Life's Unique Patterns

LIGHT HELPS CREATE LIFE

UPDATING OUR COSMOLOGY –UPDATES OUR THEOLOGY

We are all part of the great Evolutionary and Expanding Cosmos

The Way Life Works

The DNA Helix

The title of this Blog indicates the importance of seeing  life and creation as a holistic, inter-related , inter-connected and evolving whole. Although every living thing is unique, there is a wonderful pattern throughout creation. Our recent discoveries concerning DNA provides further evidence that supports and confirm this. The DNA structure is immensely complex, with countless millions of components, yet, each is a pattern of  four parts.


The information in DNA is stored as a code made up of four chemical bases: adenine (A), guanine (G), cytosine (C), and thymine (T). Human DNA consists of about 3 billion bases, and more than 99 percent of those bases are the same in all people. 


The order, or sequence, of these bases determines the information available for building and maintaining an organism, similar to the way in which letters of the alphabet appear in a certain order to form words and sentences.


Amazingly, everything that lives, breeds or grows share basic DNA. This is a marvellous wonder and , to most, a deep mystery. Yet, not only are no two people exactly alike, neither are any two flowers, tress, animals etc. Nature encourages and breeds variety and diversity but from a very small base of unity e.g.  the DNA structure. Nature also abhors a vacuum, and new and existing forms of life will always 'rush in' whenever there is a vacuum. Life not only is amazingly varied but it is also opportunistic.

Everything that lives, grows and breeds shares DNA

So, to look at life, creation and its patterns we need to look, not only at uniqueness but also at its underlying unity. This is reflected in the Bhagavad-Gita  and the Upanishads , part of the Sacred Scriptures of Hinduism.

'The one who merely recognises the diversity but falls to see the underlying unity, wanders on from death to death'

Later on, in the same passage the 'Sage' paradoxically outlines the opposite. This is an example of  the classic non-dualism of Hinduism

'The one who merely recognises the underlying unity but fails to see the diversity, they too, wander on from death to death'

So in the spirit of this quotation from the Gita, let us reflect on how modern science and ancient mysticism are both opening up to us the wonders and mysteries of creation and the Cosmos 

This reflection is based on the science of biology. Its discoveries , particularly that of DNA , in recent times have contributed a great deal to the sum of human knowledge. These discoveries challenge much of our existing ( 19th - 20th ) Century Theology. Our task as people of faith is to face these challenges, to resist any tendency to cling on to out-moded ideas, to recognise that all knowledge  is part of the jig-saw of truth. All truth belongs to the Ultimate Truth , Mystery or Reality , God by whatever name each of us chooses to call it.

 The following 16 essential unifying patterns of all life are taken from a book by Mahlon Hoagland, Exploring the Way Life Works - The Science of Biology.  


Several years ago, this was the subject of a Pravachan ( Conference Talk) given by Sister Ishpriya to a group of Satsang Members who were attending at Summer Satsang at Die Quelle, the International Satsang Association's Sadhana Ashram in Austria. Once again,  this is an example of the spirituality of the Satsang and the breath and depth of the spiritual teachings of Ishpriya.


So to return to the  Science of Biology and the work of Hoagland. These are 16 things we could all benefit from knowing and , more importantly, reflecting upon

Reflecting on each of these and on their connectedness, arguably points us towards the wonders and mystery of evolution and the evolving and expanding cosmos 

simple bacteria

1.         Life builds from the bottom up.

2.         Life assembles itself in chains. (e.g. DNA)

3.         Life needs an inside and an outside. (so we need  
            to look after both!  )

4.         Life uses a few themes to generate many 
            variations

5.         Life organises with information

6.         Life encourages variety by reshuffling information.

7.         Life creates with mistakes. (We all make them!)

Life evolved out of the Oceans

8.         Life occurs in water. 
            In fact, life as we know it, cannot exist 
            without water

9.         Life runs on sugar. 
            (Remember that next   time you want 
             a biscuit or a piece of cake)

Hamster & Wheel

10.       Life works in cycles.

11.       Life recycles everything it uses.

12.       Life maintains itself by turnover.

13.       Life tends to optimise rather than maximise its not the biggest or strongest that survive, but those that adapt to change  ( Darwin)

People & Animals sharing water

14.       Life is opportunistic. (see 13)

 15.       Life competes within a
              co-operative  framework.

16.       Life is interconnected and 
             interdependent. We. ignore this
             'reality' at our peril

Each of these 16 points contain deep wisdom and truth. They point to the natural order of life , as we know it, on the Earth. This is life that has evolved over billions of years and continues to evolve. 


The history of our planet and the history of theology demonstrate that, as our knowledge of self, our environment and our cosmos expands, so too do we have to re-assess our theology. We used to think that the world was flat, then we thought we and our planet were at the centre. Now we know that our solar system is one of billions in an expanding Cosmos. At each stage in our evolutionary cycle, what we believe in and understand influences our view of Ultimate Reality and thus our theology. The Reality never changes , what changes is our perception of the Reality.

All of the above have challenged us to re-assess our understanding of Ultimate Reality. A theology that clings blindly to old ideas and old ways cannot survive. Therefore, we could all benefit from pausing and mindfully reflecting on our planet, our environment and our part and responsibility to act as co-creators in the on-going creation of our planet and cosmos.


Happy reflecting!