A VIEW OF RELIGION: DARWINIAN PLATONISM

I. DARWINIAN PLATONISM

The question is, was the Universe designed, and I think that for biology to succeed as well as it has on the Earth, that one can say that indeed biology was designed, and the design principle was evolution. Biology was designed, therefore, on the basis of evolution, and biology rests on chemistry principles and chemistry rests of physics principles, so yes, by extension the Universe was designed, and one might say the evidence for this is revealed in the fine tuning of the structural constants of the Universe. They are so finely tuned, it could be no other way. It is indeed, not misguided, to interpret the Anthropic Principle as a Theistic Principle, based upon an evolutionary design principle. All of this is summed up in a very plainly spoken essay by Edward T. Oakes (attached), a Jesuit scholar, who called it simply, "Darwinian Platonism". You would have to be braindead or an idiot not to understand this essay. It is about as clearly written an argument for a design principle in the universe as there is. And you say what about the randomness in the world, and I say the world is driven towards intelligence and such apparently random forces play their role in the design process as well through a timeless principle of Karma. We are supposedly inexplicably driven, compelled one might say, towards intelligence, argue the Godless scientists........................why not turn it around and say that the design that compells us towards intelligence is GOD INCARNATE after all....................God became delocalized in the physics and chemistry and biology of the UNIVERSE when the almighty Creation began, and as we move to complexity and intelligence, as we move to the Platonic realm of Creation, so we reconstitute God in the images of Creation. We are thus compelled towards intelligence, and thence towards Platonism, and we will exist as a Universe of Perfect Forms some time in the future.

Edward T. Oakes, S.J. (www.counterbalance.net/bio/oakes-frame.html) has thus enunciated the principle of Darwinian Platonism in an essay delivered at St. Edmund's College, Cambridge University in the 1990's. The principle is thus: that just as the evolution of wings presupposes the presence of air in the atmosphere of the Earth, and the evolution of the eye (on some 9 separate occasions, biologists tell us) presupposes the presence and ubiquity of light in the world...................so the evolution of the concious mind with its access to mathematical truth, artistic expression and creativity, does indeed imply the existence of a kind of "mental air" or Platonic world that does indeed exist by virtue of the evolution of conciousness in human beings on the Earth................It is believed in this context that the pathway to Fulfillment is clearly through a kind of "natural selection" of ideas and actions in one's lifetime carried forth into the subsequent lifetimes through a mechanism consistent with Darwinian Platonism that leads one's soul ultimately to a state of Fulfillment, the proper form of creativity. The principles of this "natural selection" process of the development of the individual are outlined below.

II. PRINCIPLES LIFE OPERATES ON

I. Conservation of Dualisms (i.e. Conservation of Good-and-Evil, Male-and-Female, Love-and-Hate, Being-and-Not being, Elegant-and-Inelegant, True-and-False, Compassion-and-Neglect, Passion-and-Responsibility, etc.) Like the classical Chemical principles of mass and energy conservation of Newton and La Voisier, and the modern Physical principle of Einstein of mass-energy equivalence, so there is a scientific precedent for a Principle of the Conservation of Dualisms in the world. Thus it is here that we see that mass and energy are positioned as principles that are situated as dual, or opposed, to each other in the natural world. In the same way there is a humanistic dualism of good and evil, in which every living thing possesses an unchangeable balance of good and evil in their make-up. This balance of good and evil is accompanied by like balances of the other dualisms in the world, all in various proportions depending on the individual and the overall balance of the given dualisms in the world over time. This principle corresponds to the Greek element Earth or the cube.

II. For Every Action there is a Reaction (i.e. Law of Dualistic Detailed Balancing, or the Principle of Karma) You might alternatively call this a Principle of Karma operative in the Universe, where a being's free will actions in one lifetime determine the scope and content of his future lifetime and subsequent lifetimes in keeping with the Principle of the Conservation of Dualisms. This Principle of Karma is also measured and in keeping with the Principle of Cyclicity discussed below and in conjunction with the mechanism of Darwinian Platonism that is operable on it. This principle corresponds to the Greek element Air or the octahedron.

III: Everything is Connected to Everything Else (i.e. Principle of Universal Connectedness, the mechanism underlying the operation of the Principle of Karma) This Principle of Universal Connectedness insures that the Principles of the Conservation of Dualisms and Karma work properly in a seamless manner. The Principle of Universal Connectedness is the secret behind the mechanism of the action of Karma. This principle corresponds to the Greek element Quintessence or the dodecahedron.

IV: Creativity (Free Will) is a Consequence of the Inherent Dualistic Tensions (i.e. Principle of the Free Will Construction of the World) This generates the World around us. The Principle of Free Will explains the purpose of life, the creative act, and the mechanism of Free Will is based in the inherent tensions that exist in the individual from his experiences in the World around him. This is what Joseph Campbell calls "the organs in conflict with each other", The Power of Myth. Creativity arises out of the inherent tensions of Good-vs-Evil within each individual, for example, as well as the operations of the other complementary dualisms operational in the individual and as influenced by their environment. This principle corresponds to the Greek element Water or the icosahedron.

V. Darwinian Platonism and the Principle of Cyclicity (Theology): Access to Fulfillment (the Platonic Realm, Nirvanna) is achieved by the proper understanding of Principles (1)-(4) and the resulting attainment of the proper form of self-expression (proper creative expression) attained by an entity through myriad cycles of life and death under the mechanism of Darwinian Platonism. This Principle of Cyclicity enunciates the meaning of life, which is to attain an understanding of the world through self-expression...............so-called learning................it is a never-ending process just as is life itself. There is an eternal well-spring of life and so for knowledge. This principle corresponds to the Greek element Fire or the tetrahedron.

III. CONCLUSION

The Principles of Life of MJB are based on the Manicheanistic theistic idea of governing dualisms in the world. It is a dualistic worldview. The philosophy can be distilled into 5 fundamental governing ideas (or 5 governing tensions), that correspond to the 5 Platonic solids of the Ancient Greek philosopher, Plato's, Cosmogony, or System of the World, as described above. Above all, as the Gnostic Gospel of Thomas reads (as interpreted by Joseph Campbell (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Campbell), The Power of Myth), "The Kingdom of Heaven is here on the Earth, and Men do not see it................" The (5) principles enunciated above govern the operation of the world, and it is only within the world, and from an understanding of such principles as these (or their equivalent statements in other traditions) that we can hope to achieve various approximations to proper self-expression and to attain an understanding (belief) in the orderly operation of the world, from what seems to be a decidedly disorderly and random scheme.
Overall, the arrow of time suggests that Good has the upper hand over Evil (and so the other dualisms can be analogously interpreted) in the balance, and that because of this things appear to tend toward goodness and order and organization, rather than evil and disorder and chaos. But I have no principle for this in my scheme. The dualisms are balanced as they are as finely tuned constants of the tapestry of the world.

IV. DARWINIAN PLATONISM AND DEATH

Do not stand at my grave and weep,

I am not there, I do not sleep.

I am a thousand winds that blow;I am the diamond glints on snow.

I am the sunlight on ripened grain; I am the gentle autumn's rain.

When you awaken in the morning's hush, I am the swift uplifting rush

Of quiet birds in circled flight.

I am the soft star that shines at night.

Do not stand at my grave and cry.

I am not there; I did not die. (Author Unknown)

from Leonard Alderman, Burlington, Connecticut, February 15, 2008