Living Tree of Evolution

From so humble a beginning as the blind dance of chemicals may represent, from out of the depths of unconscious ages in life’s Ultima Thule, the Tree of Life arose from the primordial chaos, sui generis, to grow through countless ages, to diversify its fruits, to send tendrils of spiral DNA, winding and raveling, into every niche, every nook and cranny of exploitable space, to thrive even in the face of massive threats to its very existence, to return from setbacks on scales that in their enormity beggar the imagination, to reach in its endless adaptations this age, this milestone, where we—but a part of its neverending, ever wending growth—may gaze upon it and perceive, however dimly, the ground from whence it rose up, while still not finished, and as yet remaining all but blind to the future of its existence.

Let us contemplate today the beauty of the natural world that we have the privilege of experiencing. Let us meditate upon it and consider the experience of living.

I recently read Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Species, the book that transformed the life sciences for all time, and was struck by the beautiful simplicity of the work. Although we have moved well beyond Darwin’s understanding, in doing so we have in fact only refined what he envisioned; he saw truly and incontrovertibly the unshakable basis of how life evolves on our planet. In our refining we have expanded our knowledge of the Tree of Life, and in expanding our knowledge we have deepened our understanding of life itself. The mysteries of life yield, but in their yielding they teach us to love life even more. The science of evolution, and the fruit of the life sciences generally, has only become sweeter and more nourishing since Darwin’s time. We have learned that we are part of a whole undergoing a process that seems inherent in the fabric of existence. It is a process with no ultimate, crowning achievement.

Certainly though, among the particulars of its myriad manifestations, consciousness may be seen as a crowning glory. For without consciousness there is nothing.

So, let us today contemplate and meditate upon what it means to be conscious of the Tree of Life as it grows here on earth within the effectively immeasurable space of the universe. I went outside and sat in a lawn chair and gazed out at the blue sky with its diffuse clouds, and I imagined that my sight could penetrate the veil of the visible sky and see into the universe beyond it. I recalled in my imagination that in the tiniest patch of that sky there exist thousands of galaxies, each with billions of stars, and that amongst those stars there are countless planets. Some percentage of those planets will be suited to life, and it is certain that that life will also be evolving in some unique yet ultimately comprehensible manner. Such life as exists in the universe will forever be closed to me, but this is not a loss. What life I know is ample and rich, nearly endless in its expressions. Like infinity in an inch, there is more than enough to take my mind off the miles. So today I think about how the life right here on our little world has come to be.

Today I reclaim the most robust and enduring story: ours, the world’s, life’s story; grounded in real history, truly epic and mind-blowing, yet accessible to us in our conscious grasp of existence. I know of nothing greater or more wonderful.

Recommended viewing: Evolution is REAL Science #1.