Evolution

Everything is in motion,

From the galaxies flying away from the Big Bang.

To the stars, orbiting around the Galactic nuclei,

To the planets orbiting around our sun.

All of them spinning on their axes.

Here on Earth, the daily spin gives rise to sunsets,

The trip around the sun gives us seasons,

The Moon brings the tides,

Everything is moving, everything is changing.

History is a chronicle of the changes on the Earth’s surface,

Empires rise and fall, Ice Ages come and go,

Disease, pestilence, and war more or less constantly,

Everything is changing from the weather,

The clouds in the sky, hurricanes, tornados,

Tsunamis, the bark beetle and locusts,

Wolves eat deer, lions eat zebras,

Monkeys eat tree fruit, spreading seeds

Throughout the jungle.

All of life tries to survive, live on,

Reproduce, as ecosystems complexify.

Civilization evolves as new ideas are tried,

Some scientific, some political, some religious,

Language, culture, and art

Are evolving over time:

From the classics of Romans and Greeks,

To the Renaissance, Leonardo, Michelangelo, Rafael,

To Romanticism, to modern art, cubism, impressionism

Pollock, Warhol, Basquiat.

Artistic styles evolve with the time,

With new materials, new philosophy,

New social forces at work,

Population growth, the spread of world culture through

Emigration, immigration, the exchange of concepts,

Global communication, graphics, data,

Conferences, books, magazines,

Television, film, YouTube, Twitter,

Concerts, radio, CDs and DVDs,

Everything evolves.

Each species must adapt to the

Changes in nature,

Changing temperature, humidity, atmospheric pressure,

Cyclically, and over time.

Dinosaurs wiped out by a meteor,

Glaciers melted by carbon dioxide and methane,

Caused by the discovery of fossil fuels, remnants of the dinosaur age,

“Free” energy, stored by plants, energy from the sun,

Everything changes over time, nature changes, and

Every species must adapt to change or go extinct.

We must change to survive, just like every other species,

Overpopulation, and now we have smaller families,

Most of us. An ozone hole and we stop using chlorofluorocarbons in spray cans.

Tobacco causes cancer and we stop smoking.

Fossil fuels pollute the air and our cars go electric.

Human behavior adapts to changes caused by human behavior.

The legal system, like some chess board in another plane,

Conflict resolved through judgment or compromise,

The Supreme Court as natural selection,

Which idea will survive, which will die?

Nothing is static, every person changes, grows,

From birth, to childhood and adolescence, to middle age and finally

Old age and death. We all adapt to the changes in

our surroundings, to nature, to human society, to disease, as we must.

The world can only be understood as every part of it is continuously changing.

Everything is changing, we are all in motion,

The equator spinning at 25,000 miles a day,

The sky in motion, continuously, eternally,

All changing, and life constantly adapting to the changes,

Evolving biologically, sociologically, intellectually,

Behaviorally,

Even we humans evolve genetically,

Our DNA changing, the survival of the most adaptable,

Tiger, tiger in the night, burning in the forest bright,

Who crafted thee, thy fateful symmetry?

The living impulse, the Life Force,

Some say God, Odin, Zeus,

Ahura-Mazda, Krishna, Tao,

Jehovah, Allah, all the same,

A rose by any other name,

Some mystical, spiritual

Element, the source of prophecy,

The Father and Mother of Evolution too,

Nothing is static, non-changing,

All of life has evolved,

Look at human society,

The Stone Age, then the Bronze Age,

The Agricultural Revolution, then

Industrial Revolution,

Then electricity and automation,

Computers and the internet,

What next, does it magically stop,

No more progress, no more technical evolution?

Only a baboon would believe such utter nonsense!

What will the future hold

If current trends continue,

Will the next Age be foretold

From reading tea leaves online,

The latest algorithms predicting

The next inventions patented,

Space travel, life on Mars,

Planetary colonization:

Mining metals in outer space,

DNA within our control, will we be able to design organisms?

Integration of computer and brain,

Limitless power through cold fusion?

What of spiritual evolution?  Will it be like

Science Fiction – Dune or Stranger in a Strange Land.

Another book from Stephen King perhaps.

We can all be sure of one thing; the future will be different from the past.

Life evolves, to adapt to the time, and Nature is changing rapidly today.

Another mass species die-off in the works, sea ice disappearing,

Glaciers melting, droughts and storms unprecedented,

Medical science expanding as never before.

Can we learn planetary stewardship in time to save civilization?

Many writers have written of

The Omega Man, Man and Superman,

Completely misunderstood by Hitler,

Gopi Krishna wrote of spiritual evolution

As the next phase of human evolution,

Physiological changes that presage,

Psychic abilities and spiritual awareness,

He called it evolutionary energy,

The future of humanity.

This was Jesus, Zarathustra,

Mohammed, and the Buddha,

Geniuses with the gift of prophecy,

Leaders of the human race,

Ramakrishna and Lao-Tse,

Scientists like Tesla and Einstein.

Toward this hopeful goal

We are evolving,

Moral and ethical evolution,

A kinder and gentler world

In store in humanity’s future.

But we shall see how this game evolves,

Corruption abounds now on every side,

Mega-rich have power from wealth beyond measure,

While politicians feather their nests.

It is apparently not enough to have pay and health insurance,

Retirement and financial security forever,

The opportunity to really help others,

To be a meritorious leader,

To lead by example with integrity.

Refugees flood north from famine,

War pushes people east and west,

The virus takes your breath away,

Floods, 30 inches of rain in a day,

Fires driven by wind as never before in history,

How to bring about solutions,

A complete mystery.

A global cooperative effort is needed

Just to manage the chaos,

This is the part of the chess match when pieces are exchanged,

When death stalks the earth,

Multiple typhoons in the Philippines,

The same situation in Nicaragua.

If we rapidly evolve our society, scientists say,

We can avoid the worst calamities,

Meanwhile we are all self-quarantining,

Wearing masks like El Bandito,

Now comes the true test of humanity,

Are we wise enough to survive,

Are we self-disciplined enough to curb our appetite

For materialist consumption, to satisfy our passions.

Can we transcend our history of conflict,

Can we rise above our puerile pursuits,

And act in our own and our future generations interest.

Can we face the truth?

NBS2

11/20/2020

Mountain Lake House