I have had a number of conversations with friends about the concept of evolution. I never believed in evolution myself. Many of my friends, most of them being engineers and scientists, never accepted whenever i said “I don’t believe in evolution”. It seems that every scientific mind is trained to believe that evolution is the most logical way to where we are today. Right from school, we are taught how nature transformed a single celled organism into this massively intelligent humans.
But given the complexity of the whole world around us (just the world, not even the universe) it feels very silly to say that we simply evolved from one being to another due to climatic changes and due to other natural causes. On the other hand, I don’t think i can call myself a creationist either, the ones who believe that god created the whole world! But i think the world is littered with clues to understand who is right. There are a few in this world that point to natural evolution while there are a few that suggest it was sat down and designed by a genius. But, could both be true? Sometimes the whole world feels as if a bag of creatures were invented at first and then programmed by the maker to evolve in a controlled manner.
What science says!
Interestingly, the other day, there was a programme on television that focused on identical twins. It was a research carried out by the worlds’ top universities to understand genetics. Nature has mastered the science of cloning long back and the result can be seen in identical siblings. So, by considering the behaviour of identical twins, the scientists were trying to understand the importance of genes and how these tiny DNA have an amazing capability to decide our future.
One particular story was that of identical twins living in two different places in the world. One of the twin, who lived in the U.K, has an unorganised lifestyle and enjoys drinking and smoking while his brother, who lives in New Zealand is a fitness buff. He jogs every morning and take his 5-a-day portions without fail. On one unfortunate occasion, the brother in the U.K had a heart attack and was hospitalised. Once the hospital learnt that he had a twin brother living in new Zealand, they called him up and advised him a heart check. The brother thought that he should be fine because he keeps his body fit, but then decided to walk in for a quick health check. Contrary to what he thought, the doctors found he had to be operated in a few hours to avoid any risks of heart attack!!
So the research concluded saying, no matter what you do, it is probably the genes that dictate what your future is going to be. This wasn’t the only example. There were loads of other scenarios that pointed in the same direction.
Rendezvous!
Some religions believe in a concept called ‘fate’. It is the concept that takes all responsibility and liability out of a living being and says everything is controlled by the gods in heaven. The concept is weird to a scientific mind as it takes away the most loved flavour of life – choice! What is even more weird is that the scientific conclusion of the research points in the same direction as what spirituality has been claiming for years. I see and believe that there is a very strange and discreet link between spirituality and science here.
Is it so that we are all guided by fate – only that no one looks at us and controls us every day but has programmed us in a way using techniques that science calls DNA? Is there nothing called free will? It took science few hundred years to reach this point and sort of align itself with spirituality. So, is it just a matter of time, when science proves spirituality experimentally? And if that happens, it would be very interesting to see scientists transforming themselves into spiritual leaders…
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I commend you, this is a brave topic to tackle Karthik! It’s a huge, confusing area, and I think a lot of the value in this line of thinking is simply the mental workout it takes to try to figure it out!
When it come to evolution, you’ll find that people who don’t believe it is true are either die-hard creationists or do have not had a good look at the evidence. Whether humans have free will or not is a much tougher question. Your genes do not necessarily dictate what your life will be like, it is more like they tend it in a certain direction. The impact of genes on your body and your behaviour will also depend on your experiences, so genetic does not always mean ‘fixed’.
If this is something you are really interested in knowing more about.I recommend reading Richard Dawkins’ book called “The Greatest Show on Earth,” which is quite an accessible look at the evidence for evolution. When you get an idea of all the research and evidence, you’ll see why scientists and the scientifically minded believe evolution is a fact – and you’ll be in a better place to make your own mind up!
All the best!
Warren
Hi Warren,
Many thanks for suggesting the book. I would definitely have a look. I have had many many discussions and arguments with friends and colleagues on science and spirituality. I am not against evolution nor i believe in putting every living thing into a simple structure called “survival of the fittest”. All i look for (almost all the time) is the answer to the question “what am i doing here” . I have spoken to hardcore Christians, buddhists and many ‘true’ religionists, and also to people who can answer every question from a scientific outlook. No matter what i hear, i dont seem to be very convinced by the answers. I used to tell them all, i would give up my job and would blindly follow you if you give me the answer to this question …. I am still employed!