The question of evolution
From: The Cassiquiri on the Aripuana
Stephen considers the big issues.
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Another aspect that seems so cold and counter-intuitive is that evolution has no plan or foresight - it can't predict the future and makes no contingencies other than what has been encountered before.
It works like a tinkerer: very much concerned with what works right now, with no regard for what might work 'for the best', or 'in the long run'. In that respect, it is utterly unlike any human designer. Except perhaps the one that threw together my previous car.
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Thank you for your comments - some real food for thought here. Despite the savagery of existence, and perpetuating a species' existence, there is still beauty to be found in the nature of existing, yet that is something that passes animals and plants by. They cannot ever be aware of how beautiful they are, or even achieve the delightful awareness that they are living, and develop some appreciation from that: they are entirely caught up with the process of living. And that process of living, is, as you say, savage, and disturbing in its simplicity. It is only ever humans (and not even all humans, at that, as you are discovering, and we are discovering through you and your adventures) that can appreciate the true beauty of nature and the world. Perhaps we are, as beings, too based in this world - of enjoying our own existences, the beauty of the self and environment - to really realise that we are like (and are) animals, and we too have our own place in this cycle of trying our hardest to exist at the expense of others. What we have, I suppose, is a greater acknowledgement of aspects of life that would, if we were like other animals, be considered weaknesses - aspects such as aesthetic appreciation and intellect, which cause humans to pause instead of rushing on with the frantic speed of survival. It is only by stepping out of that frantic race that we can consider it, and know it for what it really is. And I guess, that is in part what we find so beautiful - because it is true, and so much of the human existence now seems to be 'false': an artificial construct that almost betrays what we are as living beings that strive to survive. For after all,
Beauty is truth, truth beauty,?that is all
Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.
Much love
Debs xxx
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