Volumes have been written over the centuries on the topic of life and how it all come to be. Boiled down to basics, there are two competing schools of thought: – life came about from totally naturalistic causes … or life was designed by a designer.
I will not try to compete with the big kids at the big kids’ tables of Darwinian Evolution and Intelligent Design, and instead offer up this short and succinct pictorial missive of my thoughts. Yes, I have read and studied much on the topic over many decades now, but in this day of Instant Messaging, bumper sticker politics and Twitter Tweets, perhaps it’s best for me to follow suite and keep it simple.
Situational Awareness (SA)
“ … the perception of environmental elements with respect to time or space, the comprehension of their meaning, and the projection of their status after some variable has changed, such as time, or some other variable, such as a predetermined event. …” Wikipedia
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SA is a familiar concept in military circles. The F-16 fighter pilot operates in a realm of constant SA — from his own human senses as well as data fed to him from external sources such as his wingman, AWACS, ground controllers and spotters. The pilots very survival and the success of the mission depend on a finely tuned package of SA. Lapses can be fatal.
But all humans operate daily in an environment that demands a high degree of SA. Think back a few months when a young man was strolling along the ocean cliffs in San Diego when, according to witnesses, he just disappeared off a steep cliff to the rocks below. His SA was apparently interrupted by a focus on a specific item at the end of his hand which in turn was likely plugged into key elements of his personal SA instrumentation – his ears. His death closely followed his abandonment of SA.
The world we sense around us with our eyes, ears, nose and touch is very real. We enjoy the many beautiful and sensual vistas and objects – large and small – that constantly catch our attention. Our personal Situational Awareness provides much of what we value as human beings.
But that same world is very real and tangible and can be very dangerous. It is not an illusion where we can pick and choose that which we personally deem to be dangerous and that which we choose to admire as beautiful and worthy of our attention – the real world brings beauty and wonder … the real world also brings injury and death.
So why have so many highly educated and intelligent people bought into the idea popularized by Charles Darwin in the 19th century, shouting loudly that what we intuitively see as design in nature is an illusion – only, an appearance of design?
Why does this Darwinian “Illusion of Design” hold sway in today’s scientific and secular world? Why has one of its most popular and prolific advocates, Richard Dawkins, been endowed with so many titles and honorary degrees … and has been dubbed as the world’s best thinker?
Dawkins himself answers the question thusly:
“ … although atheism might have been logically tenable before Darwin, Darwin made it possible to be an intellectually fulfilled atheist. …”
Let me speculate on how a Richard Dawkins — among many others — and his Darwinist world view evolve to occupy the highest chairs of academic, scientific and cultural life in today’s western world.
There comes a period in the lives of many growing from adolescence to adulthood when a spirit of rebellion takes root – perhaps especially in young males. This rebellion is a quite natural part of growing into an independent and individual person and is as varied as there are individuals growing up, and generally speaking is a good thing – as long as the baby is not thrown out with the bathwater.
In the case of a Dawkins, I see an evolution as follows:
- A young and exceptionally bright teen becomes restless, even rebellious, concerning the world views of his heritage – his parents, the dominant culture, God, Church, religion and more.
- The teen is a gifted writer and quite an eloquent and persuasive speaker.
- That same teen takes a keen interest in science, excels and receives scholarships and aids to prestigious universities where his record of excellence continues.
- Continuing with his academic education, the young man goes on to a PhD and postdoctoral positions — again at a prestigious university.
- The Doctor then parlays his considerable writing skills and his sterling academic credentials into a bestselling book which combines his scientific knowledge with his now cemented views on religion and the Darwinist biological sciences.
- By now he has become a much sought after professor and teaches his world view to many others who, like the professor’s earlier development, have a yet to be settled world view regarding the place of science, God and religion.
- The Doctor by now has fully embraced the Materialist/Atheist world view and is fully “an intellectually fulfilled atheist.”
- In his teachings and many publications, the “world’s smartest man” reproduces himself for upcoming generations.
- The man’s entire career is spent in an isolated academic world. By now this man has wound up drinking a lot of his own bathwater.
- The man’s career and public life has been in large part a war against any contrary thought such as Creationism and Intelligent Design.
But has he been right?
It is here I return to Situational Awareness and its connection to the debate – and to the idea I have labeled Massively Complex Synchronicity. I make no claims of being a scientist, and I expect few readers here will lay claim to being scientists.
But we can all view life with all of its wonder and mystery using our natural common sense, including SA and come to a conclusion in the matter. Much has been made about our common sense, and how often it turns out to be wrong – for example the sun revolving around the earth. But more often than not our common sense turns out to be a correct understanding of the world around us.
Let us begin to unpack this phrase “Massively Complex Synchronicity.
The Massively Complex Body
Looking at the picture above we see a concise and quite complete schematic view of the human body and its component parts. We all have these parts and for most of us, especially in our younger years, we have experienced the total package at its best. But as the years go by, we experience problems with some of these parts – our eyesight weakens, the heart and circulatory systems degrade causing severe life-threatening problems. We experience the extreme pain of kidney stones. We experience hearing loss and inner ear malfunctions resulting in extreme nausea and balance problems. Our joints start aching. The list of ailments goes on and on … and on.
And when we experience these problems and breakdowns we feel the results very directly. We don’t have to consult with a doctor or medical book to know that a stubbed toe hurts – the hurt travels via the nervous system, and our entire body is impacted. Sometimes the full body impact and discomfort is minor as in the case of the stubbed toe, but sometimes can cause major full body shutdown as in the case of kidney or heart problems.
The point is that the human body is very complex and very much interconnected – massively so at many levels as we will see in what follows as we experience our very own Situational Awareness. To operate at its best, or at least at some minimally operable level, all of these body parts must be working at some level.
And just a reminder – this body and its parts last an incredibly long time, often in excess of 100 years. This longevity is attributable to yet another marvel of the designed body – self repair.
To learn more of these body parts, I invite you to grab one of the many fully pictorial books available at the library or in many bookstores. I also direct you to very good and detailed series The Designed Body by medical doctor Dr. Howard Glicksman at: http://www.evolutionnews.org/continuing_seri/the_designed_bo/
Let me ask you at this point … Are you seeing many illusions thus far? Or are you seeing something real?
A Yearning for Publius 