What Matters Most….......Commentary by Jim High
When we
think about our evolutionary past we must remember three things. First, the
past in this instance is millions and billions of years. The universe is 13.8 billion years old. At least scientist figure that is its age
based on observations of the motion of the galaxies and the age of individual
stars within those galaxies. But, none
of that really matters to us here on planet Earth since our solar system didn’t
form until about 4 billion years ago. Very
shortly after that our planet had single cell life in its oceans. So life has been around in some form almost
from the start after our planet cooled a bit, and that early life started out
in the oceans. I think that is why
sitting quietly on the beach and looking at the ocean feels just like going
home.
Of
course, those early oceans were not as they are today, in fact even the continents
were not where they are today, as they are constantly in motion on the surface
of Earth, and they still are. The
Himalaya Mountains and Mount Everest, the tallest in the world, were formed as
the Indian sub-continent continues to push into Asia. And in the limestone bluffs right here in Lee
County we find fossils of ocean life because this area was once the bottom of
the sea.
The second
thing we must remember is that evolution is a process that is still going on.
It goes on all the time and has from the very beginning. For example, evolution shows us that humans
are not just kin to the great apes of Africa, but also to the cabbages in your
garden. All life on planet Earth is
connected in the long string of evolutionary development. The process is not visible to us because it
takes so much time to happen. The human
animal is some 4 to 6 million years old and we continue to evolve. We are
certainly nothing like humans were a million years ago. I do wonder what humans will evolve into in
another million years. We are sure to be
a better more advanced form of us. So over
time our bodies will learn to not have cancer.
Again the phrase over time is maybe tens of thousands of years.
But it is
the third thing about our evolutionary past that is most important. For while we must always understand that we
in one short lifetime can never see evolution happen, we can see cultural
evolution happen, and that is what affects us most as individuals after all. And
it is this cultural evolution that we do have some control over.
I asked a
discussion group one time what humans would look like in 1,000 years. They didn’t even know what I was asking until
I added, what would be the color of our skin, the shape of our eyes; would we
have more or less hair, to say nothing of our body size. Maybe being obese will be the normal thing in
1,000 years, maybe in only 100 years the way things are going. Then I reminded them that our current
president was half black and half white.
Then they understood what I was asking.
It is this cultural evolution over which we have some control and that
we can see happening. When I was a child
I couldn’t go to the movies or play card games on Sunday. And I remember the big fight in Tupelo over
the Sunday Blue Laws that kept businesses closed on Sundays. Cultural evolution changed all that and a lot
of other things. Right now we see a
change happening very fast in the definition of marriage, just as cultural
evolution changed inter-racial marriage, and even marriage between different
religions.
So What Matters Most……..What is the purpose of our
individual lives, as opposed to life in general? We are meant to enjoy life. Every minute, every day, all of life is meant
to be enjoyed. We forget that sometimes, but it is the most important thing
about our individual lives. Because of
our evolutionary past we are all members of the one great body of life. And this means that within us all is mutual
love for each other, which is the best enjoyment of all.
© 2013 #7 Jim High can be reached at P. O. Box 467,
Tupelo, MS 38802-0467
