Charles Darwin

Charles Darwin, aged 72 years by John Collier, 1878

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Dinesh ^club

DARWIN GETS RELIGION

In my journal, I wrote that whilst standing in the midst of the grandeur of a Brazilian forest. “it is not possible to give an adequate idea of the higher feelings of wonder, admiration, and devotion which fill and elevate the mind.” I well remember my conviction that there is more in man than the mere breath of his body. But now the grandest scenes would not cause any such convictions and feelings to rise in my mind. It may be a truly said that I am like a man who had become colour-blind. . . Autobiography (1876)

. . . Darwin held for many years to a vague theism. He believed in a “First Clause,” a divine intelligence that had set natural selection in motion with some end in mind. But then be began to wonder: “Can the mind of man, which has, as I fully believe, been developed from a mind as low as that possessed by the lowest animal, be trusted when it draws such grand conclusions?” Darwin finally settled into a more or less stable agnosticism. He migh in upbeat moments entertain theistic scenarios; but for long periods of his life, upbeat moments weren’t common. ~ Page 365

2 years ago. Edited 2 years ago.

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