What's Intelligent in the "Design"?

. Steven Jay Gould may not be known for mystic insights, in fact he was characterized as one among "celebrity atheists". I think it was in his Ever Since Darwin that I encountered an extraordinary statement that seemed quite out of character for him. Gould was trying to parse out where in natural systems that most significant structure is introduced. By process of elimination and logical inference he concluded (I'm paraphrasing) that the environment encompassing the system is intelligent! This set off a decade-long thought train in which I contemplated every facet of his idea, comparing it with all my existing beliefs.

. Besides my reading material I seem to consistently rely on another source for answers to major questions about what is real and true: intuition and inspiration. By this I mean thoughts that appear spontaneously and do not seem to relate to anything I already know or could reasonably be expected to conclude on my own at that point in my life. Some of the best of these appear when I am alone in good natural settings, especially in the hills and mountains or near water bodies.

. As I descended South Bubble mountain in Acadia National Park I was musing about why God would bother creating universes. Immediately the insight came "For the joy of creation!"

. On another occasion I was particularly fed up with everything and took a "mental health day" off from work. I went to Schoodic Point and sat on the shore of a cove that faced the open ocean. Large waves arrived and crashed on the gravel beach. Their precise regularity and demonstration of sheer power led me to think "They are like thoughts in the mind, except not intelligent." Immediately the unbidden words formed "But they are intelligent!" It was a shocking concept and it arrived in an eerie way, to boot.

. These may initially seem unrelated to Gould's insight, but each of these rang true, and since then everything has come together. To sum it up as best I can:

. .There is none other than God.

.. God is without a reason to be or not be and is beyond the question of being and nonbeing.

.. God exists in the Now, which is without beginning and without end.

.. All that exists is none other than God. The very substance of created things is of God, and nothing exists apart from God.

.. Though this seems a paradox, without any necessary condition of Consciousness, God is the very fabric of what Intelligence is.

.. Consciousness, awareness and vision come into existence through Creation. We are the manifestation of these things.

.. God is thus conscious, aware and self-knowing through us and all other sentient beings.

.. There is no reason for this. It just is. To create is to allow Other and consequently the contemplation of Self.

.. Perhaps from these flow the Joy of Creation?

. Now on to the currently discussed question of "Intelligent Design" for which the title of this piece is a play on words. There are three fatal flaws in that proposal. Foremost is that, by their own begrudging admission, the proponents set out the idea first as a tenet of religion -- a rallying point for people of faith, a given, a basic assumption not needing proof to persons who already believe anyway.

. Second is that, even if it were not religious in intent a priori, Intelligent Design starts with the assumption that created things have an existence apart from God, an odd position for believers, since this not a necessary belief for faithful people, and will lead to logic troubles when followed through in discourse.

. Third is that Scriptures (both Genesis and John) say "In the beginning ..." This is thus a story of Creation which, having a beginning, is therefore ephemeral. It means there was, is and will be an Unmanifest God. Why then does intelligence need to come into play at all?

Photo credits. snow crystal-U.C. Davis; sunflower-Lock Haven U.; water droplets-Vancouver Aquarium; ocean waves-Indiana U./Purdue U. Fort Wayne; candle flame-candlestick.org; M81 galaxy-spacetelescope.org (Hubble)