the high harmony in creation and evolution

“For what would I say, O Lord my God, but that I know not whence I came
into this dying life (shall I call it?) or living death. Then immediately did
the comforts of Thy compassion take me up, as I heard (for I remember it not)
from the parents of my flesh, out of whose substance Thous didst sometime
fashion me. Thus there received me the comforts of woman’s milk. For neither
my mother nor my nurses stored their own breasts for me; but Though didst
bestow the food of my infancy through them, according to Thine ordinance,
whereby Thou distributest Thy riches through the hidden springs of all things.”

Thus begins St. Augustine’s musings on his creation, which he immediately
admits is a history tied to truths beyond his purview–with some accounts tied
to his “parents of [his] flesh”, but almost all of the rest, bound “through
the hidden springs of all things”. We are caught up with St. Augustine in
this same moment–*aware* of ourselves and our personal histories, and yet
also marveling at that which is beyond us.

He continues: “This I since learned, Thou, through these, Thy gifts, within
me and without, prclaimin Thyself unto me. For then I knew but to suck; to
repose in what pleased, and cry at what offended my flesh. Nothing more.
Afterwards I began to smile, first in sleep, then waking: for so it was told
of myself, and I believed it; for we see the like in other infants, though of
myself I remember it not. *Thus, little by little, I became conscious where
I was…” Tracing his life from what “we see the like in other infants” he
sees his development as being guided by God–instincts built up into
predispositions (of being a “smiling” child), which led to personality, and
“little by little”, ultimately into consciousness.

But St. Augustine does not stop at the development of his self-consciousness–
self-awareness was NOT his point, but he goes beyond it and finishes this
train of thought–this strange musing, with the following: “And, lo! my
infancy died long since, and I live. But Thou, Lord, who for ever livest,
and in whom nothing dies: for before the foundation of the worlds, and before
all that can be called “before,” Thou art, and art God and Lord of all which
Thou has created: ***in Thee abide, fixed for ever, the first causes of all
things unabiding; and of all things changable, the springs abide in Thee
unchangable: and in Thee live the eternal reasons of all things unreasoning
and temporal.*”

His point is that his creation was a development of an awareness of his
Creator. And indeed, the KEY point is that ALL of creation, of which his
personal development is a recapitulation of, leads to one point: an awareness
of God. He caps this remarkable statement with the reason for this
creation story: that we may praise God: “I acknowledge Thee, Lord of heaven
and earth, and praise Thee for my first rudiments of being, and my infancy,
whereof I remember nothing, for Thou hast appointed that man should from
others guess much as to himself…Whence could such a being be, save
from Thee, Lord?”

Through St. Augustine’s train of thought, I want to explain the high harmony
that I see between the creation story as explained in Genesis, and the natural
mechanism of evolution which I hold as scientific fact–just as I, and St.
Augustine hold/held our personal creation stories as fact.

Indeed, I am addressing this essay to those Christian brothers and sisters
who see evolution as an affront to God’s purpose for man: Those brothers
and sisters hold humanity in a special class, of which, being derived from
“lower” forms such as “chimps” or “bacterium” is not only an insult to the
word of Genesis, but also contradictory to God’s purpose set out in the first
book: that “he be made in Our image”. For in what relation does a chimp or
a bacterium “look” like man?

And I will first start my argument with this: in what relation does man “look”
like God? Who among us has seen the face of God? And could he step forward
to tell us how similar we are envisaged? Indeed, in our multiplicity, of
ethnicities and sub-species, which of us is “closer” to resembling our Father?

Let us put petty shallow things away, and adopt the Truth of Genesis, which
is simply this: that we were created to be aware of God, that we may marvel
(at) and worship Him.

For if we, as St. Augustine, can see through to that end point, then the
natural mechanisms which abide in Him, are indeed *from* Him and *of* HIM; that
the Truth is one must suckle and then crawl, and then babble and then little
by little does one gain consciousness, and God willing, one’s ultimate state–
the awareness of God. And if you
can contemplate this in your own creation story, then it is easy to see
how this story is recapitulated on larger scales: from unconscious and
unaware things to crawling bugs, to scurrying creatures, to chimp-cousins and
then ultimately us: the only species with THIS awareness of Him*. Indeed, a
species made in His image.

In the beginning, God had a purpose. Athiestic scientist who promulgate
evolution say that evolution is a mechanism without purpose. And indeed,
I agree, that God created nature to show these characteristics. But rather
than fear creeping atheism, I know that nature is of God, and that she, along
with all things, must abide in her Creator s.t. the word of Genesis holds
high truth: that we are all made in His image so that we may worship Him.
As I meditate on that statement, and reflect on my own development, my
awarness of Him is heightented and I marvel at His work, for
I know that THIS moment was in His mind’s eye at the beginning; that
the course of the universe and other long histories beyond me ran along to
lead to THIS moment of awareness, and that it was/is all HELD perfectly in
Him, and I am compelled to worship! Amen!

*Note to my scientific brothers and sisters: i originally intended to also
address you in this essay, but i saw that you were the harder sell: indeed,
with our anti-evolutionist Christian brothers and sisters, it was a matter of
changing perceptions. But in your case, how can you see high harmony, when
you don’t even see God at all?

You and I know, however, that science is not Truth. Indeed, its purview is
quite limited, and doesn’t explain, for example, what your / our purpose is.
Some of you may haughtilly brush this question of purpose aside–almost
accepting that there is no “purpose”. But I know that this is wrongheaded
for I had once held this exact view–if not championed its [bravado] side.
I only became acquitted of this shallow philosophy when i faced death–and
i pray brothers and sisters that you take my clamoring for purpose at that
time as evidence that though the most bravado of us may proclaim that there
is no purpose, that when faced with death, these same people, who feel the
true loneliness of that statement, will hastily retreat into the arms of
He who is the fountain of Purpose.

~ by lentaing on June 10, 2011.