The Modern Myth Part 3
Our mythic fable continues.
As the sun rose on that fateful day over the now disassembling Mother Pangaea it was indeed a brave new world. For within the once-inorganic pools that Pangaea held within her bosom the first sign of life began to spring forth.
A single Mother cell, having been animated by the inanimate chemicals and elements of the newly formed earth, began to multiply and divide into more living cells. The unwritten law of natural progression which had forced a single electron to create more electrons was now being fulfilled once again in the creation of life itself. No longer would this barren, inhospitable planet house nothing more than rock and rain, element and gas. Slowly but surely, over perhaps hundreds of millennia the once dead pools of the dying Mother Pangaea began to teem with life.
Some of these life cells fell to the cold dark bottom of the pool while others remained afloat in the warm sunlit waters. Each cell, affected by its chosen environment, began to react in different ways. As the cells multiplied it was as if the spirits of the Alpha Electron, Mother Rock and Mother Pangaea dwelled within their very soul, coaxing and prodding, urging and calling in unison the natural law that had driven their very existence, “Become more” they said “You must become more.” It was this simple instruction that was the genesis of the DNA helix. Each cell needed to adapt to its surroundings, multiply and carry copies of this now-encoded law to further the process of evolution.
As these original life cells died their remains were used to nourish new forming cells. Their life and fate fulfilled their remains, once consumed, now served to further evolve the DNA strands creating yet more new life forms. Life fulfilled, death with purpose. The cells continued to multiply but their altered DNA instructed them to become more. No longer driven to separate they began to form simple multi-cell organisms. Much like Mother Rock had accumulated the atomic debris, these multi-celled organisms began to join together exponentially creating a multitude of life forms filling each pool of the now separating land masses.
Driven by their altered DNA strands some were destined to remain docile while others were driven to become aggressive. It had taken millions of years, but an actual order began to take shape in the primordial ooze of the life giving pools. The aggressive life forms feasted on their passive partners, growing stronger and continuing to evolve. The passive organisms found refuge in the cold dark depths of the pool, keeping them safe from the ravenous feeding frenzy occurring in the warmer waters. These passive life forms accumulated on the rocky bottom. They eventually evolved into plant life and grew to such great numbers that they began to expand up the side walls of the pool toward the water’s edge. Many were lost in the struggle but their population was so vast and the environment so fertile that enough survived to actually begin to populate the rocks above the waterline.
The aggressive organisms evolved as well becoming many forms of aquatic life. The expansion of plants into the sunlight caused some of the famished aquatics to follow, eventually adapting sufficiently that they too could live above water. Driven by the inner call to become more the plants developed wide leaves to catch sunlight and the now land based animals developed teeth to eat the leaves and eventually each other.
The newly created plant life spread through simple expansion, but the aquatics needed to further evolve, first to exchange their gills for oxygen breathing lungs and then to develop a strong skeletal frame to support their growing weight on land. At first they slithered in the mud but the drive to become more was too strong to ignore and eventually legs replaced fins, eyes grew sharp and tiny brains developed to control the movements. No longer tied to simply reflex the evolving animals became superior to the plants.
That superiority allowed the animals to flourish, no longer shackled to the boundaries of the water. As plant life expanded and grew taller, so too the hungry animal life adapted and grew taller along with it. It seemed as though nothing could stop this express train of evolution all driven by an unceasing inner calling to become more.
What had started as a simple static charge in the vast void of space had now turned into a crowded array of living plants, fish, reptiles and eventually mammals. It was as if the earth had been created as a kingdom in search of a king. Who would become the absolute ruler over all this bounty? It would be the species that best followed natures call to become more.
Thick skin, fur and feathers replaced scales and now able to survive the sun’s heat and the evening cool animals found refuge in every conceivable area. As small fur bearing tree dwellers gazed over the fertile plane it was as if they knew that those who could become more and control their own destiny would certainly be the supreme leaders of this evolving food chain. Though now filled with countless varieties of life, the canvas was once again blank waiting for a master painter who could use intellect to create a new picture.
The sun would continue to rise and set hundreds of millions of times, but one dawn was coming that would not be like any other.
For it would be the dawn of man.
Our myth continues tomorrow.
Big Bang, evolution
