Jainism and World Problems

SR No.: 006708
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Champat Rai Jain
Publisher: ZZZ Unknown
Publication Year: 1934
Total Pages: 240
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 10 MB

Page 121

EVOLUTION
EVOLUTION
Few people have adequately realized what great miracles are implied in the modern theory of evolution. Indeed, they are as great as those involved in the notion of a creation of something out of nothing; at times they even aspire to eclipse it.
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The first miracle is the transformation of the inorganic into organic matter without the intervention of steps or grades. Some try to get over the chasm by positing a matter that is never altogether devoid of sensitivity. We must, then, believe that all bodily products such as saliva, phlegm etc., are also endowed with sensation. But it is a great pity that this has been left to be pictured by the mind, not established by demonstration in which the moderns excel.
The second miracle is the birth of psychic individuality in this sensitive matter. Will the reader be good enough to believe what he is told, and not worry himself and others with the how and why of things? We must simply believe that individuality is produced by the influence of one's surroundings and environments. These are surely no outlandish words. You can look them up in a dictionary if you are ignorant of their purport. You must also believe that the influence of the 'surroundings and environments' must have occurred precisely in the same way in the case of each and every one of the infinite millions of living beings that are swarming the worlds. What is most wonderful in this theory is again the sudden passage of individuality-lessness into individuality at the waving of the magicians wand. If the mind refuses to take the jump, it should be content with the idea that miracles are set up also in religion.
The third marvel in the theory of evolution is the distinction of the sexes. How came a purely sexless matter to become differentiated into sexually distinguishable organisms may
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