Perhaps God does not need a cause, they say; but then why think that the universe/stuff needs one? So, it adds nothing.

Evolution is an immensely slow, wasteful, pitiless, and cruel process, hardly the most elegant process of creation open to a goal-oriented, omnipotent, intelligent, and benevolent God. If humanity is the final goal of creation, whence the 3,500,000,000! years since the origin of life, or the 13.7 billion years since the Big Bang? What is the point of this immense amount of time if human beings and their world are the pinnacle of the Almighty’s creation?

Does God cause mutations to direct evolution? Well, they sure seem all over the place, plus a lot are bad and many are neutral.

The vast majority of mutations are selectively neutral or negative with regard to the evolution and survival of homo sapiens, and, thus, their evolution is wasteful if measured against the goal of producing human beings. Such a wasteful process is hardly consonant with a goal-oriented, omnipotent, and omniscient God.

The case against theistic evolution continues…

The honorable Graybeard presiding, Austin P. Torney continuing as lawyer for the prosecution (since his name contains the letters “attorney”)…

I call the recent family tree to the witness stand; but, wait, oh my God, there are some others, too, many of them extinct!

The testimony: There is no progressive trend in evolution toward the development of human beings; evolution can be seen as a huge tree with many branching points, not a direct line to humans; we are just a not-yet-extinct part of one of the very many branches of the enormous tree of life.

I now call upon the extinct.

Testimony: What was the point of all these extinct animals, if the goal of creation is man and his surrounding nature? To what purpose were the dinosaurs? What was the point of the trilobites? These groups of animals did not even contribute to the origin of humans.

The development of life has been interrupted by innumerable extinctions, some with so many different plant and animal species dying out in the same time period that they have been called mass extinctions.

Judge Graybeard, having worked for ten minutes straight now, calls a recess for a long lunch…

The trial resumes.

We see evolution differently then, Austin, as the process of evolution seems most intent on the continuation of ‘life forms’, though I will agree that it does not seem to have a vested interest in which forms are successful in relation to which others.

True, no vested interest, those who were in a position to ‘adapt’ and survive, were not necessarily ‘nice’ (could even be ‘mean’).

Still, I tend to wonder why all species of my experience offer a great struggle to survive, when the alternative of doing nothing is by far the easier choice?

Survival is the brain’s objective, thus often even thinking its way into the afterlife.

Break time. …

The theistic evolution trial resumes…

Judge Graybeard looks half-asleep, but seems to be listening with one ear.

God is outside of time and takes a long time to fiddle with evolution.

The prosecution answers and continues: It has been suggested that God’s mindset is very slow compared to the ‘speedy’ time of the operation of the universe, and thus I submit that slow God would not have been alert or responsive enough to direct evolution through mutation.

The defense objected, stating that they would have to check with their client on this, the judge asking how long would this would take, noting that it took over 200 years for a response to Haiti’s pact with the Devil.

Oh, about a million years. OK, we’ll reconvene…

Wait! We can’t wait that long… So I’ll allow the claim that God says that he directs mutations. Let the record show both opinions.

Thank you, judge, for our theory can adapt to any and all turns of events.

The trial droned on…

Testimony: Why would God create complete ecosystems only to have them virtually annihilated, so that entirely different ecosystems would temporarily emerge in their place, only to meet the same fate, over and over again? Had the asteroid which wiped out the dinosaurs 65 million years ago missed the Earth, it’s likely that our little branch on the tree of life would never have developed, since it was the end of dinosaur dominance made it possible for our small mammal ancestors to flourish; how are such chance contingencies in the history of life compatible with the alleged providence of a Creator?

Graybeard, the judge, was fully awake now and was carving something out of a large block of wood.

Worse still, consider the vast amount of suffering needed to secure our existence through natural selection; the environment “selects” those organisms best adapted to it not the most even-tempered ones.

Consequently, numerous predatory creatures have evolved which regularly inflict suffering on prey and host animals. The screw-worm fly (Cochliomyia hominivorax), for instance, lays its eggs in the wounds or eyes of mammals (including humans), causing any wounds to widen when the eggs hatch and the larva eat the surrounding tissue. This attracts more congeners, further widening the wounds. Untreated, such parasitism often leads to a gruesome death. Or consider the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) which causes autoimmune deficiency syndrome (AIDS); is a great evolutionary success one which creates immense suffering among human beings?

It was now getting near 3 PM, the judge announcing, “That’s it for today; let’s meet again sometime after my vacation. …

The mind is like a man in a rowboat.

A few days ago there were 50-foot waves on the north shore of Oahu. Some ants looking like people surfed on them or at least the wave remnants, enjoying the ecstasy, and then were ground up into the sand—the agony; a guy in a rowboat fished them out.

I can see a tree with my physical eye because that tree is embodied in matter, but, to conceptualize that tree my mind goes into universal concepts of meaning which have never taken embodiment in matter, for they do not require physical presence before my eye. So, you see, concepts are not acts of a bodily organ such as the brain or they would exist in matter; conceptual thought is an immaterial power which we use to form concepts of meaning. Utilizing that power does not require any physical sense or organs.

Judge: immaterial, since the brain is an organ.
…

The theistic evolution case resumes:

Attorney: I’d like to address the tree.

Judge: Proceed.

Attorney: Hello tree.

Judge: Ha-ha.

Attorney: The tree, as out there, is a bunch of waves, the photons carrying the ‘visuals’, the air-vibrations passing on the ‘sounds’, the molecules transmitting ‘odour’ by their shapes, etc. I use quotes to show that these transformations are fully made later on by the brain; if there is no brain around, then there are just the waves emanating.

While our senses are absolutely in direct contact with the waves/particles that are out there, we don’t have awareness at that level, plus, the direct jumble of waves all interfering with each other might not reveal anything much right off the bat. So, the brain proceeds to process the information with its many modules and subsystems through higher and higher levels, finding edges, intensity, color, and distance for vision, detecting molecules shapes for smell, interpreting air waves as sound, etc., as often much more detailed elsewhere, until the tree is seen, smelled, heard, and so forth as the final perception of the tree with its qualities within the head.

There is no dividing line where the brain says “I can do no more” and hands it off to some nonphysical realm, for it has already done it all. This includes the brain’s memory coming along and knowing what a tree is as a whole and its parts, associations arising, such as the old tree house or that leaves have chlorophyll and fall in the autumn, etc., and then more associations upon those associations.

The brain is the lifeboat navigating and re-cognizing the waves of reality, painting a useful face upon the waters. All is ever in the brain as a representation, the tree never being directly known as matter, not even in the first place.

Judge: OK, back to evolution.

Testimony: Immense suffering, like wasteful “trial and error,” is not incidental, but is inherent to the process of evolution. And it does not sit well with the notion that evolution has been set up or directed by a loving God. The theistic retort that “God moves in mysterious ways” goes well beyond the evidence from evolutionary biology, not to mention that it is a kind of excuse for very poor, sometimes seemingly near insane, ways of accomplishing things.

There is a far simpler and elegant explanation for that evidence: there is no divine will to grope at in the dark, just the indifferent, pitiless, and naturalistic forces of evolution. Since evolution is a slow, wasteful, and brutal process, prima facie it is not the way in which a goal-oriented, omnipotent, omniscient, and loving God would choose to create the world. Thus a naturalistic explanation for the origin of all species, including homo sapiens, is more plausible than a theistic one.

Judge: nap time.

At L.A., you will be whisked to a special charter jet that will take you to your final destination. After you land, a Hari-Krishna will give you a map at the airport. Look for the one with no hair; no, never mind; s/he will recognize you. Do not attend the feast that they will offer you, since it is just but a few sprigs of parsley. Although I cannot tell you where we are meeting, you will all have to rent motorcycles and endure an uphill climb up a mountain in first gear. Wear old shoes, a colorful tropical shirt, and some weird shorts, and try to act normal: to thy own selves please do not be true.

For ninja training must prepare us all,
Before the governments should heed our call;
The TOE we’ve found must stay secure and safe,
Till we convene behind our mountain wall.

Unsigned, this missive bears Nobody’s hand,
Questions post on ToeQuest’s distant strand;
The truth of cosmos waits within our grasp—
If only we can meet as we have planned.

Now, the inevitable is that all governments of the world will accidentally wise up and realize that we have the TOE and so I am sending you all to your local ninja training school for a week of instruction before your ‘vacation’.
unsigned,
nobody

P.S. Post any questions about the expedition on ToeQuest…

“Should Lincoln to his time now homeward go?”
Kirk asked, but Nobody was quick to show:
“He’s honest politics’ last standing man—
Let’s pit him ‘gainst fair Hillary’s campaign flow!”

“Shouldn’t we return Abraham Lincoln to his own time?” posted Mkirkpatrick.
“Not so fast; we’re thinking of running him against Hillary Clinton, for he’s now the only honest politician on Earth.”

“My Theory shirt proclaims that Thing is One:
Just Energy!” Kirk spoke, his words to run.
“My nothing’s no-thing,” Nobody replied,
While Austin claimed that food was all he’d done.
“Can I wear my new T-shirt about ‘The Theory of Thing’ that says ‘Forget Everything; There is Only One Thing: Energy’?” added Mkirkpatrick.
“That’s fine, but my none thing is no-thing.”
“Mine is food,” said Austin to Mkirkpatrick.

“Two parallel lines make my one thing true,”
Said MJA, as questions further grew;
Kirk asked of chairs made pure of energy,
“I sought a bigger part!” he then broke through.

“My one thing is two parallel lines,” said MJA.
“Can I bring my lounge chair that is made of energy?” asked Mkirkpatrick.
“Yes, but why do you have so many questions?”
“I asked Austin for a bigger part,” Michael answered.

“That energy you seek,” Profpat declared,
“I sit upon!” while Graybeard’s wisdom shared:
“Don’t let it slip away!” Nobody spoke:
“Our synergy will power all we’ve dared.”
“Michael Kirkpatrick,” said Profpat, “I’ve been looking all over for that energy and here I am sitting on it!”
“Well, try not to let any escape,” said Graybeard.
“OK guys,” said Nobody, “Our synergy will produce all the energy we need.”

“Where lies the punch line?” Michael dared to ask;
“Reality’s protection is our task—
No funeral of fun,” Nobody said,
Though ChickenMan’s egg jokes broke through the mask.

“Where’s the punch line?” asked Mkirkpatrick.
“The protection of the secret of reality is a serious undertaking, not a fun-eral,” answered Nobody. “Remember, the jokes are over.”
“What about egg jokes?” asked ChickenMan.
“The yolk is on you!”

“Of voids,” asked Fredrick, “where might they reside?”
“Nature abhors them,” Nobody replied,
“Save Profpat’s checks, which void themselves with time—
That much remains completely justified.”

“Is there a void anywhere?” asked Fredrick.
“I would avoid a void like the plague since Nature abhors a vacuum and since no void has coughed up or voided anything but a whole lot of goose eggs.”
“What about the void that Profpat wrote on a check?” continued Fredrick.
“That was unavoidable.”

“How shall I ride,” asked Rascal, “without fall?”
“Gyroscopic wheels shall guard you through it all.”
“But I’m Australian!” Graybeard did exclaim;
“My sympathies,” came Nobody’s dry call.

“How do I ride a motorcycle without falling over?” asked Rascal.
“I will give you one with gyroscopes front and back that look like wheels“
“But I live in Australia!” exclaimed Graybeard.
“My condolences.”

“Is Austin’s mountain hideaway our place?”
Asked Rascal, probing secrets face to face;
“No,” came reply, then: “Is that truth unveiled?”
“I ain’t not lying,” Nobody showed grace.

“Is this secret meeting place anything to do with Austin’s mountain top hideaway?” questioned Rascal.
“No.”
“Is your answer an untruth,” added Rascal, “for security purposes?”
“I ain’t not lying about nothing no way, no how, or nothing exists,” unanswered Nobody.

“Meanwhile,” he added, “lunch flows freely here,
For Profpat’s wisdom-trading scheme is clear:
A penny for their thoughts he gladly pays,
Then keeps the change when two cents’ worth appears!”

“Meanwhile,” added Nobody, “we’re serving free lunches for everyone and giving away a lot of other stuff, for Profpat has been giving people a penny for their thoughts and then keeping the change when they put in their two cents worth.”

The Eternal knows no point where it begins,
No gateway through which any design slips in;
Thus must it be the All-in-All that flows
As line by line or where all lines are twins.

What has no start must stretch through every way,
Through linear paths where moments mark their sway,
Or simultaneous in timeless dance—
For how else could the Boundless choose to play?

When entry points are nowhere to be found,
All possibilities must there abound:
As flowing stream, the instant’s flash of light,
The sequence, or the circle’s endless round.

Without a threshold where its being starts,
The Eternal must embrace all cosmic parts—
As time’s long river flowing ever on,
Or instant’s unity where difference parts.

Imagine Form as boundless ocean deep,
Where all potential does its secrets keep;
Our measured world, a single droplet drawn
From depths where countless possibilities sleep.

This scrutinized reality we know
Is but one pattern that the Forms bestow—
A crystal lifted from infinite seas
Of what could be, what might yet come to flow.

The abyss of Forms holds every dream untold,
Each possible shape that matter might unfold;
While we perceive one manifestation clear,
The endless pool holds mysteries yet to mold.

From vastness of the possible sublime,
We dredge one moment’s substance out of time;
Yet still beneath our certainties there swirls
The infinite from which all forms may climb.