The creation of life
Isn’t that amazing?
We seem to be on a planet with a vast array of other living animals and plants. Of course – I could be dreaming it!
Over billions of years organic molecules accumulated in the seas and joined together. The building blocks of protein, ribonucleic acid, carbohydrates and lipids bonded together and the first organism came into being.
From that first simple organism, through a series of evolutionary steps, all life evolved.
As a biologist I can appreciate the chemistry involved and the way these steps might have occurred. I can see why people find it incredible to understand. It is remarkable, stupendous and amazingly unlikely.
Yet it happened. Somehow it happened.
Given billions of years and the infinity of space I believe anything that is possible to happen will happen.
Yet the creation of life is stupendous.
Given more stars and planets than we can conceive it seems likely that it will have happened elsewhere too. If there are enough monkeys with enough keyboards sooner or later they will produce the complete works of Shakespeare. But that does not make it any the less wonderful.
The cop out is once again to put in a deity and put the mystery one step removed. Presumably the deity is alive? So life started somewhere before?
Life is awesome. It’s complexity is majestic.
I do believe that it happened spontaneously through natural laws. The human body is too badly thought through to have been designed (unless we have a deity who is inept or has a warped sense of humour). Why have one opening to the lungs? A neck that breaks? A excretory system and egestory system that opens into the genitals?
No – I believe animals, with all their design faults, are the functional result of evolution and not some cosmic designer.
But that doesn’t stop me from shaking my head at the wonder of it, the sheer improbability and the stupendous results of all this teeming life.
I believe we, as conscious, sentient and supposedly intelligent, animals, have a duty to nurture it.
And a brain that only operates at best at around 10% of capacity. The least evolved part of the human body is teeth. Yeh, no way were we “designed”. But still, not too shabby for a former fish!
Pretty functional and beyond. Wouldn’t it be good to come back in a billion or two years time and see what modifications evolution has wrought? Perhaps we’d evolve more senses?
Telekinesis perhaps?
No – that doesn’t move me.
Handing you your coat is causing a repetitive strain injury!
Sorry. I could not resist.
Sorry, have to comment on picture above and the dog, where is that it is beautiful.
Anna, well spotted! I missed him upon first glance.
Andrew, I will always spot a dog I just love them so much, better than people they have been my saviour many a time.
And that was a spotty dog!
That was one of my piccies from a walk we did along the norfolk coast late summer. It was beautiful. I had some nice photos.
Please show them to us.
Yes! We do have the duty to protect it.
None more than now, We are trashing it.
I’ll reblog them for you if I can find them.
Was it the dog or god backwards there at the beginning of creation. Just winding you up! We’re not giving ourselves time to evolve or other species time to adapt.
You’re so right Georgina. The rise of mankind to plague proportions has been spectacular. Our numbers outrun our intelligence.
Reblogged this on Opher's World and commented:
Life is a wonder.
Thanks for this celebratory piece, Opher. I’m very concerned that our natural sense of wonder has become jaded – many reasons for this, of course, but I’d blame a toxic mix of supernaturalism and consumerism. Both have the effect of putting the individual before the collective …
Wonder is paramount.