A Letter of Huge Proportions.

I might be biting off more than I can chew with this entry. I'm an avid reader of Psychology Today. Recently, there have been a lot of studies done based on the premise of evolutionary theory, or the idea that our behavior is merely a reflection of prehistoric survival instinct. I picked up my roommate's anthropology text book last night (yes, I read my roommate's textbooks to avoid my own homework) and the first chapter explained the evolutionary process of homo sapiens. When it comes to the evolutionary/creationism debate, I have found that  people tend to react in extremes. The two sides are completely irreconcilable so I guess this can only be expected.

Here is where I'm at on the issue as of now (it's always changing and I'm constantly adding and retracting my views. Tomorrow I might see this entry as totally inaccurate, who knows): 

I'm not sure how humans can claim consciousness as their own: which is something that natural selection insists that we do. If we evolved just like any other animal on Earth, where did this self-awareness come from that is not found in any other species? At what point did we become creatures capable of experiencing empathy, hate, love, joy, or motivation? If the world is survival of the fittest, what benefit does humanity's sense of wonder offer to us?  Psychologists have become obsessed with studying people objectively. It's the only way psychology can be defined as a hard science in this empirical world. But the idea is absurd. People are not rocks. People are not black holes. People are not simply a collection of atomic mass. The idea of a person trying to get outside of themselves to accurately measure another person is impossible and ridiculous. 

Tonight I went and listened to a speaker share some of his life experiences with a young audience. I watched the young audience carefully take notes and learn from the words he spoke to them. Later, I listened to someone play the piano in a way that seemed as natural to him as breathing. I watched a short film about a guy that has been deep sea diving for fifty years and has yet to tire of it or take its beauty for granted. People  recognize beautiful things. They marvel and wonder at new experiences. This characteristic of consciousness is unlike anything else on Earth and to claim it as something we developed ourselves seems presumptuous. I believe that consciousness is a gift from God.