Memoirs of Divinity: Chapter two Date Tuesday, April 23, 2024 - 03:51 PM PST Topic Religion I've argued with myself over the placement of this chapter. Some would say that it is part of the creation story. Therefore, it belongs in chapter one. Others would say, man is something different than the plants and animals and should get his own chapter. I do not believe that either of these reasons are truly representative of why I chose to separate them. Until the “sixth day,” creation had been an exercise in exploration and raw creation – a discovery of ourselves, as it were. Mankind was different, but not in the ways you think. Man, essentially, is just another animal. Humans are flesh, bone, brain, nerves. Nothing new, really. Mankind, and the others of its kind, were another experiment in creation. The difference was in intent. As opposed to exploration, we were intentionally creating something. We had discovered the elements of the periodic table, and their numerous combinations of compounds, while toying on a cosmic scale. While we were experimenting on the planetary scale, we discovered other elements - Earth, Air, Fire, and Water. While we were experimenting with DNA and things of that ilk, we discovered several more of these “different” elements – Intellect, Instinct, Chaos and Order. These things, alongside the periodic elements, allowed us to create more than compounds and chemical reactions. Sentience. The single celled organisms had none. They simply reacted on a chemical and reflexive level. The plants didn't have it. The more complex creatures had the ability to perceive and feel and react to what they saw. They also had, to a certain extent, an ability to learn. Yet, something was missing. It took a while to reason it out, but we finally discovered what was missing: Sapience. While animals can learn from their mistakes, we had designed them only with instincts. The instinct of survival allows them to react with fear to things that will hurt them. Sapience, in my opinion, is the ability of an organism or entity to act with judgment - a mental ability that may be considered an additional faculty, above intelligence, with its own properties. We made several attempts at creating this special form of intellect. As we worked with different species, it became apparent, that even if the proper balance of the eight existential elements were correct, certain structures of nerves are required to allow for certain aspects of being. Primates are the animals we started this series of experiments with. Not only were we working with a new type of brain structure, but a new bodily form. We started with the monkeys and apes. It took many tries, but we came to an understanding of what constitutes sapience, and had finally found the structure that would house the soul. There are some that would argue that man is alone in his ability to reason, and in his understanding of language and fundamental judgment capabilities. They are simply wrong. Any who would argue differently would do well to talk to the Gorilla, Koko. At this point, we have a frame - a unique body that will play host to our most wondrous creation yet. We have a structure that can hold it, too. We have the substance and the means with which to animate them: body and spirit. So we created the first men. Well, we created the cousins of man. Scientists call these cousins Australopithecus and Cro-Magnon and Neanderthals. There were many forms of Australopithecus, and as we perfected the design we finally moved on to Homo Habilis, Homo Erectus, and finally Homo Sapiens. Wow, that sounds almost like the models from a car company. We finally had it right. We had created the perfect form for our most beloved creation: the soul. Now, I know a lot of people are going to have a problem with that. But why do people assume that our design was not elegant enough to accommodate climate changes and the like? We are the divine. How could we not anticipate the debilitating and corrupting forces the profane? Give us some credit: we're God, after all! So, yes. Evolution exists. It is real, and it works. We even used it to make you. As we created the cosmos, we saw the goal of the profane, and in our works, we the made adjustments to account for it. Let me give you something to think about. Tell me about the appendix. In cows, and other animals, it aids in digestion. In humans, it is useful only in the training of nursing interns in simple surgical procedures. Now, tell me about the sacral bone. It's that little bone at the end of your spine. It's only purpose in humans is to look funny in x-rays. Take a good long look at it. That is the remnant of the primate tail. Take it for what it is and move on. We did. “And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.” There is both truth and falsehood in that verse. We did create man in our own image, not in a physical manner, but in the very nature of their being. Man is a triune being: A body, a spirit, and a soul – all existing as a single unit. However, we did not huddle up and say, “let us make them in our own image.” Honestly, we didn't even know we were doing it. It may very well be our own arrogance, that our most wondrous creation was patterned on ourselves. Conversely, the writers of the book demonstrated a fair amount of arrogance themselves, to assume that this was the case. Furthermore, we didn't grant dominion over the whole of creation. That would be favoritism, and all of our creations are, honestly, beloved. We looked upon the whole of creation and were pleased by what we saw. We looked out at the cosmos, the planet, the plants and animals, and human beings we had created, and we smiled. We saw that it, all of it, was good. I warn you that if you are overly religious and/or christian, this will possibly offend you. The following text containts commentary that some would classify as blasphemy at the least. If you are easily offended by religious fiction... move on This article comes from Shmeng http://www.shmeng.com/ The URL for this story is: http://www.shmeng.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=831