Who knows?

Like Kristen, I too grew up in a religious family. However, with the obvious differences in background and culture, I thus grew up in a very different environment. When I think back to my childhood years at home, I cannot recall even one casual conversation about how humans, animals, and life came to be. Even at my Sunday-school like temple, through the thirteen years of religious education I cannot remember anyone telling me what to think or believe on the subject of evolution/creationism. There are millions of stories, and the ones about the creation of human life I probably didn’t hear/wouldn’t have believed anyways. However, from the other beliefs I picked up, I have crafted my own version of what I think happened.

In Hinduism, all forms of life are sacred. Also, there is a belief in reincarnation. Although a human life is seen as a “special” life in the cycle, because each soul can inhabit any life form, it is assumed that all life is equal in God’s eyes. Thus, we humans are not given a necessarily special place in the creation of the world. “This argument has had great weight” (Darwin 61) in my philosophies: I look around and can’t help but to admire the dazzling complexity of all the life in the world – from grass blades to giraffes. It is a beautiful world, and so I also refuse to agree with De Candolle or Darwin “that all nature is at war, one organism with another, or with external nature” (Darwin 83). I believe it all works in an unseen harmony, and as I’ve said before, that everything happens for a reason.

Therefore, my little theory constitutes that God controls everything: only He knows the reasons for all the happenings in the world. He controls and knows the outcomes of every action that has happened and is going to happen. I think it is lovely that Kristen and I can have such similar views after coming from such contrasting backgrounds – I too believe that God created the world through His controlled evolution. He meant for everything that did happen to happen. He meant for every single last life that was born to be born. And that is what I believe. But in all reality, I know nothing. The entire human race does not know either and can only make guesses. But hopefully, we’ll find out eventually, right? That, the world will never know.