complexity intro
change & stability
prog. complexity
more complexity
homo nobilis
references
discovery story
implications
invitation
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image of two colliding galaxies courtesy Hubble Space Telescope |
composed of the matter of this universe, animated by its energy,
and made by the very same law which makes stars, planets, biospheres, galaxies and the universe itself --
-- this is our true nature
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This is true: the cosmic law of Progressive Complexity drives all physical, chemical, biological, psychological and cognitive Growth and Evolution - everywhere in this universe. Deeply imbedded in the nature of energy - in the source of this universe - the law of Progressive Complexity drives the growth of every embryo, foetus, child and youth - including our own - anywhere and everywhere in this universe. Indeed, it has created - out of simple energy - the astronomical complexity of our universe itself.
It may well be called "the law of all Creation" - without being wrong.
As we have seen in "Progressive Complexity", the law of Growth is embedded in the nature of energy and arises, simply, beautifully and elegantly, out of energy. And since our whole universe was born out of a "infinitesimal singularity" of energy, this makes the law of progressive complexity - and of all growth and evolution - a fundamental law and root core driving force of our universe.
This changes the whole story of our universe - and our place within it - totally and completely. The inescapable conclusions are staggering beyond all imagination - and that's putting it mildly.
And that the law of Growth is the inseparable complement of the long recognized and "iron clad" universal law of Decay - as we have seen in these pages - now clinches it. Indeed, the law of Growth is primary, and the law of Decay is secondary. Decay cannot exist without Growth. Without growth, without progressive complexity, without increasing order, there is nothing to decay.
Since the law of Growth and evolution is a fundamental law of this universe, we are now faced with the inevitable conclusion that our universe is a teleological universe - a universe which embodies a plan and a purpose. And a universe endowed with a plan and a purpose is a 'designed universe' - and there is a 'Designer' of this universe after all. And this plan and purpose is as vast and as awesome as our universe itself.
As it now turns out - since the law of Growth is not just a 'local' phenomenon, but fundamental to the whole universe, the emergence of Life and its evolution to progressively higher levels of sentience is is a fundamental property of this universe - and that this universe is also fine-tuned to nothing less than immaculate perfection.
I'll let the facts speak for themselves: The law of Growth (and progressive complexity) drives the gestation and growth of every embryo, foetus and child. And every mother on this Earth has been overwhelmed to the point of boundless awe by the immaculate perfection of her newborn. Everything, down to the most minute detail, is perfect - a perfection so immaculate that it defies comprehension. After all, the little new born bundle of joy she cradles in her arms will grow up into a fully functional and highly cognitive human adult - and when her new born is a girl, fully capable of repeating this immaculate perfection in her own baby when she has grown up.
With the very few exceptions when something has gone wrong, this immaculate perfection is repeated over one hundred million times every day on this Earth. Day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year, generation after generation, century after century, millennium after millennium. How long has this been going on now? - for around 40.000 years in our case (homo sapiens), and around 2 million years in the human line - and for eons upon eons among our mammalian precedents before that.
Now then, and here is the clincher; if this were a 'cooky cutter' kind of reproduction of a simple organism - one like the other - this would be at least somewhat comprehensible. But it isn't. Every human being ever born was, and is not only an immensely complex organism - but also individually unique. Not one like any other - although the general human phenotype is, if somewhat loosely, common to all.
All this is faithfully repeated a myriad-fold everywhere - every kitten, every puppy, every gold fish, every bumblebee and butterfly, every bird in the sky, every marigold and dandelion, every fish in the sea, every leaf on every tree, every blade of grass on the Earth.
And all this has been going on for the unimaginable temporal vastness of 4 billion years - on this Earth. But the Earth is by no means alone. Since the law of Growth and of progressive complexity is a fundamental law of this universe, what we see here on the Earth is typical of this universe - varying only in form according to local conditions. All this, then, has been going on, in exactly the same fashion, all over the mind boggling vastness of our universe. And only God knows for how long.
And this takes this immaculate perfection beyond all comprehension. How can this be? The immaculate perfection of every newborn - yet every newborn is uniquely different from all others. Why hasn't individual differentiation run off long ago into the wild blue yonder, into inchoate chaos?
We may say, of course, that it lies in the genes, and we know all about it, and how it all works. But this is a facile and superficial answer, for the operation of the genes - themselves a direct product of the law of progressive complexity - is driven and governed by an equally fundamental universal law. The function and operation of genes is driven and governed, in all of their energetic, physical, chemical and biological aspects and levels, by the law of Change & Stability - the prerequisite of the law of progressive complexity. And although we may say it, even understand it, the spacial and temporal scale of its function, and the all but infinite order it imposes on all things, is mind boggling in its magnitude.
This then is the true measure of the immaculately fine-tuned perfection of this universe; a perfection which remains immaculate - as embodied in every newborn countless times over - yet allows infinite variation, in every instance, within it, while remaining true to its kind. The order of this universe is awesome.
This does not deny chaos - the chaotic component of our universe. Not at all. Like the law of Change & Stability, Chaos & Order are also inseparably interlocked into an indivisible unity. And while chaos, by its very nature, never repeats itself, it does so only in an inviolable 'frame' of Order. By providing the infinite variation within the order and stability of a phenotype, the chaotic element of our universe is, actually, the well spring of all creation. Under the law of Chaos & Order all things become possible - within the fundamental order of this universe.
And this includes the emergence and evolution of Life. Indeed, the emergence and evolution of Life is also the direct product of the law of progressive complexity - in a seamless and unbroken continuity of progressive complexity from energy to matter to elements to chemical, prebiotic and biotic compounds, to cells, organelles, and progressively more complex organisms.
And here then, in the seamless continuity of progressive complexity from energy to Life, we have the plan and the purpose of our universe: The generation and evolution of Life and consciousness to progressively higher levels of complexity, sentience and cognition. For the evolution of Life from simple reaction to instinct, awareness, consciousness, sentience and progressively higher levels of cognition is also driven by the law of progressive complexity. Consequently, this is a designed and a created universe. There is no way around this. The law of progressive complexity, and the immaculate order of this universe leaves no room for any other logical conclusion.
Composed of the star-spun matter of this universe, and animated by its star-spun energy (our sun), we are not only the direct expression and embodiment of the laws and forces of this universe, but we are also, albeit only in our best moments, the direct expression and embodiment of the nature of this universe.
Of necessity, the 'Designer' and Creatress of this universe (for the female in her universal mandate to create and nourish Life is more closely akin to the nature of the Creative Consciousness of this universe - with all this implies) is eternal and immortal, and Her existence transcends the comings and goings of universes.
to be continued
RETURN TO - the law of Progressive Complexity
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