From:    Kamran Hakim
Subject: Baha'i teachings on evolution of creation in the universe

Organization: Digital Equipment Corporation
From: hakim@bigq.enet.dec.com (Kamran Hakim)
Message-ID: 31872@nntpd.lkg.dec.com
Newsgroups: talk.origins



"We have now come to the question of the modification of species and of
organic development... inquiring whether man's descent is from the animal.

This theory has found credence in the minds of some European philosophers, and
it is now very difficult to  make its falseness understood, but in the future
it will become evident and clear, and the European philosophers will
themselves
realize its untruth....

When man looks at the beings with a penetrating regard, and attentively
examine
the condition of existences, and when he sees the state, the organization and
the perfection [i.e. Perfection of design is intended here.] of the world, he
will be convinced that in the possible world there is nothing more wonderful
than that which already exists. For all existing beings, terrestrial and
celestial, as well as this limitless space and all that is in it, have been
created and organized, composed, arranged and perfected as they ought to be;
the universe has no imperfection, so that if all beings became pure
intelligence and reflected for ever and ever, it is impossible that they could
imagine anything better than that which exists.

If, however, the creation in the past had not been adorned with utmost
perfection, then existence would have been imperfect and meaningless, and in
this case creation would have been incomplete [i.e. The Universe was just
as perfect in design a million years ago as it is today, irrespective of the
fact that everything has evolved in this time frame.]. This question needs to
be considered with the greatest attention and thought. ...the contingent world
resembles in a general way the body of man. If this composition, organization,
perfection, beauty and completeness which now exists in the human body were
different, it would be absolute imperfection. Now if we imagine a time when
man
belonged to the animal world...that is to say, there would have been no man,
and this chief member, which in the body of the world is like the brain and
mind in man, would have been missing. The world would have been imperfect...
thus...if there had been a time when man was in the animal kingdom [i.e. there
was no mind], the perfection of existence would have been destroyed; for man
is
the greatest member of  this world, and if the body  was without this chief
member, surely it would be imperfect."

[Abdu'l-Baha is distinguishing human and animal at this point based on the
presence of mind and its psychological implication in human existence and its
absence in animal. Abdu'l-Baha makes two points:

1- He is identifying the creation of human mind as the completion and perfec-
tion of God's creation, without which creation would have been imperfect and
incomplete. He is elevating the existence of human among creation to the
position of "chief member", "brain and mind" in human.

2- He is furthermore, concluding that mind is the distinguishing factor
between man and animal without which human would be no different from animal.
Furthermore, human mind, is the distinguishing factor between human and animal
today, and has always been the distinguishing between human and animal.]

"We consider man as the greatest member because, among the creatures, he is
the
sum of  all existing perfections. When we speak of man, we mean the perfect
one, the foremost individual in the world, who is the sum of spiritual and
apparent perfections, and who is like the sun among the beings [i.e. Perhaps
the most becoming example of a perfect human being, in regards to APPARENT and
SPIRITUAL abilities is the Manifestation of God, after Whom we have been asked
to model our lives and behaviors.]. Then imagine that at one time the sun did
not exist, but  that it was a planet; surely at such time the relations of
existence would be disordered.....To a man who examines the world of existence
what we have said is sufficient."

[I'd like to clarify that while Abdu'l-Baha distinguishes the human mind as
a sign of perfection in God's creation, implying that human mind must have
always existed, He teaches that while mind has always existed, there was a
time that human mind was in the stage of infancy, and human had evolve to a
point in order to become capable of reflecting and manifesting this mental
power. This point will be discussed in greater details in another posting.]

"There is another more subtle proof: all these endless beings which  inhibit
the world, whether man, animal, vegetable, mineral -whatever they may be- are
surely, each one of them composed of elements. There is no doubt that this
perfection [i.e. of design] which is in all beings is caused by the creation
of God from the composing elements, by their appropriate mingling and
proportionate quantities, the mode of their composition, and the influence
of other beings. For all beings are connected together like a chain; and
reciprocal help, assistance and interaction belonging to the properties of
things are the cause of the existence, development and growth of created
beings. It is confirmed through evidences and proofs that every being
universally acts upon other beings, either absolutely or through association.
Finally, the perfection of each individual being -that is to say, the
perfection which you now see in man or apart from him, with regard to their
atoms, members or powers- is due to the composition of the elements, to their
measure, to their balance, to the mode of their combination, and to mutual
influence. When all these are gathered together, then man exists.

As the perfection [i.e. in design] of man is entirely due to the composition
of the atoms of the elements, to their measure, to the method of their
combination, and to the mutual influence and action of different beings- then,
since man was produced ten or a hundred thousand years ago [i.e. Abdu'l-Baha
is
using this number as an example only.] from these earthly elements with the
same measure and balance, the same  method of combination and mingling, and
the
same influence of the other beings, exactly the same man existed then or now.
This is evident and not worth debating. A thousand million years hence, if
these elements of man are gathered together and arranged in  this special
proportion, and if the elements are  combined  according to the same influence
of other beings, exactly the same man will exist. For example, if  after a
hundred thousand years there is oil, a wick, a lamp and the lighter of the
lamp-briefly if there are all the necessaries which now exist, exactly the
same
lamp will be obtained."
	  Some Answered Questions, Abdu'l-Baha

All comments inside [bracket] are my own comments. K. Hakim
