You may be familiar with the metaphor of the ocean and the wave, a metaphor for the relationship between God and man. Some people take it to mean that even though we may think of ourselves as having an independent existence from God, as being separate from God, that we are actually made of God and fall back and dissolve into God at the end of this separate existence. We can actually look at this metaphor more deeply.
Now please understand that this is a metaphor. No one is claiming, certainly not this author, that the ocean is conscious or that a wave has a consciousness that can entertain the idea of connection or separation. But if it did have a consciousness, then the idea of separation, of independence, from the ocean would be just as ridiculous as humans entertaining the idea of separation from God, or the cosmic consciousness or the godhead, if you prefer. The wave does not, even during that brief moment when it is a wave, have a separate existence. If the wave has an ego; if the wave prides itself in it's own power, size and speed, it is not the wave, but the larger forces at work in the ocean that are providing that power, size and speed. It is taking pride in something that has been given to it and not something that it independently created. If somehow you were able to separate all the water in that wave from the ocean that is supporting it, you would wind up not with a wave but with a very large and inert puddle.
And the temporal nature of the wave's pride is also worth noting. The very moment that the wave achieves the peak of its height and power is the very moment of the beginning of its downfall when it begins to fold, curl into itself and quickly diminish and disappear. The pride in its growing power and strength is quickly transformed into the terror at its speedy dimunution. As the independent nature and the temporal nature of that pride is laughable, so is the competitive nature of that pride. For just as the wave begins to gloat about the pathetic little ripples that it sees in front of it, it becomes precisely the object of what it had just scorned with the roar of the monster wave behind it echoing in its terrified and humiliated ears.
Just as the wave has no possible existence apart from the ocean, is inextricably linked to the ocean, is created at every moment by oceanic forces, so a human being has no possible existence without God, without the cosmic consciousness. Intelligent designers and now even Pope Francis, a man for whom I have enormous admiration, seem to be promoting a limited conception of God, as some one, or some thing that created the world, designed the world, including, in the case of Pope Francis, the apparatus of evolution, did all these things at a certain point in time, and then left to let these process unfold 'by themselves.' But God is infinitely bigger than that. God is beyond space and time. God cannot do anything and leave. God can not leave. There is no place where God isn't. Where would God leave to? Creation is perpetual; it is happening at every moment. The plant kingdom and the animal kingdom are continually adapting, to each other and to their environment. Genes are a visible, measurable part of that adaptation, but only a part. Each adaptation is an idea, an idea that includes a change in organic materials, related to changes in genes; a change in the fantastically complex timing system of the firing of genes; a change in the shape that structural proteins, formed by genes, and cells take; a change in the distribution of blood, energy and nerves, to service this new adaptation; a change in the allocation of brain neurons to bring sensation and control to this adaptive change; and a change in the entire equilibrium of the changed organism. The cause of all these changes are not genes. Changed genes are one of the mechanisms by which new protein materials are used for the new adaptation. The cause of all these changes is a new idea; an idea that springs from the cosmic consciousness. In fact, it is not even an idea as we know it. Ideas are mental concepts that exist prior to their execution. In the Godhead there is no temporal sequence between ideas and execution. The solution to the problem occurs simultaneously with the arrival of the problem; and the solution is executed immediately, although the complete realization of that execution may take a long time, perhaps many generations, because God must work within the laws of the physical universe, including the biological universe; laws that God created. Since the entire structure of the physical universe is built on the precise balance and synchronicity of many interrelated laws, God cannot violate these laws without bringing down the entire structure of the universe; which God could do, but chooses not to. These laws, which we call either laws or forces, that sustain the universe, are themselves sustained at every moment by God's will. In other words the universe continues to exist at each moment because God wills it to exist.
Our society has become so entrenched, so hypnotized by the observable world that we are convinced that nothing can exist if it is not measurable. We convince ourselves of this even though the entire moment to moment experience of our lives is neither measurable nor observable to anyone but ourselves, and neither is our actual selves, the experiencer of our experience. So at the same time that we conclude that everything real must be measurable and observable, the self that is making this conclusion is neither of those things and continues to elude our most sophisticated physical observations and measuring devices. And yet, of course, our self is the realest thing in our lives. It is the one thing that we can always be sure of. Even if you realized, which scientists often do, that everything that you previously thought was wrong, that your entire perception of reality was distorted, and all your observations and measurements were inaccurate and now, thanks to the latest theory or insight, they are right; even in that case you can be absolutely sure that you, the self, the observer of your observations, the measurer of your measurements, the concluder of your conclusions, was always there and always exactly the same, even though the measurements, observation and conclusions are now completely different. You were deluded, you think, and now you are not deluded; but the you, once deluded and now rational, is still the same you.
"But I see no evidence of intelligence in the world," you say. Everything can be explained by the genetic code, by accidental mutations of that genetic code, and by the machinations of the brain; and if it can not be explained at the moment, with some more research into the mechancis of genes and the brain, we will soon have those explanations. What follows is a list of the most common phenomena of our existence which defies explanation either by genes or by brain function and I invite any reader to offer a remotely plausible material explanation as to how any of this could happen without the constant intercession of a transcendent intelligence:
1. The growth of a living being from one fertilized ovum.
In humans this one fertilized egg mitotically divides into thousands of daughter cells forming a blastocyst. This blastocyst was at one time considered to be composed of thousands of identical cells, yet they could not possibly be identical. Although they look the same they will soon differentiate into two thousand different types of cells. The reason they differentiate into the various cells that will form not just the newborn baby, but the placenta, the amniotic sac, the placental villi, and all the organs and formations needed to support the fetus until it is able to eat and eliminate and digest and circulate blood by itself; all of these are also formed from that one original fertilized egg. How is this done? Many scientists believe that the distribution of hundreds of thousands of protein molecules within the cytoplasm of the original egg is not random, but is absolutely precisely distributed so that, without any filaments or support structures to hold them in place, all these protein molecules, which are protein molecules which have the capacity to re-enter the nucleus of the cell and initiate genetic transcription, are in the exact spot they need to be in so that after all the mitotic divisions of the blastocyst period, and after the twists and turns and foldings and cell migrations of the gastrula period, that all the right types of cells will be formed by the transcription of the precise different genes, at the precise moment that they need to be formed. How is this miraculous distribution of protein molecules within the fertilized egg done, a distribution which must include the foreknowledge of what precise cells these protein molecules will wind up in after countless mitotic divisions, foldings, curlings and migrations? The only other explanation, equally miraculous, is that the differentiation of cells, and the stimulation of different genetic combinations to create these different cells, takes place later, during gastrulation; which means that there is some oversight, some energy field, some transcendentally intelligent supervision that is directing all this differentiation and marshalling from without the cell, the forces necessary to propel certain sets of protein molecules to enter the nucleus and initiate transcription for many thousands of cells and in two thousand different patterns of transcription.
2. The folding of the nucleotide base pairs of DNA.
In each of these new cells in humans is 3.2 billion nucleotide base pairs. These form the strand of DNA, along which, at different spots are found the stretches of nucleotides that are coded for the amino acid chains of proteins that we call genes. The base pairs are folded over and over each other so that all 3.2 billion of them, about ten feet if they were all unspooled, can fit within the nucleus of each cell and still have plenty of room for transcription and other nucleus activities to take place. Since each of the two thousand different types of cells specialize in manufacturing a different suite of proteins, then two thousand different sets of genes must wind up on the exterior edge of these folded coils of 3.2 billion nucleotides, where they can react with protein and other molecules floating through the nuclear fluid that initiate and aid in transcription. These gene sequeces cannot be buried deep within the coils and inaccessible. Beyond that, transcription requires not just a particular gene sequence, but many other nucleotides that aid in this process which is, in itself, wondrously precise and complex. These helper nucleotides may be located hundreds, if not thousands, if not millions, of nucleotides distant from the actual gene sequence that they will be assisting with. Yet, when the folding is completed, not only do all the gene sequences that that cell specializes in, find themselves on the outer edge of the coil, adjacent to the nuclear fluid, but all the helper nucleotides wind up adjacent to or abutting the gene sequence they are assisting with. This means that within each of the trillions of cells of our human bodies, 3.2 billion nucleotide base pairs are folded in two thousand precisely different ways.
How is this Herculean task accomplished? I say Herculean, because for a human being, the folding of say a strand of pearls, 3.2 billion pairs of pearls long, which would be about eleven thousand miles, which would represent the nucleotides of just one cell, just the folding of such a strand into any kind of compact shape would take a life time of effort, never mind the precise folding so that specific sequences of pearls wound up on the outside of this compact shape with all the helper pearls adjacent to them. And please don't tell me that these folding patterns are 'known' by the genes. As I said above, genes are sequences of simple molecules called nucleotides, only four different molecules in fact, which are coded for twenty different amino acids. How could genes 'know' anything? How could genes 'learn' anything? What is the mechanism whereby genes learn to coil themselves or to take any shape for that matter? What is the relationship between genes and shape? There is none. In fact in complex many celled creatures like humans, each structural gene is used in the manufacture of proteins involved in many different areas and many different shapes within each body.
By the time the fetus is ready to be born, it is composed of five trillion cells, each containing 3.2 billion base pairs of precisely folded nucleotides. How is this blindly, simply mechanically and randomly arrived at?
3. The entire body plan of each species including formation of the blastocyst, the gastrula and the budding of organs and features.
How is this body plan conveyed? How is it executed? We know that each species has its distinct form of genesis, but how is this done? Yes, each species has, as well, a distinct arrangement of genes, but do the arrangement of genes cause or dictate these precise and intricate shapes? Of course not. Genes dictate protein materials, not shapes. To say that these tiny, submicroscopic protein molecules dictate the shapes of our organs and body features would be like saying that the tiniest pixels of modern technology, which are gigantic in comparison to protein molecules, that these tiniest pixels dictate the shapes of the pictures and symbols that they are used to represent; that the shape of grains of sand dictate the shape of sand sculptures. Yes, a certain kind of Carrera marble takes the shape of Michelangelo's sculptures, and a certain type of titanium takes the shape of dental implants; but to say that the Carrera marble 'causes' or 'dictates' or creates by itself Michelangelo's sculptures, or that the titanium 'causes' the shape of dental implants, or that a certain combination of sugar, flour, butter and milk causes the shape of wedding cakes, makes no sense at all. It is important that we, as a society, recognize these things for what they are, wondrous miracles, and not anaesthetize ourselves by saying idiotic things like, "it's just our genes," or, "it's evolution." No matter how knowledgeable, how "been there, done that," your obstetrician acts, we must recognize these processes for what they are, wondrous, transcendentally intelligent and miraculous, and at the level of causation of forms, completely unobservable.
4. The fact that at every moment of your life you are able to do what you want to do.
I understand that sometimes you are not able to satisfy your greatest, long term desires. I am not talking about those. Although you are able to do everything that you choose to do that is within your power, on the way to fulfilling that desire. I am talking here about those little moment to moment desires that we have at every second. The desire to look at a certain thing when you want to look in that direction. The desire to focus on a certain thought or memory. The desire to stretch, to shift your weight, to get up off the sofa and get a glass of water. These desires that you have constantly during your entire waking life, are fulfilled the moment that you have the desire. In fact, they are often fulfilled so instantaneously that you don't even have a moment to realize that that was your desire, unless that desire is momentarily frustrated. For instance, when you itch, which is the desire to scratch, you scratch. You don't necessarily experience that itch separately from the scratch unless it is in a place on your body (the middle of your upper back, for instance) that you cannot reach or that is socially unacceptable to reach at that moment. Then you experience the itch until that time that you can find a way to scratch it.
Scientists, thousands of scientists, study the machinations of the conscious brain. They study the patterns of firing neurons which lead to whole pathways of electrical signals which lead to shifts in blood and energy distribution and the precise contraction and release of specific muscles in absolutely precise timing sequence involving many millions of interacting molecules within muscle cells. Yet, why do these initiating neurons start this whole cascade of processes? Because they want to? No. It's because you want to. Initiating neurons are not themselves the initiators. Your desires, your nonmeasurable, unobservable desires are the initiators that cause the firing of these initiating neurons. And each of these neurons is connected through thousands of axons to thousands of other neurons. So the number of pathways that these initiating neurons could take is close to infinite. Although there could be any number or combination of initiating neurons of the two hundred billion neurons in your brain, and an almost infinite number of pathways as signals move from neuron to neuron; there is in fact, only one precise combination of initiating neurons and only one precise firing path that these neurons take, and that is the precise combination of initiating neurons and the precise path of firing neurons that will lead to the precise movements, the precise memories, the precise thoughts, the precise word formations, that you want them to lead to. The conscious brain is the servant of your desires. It does what you want it to do; that should be obvious. But how does it do that? How are your nonmeasurable desires translated at each moment to patterns of thousands or millions of firing neurons that are then sent along precise firing patterns that cause whole cascades of molecular activity that lead to you doing exactly what it is that you want to do?
If the world's greatest pianists can look at a score of music and press the right set of three or four or possibly five keys of the 88 keys on a piano a split second after reading that score; then who is the transcendentally intelligent and nimble pianist, who, at every moment of your waking existence, fires the precise combination of a hundred million, or two hundred million neurons of the two hundred billion neurons of your brain and guides that electric charge down the precise pathways that allow you to do exactly what you want? Who is that transcendent pianist who knows your desires before you do and executes them with utterly miraculous speed and efficiency? If that is not God, the god head, the cosmic consciousness at work, then who or what is it? Again reader, I anxiously await your alternative explanation.
5. The fact that at every moment of your life you are able to see sights, hear sounds, smell smells, taste tastes, remember memories and think thoughts.
"Well, that's the brain, of course, and we are learning more and more about the brain every day," you say. Yes, our knowledge of how the brain works is growing, particularly the mapping of different areas of the brain which are stimulated when we experience different things; but the brain is recording and filing and organizing our experience, it is not experiencing our experience. There is no entity that calls itself 'the brain' that sees our sights, hears our sounds, smells our smells, tastes our tastes, or thinks our thoughts. We do that. The most we can say is that when we experience these various things there is observable electrical stimulation in certain brain neurons. We learn more and more about how light photons are translated into electrical impulses and where those impulses impinge on brain neurons, but how we translate those flows of eletricity into the sunsets, and roses and our children's faces, into the things that we actually see, has not even begun to be known. That is because there is no physical organ of translation that we can observe that accomplishes this. And although we may be able to locate different areas where memories rather than input from light photons, where thoughts rather than input from sound waves, are processed or stored or recorded, we have absolutely no idea why these basically same electric flows, moving at the same speed and voltage, are translated into such completely different experiences.
In another post (GENOME vs. CONNECTOME) I wrote about how the means of tranlating genes into amino acid chains has been discovered by the growth in the power and depth of optical measuring tools, but those tools are already known. There are no observable areas on the surface of the brain, no as yet undiscovered organelles, where such a translation could take place. As opposed to the transcription and translation of genes, the translation of neuron firings, of the so called 'connectome' does not take place on the physical plane and therefore eludes and will continue to elude scientific measurement. But who knows this code? Obviously someone does, otherwise how could we use it at every moment of our waking life? Is it us, ourselves? Do we know this code? Are we able, by ourselves, to locate the exact neurons among the two hundred billion brain neurons where a specific memory is stored? And once discovered, are we able, by ourselves, to translate those stored traces of neuron firings, or the chemical deposits within those neurons, or the pattern of axons connecting those neurons, or the precise location of those neurons, or any one or a combination of those things which are somehow organized into a code, can we, ourselves, read this code and translate it into a specific memory? Speaking for myself, I definitely cannot. I am the recipient of the successful execution of those locating and translating processes, but I don't have the faintest idea how they are done. All I know is that they are done and done by a being that employs an amazingly nimble, instantaneously speedy and profoundly accurate ability to do those things which I am the grateful recipient of.
If any one reading these words does know of a randomly arrived at, observable, mechanical way of doing all of this remarkable locating of neurons and their translation into actual experience, please let me know about it immediately in your comments.
Of course this list could be much longer. It could include the origin of every phenomena, living or inert, in the physical universe. It could include every phenomena where behavior is initiated and where anything is experienced, but this list should be enough for us to conclude that in the race for most stupid, between delusional ocean waves and myopic materialists, who chatechismicly mouthe such moronic mantras as, "There's nothing left for God to do," for these people so separated by their frantic, restless desires from the experience of meditation, introspection, even simple self reflection, that they do not realize that they have absolutely no idea how they are able to utter their atheistic words the very moment that they choose to utter them; that refuse to be awed or mystified by anything; that innoculate themselves against spiritual experience by the continual self repetition of episodes from the meager scrapbook of there own experiences; the score is: myopic materialists one, delusional ocean waves nothing.
If you disagree, please don't just disagree to yourself. Write a comment and we can both discuss your objections. Thanks.
