Natural Selection in the Evolution of the Human Soul
Conscious Defined
We are able to see if a thing is conscious, or not, by observation. Before I proceed I need to dispense with the term unconscious.
The unconscious is always unconscious.
If we observe a thing (such as an animal) that appears to respond to its environment in such a way that avoids its destruction and also behaves in a manner to improve itself we can deduce it is conscious. Watching an amoeba through a microscope it is easy to observe it above those chemicals that will destroy it and got towards those things that enable it to grow and divide.
Virtually everything responds to its environment. Rocks will weather and erode from wind, heat and water. They, however, do not take active measures to move away from what endangers it and also do not take any action to increase its mass. Thus, we may deduce the rock is not conscious.
The Garden of Eden
Adam and Eve were conscious. They were able to hear God’s admonition to avoid eating the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge.
The same may be said for all living things. They do “hear” and avoid those things that will harm them. They “know” that various things such as fire will harm them and they avoid such things.
The ability of animals to learn is quite remarkable, especially the Great Apes such as Gorillas and Chimpanzees. Various birds such as the African Gray Parrott are able to learn and use words. Researchers training various Primates have shown they can learn to use symbols and signs.
There is not about that we can, with ease, call these animals “conscious”.
We are able to observe the rudimentary elements of language.
However, they have not developed the kind of communication used by humans.
The greatest difference is found in most humans which essentially defines human language and human consciousness.
Most humans are aware of being aware. Or most humans are conscious of being conscious.
To arrive at this point our ancestors had to proceed beyond the language skills we see in our closest biologic relatives the Chimpanzees. They may be close genetically but they are very far away in terms of consciousness.
How Did This Happen?
“In The Beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”
That is the most succinct and clear description of what I believe happened in the evolutionary development of our ancestors over the past 4 million years.
4 Million years ago our ancestors were bipedal chimps. We can presume they had similar mental capacities as chimps do today. They vocalized and those vocalizations carried meaning to others of their kind.
One million years ago our ancestors began the use of fire. Is it any wonder that we conceive of the Holy Spirit as Fire and we use fire, as candles on our altars. The use of fire as “Burnt Offerings” is recorded in the Old Testament.
We are still in the fire age in the majority of our technology.
Fire is also unusual in that it moves, gives off heat, consumes (eats) substances that allow it to grow, gives off waste products and reproduces itself. All those characteristics also define living things. It also dies.
It is necessary, now, to attempt to project ourselves back in time to a moment that probably happened thousands of times before it became established in the human brain.
We named another of our kind. It could be a child or spouse or parent. Because of the ubiquity of the term Mama it probably was mother. Two side notes regarding this development. The first is that there is an area in our brain dedicated to nouns. The second is the religious appeal of The Feminine as The Virgin Mary, Isis, etc.
The most significant event after the recognition of the Other is the absence of the Other. The named one would go around a corner. The use of its name could result in its reappearance.
The process is: Here. Not here. Call the sound. It appears.
It appears from where? It was gone. Call that name and it comes back. The name itself assumes power. The Word itself assumes that Power. The Word (originally) was “with God” and finally the Word was God.
The Power of the real person was transferred to the Word, the Name. It is any wonder that there is such attention paid to the name of God? Or that names, have in themselves, magical powers?
From the evidence we have of when the first burial of the dead took place, thus presuming a belief in existence after death, it took a very long time to arrive at the definitive belief in an afterlife. At the earliest that time was about 20,000 years ago.
Now our ancestors, our recent ones in this story, now could observe that Mama was and is now not here any longer. The jump to, I am here now and I am like all the others of my kind and will end up not being here any longer.
We have become aware of being aware. We are now facing the ultimate question of death, our own death.
So, what do we have to console us? The Word. First beginning with our name and finally necessarily seeing that the Word was/ is God.
Words have no beginning and no end. They exist forever.
The Natural Selection Process
Our species, now dominant all over the earth got to this position by being violent. Essentially we are killers.
We organized into groups, initially limited to about 30 or so. Using language and the creation of the spirit or invisible world we identified with that world and overcame death.
The group, now the Fatherland, or the Motherland, or the Umma, or whatever it may be called, joins humans together in a process that crosses the line between life and death. The True Believer is willing to die in this world for an eternal life.
The True Believer believes in his own group and is willing to kill any who oppose his group. Because the “other’s threaten his fragile hold on a bright, eternal future that exists beyond this life.
The biologic record is very clear. Our biologically closest kin, the primates, do kill each other. Our species evolved over 4 million years of an evolutionary selective process where the best killers survived until we come upon ourselves, Homo sapiens sapiens the greatest killers and destroyers of all rule the world.
Our religions give us “Dominion” over all other life forms. We own the earth. It is ours and it is ours to do with it as we wish.
War is good and peace is bad. This is quite evident when we see the intense creativeness associated with war. New machines or killing and defense rise up when we engage in killing each other. The explosion of technology associated with WWII is wonderfully documented culminating in the development of nuclear weapons.
Thos groups who did not win in the wars over those 4 million years were eliminated. Homo Erectus is long gone as are all the other similar types who challenged our ancestors.
Is there anything at all surprising about murder. Rape and all forms of violence? It is a wonder there is not much more.
Should we trust “others”? You have seen, have you not, the horrid beheading of innocent people in the name of religion?
Yes, you have seen that on TV and have heard and read of mass murder, torture and crazed racial schemes intended to kill off entire groups of humans.
There we have our “natural selection”. We cull out those who lose. And, realize, you who read this are the winners. You are alive and if you and your kind are to live in the future you should know that the only way to stay alive is to be able to defend you and yours. Others are out there who do not agree with you and want you dead.
If you surrender know you will be eliminated. Your gene line will be extinguished.
Do you have a Soul? Of course you do, if you believe you have a Soul.
There, now we have it. It is a “Leap of Faith”. You have the wonderful world of words and language to support your belief.
Do you object and say: “But, is it real?”
How more real can anything be than a word. A word is, in itself, tangible and its reality is further expanded when it is written. Please note how intense many folks are about the written word. “It is written” they say and that, in itself, confirms the reality. It is true that everything written is written by God in this context.
In this age, as I write these words on a computer, the word assumes another vet tangible reality in the form of the electrons assembled to form these words.
Of course, your Soul, is real and eternal. It all depends on your belief and reality.