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Darwin
Greg Henkelman, Unitarian Church of Edmonton, April 22, 2007
April 26 will be the 124th anniversary of Charles Darwin’s burial in Westminster Abbey. This event itself was controversial, not the least of which because neither Darwin nor his wife, Emma, wanted him buried there (apparently the Queen and Prime Ministers outranked their wills). But, controversy was nothing new to Darwin: indeed, it could be argued that few names stimulate controversy as quickly as “Darwin”. Try it in a conversation some time…New books from both scientists and theologians, with a few by religious scientists thrown in for good measure, will ensure the debate about evolution rages on.
So…before Darwin, science focused on natural philosophy as it struggled with the reconciliation of God and Nature. It can easily be argued that after Darwin, well, nothing has really changed. Theists, deists, atheists, and, for that matter, Unitarian universalists, still discuss what evolution is really about. This debate could be summed up by the first line of #343 in our hymnal, written by William Herbert Carruth: “A firemist and a planet, a crystal and a cell, a starfish and a saurian, and caves where ancients dwelt; the sense of law and beauty, a face turned from the sod – some call it evolution and others call it God”.
In my research as a biology teacher, I’ve learned to appreciate Darwin’s theory, but also to understand that there was much to be learned: Darwin merely opened a door. Scientists have moved well beyond the study of barnacles, for instance, which consumed 8 years of Darwin’s life (His son George once asked a friend where his father did his barnacles). We are now into a new era of biochemistry and cell biology, which continues to demonstrate the beauty and simplicity of natural selection. To be honest, Darwin’s theory of natural selection is the least of our scientific worries.
So why do people still feel the need to pick on Darwin?
First, I think that few people have actually read Darwin’s books, scared away either by the older English or the emphasis on facts to support, as Darwin called The Origin of Species, “one long argument”. Second, I think that people accept what others (be it biology teachers or preachers) tell them about Darwin, for good or bad, accurately or not, without thinking about it for themselves. Third, those that may pick up his books often fail to realize that evolutionary theory has come a long way since 1859, the year of publication of Origins, which sold out on the very first day. Few people spend time thinking about Darwin as a man, and it is this man who has opened my eyes to a new understanding of this planet.
In the prelude, a quote taken from The Origin of Species, Darwin reminds us how nature is interdependent. Now, to Unitarians, “connection” is not only common sense, it’s a principled way of living. We believe in “respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part (NOTE : A (pause) PART)” and “a free and responsible search for truth and meaning” using “humanist teachings, the guidance of reason, the results of science, and spiritual teachings of Earth-centered traditions which celebrate the sacred circle of life and instruct us to live in harmony with the rhythms of nature.”
As I said before: common sense. But not in Darwin’s day.
The first hymn today was selected for two reasons: first, to acknowledge that many people in Darwin’s time truly found it a gift to be simple, to not question the assumption that they had been given dominion over the Earth from day one…or day 6 depending on who’s telling the story. However, my second reason for this hymn is altogether different and alludes to today: Earth Day. Darwin’s most fierce supporter, T.H. Huxley, when he read Darwin’s theory, said: "How extremely stupid not to have thought of that!"
I don’t think Huxley meant that Darwin's theory of natural selection was ridiculously simple, just that its simplicity was profound. For me, the hymn reminds us of “coming down where we ought to be”; to be as “simple” as the rest of the flora and fauna on our planet. You see, Darwinism is intimately connected with Earth Day, a day of the year when many of us contemplate our responsibilities as fellow beings on this planet. As we kindled the chalice, LesliePohl-Kosbau’s words said that “We strive to understand ourselves and our earthly home”: Darwin strove to bring to light a fundamental law of nature, to understand our place in this, our Earthly home. Darwin reminded us that, as we described in our shared reading, we did not weave the web of life, we are merely a strand in it. In his personal notes, Darwin reminded himself time and again that he should not use words like “simple” or “complex” when describing different organisms: we are all just organisms with our own purposes. This was a difficult idea for Darwin to deal with himself, let alone feel responsible for releasing it upon the world.
Darwin feared religious persecution, social reaction, and suffered through a “dark night of the soul” while seasick on board a small ship (the Beagle was only 90 feet long) for five years. It probably didn’t help that Darwin’s seasickness was genetic, he was six foot two confined to a tiny cabin, and that his then fiancée, Fanny, broke up with him through the mail. Oh, and the Captain of the ship, Fitzroy, who brought Darwin onboard as a dinner companion, not as a naturalist, was basically at odds with everything that Darwin was becoming on the voyage.
But Darwin’s difficulties made him more human and more compelling for me. That was him in the corner, that was him in the spot light, losing his religion: Darwin had to question his convictions, had to deal with saying too much for society, but knowing he hadn’t said enough for himself to be satisfied that he had done his research justice. He waited and waited to publish his work.
His ideas were fully formed by 1839. He wouldn’t publish Origins for another 20 years. Anxiety, fear, a long term illness: not fun. Of course, he always had his barnacles…
It is often said that personal tragedies finally made Darwin publish: the death of his father in 1848, his fortieth birthday, and the death of his favourite daughter, Anne, at the age of 10 in 1851, are often implicated for his break with orthodox Christianity. A letter from Wallace in 1858, outlining Darwin’s theory almost verbatim (but without Darwin’s abundant research), finally compelled Darwin to finish the book and have it published in 1859.
And since that time, many of us have continued to recoil from connection with our natural kin. Why do some people think that the greatest insult is to be a “monkey’s uncle”? (I want to state for the record, by the way, that humans did NOT evolve from monkeys, or chimps, or any other modern apes…). Is it so bad, though, to be “naked apes” if we still work to our full potential as a species?
My own experiences with Darwin have opened up new interpretation of my own life events, and I am thankful for it. I marveled at Steve Irwin’s ability to make ugly creatures beautiful. I connect with David Suzuki every time I hear him speak of his personal responsibility to leave a legacy of honourable effort to his grandchildren.
But this is a Darwin talk, so how about this. As a visitor to those same Galapagos Islands a few years back, there were times I marveled at the landscape, imagining the scenes through Darwin’s eyes. While snorkeling, I saw my first shark…then my second through 12th in quick succession in a quiet inlet. The experience was spiritual. I also saw several sting rays, penguins in “flight” underwater, sea lions in their playground, and salt-sneezing sea iguanas who didn’t care whether I was there or not.
Unfortunately, I also saw the impact a single hominid species can have on the environment, even in a nature preserve, by holding the waters around the Galapagos hostage to increase fishing quotas. Some fishermen even threatened to kill Galapagos tortoises to get the quotas raised. Humanity’s ignorance was made clear to me once again after watching the movie, Sharkwater, which details humanity’s blatant destruction of one of our planet’s oldest classes of animals, the sharks. I recently took up scuba diving, and was blown away by my ability to cope underwater after only a few short days and be able to truly feel at home. Perhaps for the first time, I truly empathized with Darwin’s Beagle experience and his realization of connection in the world on a visceral, rather than cognitive level.
While researching this paper, I learned that E.O. Wilson, a famous evolutionist and skeptic of standard religious faith, wrote a book called The Creation: An Appeal to Save Life on Earth, urging believers and non-believers to unite over conservation. I wonder if Darwin was whispering in his conscience…
WE ARE PART OF LIFE: Let’s accept our place and do the work that place requires. THANK YOU, MR. DARWIN, FOR REMINDING US OF THIS, TIME AND AGAIN. Evolution was not Darwin’s invention, and one must remember that neither was natural selection (When students answer questions on tests and tell me that a scientist “invents” his or her theory, I always tease them about what life must have been like before Newton “invented” gravity). In like manner, Darwin did not “invent” humanity’s place in the world. He simply pointed it out. “How incredibly stupid not to have thought of that!”
Darwin reminded us it is okay to walk like an apeman because that is part of who we are. In fact, I feel this connection with our ancestry is necessary to truly comprehend what it means to belong to this wonderful sphere of life we call home. There is grandeur in this view of life…so mote it be.
Greg Henkelman is a member of the Unitarian Church of
Edmonton.
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