Evolution

Evolution


Pandemic has given me enough time and luck has given me ready access to knowledge and entertainment. I have been watching PBS DVDs on Evolution.

I have read about Evolution several times ( as I could not understand fully at first or even now ) . Articles and books by Jay Gould, Richard Dawkins, Wilson  and others were eye openers. It  is fascinating.

It is the story of life evolving from the beginning. Unity of life linking plants, birds and animals and humans of course. Just to imagine that Darwin ( others had also worked on different aspects ) could discover / propose a theory to explain the progression over millions of years is amazing, Sometimes I wonder if Evolution or its discovery - which one is more amazing !

If I hold hands with a rat ( say ) and keep going back in time we would meet rat's mother, grand mother and my own mother, grand mother etc . I and rat after many many generations will meet the common ancestor.  ‘ Great great great….. greatma ‘  both will exclaim.  We become distant cousins. In the same way if I and Hitler or Gandhi or Pele or Madhubala or Hawkins … walk back in time ,  we will meet the common ancestor in Africa.This unity of life ‘ truly stirs the soul ‘ as one narrator puts it. I recall a Sanskrit phrase ‘ Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam ‘.

I recall a poem by Dylan Thomas , titled , ‘ The force that through the green fuse drives the flower ‘ :

The force that through the green fuse drives the flower
Drives my green age; that blasts the roots of trees
Is my destroyer.
And I am dumb to tell the crooked rose
My youth is bent by the same wintry fever.

The force that drives the water through the rocks
Drives my red blood; that dries the mouthing streams
Turns mine to wax.
And I am dumb to mouth unto my veins
How at the mountain spring the same mouth sucks.

The hand that whirls the water in the pool
Stirs the quicksand; that ropes the blowing wind
Hauls my shroud sail.
And I am dumb to tell the hanging man
How of my clay is made the hangman’s lime.

The lips of time leech to the fountain head;
Love drips and gathers, but the fallen blood
Shall calm her sores.
And I am dumb to tell a weather’s wind
How time has ticked a heaven round the stars.

And I am dumb to tell the lover’s tomb
How at my sheet goes the same crooked worm.



Then there is natural selection. Random, small mutations leading once in a while to tiny features that aid in survival ; and these traits get passed on to next generation ( DNA ) and over time nature favours these. And new species emerge. Evolution does not need God to explain.  He does not find a place. Darwin’s theory of Evolution makes many ‘ truths ‘ held by Christians, Muslims or Hindus ( because of what  their sacred books say ) completely false. Where do we place God in this ? Did He create  the first single cell and said  ‘ Go ‘ and then promptly went to sleep ? In particular , personal, prayer hearing, healing, punishing , forgiving God is difficult to accommodate. The grand design evolves with out any purpose or direction and is amoral.

At first it is disturbing as it leaves us, humans , on no special pedestal and we feel lost. Then I remember that I have the company of fellow beings - thousands of species of  bacteria, insects, birds, fish, animals and countless varieties of plants. We are one. I look up confidently. It shakes us up, yes. I am left speechless, dumbfounded, yes. But  awe and wonder replace fear and isolation.

The place of Darwin with Newton and Einstein and such scientists is so obvious after yone watches this.

The videos contain simple explanations and dazzling insights.I keep telling any one who cares to listen ( not many though ) to  watch and if possible with family and youngsters.