food. He rode on the backs of six-hundred-pound Galápagos tortoises (it’s easy to get them going with the tap of a stick, but much harder to keep from slipping off), and he speculated why the shells of tortoises from each island were subtly distinct from those on neighboring islands, having perhaps a larger flare at the bottom, a slightly different color, or a helmet-like extension at the front that covered the beast’s head.

These oddments and observations gathered in Darwin’s head, and once he got back home to England, his thinking went into a feverish state. After bouts of writing when ideas poured out of him as if on their own, he eventually hit upon the idea that has been called the most brilliant ever conceived: the tree of evolution that links all living things. In Darwin’s system, adaptation is the driving force behind evolution. Gazelles have adapted to outrun lions. Clownfish have adapted to hide safely amid the poisonous tentacles of sea anemones.

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