In his early twenties, when he was still trying to decide
what he wanted to be when he grew up, Charles Darwin latched onto a
future-altering job as naturalist aboard the English research vessel HMS Beagle. His task was to collect
specimens during the ship’s voyage around the Americas and return them to
England for examination by the country’s scientists. The goal was to add to the
burgeoning knowledge of the natural world that his Victorian homeland was
gathering.
For five years, young Charlie dutifully collected thousands
of samples of animals, plants, and rocks. As he became absorbed in his
activities, his inquiring mind began to probe evermore deeply into nature’s
wonders, wonders that he was thrilled to be seeing first hand. He gradually
came to understand that the English worldview that he’d inherited had some
significant flaws; a worldview that had entangled its Victorian Christian
beliefs with a growing body of scientific findings. Those who had constructed
this worldview had not yet experienced any internal conflict between the
prevailing religious and scientific beliefs; but that struggle was just over
the horizon.
The English—who were then at the forefront of the natural
sciences—were confident that the magnificently complex world that they were
studying had been created as is, by
the deity. The natural world was viewed as an intricate, peaceful, and
beautiful creation that had been exquisitely fashioned; every creature and
every plant just so, in a perfectly-meshed jigsaw puzzle. It simply remained
for humans to discover how the puzzle had been assembled. Like the heavens
above, they believed it was a grand plan that was flawless and enduring. Set in
place by the Christian God, the world was so perfect that it never needed to
change. It was this perspective that allowed them to blend science and
religion, and not see the many dichotomies.
Charlie was very accepting of the English worldview when he
shipped out on the Beagle. There was
no internal conflict within him. He had recently enrolled in seminary and
was being urged by his father to become an Anglican pastor. He was simply
hoping to delay his lifelong assignment to some staid countryside parish, by
grabbing a thrilling chance to see the world. He returned from the voyage with
a transformed viewpoint and a passion for what he really wanted to do with his
life: continue to pursue his studies of nature, rather than tend to the souls
of parishioners.
He had experienced several revelations on his five-year
odyssey: the main one being that the world was not fixed and unchanging. He saw many examples of nature having
transformed from some earlier manifestation into what he was observing during
his trip. For example, in Argentina he found fossil bones from what appeared to
be several long-dead species of gigantic creatures. He knew there were much
smaller living animals of almost identical species, which were roaming about
the land. They must be related, he realized; yet the fossils provided evidence
of extinct species—something long gone. Wasn’t this a case of nature having
evolved over time—rather than having been created once, never to change?
More on Darwin’s battle next time…
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