We’re back!

There is so much that needs our attention, that needs to be talked about. Important things like Supreme Court opinions and Texas laws and elections and wars, but there is also the Galapagos, where Holly just spent two weeks marveling. There is a true sense of geologic time in the Galapagos that simultaneously makes one feel small and enormous.

Charles Darwin went to the Galapagos a Creationist, thinking the world was 6000 years old. All that changed when he observed the layers of volcanic rock and the subtleties between varieties of birds and tortoises, how each adapted to their specific environments on the various islands. His crisis of faith led to something astounding. 1) The earth is MUCH older than anyone thought, and 2) nothing arose up out of the earth in its final form. Everything adapts and changes and evolves based on its environment. His theory had powerful implications for all of life, including human consciousness. The revelation of a “godless creation” felt, to him, like confessing a murder, and he could never return to church in the same way. "As soon you realize that one species could evolve into another, the whole structure wobbles and collapses."

Darwin is described as a thoughtful, sensitive man. He sat with his developing theory for years before publishing because he knew he would throw the world into upheaval. He also knew that his theories could be maladapted and support causes for domination like slavery and Nazism. What gave him deeper understanding and connection to the natural world gave others a sense of superiority and “might makes right.” He was prompted by a colleague, Alfred Wallace, to publish because Wallace was working on his own article. Together they changed the world. Darwin fell in love with the natural world, and after visiting the Galapagos I have some idea why. He wrote, “The love for all living creatures is the most noble attribute of man.” The living creatures we are called to love also include one another.

Thanks for listening, and if you can…get to the Galapagos.