All Things Bright And Beautiful … The Lord God Made Them All … And ⬇⬇⬇
* DARWIN COULDN’T TELL THE WORLD ABOUT EVOLUTION *
All things bright and beautiful, All creatures great and small, All things wise and wonderful, The Lord God made them all.
Each little flower that opens, Each little bird that sings, He made their glowing colours, He made their tiny wings
This well-known hymn was written by C F Alexander (1818–1895), where creation is given the ‘stamp of approval’ from God, who it seems, made the job so easy. It tells of a master scrabbler player who ‘created all living things’ … just like that! … Pow!
Charles Darwin lived over a similar period: (1808 to 1882):
As you probably know, it was Darwin who introduced the world to an alternative view of the origin of all these living things with his (then) new ‘Theory of Evolution’ following the investigative work he carried out when he was geologist and naturalist on board the ship ‘HMS Beagle’.
In Darwin’s time … throughout the 19th Century … there was a great deal of religiosity in society, and not just by the religious leaders of the time and their congregations. Many (most?) leading scientists of the day didn’t openly challenge the church’s view on creation.
Few were eager to challenge the accepted norm that ‘The Lord God made them all’ ... Some would want to, but were seriously hesitant, perhaps fearing the reaction, and maybe, (as I believe was the case for Darwin), suffering health-wise just because of this ‘holding back’ of their own deeply-heart-felt beliefs.
It looks as though Darwin himself was indeed, afraid to publish his findings for fear of religious backlash. After all, he came from a very religious family, and at one time his life-intentions were quite firmly aligned with religion … planning to become a man of the church:
He had a non-conformist Unitarian church background, but attended an Anglican school, and with the aim of becoming a clergyman, he went to the University of Cambridge where, at that time, there was a requirement to take a Bachelor of Arts degree, that included Anglican theology.
However, as is always the case with fashions, trends, and beliefs, things change over the years, and Darwin eventually admitted to being an agnostic. This is how he explained his religious change:
“In my most extreme fluctuations I have never been an atheist in the sense of denying the existence of a God. I think that generally (& more and more so as I grow older) but not always, that ‘agnostic’ would be the most correct description of my state of mind.” … Charles Darwin
Perhaps this ‘change’ was the first stage of his eventual ‘revealing evolution’ to the world. It no doubt made it easier for him to ‘come out’ with his views. But after the end of The Beagle’s voyage … and for many years thereafter, he felt unable to tell the world!
And therein lay Darwin’s Dilemma:
As a biologist myself; as a life member of The Royal Society of Biology, and a former senior lecturer in Genetics & Evolution (my favorite biology topics), and also being an accredited preacher with the Christian church, I think that I can understand Darwin’s seeming reluctance to publish. Let me explain:
My theory may be wildly wrong … but I reckon it’s as good as any, and it does have some supportive evidence.
My theory about Darwin’s reluctance to publish:
These days it seems that you can publish views that contradict even accepted norms, and popular beliefs, making your opinions known to the world, and get no significant backlash.
Thus, if you have strong views (for or against) say, climate change, or trans-sexuality, or even belief in God, you can express your opinions without fear of being ‘hung-drawn-and-quartered’, or shamed and belittled.
But it was not the case for Charles Darwin. In the 19th Century he had to keep it to himself (though he did share his thinking with scientist-friends). It was as if he was ‘hiding the truth away’, and he didn’t publish his ground-breaking theory of evolution for years. In fact, he didn’t publish his now famous book: ‘On The Origin of Species’ until 1859.
Thus it took him some 23 years to published his ‘theory of evolution’!, but only then, after serious encouragement from his close science associate Charles Lyell who drew his attention to some similar-themed work that was about to be published by Alfred Russel Wallace.
Note: (A summary of Evolution as proposed by Darwin, is at the end of this article)
This delay in publishing caused Darwin much more than ‘lost years’. It created (in my opinion) many personal problems for Darwin, especially with his health.
What this ‘hiding-the-truth’ did to Darwin:
I believe that Darwin’s inability to go ahead with the publishing of his new theory led to serious health problems, which only exacerbated the situation … extending this ‘reluctance period’ into decades.
In short, it made him ill!
Think about what we now know about the influence of what is often called ‘Mind over Matter’. What we are thinking about … even (perhaps especially) sub-consciously, does affect our physical health.
And thus it was with Darwin.
What evidence do I have that Darwin became ill?:
For much of his adult life, Charles Darwin’s health was repeatedly compromised by an uncommon combination of symptoms, leaving him severely debilitated for long periods of time.
He suffered from various combinations of symptoms such as malaise, vertigo, dizziness, muscle spasms and tremors, vomiting, cramps and colic, bloating and nocturnal intestinal gas, headaches, alterations of vision, severe tiredness, nervous exhaustion, dyspepsia and skin problems such as blisters all over the body.
Whilst the cause of his illness is not clear, it is believed that he suffered from a long-standing neurosis, an anxiety state. He was a hypochondriac and maybe had a chronic personality disorder too. In short, with Darwin, ‘Mind over Matter’ came into play ... in a big way.
The promised Summary Darwin’s theory of evolution … 8 steps:
- 1: Every species is fertile enough and if all offspring survived to reproduce, the population would grow and grow and grow!
- 2: Despite periodic fluctuations, populations remain roughly the same size, year-on-year.
- 3: Resources such as food are limited and are relatively stable over time.
- 4: A struggle for survival ensues as a result of this limited food supply.
- 5: Individuals in a population vary significantly from one another.
- 6: Much of this variation is heritable i.e. has parental origins.
- 7: Individuals less suited to the environment are less likely to survive and less likely to reproduce; individuals more suited to the environment are more likely to survive and more likely to reproduce and leave their heritable traits to future generations, which results in the process of natural selection.
- 8: This slowly effected process results in populations changing to adapt to their environments, and ultimately, these variations accumulate over time to form new species.
Interested in reading another ‘Darwin’ article by Fred? The following was the very first Medium article I wrote when becoming a member … written and published in 2020. Enjoy it … Fred:
Providence by Devine or Provenance by Design: Darwin’s explanation:
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“All Things Bright & Beautiful” by Fred: writer on Medium ********** © Fred Ogden 2023 **********
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