Section 6: Survival of the Fittest
Although it may be difficult for some to accept, scientific evidence suggests that humans and other animals share a common ancestry. Despite our desire to believe in a creation story that portrays us as unique and separate from other species, recent advances in genetic sequencing have shown that we are much more closely related to other animals than we once thought.
For example, the genetic similarity between humans and chimpanzees is approximately 96%, while cats are about 90% like us. Cows and chickens are even more distantly related, sharing only 80% and 60% of their genes with humans, respectively. It is fascinating to consider that the genetic similarity between humans and bananas is as high as 60%, which may explain why monkeys enjoy eating them!
This evidence suggests that humans are simply the most intelligent product of a long process of evolution. What other forms of life may emerge in the future is unknown.
Rather than feeling disappointed by this fact, however, I see it as evidence of the wisdom of the universe's creator. This creator is not a busy craftsman covered in sawdust, but a wise being who allows everything to evolve naturally in accordance with the laws of the universe.
The idea of "evolution" sporadically appeared since ancient Greece, believing that one species may evolve from another. In the 1830s, British biologist Darwin participated in a natural ecological survey in South America, observed and collected many biological samples, and found that organisms undergo variations during generational transmission, believing that complex organisms evolved from primitive and simple species.
Because he was afraid that this idea would be persecuted by the church, he did not dare to publish it. It was not until 1858, when he saw Wallace's article, a scholar who conducted natural investigations in the Malay Archipelago, also held the same view on species formation, which increased Darwin's confidence in his theory. So, the two jointly published this common proposition in the Linnean Society of London that year. Darwin then published "The Origin of Species" the following year, becoming the core idea of modern biology.
Today, we understand that all biological cells have a code combination known as "genes," which controls their traits. Each cell is like a miniature factory that produces various proteins based on gene instructions, allowing it to assume different physiological functions.
"Genes" serve as the fundamental carriers of genetic information. They replicate themselves into two copies before cell division, with one copy transmitted to each daughter cell to ensure generational transmission.
However, during the process of replication, there is an opportunity for variation. If the mutated cells can survive and function better, a new species may emerge. This three-act drama of “replication, variation, and elimination” is responsible for the diversity of life we see in our colorful world.
After one billion years of the Earth's formation, unicellular organisms emerged. Over the next 14 billion years, they evolved into multicellular organisms with the number of genes in cells gradually increasing. By the time mammalian cells appeared on Earth, tens of thousands of genes had already evolved, 2.1 billion years later.
Throughout the course of 3.5 billion years, the only instruction given to genes by the Creator was to "Survive and propagate, regardless of form."
The human body has over 30,000 genes, with approximately 20,000 also found in the cells of chickens and another 20,000 in the cells of bananas.
It seems that genes, rather than humans, are the main characters in the story of evolution, with "survival of the fittest" as the script. However, the Creator does not seem to have a predetermined stance on the end products of evolution, whether it be bananas, chickens, or humans.
The account in Genesis of the Old Testament suggests that God created all living creatures in just two days, the fifth and sixth. Only with such divine power can God be truly called God. However, for those who experience the long evolution of 3.5 billion years, the existence of a creator God may seem unnecessary, and the purpose of creation may appear to be a matter of chance, like a blind cat stumbling upon a dead mouse. As a result, it can be difficult for religious individuals to confront the overwhelming evidence of ancient biological fossils in a natural history museum.
If one spends more time in the museum and visits the "Protective Color Insect Specimen Area" to see the orchid mantis, twig moth, nematode, and dead leaf butterfly, all with lifelike appearances, one may marvel at how even a sculptor's work is no match.
Visiting the "Biomimetic Technology" exhibit, one can learn how to create a "super wide-angle lens" by studying the "fisheye," design radar and sonar systems by emulating dolphins and bats' "echo location," and manufacture "night vision goggles" by referencing the "night animal retina." The US military even named missiles after the "rattlesnake" to indicate the original copyright of "heat tracking" technology. It is impossible not to admire the endless wisdom hidden in nature.
After getting tired, one can sit down and watch some medical videos, describing the process of pregnancy and delivery, and complex brain thinking, among other things. Just think about how many years of training a top medical student would need to become a specialist familiar with how different parts of the human body operate.
I cannot agree with the conclusion that it is a matter of chance, like a blind cat stumbling upon a dead mouse. Moreover, human intelligence, emerging from single cells, has already connected with universal intelligence!
How can I not believe in the existence of a Creator when the wonders of nature are so magnificent?
I believe that God used physical laws to create the universe, which is full of an informational field that regulates the operation of all matter. When any planet has all the necessary conditions, life is born, and God shares His consciousness with living beings, allowing consciousness to govern the genetic mutations that enable organisms to survive and adapt to their environment, and construct their own entity. Starting from a faint consciousness within a single-celled organism, it gradually grows stronger and more robust, leading to increasingly complex biological structures.
If, furthermore, organisms that are suitable for receiving intelligent souls evolve, such as human beings on Earth, God will merge His soul sub-body with them and give each intelligent being self-awareness. The soul does not die with the body but is reborn through reincarnation.
Although human genes differ from those of chimpanzees by only four percent, there is a world of difference in intelligence. The reason is that the soul comes from the Creator's intelligence.
In the New Testament, it is recorded that Mary was impregnated by the Holy Spirit and gave birth to Jesus. In fact, every mother in the world undergoes a spiritual reincarnation during pregnancy, and all human beings are brothers of Jesus.
So, we hope that our desire to be created by God in his own image is not in vain from a spiritual perspective, because God himself is a spiritual being!
Regarding my "consciousness-oriented evolution hypothesis," I believe that in the theory of evolution, "genetic variation" is not a random product, mainly because the evolution of organisms is systemic. For example, when a giraffe's neck grows longer, its legs must also grow longer at the same time to stabilize its center of gravity. The corresponding heart must also become stronger to pump blood to such a high head, which means that blood pressure must be high. But why doesn't the giraffe get a brain hemorrhage when it suddenly lowers its head to drink water? It turns out that the giraffe's neck veins have a series of valves that can control the blood flow in the neck.
Judging by common sense, can sporadic mutations in genes without direction accomplish this kind of multitarget design at the same time? Moreover, we have not seen any fossils of the transitional period between one species and another, such as a long-necked giraffe with short legs or a short-necked giraffe with long legs.
In Chapter 6 of "The Origin of Species," Darwin himself admitted that the idea of the eye being formed through natural selection seemed absurd, despite attempting to reason possible explanations.
Section 16, "Belief Creates Reality," explains how the norm in the universe is that belief creates reality. Organisms' desire to adapt to their environment and accumulated changes in their body create a blueprint of variation in the spiritual world, leading the direction of gene changes in the organism.
The dead leaf butterfly's astonishingly similar appearance to dead leaves is due to their consciousness desiring the sense of security brought by such an appearance, which cannot be achieved by random genetic mutations.
My "participatory but not dominant" theory of creation is that God endows living organisms with consciousness, and then creates their physical form based on their ideas to adapt to the environment.
Over billions of years, changes occurred very slowly in the beginning of life when there were few cells and low intensity of consciousness. As consciousness strengthened, changes became faster and faster. The rapid evolution of mammals in the last 50 million years of the Earth's 4.6-billion-year history leading to the birth of humans indirectly proves the position of the Creator God who assisted but did not dominate.
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