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a staggering supposition. It is also
a preposterous one." (From an
editorial in
Lije,
January 28,
1957, commenting on the crisis in
science at the time of the Interna–
tional Geophysical Year.)
Could chemicals of themselves,
with the help of just the right bolt
of lightning at just the proper
moment, evolve to become men
and then turn and look back
reflecting on their lowly begin–
ning as chemical soup?
It takes a fantastic imagination
to produce fiction like that! The
Source of this creative nature that
man alone of all physical creation
seems to possess has yet to be
acknowledged.
What is man that on the one
hand he should prod.uce the
music of Handel and tbe beauty
of the Taj Mahal, the technology
of radio, television and the navi–
gational aids of our air and space
craft, whi le on the other hand we
see him produce and stockpile
instruments of death and destruc–
tion. These latter are also the
product of man's creativity. Na–
tional honor seems to demand an
arsenal of death pointed at imag–
ined enemies without number.
The Source of Trouble
Man's imagination has often led
him into trouble- even in Noah's
day, for "the wickedness of man
was great in the earth, and ...
every
imagination
of the
thoughts of [man's] heart was
only evil continually" (Genesis
6:5) . Later, at the Tower of
Babel, trouble had once again
reared its head: " ... this they
begin to do: and now nothing will
be restrained from them, which
they have
imagined
to do . . . let
us ... confound their language
.. . So the Lord scattered them
abroad . . . upon the face of all the
earth" (Genesis 11:6-8). That
separation of nations is bitterly
resented by a portian of mankind
even to this very day.
Today a United Nations orga–
nization attempts once again to
bring man back into a single
political unit; effective translation
of languages is a critica! item. Yet
even where men have spoken a
common language from child-
28
hood, they are not of one mind.
Though attempts to insure peace
and cooperation among men of
divergent philosophies, religions,
ideologies and cultures may suc–
ceed in part , the overall trend
since World War 11 has been a
step-by-step slide in the direction
of another holocaust.
It
is vital for man to under–
stand himself and the origin of bis
differences, to understand bis
capacity for creating different
ideas, different cultures, different
art and music.
Creativa Crea tures?
Surely man is not alone in this
creative talent; or is he? Take a
glance at the nest of an unknown
bird and immediately the build–
er's identity becomes apparent.
And this is true whether the next
has been recently buil t, or wheth–
er it is centuries old. The blue–
print for that nest was somehow
contained in the egg from which
its builder hatched. As that
young bird grew and matured, it
instinctively
searched out the
proper materials and designed a
nest identical to the ones built by
its ancestors.
Visualize a beehive or a
wasp
nest. By definition we have al–
ready admitted that at a glance
the structure positively identifies
the builder. These insects
do not
think creatively, they
do not
imagine (as you did when you
visualized their work). They build
according to a
law
of nature
designed into them.
Free Moral Agency
Man has the capacity for partici–
pation in both good and evil.
1
t is
this imagination of bis, this cre–
ative ability, that allows him to
bi.lild for the good of himself and
bis fellowman or to imagine to
destroy all mankind . With this
creative capacity automatically
goes choice, and this choice is
something the rest of the biolog–
ical and physical world lacks.
The world of
minerals
re–
sponds day by day to the laws of
chemistry and physics. The world
of
p/ants
extracts its food from
the mineral . world; these plants
grow, mature and produce seed
all in line with biological laws.
The energy of the sun is stored by
the plant for use, not by the plant
but by the higher animal world.
No plant is given a choice in the
matter, nor does it have an imagi–
nation to plan out its day.
The
animal
world by nature (it
is born that way) selects its food
by instinct, seeks out a partner by
chemical scent during mating
season, cares for its young, once
more by instinct. And an animal
dies without wondering why it
was born.
Unusual Tralts
While in a specific animal , one
might see this or that "human"
trait, these are the singular excep–
tion in its makeup.
Do only humans discipline
their offspring by spanking?
There is an exception. Australia's
marsupial the koala (the pattern
for children' s "teddy bears")
watches over the conduct of its
young, and "when 'they are really
naughty the mother turns them
over her knee and spanks them on
their bottoms for minutes on end
with the flat of her hand, during
which time their screams are
soul-rending"
(Living Mammals
of the Wor/d,
by lvan T . Sander–
son, p. 27, a Doubleday publica–
tion).
Do animals genuinely trade
ideas with each other? That
would be quite a different thing
from the obvious communication
that goes on among birds,
coyotes, wolves, horses and an
endless list. But to communicate
ideas, and with speech; that is
quite another question.
Is the speech of man under–
stood by animals? Almost not at
all, though with one notable
exception, the elephant. "Sorne
[elephants] ... actually learn to
understand human speeéh .. .
not . .. the automatic response of
a dog or chimpanzee to certain
sounds [but] ... if acquainted
with the language to which the
animal is accustomed .. . [you, a
stranger properly introduced to
the elephant by its owner] ·can
stand perfectly still and talk the
great beast into performing a
wide variety of actions .. . even if
The PLAIN TRUTH