Waxing Poetically: Addressing Culture with a Twist of Poetry

For some time now in the past two years, mainstream science has had arguably no bigger a monkey on its back (no pun intended) than that of the the Intelligent Design movement. According to the F.A.Q. section of Beliefnet.com, Intelligent Design is the theory that living things show signs of having been designed. ID supporters argue that living creatures and their biological systems are too complex to be accounted for by the Darwinian theory of evolution, and that a designer or a higher intelligence may be responsible for their complexity.This is the premise of the new Ben Stein documentary Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed This is not to be conflated fully however with Creationism which maintains a belief that all life that has ever existed was created fully formed having no place for any transitional stages or evolution.

I decided to pursue this topic after reading an excerpt from a recent book published last 2006 entitled, Intelligent Thought: Science Versus the Intelligent Design Movement. The book is a compilation of essays written by scientists, philosophers and professionals who each give their take on the subject. General scientific consensus maintains as always that proof of Evolution is clearly visible by examining various patterns and traits in nature throughout time. Advocates such as evolutionary biologist and very often acerbic atheist Richard Dawkins liken opposing views as silly mythology no better than that of the Tooth Fairy or Santa Clause. Conversely, opponents to Evolution in the conservative religious right seethe at the thought that this is anything more than Godlessness propagated by a liberal media out to destroy the moral compass of America.

Still, I propose there is something missing… something between these two theories. What if the first reasoning beings were primates? Oh wait… according to science they are! In all seriousness, are human beings worse off than if we were humans created in the very beginning of time? Furthermore, if a devout Christian can believe that the stories he or she grew up knowing from the Bible were capable of occurring in real life, if they believe for instance that Noah in the Book of Genesis did in fact and without fail, walk every species of creature two by two onto a really, really, big boat, then why are pre- homosapien apes, carbon dating, and black holes dismissed so coldly? To me, these works seem just as wondrous and awe inspiring as anything else on Earth. This sense of wonder in regard to the complexity of life is not only the basis for Intelligent Design theory, but also the rock solid foundation for my own faith. It maintains that science itself is a reason to believe there maybe a guiding force after all. It is this theory that does not deter my faith in my life’s purpose.

To the same extent, I feel that although science can explain most of the hows of life, it can never, with certain exceptions, explain the whys. Consciousness is a great example of this fact. Scientists maintain that for all their study, they find no need for us as humans to be conscious of ourselves or our purpose. Whereas, the ability to reason is a clear survival trait when a person must, for example, avoid being eaten by a bear, it makes absolutely no logical sense to ponder the meaning of life before being eaten. Yet indubitably, all of us at some point in our existence question that existence. Thoughts about why nature had to evolve the way it did and where the first cells came from come to my mind. But again, these serve no integral purpose toward the survival of the human being as a species.

Questions such as these and my view that science and spirit can and to my full belief, do in fact coexist are part of my reason for choosing to study this topic. Still, my greatest impetus for my study is the fact that I feel the mainstream media has pigeonholed Evolution versus Intelligent Design into an either/or debate when there could easily be a third viewpoint, my viewpoint that science and ideas about God, thought and consciousness when put together create a sense of wonder and appreciation without which I feel both sides of the debate totally miss the point. That point is that existence is fascinating… regardless of what may or may not have caused it to exist.

Until next time, Kiddies… Keep waxin’!

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