1.3 Creation
The Formation of Worlds
The universe comprises the infinite number of worlds we can see and those we cannot see, all animate and inanimate beings, all the heavenly bodies moving through space, and all the fluids that fill space.
Reason tells us the universe could not possibly have created itself, and since it could not possibly be the work of chance either, it must be the work of God. Obviously, the universe did not create itself; and if it had existed from all eternity like God, then it could not be God’s work.
God created the universe by the divine will. Nothing better portrays that all-powerful will than those grand words from Genesis: “God said, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light.”
All that can be said, and the only thing that can be comprehended, is that worlds are formed by the condensation of the matter scattered throughout space.
In accordance with current beliefs, comets mark the beginning of the condensation of matter and are worlds in the course of formation. But it is absurd to believe in their influence in the commonly attributed sense, for all celestial bodies play their part in influencing certain physical phenomena.
A completely formed world could disappear, and its constituent matter could once again be scattered in space. God renews worlds just as God renews living beings.
It cannot be said how long it has taken for worlds to form—the earth, for instance—for only the Creator knows. Anyone who claimed to have such knowledge, or to know the ages and ages it took to form them, would be very foolish indeed.
The Formation of Living Beings
Creation
In the beginning, all was chaos; the elements were all jumbled together. Little by little, each thing settled into its proper place. Then living beings appropriate to that state of the globe appeared.
The earth already contained their prototypes, which had been waiting for the favorable moment in order to develop. The organic elements began to combine the moment the force that had kept them apart ceased, thereby forming the prototypes of all living beings. These prototypes then remained latent and inert, like a chrysalis or a seed, until the proper time for each species to appear. Then the beings of each species came together and reproduced.
These organic elements were in a fluidic state, so to speak, in space among spirits or on other worlds, waiting for the creation of the earth in order to begin a new existence on that globe.
Chemistry shows us that when the proper conditions are present, the molecules of inorganic bodies unite to form crystals of consistent regularity according to each type. However, the slightest shift in such conditions is enough to prevent the combining of the elements, or at least the orderly arrangement that comprises the crystal. The same may apply to organic elements. We can store the seeds of plants and animals for many years, but they do not develop unless given the appropriate temperature and environment. We have seen grains of wheat germinate after several centuries. Thus, there is a latent life principle in these seeds that merely waits for favorable circumstances in order to develop. This everyday occurrence could have existed since the globe’s origin. God’s glory is not diminished by the fact that living beings were formed out of chaos by the forces of nature. Instead, this corresponds better to the idea that God exercises divine power over all the infinite worlds through eternal laws. Granted, this theory does not solve the problem of how the life elements themselves originated, but God guards the divine secrets and has placed limits on our inquiries.
There are still creatures that come into being spontaneously, but their primitive prototype has always existed in a latent state. This phenomenon is witnessed all the time. Human and animal tissues contain a multitude of larval prototypes waiting to emerge as soon as the decay needed for their existence begins. It is a microscopic world that slumbers and then awakens.
The human species was among the organic elements on the terrestrial globe, and it came forth at just the right time. This is the basis for the statement that humans were formed from the dust of the earth.
The ages in which humans and other life forms first appeared on the earth cannot be known; all calculations are purely speculative.
If the prototype of the human species was among the globe’s organic elements, human beings do not continue to appear spontaneously as they did when they first came into being, because the beginning of things remains one of God’s secrets. Nevertheless, once early humans began to spread over the earth, they absorbed into themselves the elements needed for their formation in order to pass these on according to the laws of reproduction. The same happened with all the other species of living beings.
The Peopling of the Earth: Adam
The human species did not begin with one single man. The man known as Adam was neither the first nor the only one to populate the earth.
Adam lived more or less at the time assigned to him, about 4,000 years B.C.
The man whom tradition calls Adam was one of those who survived one of the great cataclysms that modified the earth’s surface in different eras. He became the progenitor of one of today’s races. The laws of nature contradict the opinion that the amount of human progress accomplished well before the time of Christ took only a few centuries, which would have to have been the case if humankind had come into existence only at the date assigned to Adam. Some regard Adam, and with good reason, as a myth or allegory personifying one of the world’s earliest ages.
The Diversity of Human Races
The physical and moral differences that distinguish the earth’s various races come from climate, lifestyle, and custom. The same would happen if two siblings from the same mother were each raised differently and far apart: they would show no moral resemblance to each other.
Humankind first appeared at various points on the globe, and at different periods, which is another cause of human diversity. Later, humankind spread throughout the different climate zones, and new types arose in the course of interbreeding among different races.
These different races do not imply distinct species. All are of the same family. Different varieties of the same fruit do not mean that they do not all belong to the same species.
Since the various human types have not all come from the same ancestor, all are nonetheless brothers and sisters in God because they are animated by the same spirit and strive toward the same goal. Words should not always be taken literally.
The Plurality of Worlds
All the globes spinning through space are inhabited. Contrary to what earthlings believe, they are far from being first in intelligence, goodness, and perfection. Nevertheless, there are individuals who think they know the whole truth of the matter and imagine that this little planet is the only one privileged enough to be inhabited by reasoning beings. Pride and vanity lead them to fancy that God has created the universe only for earthlings.
God has populated all worlds with living beings, all working toward the final objective of Providence. To believe that living beings are limited only to one particular spot in the universe is to doubt the wisdom of God. God has never made anything without a purpose and must have intended these worlds to fulfill a more important role than simply entertaining our eyes. Moreover, there is nothing in the earth’s position, size, or composition that could reasonably support the notion that, to the exclusion of many thousands of similar worlds, it alone is privileged with being inhabited.
Creation
The physical composition of the different globes is not the same; they do not resemble one another at all.
Since the physical composition of the various worlds is not the same, the beings inhabiting them have a different physical organization, just as on our world fish are made for living in water and birds for living in the air.
The worlds farthest from the sun do not lack light and heat, because the sun is not the only source of light and heat. Electricity also exists. On some worlds, electricity plays a role unknown to us, much more important than the role it plays on earth. Besides, all beings are not made of the same matter as we are, with organs similar to ours.
The existence of beings on the various worlds depends on the environmental conditions appropriate to the life they are intended to live. If we had never seen fish, we would not understand how certain beings could live in water. The same applies to other worlds, which no doubt contain elements unknown to us. On the earth itself, do we not see the long polar nights illuminated by the electricity of the aurora borealis? On other worlds, electricity may be more abundant than on ours and may perform a general role with effects we cannot comprehend. Hence, those worlds could well contain within themselves the sources of light and heat required by their inhabitants.
Biblical Considerations and Account concerning the Creation
Cultures have held widely differing ideas about creation, according to their degree of understanding. With the support of science, reason has recognized the improbability of some of these theories. However, the one given by the Spirits confirms the view long acknowledged by more enlightened individuals.
The objection to such a theory is that it seems to contradict the sacred texts, but a serious examination leads to the realization that this contradiction is more apparent than real and results from interpreting an allegorical meaning literally.
The issue of the first man, personified in Adam as the exclusive progenitor of humankind, is not the only religious belief that has had to be modified. At one time, the movement of the earth around the sun appeared so contrary to Scripture that all kinds of persecutions were carried out under such a pretext. Nevertheless, the earth continued to move despite the anathemas, and no one today can dispute it without insulting reason itself.
The Bible also tells us that the world was created in six days and sets the time of its creation at about 4,000 years before the Christian era. Before then, the earth did not exist at all; it was created out of nothing. It is a solemn text, yet physical science—an inexorable science—has proven the contrary. Earth’s formation is indelibly written in the fossil record, and it has been shown that the six days of creation represent successive periods, each lasting perhaps many hundreds of thousands of years. This is not a theory, a doctrine, or an isolated opinion. It is a fact as solid as the movement of the earth around the sun, a fact that theology can no longer refuse to accept. It demonstrates the error into which one can fall by attributing literal truth to language that is often figurative. The conclusion is not that the Bible is in error, but that people err in the way they interpret it.
In excavating the earth’s archives, science has discovered the order in which different living beings appeared on its surface, and this order agrees with the one indicated in Genesis. The difference is that instead of having issued miraculously from the hand of God in only a few hours, the work of creation occurred according to God’s will through the laws of natural forces over millions of years. This does not make God any less great or powerful. The sublimity of God’s work is not diminished because it did not appear instantaneously. One would have to hold a petty idea of the Divinity not to recognize divine omnipotence in the eternal laws established to govern the world. Far from diminishing the divine work, science shows it in a more magnificent aspect, one that better conforms to our notions of God’s power and majesty precisely because the work was done without disregard for the laws of nature.
Science places humankind last in the order of the creation of living beings and agrees with the Mosaic record on this point. However, that record places the universal flood 1,654 years after the earth’s creation, whereas geology shows that this great cataclysm occurred before humankind even appeared. So far, no traces have been found in the primitive layers that would attest to the presence of humans or of animals which, from a physical standpoint at least, would belong to the same category. However, nothing has actually proven this to be impossible. Since many discoveries have already raised questions about this issue, it is possible that at any moment material certainty of the anteriority of the human race may come to light. In that case, as in others, the Biblical text would be shown to present an allegory. The actual issue lies in determining whether the geological cataclysm was the same as the one described in the story of Noah. The time needed to form the fossil layers does not allow any confusion; therefore, as soon as any vestiges of human existence prior to the great catastrophe are found, it will be proven either that Adam was not the first man, or that his creation has been lost in the night of time. There is no arguing against fact, and it would have to be accepted in the same way as the movement of the earth and the six days of creation.
The existence of the human race prior to the geological flood is no doubt still hypothetical, but the following should be considered. If humans first appeared upon the earth in 4,000 years B.C., and if all of them except a single family were wiped out 1,650 years later, then the entire current population of the earth must have originated in the time of Noah, that is, 2,350 years B.C. However, when the Hebrews migrated to Egypt in the eighteenth century B.C., they found a densely populated and highly civilized land. History also shows that at the same time India and many other lands were flourishing as well, and this does not even take into account the chronological tables of certain cultures that go back even farther. Thus, it would have been necessary for the descendants of a single family to have populated, from the twenty-fourth to the eighteenth century—that is, in 600 years—all the vast regions known at the time, supposing that others had not also been populated. It would also have been necessary for the human race during this brief period to have evolved from its primitive state of total ignorance to the highest degree of intellectual development. Both suppositions contradict all anthropological laws.
Human diversity supports this contradiction. Climate and customs undoubtedly produce modifications in physical characteristics, but these modifications can only be carried so far, and physiological examination proves the existence among some races of constitutional differences more profound than could be produced by climate alone. The crossing of races produces intermediary types and tends to erase extreme characteristics. It does not produce these characteristics; it only creates varieties. Thus, for the crossing of races to have occurred, there would first have had to be distinct races. But distinct races could not have existed if they had all come from one ancestor, especially in so short a time. It is impossible to believe that in only a few centuries a few descendants of Noah had been transformed to the point of producing the Ethiopian race, for example. Such a metamorphosis would be as unlikely as the theory of a common origin for wolves and sheep, aphids and elephants, or birds and fish. Once more, nothing can prevail against factual evidence. On the other hand, everything can be explained if it is admitted that humans existed prior to the time commonly assigned to their appearance; that their origins were diverse; that Adam, who lived 6,000 years ago, populated an uninhabited region; that Noah’s flood was a localized catastrophe rather than the great geological cataclysm; and finally, that account is taken of the allegorical form characteristic of the Oriental style, which can be found in the sacred books of every culture. That is why it is prudent not to lightly accuse as erroneous those doctrines which, like so many others, could someday be vindicated against those who currently oppose them. Rather than being lost, religious ideas become greater when they move in step with science. This is the only way to avoid vulnerability to skepticism.