"An acorn's DNA has 'oak' written all over it."*
The physical stuff of the universe is there, but the biological stuff of the universe seems to be heading somewhere (telos). The acorn an oak, the tulip bulb a blossom, the apple seed a fruit tree. Even third on the ladder of the stuff of the universe (first is matter, second is plant life, third is animal life, fourth is mind - human life) we find that puppies grow to beget and care for more pups, kittens to cats for more kittens, etc.
Rocks and stars just are. Life aims to beget more life. And human life?
The direction of the highest order of life is less certain. The human mind is the deepest product of evolution on the stage of Earth. We are made of the same stuff that makes up our planet - we're mostly carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen. And that stuff is arranged in the right way to give us life. Yet we are not the same as other life. We have transcended the domain of other life.
And with each transcendence in evolution there are new opportunities for pathologies:
It's the more that I'm mostly concerned with. We are currently living in a society that represses the foundations of our existence. Just as molecules cannot exist without atoms, animals cannot exist without the necessities of life. But humans must grapple not only with the necessities of life for survival, but with the higher-level aspects of our existence: culture, community, and society.
The aspects of our unique evolution that add such depth and fulness to our experience - language, art, science, mathematics, technology - are also new sources of pathologies.
Many of my students say that this disastrous path is just part of our nature, that it couldn't be any other way with us. I am sure that there is another way possible, and that's the direction I think our species tends to head.
"A city fellow, driving through the Vermont countryside, sees a man in a truck on the side of the road. The truck is axle-deep in the mud, and the wheels are spinning. 'Are you stuck?' asks the city fellow. 'I would be, if'n I was goin' somewhere.'"*
I think we're stuck because we're going somewhere.
* Quotes taken from Sex, Ecology, Spirituality: The Spirit of Evolution by Ken Wilbur.
The physical stuff of the universe is there, but the biological stuff of the universe seems to be heading somewhere (telos). The acorn an oak, the tulip bulb a blossom, the apple seed a fruit tree. Even third on the ladder of the stuff of the universe (first is matter, second is plant life, third is animal life, fourth is mind - human life) we find that puppies grow to beget and care for more pups, kittens to cats for more kittens, etc.
Rocks and stars just are. Life aims to beget more life. And human life?
The direction of the highest order of life is less certain. The human mind is the deepest product of evolution on the stage of Earth. We are made of the same stuff that makes up our planet - we're mostly carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen. And that stuff is arranged in the right way to give us life. Yet we are not the same as other life. We have transcended the domain of other life.
And with each transcendence in evolution there are new opportunities for pathologies:
- Rocks can get banged up.
- Plants can get banged up and get diseases.
- Animals can get banged up, get diseases, and get cancers.
- Humans, well we can get banged up, get diseases, get cancers, and more...
It's the more that I'm mostly concerned with. We are currently living in a society that represses the foundations of our existence. Just as molecules cannot exist without atoms, animals cannot exist without the necessities of life. But humans must grapple not only with the necessities of life for survival, but with the higher-level aspects of our existence: culture, community, and society.
The aspects of our unique evolution that add such depth and fulness to our experience - language, art, science, mathematics, technology - are also new sources of pathologies.
Many of my students say that this disastrous path is just part of our nature, that it couldn't be any other way with us. I am sure that there is another way possible, and that's the direction I think our species tends to head.
"A city fellow, driving through the Vermont countryside, sees a man in a truck on the side of the road. The truck is axle-deep in the mud, and the wheels are spinning. 'Are you stuck?' asks the city fellow. 'I would be, if'n I was goin' somewhere.'"*
I think we're stuck because we're going somewhere.
* Quotes taken from Sex, Ecology, Spirituality: The Spirit of Evolution by Ken Wilbur.
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