Distributed Mind

I've been thinking recently about the process by which things come to be. From the chaotic Big Bang to organized galaxies, from cold clouds of gas and dust to stars and planets, from a soup of hydrocarbons to the first microbes, from microbes to fish to mammals (with all the steps in between). From inert lifelessness to sentient beings aware of their surroundings to sentient beings aware of THEMSELVES. Not only aware of themselves, but capable of apprehending infinity, even aware of God. That's the history of the universe up to now.

But we each have our own personal histories, our own stories of becoming. We start as the union of a sperm and an egg, become a fetus and eventually a baby whose sentience is barely more than some other mammals. Finally, we begin to have awareness of ourselves and a will of our own. Unlike other animals, we can choose how much we want to be human, we can actually choose to shrink away from living!

An excellent booklet I read recently ("Becoming Christian", written by my dad!) brought home to me how much direction our chaotic universe has. Because finally, to become human we must become like Christ, reaching out to God. It's as if the whole universe is STILL becoming. Theologically, I think this on solid ground. We understand that the fulfillment of God's creation, and our own becoming, won't come in history.

So where do we go from here? I have trouble believing we will evolve further, rather our medical science and social structures will prevent natural evolution. And who knows how much more time we have. Having Christ Himself come to Earth just 2000 years ago is enough to suggest that the culmination of this universe is fast approaching - we're in the denouement.