[Nectar] Peacock Feathers - Darwin's Nightmare

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>From Kurma Prabhu's Blog:

 

A few days ago, friend of mine in Alice Springs sent me two amazing

pictures of albino peacocks, and it got me thinking.

 

I started to recall my studies of the great 18,000 verse Sanskrit

epic, Srimad Bhagavatam. In the Second Canto it describes what is

known as the virat-rupa, otherwise known as the Universal Form of

God.

 

The Bhagavatam describes a type of meditation where one can perceive

this Universal Form everywhere in the creation. This is a highly

conceptualised form, but nevertheless it can elevate one far beyond

normal mundane sense perception.

 

As an aid to this meditation, the Bhagavatam proposes that one can see

God in His creation as follows:

 

Hills and mountains represent His bones Physical sound represents His

sense of hearing Material aroma represent His sense of smell Trees

represent the hairs on His body The clouds represent the hair on His

head Day and night represent His eyelids Religion represents His

breast Irreligion represents His back The ocean represents His waist

Rivers represent His veins Twilight represents His dress The air

represents His breath The ten directions represent His ears The

blazing fire represents His mouth The sun and moon represent His eyes

Alluring material energy represents His smile The passing ages

represent His movements The horse, mule, camel represent His nails

Varieties of birds represent His artistry The brahmanas represent His

face The ksatriyas represent His arms The vaisyas represent His thighs

The sudras represent His feet

 

When bird feathers are studied closely, a very delicate design

emerges. There are even tinier hairs on every tiny hair, and these

have special hooks, allowing them to hold onto each other.

 

Just one crane feather, for instance, has about 650 barbs on each side

of the shaft. About 600 barbules branch off each of the barbs. Each

one of these barbules are locked together with 390 hooklets. The hooks

latch together as do the teeth on both sides of a zip. If the hooklets

come apart for any reason, the bird can easily restore the feathers to

their original form by either shaking itself or by straightening its

feathers out with its beak.

 

To claim that the complex design in feathers could have come about by

the evolution of reptile scales through chance mutations is quite

simply a dogmatic belief with no scientific foundation.

 

Even one of the doyens of Darwinism, Ernst Mayr, made this confession

on the subject some years ago:

 

"It is a considerable strain on one's credulity to assume that finely

balanced systems such as certain sense organs (the eye of vertebrates,

or the bird's feather) could be improved by random mutations."

 

The design of feathers also compelled Darwin to ponder them. Moreover,

the perfect aesthetics of the peacock's feathers had made him

"sick" (his own words).

 

In a letter he wrote to Asa Gray on April 3, 1860, Darwin said,

 

"I remember well the time when the thought of the eye made me cold all

over, but I have got over this stage of complaint..."

 

And then continued:

 

"...and now trifling particulars of structure often make me very

uncomfortable. The sight of a feather in a peacock's tail, whenever I

gaze at it, makes me sick!"

 

The unbelievably complex design of feathers clearly demonstrate a

scientific and artistic brain of immense capacity. It is clear to me

that this exquisite artistry and profoundly intelligent design belongs

to none other than The Supreme Artist and Supreme Designer Himself.

 

 

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