Charles Darwin: The Evolution Revolution

 


The Royal Ontario Museum recently concluded an exhibition of the life and work of Charles Darwin, 1809 -1882.

A highly original thinker, a careful observer and a meticulous collector, Darwin spent five years on a historic voyage of discovery around the world aboard HMS Beagle. At ports of call he observed rocks, plants and animals in their natural habitat collecting and classifying specimens of life's amazing diversity.

During this period, most advanced thinkers, scientists and theologians in the West held the view that plants and animals were created by god and remained unchanged since the time of origin, and that humans were not part of that kingdom but were unique and created in God's image.

Darwin's “On the Origin of Species” postulated a theory of evolution based on his system of classification, geological knowledge and intuition that higher forms of life evolved over time from the lower forms through random mutation and natural selection. Widely held even today, it formed a rigid dichotomy between science and religion, reason and belief, science and spirituality.

More recently there has been an integration of spiritual, philosophical, artistic and scientific thought. Cosmologists and astronomers marvel at the beauty and mysteries of the universe, medical researchers at the harmony of the organs and the complexity of the communication systems, ecologists at the grace and governance of nature. Did it all happen by chance? What is the nature of the evolutionary process, who are we, where did we come from and where are we going?

While Darwin's work is significant, other cultures, including the ancient ones, give interesting perspectives, and science has recently revealed that the hereditary information of an organism is encoded in its DNA.

While the exhibition paints a good picture of Darwin’s life and accomplishments, its very material approach leaves visitors with the impression that Darwin's central theory, which Darwin only ever posited as theory, is fact. There was, for instance, no mention of the many articulated positions on the subject of origins and evolution, many integrating principles of both science and spirit.
 

 

August 15, 2008

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