|
A Partial Utopia For most of us, life seems a continuing challenge, a mixture of partial successes and seeming failures. We deal with problems as they arrive, solving some of them, only to find that the solution has given rise to more problems. We long for a "final solution," an end to all problems. Yet we know deep down that such is not to be found while we remain on earth. As a matter of fact, a life without problems would be the worst thing for us. It is only through the challenges of life that we grow; were we to sink into a passive complacency our creativity and our joy would be stifled. It is the disappointments of life which are our teachers. What is true of our individual lives is also true of the process of evolution. Various life forms come forth adapted to the variety of environments, and yet the adaptation is never perfect. Furthermore, the environment continually changes, partially in response to changes in the various species. It is the challenge of change which is the stimulus of evolution. What does it all mean? To what end do we grow; to what end does evolution proceed? For ourselves, it seems that our growth consists in developing the various capacities, physical, mental, and spiritual, with which we are born. Why could we not have been born fully developed without the need to learn through experience? Yet, it is precisely the variety of challenges which we meet in our lives that makes us the unique individual each of us is. As to evolution, for many scientists, it is simply a random process of adaptation which is not going anywhere in particular. If it can be said that there is a goal, it is survival of the individual and the species, leading, surely, to ever greater complexity, but without any other direction. For Teilhard, and for others in the orthogenesis school, evolution clearly has a direction, the ever-growing complexity being accompanied by an ever-growing consciousness. With the appearance of the human species, consciousness has reached the stage of self-reflection, so that it may be said that with the human the universe has first become conscious of itself. In this stage, the dominant evolutionary process has shifted from the biological and genetic to the cultural. In other words, humans now have the power to direct evolution toward a better way of organizing our lives and our society. We can create for ourselves a utopia of peace and love. But such a utopia will be only partial, as each solution brings about new problems. The partial nature of seemingly complete solutions can be seen in numerous examples. At the time of the dominance of dinosaurs, some small mammals had worked out a solution to the problems of reptilian cold-bloodedness, a set of homeostatic mechanisms to maintain body temperature, allowing comfortable habitation over a broader range of temperatures. When the dinosaurs went into decline as a result of a colder environment, the small mammals were able to thrive, but they now had the challenge of evolving to take advantage of the benefits of a larger size. Gradually larger mammals evolved, reaching the size of an elephant. Here there arose the problem of supporting such a large weight with the limited strength of the bones of the leg. A solution to this problem led to the aquatic mammals, particularly the whales, where the buoyancy of water was able to support much larger size. But the whales had other problems. And so on. An example within cultural evolution is the history of the development of "green revolution" grains in the 1960s. Faced with the prospect of hunger in the third world, a substantial research project was mounted to develop higher-yielding grains. One of the problems with wheat was that the relatively thin stalks of conventional wheat would be bent over by rain so that the heads would touch the ground and gradually rot. Through selective breeding there was developed a variety with a short stubby stalk which would not bend in the rain. Introduction of the new variety led to a substantially increased yield. With a little experience, it was found that there were some unanticipated problems. The new varieties were adopted primarily by the more affluent farmers, who were able to afford the tractors, fertilizers, pesticides, and irrigation justified by the higher yields. Farmers on the smaller scale were often forced to sell out. As a result, the new grains resulted in a larger gap between the rich and the poor. When the utopia comes, we will look back on it and say it was a logical development of what went before. And yet today we cannot imagine it. Certainly it will be based on cooperation rather than competition, on nurturing rather than aggressiveness. To be utopia at all, it would have to be a state without war and violence. We may hope that it would support everyone’s growth into fuller human beings, so it will also have enough problems to keep our creativity alive and working. Not being able to see the future as we know the past, we tend to imagine the future as a linear projection of the present. Yet the lesson of evolution is that it is always a surprise, that there is always something completely unanticipated. Would that be so also in the case of cultural evolution? We don’t know. It may be that the future will consist of refinements of the familiar present. It is also possible that some radically new form of life may come about. It would not be a new form of body, for biological changes are too slow. But it could be some new forms of consciousness, some higher spiritual awareness. We can imagine more efficient brainpower accompanied by mental skills not yet foreseen. Could the technology of today have been seen by the medieval philosophers? And yet the emergence of science seems such a logical outgrowth of our civilization. We in the peace movement may perhaps grow weary with disappointment. The victories seem so partial and lead to yet further challenges. We take two steps forward and one step back. And yet over the long haul, we see some progress. Will we see a final solution to war and violence? Undoubtedly, yes. What will the peace of the utopia look like? The only thing we can be sure of is that it will have enough challenges to keep life interesting. Dom Roberti |