Creative Force

The following thoughts have emerged from a book club discussion around “Science and Faith in Dialogue” by Frederik van Niekerk and Nico Vorster.

The book makes a case for Intelligent Design. A few of the chapters present impressive descriptions of complex structures and processes that enable living cells to survive in challenging circumstances. The point is made that many of the components of cells need to be in place all at the same time in order for the cell to function effectively. The assertion is that it is inconceivable that the numerous adaptations would have come into full functionality simultaneously through the random process of mutation. Therefore, it suggests, there must be some intelligent agent organizing evolution.

The implicit belief being that God is that intelligent agent. This Creative Force must have planned the combination of details so they would all be present at the same time when needed.

Before musing on this possibility, I want to make it clear that I only believe one thing—that one cannot believe anything. We can collect evidence which supports the likelihood of things being a certain way. For example, the sun has risen every morning that I can remember, therefore one could believe, and try to convince others that it will rise again tomorrow. My observations support this and I plan my time on this assumption. Other things are less obvious. If the weather has been clear for several days, I tend to think that it will remain clear. While I may base decisions on assumptions, it is not unknown for things to turn out differently than I expect.

How can anyone know anything for certain, particularly about things that happened hundreds of millions of years ago? Belief is to assume a particular interpretation of reality against any other. Wars are fought over different interpretations.

I prefer to acknowledge that reality exists exactly as it is, without my conviction or preferences. It is a great weight off my shoulders. Reality doesn’t depend on me and I have the option to consider other perspectives as they might arise.

But I digress.

Back in the 1970s, we had a study group. At its peak, we were twenty young people in three rented houses in Ottawa. We called it the Institute for the Study of Cultural Evolution (ISCE). One day at a tabling event, I started a conversation with the person managing the venue’s information booth. When I mentioned the name of our group, she immediately dismissed what I had to say. Evolution wasn’t a thing and therefore nothing I had to say was relevant to her. She was 60 or 70 years old, and had surely noticed big changes in society over her lifetime—society had evolved. I wasn’t talking about Darwinian evolution, simply about change in society. No! Evolution was a mistaken concept and that was that. True dogmatic belief.

Another ISCE incident was the journey of a colleague to a conference in Europe. The topic was life and its intricacies. When he returned, we asked what he had learned. His response was that there was general consensus that: “For every level of organization of matter, there is a corresponding level of consciousness.”

I’ve thought long about this possibility and increasingly see the world from that perspective.

Could it be mistaken to consider matter and consciousness (spirit) as separate? Might matter and consciousness be indivisible aspects of all things? If this is the case, there would be conscious, creative agency at all levels, great and small.

It is a stretch for some to think that a tiny grain of sand has a correspondingly small bit of awareness, but if that grain is a crystal, it contains within it the potential to grow into a bigger crystal. Viruses have a mixed review. Sometimes, by inhabiting cells, they take on living characteristics and sometimes, on their own, they act more like crystals. Some possibility of consciousness is widely acknowledged for bacteria, fungus, earthworms, plants, and animals.

Epigenetic scientists have identified cases where various genes in DNA strands are activated or deactivated to give the next generations characteristics that were not active in the parents. Children conceived in times of famine can have the ability to retain more nutrients from their food. Plants growing in drought conditions can produce seed that grow up requiring less water. While epigenetics only traces the changes for a couple of generations, is it too far a stretch to imagine experiences causing some structural change to DNA? Particularly if a universal Creative Force is present at the level of reproductive cells.

Consider the possibility that the conscious aspect of a living thing can long for some ability that it does not have. Imagine for example, a bird that is accustomed to eating nuts. Among the nuts in its vicinity are some which have shells too hard to crack. They would sense that there is nourishment within, but they can’t get at it. Might the desire to eat those nuts lead, one generation or another, to an offspring with a stronger beak? Any of the young that grow a beak strong enough to crack the harder nut would have an advantage and thrive via the conventional evolutionary process.

Through whatever means, we humans have emerged. Few dispute our consciousness. Surely there is nothing more conscious than people.

Well, what about an organization. Two heads being better than one and all. A well run organization, perhaps a state, has capabilities well beyond that of any individual.

In the 1700s, Adam Smith wrote about countries being informed by the spirit of Capitalism. In the early 1900s, Rudolf Steiner wrote “The Mission of the Folk Souls”. He describes how the character of the British is different from that of the French or the Germans. Because previously isolated cultures have become integrated through transportation and other communications, he went on to identify Time Spirits. In his era it was the spirit of industrialization that was sweeping the world. Some evidence suggests that a new Time Spirit is emerging which inclines civilization toward re-integration with Earth.

Another step is to look at the level of organized matter that is our living planet. If the levels of consciousness theory is true, then Earth would be conscious. Gaia?

How about the Solar System? Our Galaxy? Perhaps the entire universe. By this theory, the All and Everything would sustain an ultimate consciousness. Could this be God—the Creative Force present everywhere?

Quantum theory supports this in that it suggests that everything in the universe affects everything else, instantaneously. Such relations between the conscious portions of All and Everything would enable the Creative Force to operate as an integral entity.
This would solve the question of where the creator resides. It is in all things.

With the Creative Force present in all things, fine-tuning living cells would be a matter of that Creative Force operating within the structure of such cells. Its scale of observation and agency would be at the scale of the task at hand. Creativity could be exercised at the genetic level, from within the chromosomes.

And so the evolution of life would proceed. Toward what might it be longing? An ever-better ability to survive? What more? What is the point of evolution? At one time I asked a lot of people this question and got two notable replies. One was that the universe wanted a life form capable of appreciating its wonders. We can do that. The other notable reply was that the purpose of life has been to make possible the laughter of children. Could these both be expressions of the same thing?

As the sense has grown in me that all things are conscious, I have begun to notice it everywhere. The first I recall was looking at a bird and seeing that it was actively looking back at me. This has happened since with other creatures and even with trees and grasses. The young plants on our windowsill demonstrate awareness when they turn to face the light. Even the nearby river and the wind in the trees reveal Creative Force. It is a compelling world to be a part of.

It reminds me of indigenous accounts of the world where all things are living personalities, worthy of respect. One can be sure that if we saw the plants, animals, insects, water bodies, the wind, energy, and the land itself as alive, in the same way that we are alive, we would be more careful, more respectful in our use of them. To love the Creative Force in all things.

Not only does recognizing the consciousness in all things lead to respect and care, the richness of sharing the community of existence offers us a superb substitute for our destructive overconsumption.

By accepting full relationship with the wonders of existence, we can gather endless satisfaction from our new relations. Thanks to our own conscious endowment we can gain further fulfillment from learning, love and laughter, playing sports, making art and all manner of other activities enabled by our matter-spirit existence. While requiring little more than the basics of nutritious food and comfortable shelter, we can live with minimal impact on the natural world. “More fun, less stuff” is a rallying cry for this transformation to a sustainable world order.

Humans have a unique position amidst the community of existence. As with all creatures we get direction from the Creative Force. We also have our own creative force which we use to do a vast array of things, not all of which are good for nature or humanity.

This analogy can be helpful for managing the dichotomy.

Imagine two donut magnets on a pencil. If the opposite poles are facing each other, the magnets click together and hold tight. If the two positive poles or the two negative poles face each other the magnets will bounce apart. It takes effort to push them together and as soon as that effort stops, they spring apart again.

If we think of our own ability to gain understanding by absorbing information and experiences as our negative pole, and our creative ability to move things around at will as our positive pole, we meet the Creative Force of the universe in two possible ways. If we approach the universe in our receptive mode there is a natural attraction. If, on the other hand, we direct our creative force toward the universe, it takes considerable effort to enforce our will. As soon as we relax our efforts, the poles spring apart. Much of what we build requires constant maintenance. The recommendation from where this analogy came is to be receptive to what the natural world suggests and to use our creative abilities to make that happen.

How might we know what the natural world would have us do?

Imagine sitting by a lake. At the far side of that lake is an entity with tremendous wisdom and compassion. That entity wants nothing more than to answer any questions that you might have, to inform your earthly mission. The only way that entity can communicate is by tossing stones into the water to make ripples that can move across the water to you.

The lake is your mind. As long as it is filled with waves of self-generated chatter, the ripples are lost. Bring the mind to stillness and the ripples can speak to you.

Humanity is capable of sustaining a healthy, fulfilling existence on Earth for the indefinite future. Focusing on what we can do with life and working for the well-being of people and ecosystems is the way forward.

 

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