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Synthesis: Towards a Unifying Plan - Part 2

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Dear All,

 

We concluded with:

 

" Matter and form are the two basic principles then and the whole universe

evolves through the interplay between them. Part of the dynamic is that matter

always tends to dissipate itself, to disintegrate, to become disorganized.

Consequently at the very beginning of the universe there was an explosion of

matter such that matter was thrown outwards in primordial expansion. It is

believed that this principle of expansion is still operating and that the

galaxies are expanding all the time as matter pushes itself out in that way. But

at the very time that matter expands and tends to disintegrate, another force,

the force of form, comes into play and begins to structure matter, organising

and controlling it. The understanding is then that there were originally

photons, electrons and other basic particles coming into being and dissolving,

and then gradually forms began to be structured and the simplest atoms, those of

hydrogen and helium, came into being. From that origin of organisation matter

became increasingly more organised as the two forces were continuously

operative, matter disintegrating and moving outwards and form drawing within,

concentrating and centring the matter. (p.257) So with the galaxies the matter

expanded enormously while the forms began to structure it, forming the stars,

the galaxies and eventually suns, moons, and planets, including earth. We can

understand then that the whole cosmos comes into being by the interaction of

these two forces, one working on the other. "

 

A New Vision of Reality (Western Science, Eastern Mysticism and

Christian Faith) Chapter 12, p.255-257

 

Here now, is Part 2.

 

Enjoy,

 

violet

 

 

Synthesis: Towards a Unifying Plan - Part 2

 

(p.257) It is important to realise that matter is always in a state of

disequilibrium. If it were to come into equilibrium it would become simply

passive. It is always in disequilibrium as it moves out into a new phase, and

from that a new form emerges. It is thought that this is how evolution takes

place. There would be a particular form, a chemical, a plant or animal or

whatever, and then something in the environment disorganises that structure and

it has to reconstruct itself. In so doing a new form comes into being. In this

process certain structures have been identified which Ilya Prigogine calls

dissipative structures. Dissipative structures are found even in chemicals and

still more conspicuously in plants and animals. These are structures which tend

to dissipate their energy, destructuring themselves and then restructuring again

somewhat differently. This, it is thought, is how development takes place,

always a disequilibrium tending towards the organisation of a new structure.

Rupert Sheldrake has suggested that what, following Aristotle, we are calling

forms, or formal causes, act as morphogenetic fields. These are fields in which

matter is moulded into particular forms. Evolution proceeds in stages as a new

burst of formative energy is released and this takes place on a large scale.

Recent research has suggested that new species come into being not simply by

gradual stages but rather by a kind of explosion. This indicates that the matter

has been prepared for it by changes having been introduced which make it ready

for this explosion of new species. This is at the moment by no means proved but

it does seem to be the pattern which is emerging.

 

There is then a gradual development. (p.258) Atoms develop into molecules, these

develop into cells, cells develop into organisms, then to simple plants and

animals, as organs are produced leading to the development of increasingly

complex animal forms. All this is a continuous process. What is particularly

interesting is that the elements of each stage, atoms, molecules, cells and so

on, are each a whole in their own right and as they develop they integrate the

other wholes within themselves so that the universe is composed of wholes within

wholes. For instance, an atom itself is a complete whole, with its electrons,

protons and neutrons and other elements. When that atom enters into a molecule

it enters a new whole, and yet it retains its identity as, say, a carbon atom

within the molecule, a smaller whole within the greater whole. Similarly, within

a cell the molecules still retain their structure within the wider structure of

the cell. And again the cells in the body multiply and grow and each is a whole

within the greater whole of the tissue, the organ and finally the whole

organism. So the whole of nature is composed of all these structures or

processes built up one after another, one into the other, in such a way that

nothing is lost.

 

In the course of evolution most processes simply follow mechanical laws. Rupert

Sheldrake puts this down to a kind of force of habit, in that once a certain

pattern of organisation has occurred it tends to repeat itself and so it gets

fixed to a certain extent. This pattern appears as a kind of mechanical law. But

at the same time there are also continual chance variations and the new form

that emerges from these apparently chance changes integrates the chance

elements, creating a new structure. So form and matter, order and chance, are

working one on the other the whole time. At each stage the organism becomes more

complex and the organising principle more powerful and more structured. This is

what Teilhard de Chardin calls the principle of complexification. (p.259) An

atom of hydrogen is extremely simple, consisting of one proton and one electron.

But then as there arise more and more complex atoms, and increasingly complex

molecules and cells, at each level there has to be a more complex deep structure

to hold it together and the energy within has to be stronger. This is Teilhard's

point of the within and the without of things. Atoms, molecules, cells, attain

their structure from the outside, as it were, with regard to their matter but at

the same time a force is appearing within each one which organises and maintains

the structure. Matter is without; form, the organising force, is within. And so

the form organises each thing in a more complex way and becomes more manifest as

it develops, leading to increasingly greater and more complex formal order.

 

This process goes on continually, through plants and animals to human beings. It

appears that the same forces which are at work in matter and sub-human life

operate also in the human person and in human consciousness. The same principle

of matter and form working together can account for the whole evolution of

humanity. But what happens in human beings is that this organizing power, this

form, begins to emerge into consciousness. We have seen that there is an

organizing power at every level and this organising power has the character of a

mind. Mind, it has been said, reveals itself as " a pattern of self-organisation

and a set of dynamic relationships " . In this sense it can be said that mind is

present in matter from the beginning. Form in Aristotle's sense of the word is a

power of intelligence. It creates order. It causes the self-organisation of all

organic structures and creates a set of dynamic relationships. So mind is

present in matter, and in plants and animals, and that mind becomes conscious in

us. And so, in a very exact sense, it can be said that matter becomes conscious

in human beings. This process which has been going on from the beginning of time

becomes conscious in us. (p.260) It evolves into consciousness. We are that

stage of evolution at which the material universe is emerging into consciousness

in each one of us.

 

A New Vision of Reality (Western Science, Eastern Mysticism and

Christian Faith) Chapter 12, p.257-260

Bede Griffiths

Templegate Publishers - Springfield, Illinois

ISBN 0-87243-180-0

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