I had an interesting, and probably stupid, thought yesterday as I was sitting in the Temple. I work currently at the recommend desk and have a chance each week to work at the recommend desk in the Baptistry. The Baptistry is on the whole much less busy than the rest of the Temple which affords me the chance to engage in scripture reading and contemplation. I thought yesterday about the nature of matter and energy and intelligence.
I have always thought that the scriptures support the idea of intelligence existing at all levels of material organization from the highest levels of animal life, man, to the lowest levels of organization we have discovered in the search for fundamental particles. I have the impression that my supposition arose out of a couple of verses in the Book of Mormon in Helaman where Helaman discusses the weaknesses of men with a very unusual and curious comparison. Helman emphasizes the nothingness of the children of men because “they are less than the dust of the earth. For behold, the dust of the earth moveth hither and thither, to the dividing asunder, at the command of our great and everlasting God.” Hel. 12:7-8 He then moves higher on the organizational level, noting the obedience of hills, mountain, and the earth itself. Helaman contrasts men who in Helaman’s words “set at naught [God’s] counsels, and…will not that he should be their guide,” Id. at 6, but rather are “quick to hearken unto the words of the evil one, and to set their hearts upon the vain things of the world,” Id. at 4, with the dust, hills, mountains and earth that all respond to God’s voice.
I have reasoned that the comparison Helaman makes is completely meaningless unless the dust of the earth has some choice in the matter. If the dust is simply acting as it must at God’s command, it cannot be described as having any superior virtue to man, nor can man be reasonably compared unfavorably to the dust. If the dust is without any ability to act in a different manner, a comparison with man’s actions lacks any meaning because the difference between man and dust is fundamental-one has a choice, the other does not.
This view is reinforced somewhat by Jacob’s observation about the strength of the faith that he and his people developed. Jacob states that their faith had increased to the point that it became “unshaken, insomuch that we truly can command in the name of Jesus and the very trees obey us, or the mountains, or the waves of the sea.” Jacob 4:6. Jacob chose to describe their power as faith sufficient to cause trees, mountains and waves to obey their commands; he does not describe their faith as the power to make the trees, mountains and waves to move.
It is also reinforced by a couple of other scriptures. In Moses, the earth is described as having a voice and expressing itself. “And it came to pass that Enoch looked upon the earth; and he heard a voice from the bowels thereof, saying: Wo, wo is me, the mother of men; I am pained, I am weary, because of the wickedness of my children. When shall I rest, and be cleansed from the filthiness which is gone forth out of me? When will my Creator sanctify me, that I may rest, and righteousness for a season abide upon my face? And when Enoch heard the earth mourn, he wept, and cried unto the Lord, saying: O Lord, wilt thou not have compassion upon the earth? Wilt thou not bless the children of Noah?” Moses 7:48-49
Moreover, the Lord has described the earth in terms that suggest some level of intelligence and will: “the earth abideth the law of a celestial kingdom, for it filleth the measure of its creation, and transgresseth not the law—Wherefore, it shall be sanctified; yea, notwithstanding it shall die, it shall be quickened again, and shall abide the power by which it is quickened, and the righteous shall inherit it.” D&C 88:25-26. Finally, the creation of the garden of Eden is described in the same manner: “And I, the Lord God, planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there I put the man whom I had formed. And out of the ground made I, the Lord God, to grow every tree, naturally, that is pleasant to the sight of man; and man could behold it. And it became also a living soul.” Moses 3:8-9.
Now, I don’t subscribe to the fanatical environmental gaia hypothesis which places everything in nature off limits and posits that the earth would be a better place without any humans because the Lord has specifically told us that “all things which come of the earth, in the season thereof, are made for the benefit and the use of man, both to please the eye and to gladden the heart; [y]ea, for food and for raiment, for taste and for smell, to strengthen the body and to enliven the soul.” D&C 59:18-19. The Lord, however, has placed some limits on our actions. We are to use all things which come of the earth “with judgment, not to excess, neither by extortion.” Id. at 20. These limits are open to interpretation, but I don’t think those limits can reasonably be seen as forbidding Man’s use of the things of the earth to improve his condition.
I recognize that difficulties exist with the matter/intelligence hypothesis. For example, how do all the levels of intelligence interact? If each atom, or part of an atom, has some intelligence, how does that intelligence interact or become part of the intelligence of rocks, trees, waves, plants, animals or humans? I have no idea, but I am for myself willing to suspend thinking about those issues to think about other implications of my supposition.
So what? Of what import is the notion that matter at the most fundamental level has some form of intelligence? That will be the subject of a future post.
