EVOLUTION AND CONSCIOUSNESS
“Consciousness sleeps in mineral life, dreams in plant life, awakens in animal life, and comes to self-consciousness in man.”
The Basic Ideas of Science of Mind, pg. 33
While the Bible based religions struggle with the theory of evolution, New Thought, and the Church of Religious Science in particular, embrace scientific theory. Ernest Holmes considered the Science of Mind teachings to be a correlation of the laws of science, the opinions of philosophy, and the revelations of religion. Long before he stated it, we agreed with Einstein’s observation that science without religion is lame, and religion without science is blind. We turn to science for inspiration as well as an explanation. We are not interested in debating the Darwinian theory of the evolution of species. The facts describing how living things evolve speak for themselves. We are not as interested in how Life works as we are in why It works the way It does. We feel a need to understand why we are intelligent, conscious, self-aware beings in order to express our lives freely and …show more content…
We are more interested in the evolution of consciousness that culminates in this freedom of self-expression. We accept the theory of evolution: its evidence, its implications and its explanations of the creative process by which life evolves. But, we reject the commonly held notion that intelligence and consciousness are a result of evolution. We believe that the reverse is true: the evolutionary process is a result of the creative intelligence of Life. The evolutionary process culminates in conscious beings, but it does not produce consciousness. Consciousness produces conscious beings, through evolution. The process culminates in self-consciousness because it begins with Consciousness. We can take the point of view
“Consciousness sleeps in mineral life, dreams in plant life, awakens in animal life, and comes to self-consciousness in man.”
The Basic Ideas of Science of Mind, pg. 33
While the Bible based religions struggle with the theory of evolution, New Thought, and the Church of Religious Science in particular, embrace scientific theory. Ernest Holmes considered the Science of Mind teachings to be a correlation of the laws of science, the opinions of philosophy, and the revelations of religion. Long before he stated it, we agreed with Einstein’s observation that science without religion is lame, and religion without science is blind. We turn to science for inspiration as well as an explanation. We are not interested in debating the Darwinian theory of the evolution of species. The facts describing how living things evolve speak for themselves. We are not as interested in how Life works as we are in why It works the way It does. We feel a need to understand why we are intelligent, conscious, self-aware beings in order to express our lives freely and …show more content…
We are more interested in the evolution of consciousness that culminates in this freedom of self-expression. We accept the theory of evolution: its evidence, its implications and its explanations of the creative process by which life evolves. But, we reject the commonly held notion that intelligence and consciousness are a result of evolution. We believe that the reverse is true: the evolutionary process is a result of the creative intelligence of Life. The evolutionary process culminates in conscious beings, but it does not produce consciousness. Consciousness produces conscious beings, through evolution. The process culminates in self-consciousness because it begins with Consciousness. We can take the point of view