The "Laws of Nature" are the phenomena that create, guide and control everything in the universe. Inertia, gravity, biogenetics, electromagnetic emission, quantum mechanics, etc. are a few of these "Laws". They are invariant, unbreakable and all powerful - they give the universe its personality. Evolution is one of these "Laws".

Science has discovered and explained some of these physical "Laws of Nature": some correctly, some questionable and there are probably, other laws yet to be discovered. Evolution is one of these "Laws". Science is limited to discovering and explaining the "Laws of Nature", they have no power to discover their origin.

These "Laws" are the all powerful phenomena that create and control absolutely everything that exists in the universe. (You cannot raise your hand without using one or more of the laws of nature - every breath we take is made possible because of the "Laws".) All things and their movements are not preordained but everything is controlled and guided by the all prevading, unbreakable Laws of Nature.

How did this fundamental, all controlling, phenomena come into existence? Is there a 'Supreme Creative Power' who designed and implemented these "Laws"? Did the "Laws" always exist or did they just come into existence spontaneously?? These questions are beyond the scope of science and can only be discussed in the realm of philosophy and metaphysics (human imagination). This article takes the position that there was an intelligent designer of the "Laws of Nature", a creatve power who brought the "Laws" into existence. No matter how you believe the "Laws" came into existence is irrelevant - it is the "Laws of Nature" that guide every aspect that the universe contains, including the evolution of life.

Everything that happens or exists is a consequence of these "Laws" - not of God's direct intervention. (God is not a king who sits up on some faraway throne - The concept of "God" is that of the SUPREME CREATIVE POWER who prevades the universe and beyond.) This creative power can be somewhat compared to inertia - only in that they both exist everywhere in the universe - BUT God's power is an infinite creative power that extends far beyond the realm of our universe.

The Laws of Nature - not God - are what controls everything in the universe. They exist because because God, the Creator of everything, designed them, brought them into existence and gave them domain over the entire universe. The "Laws" had to be in existence BEFORE the Big Bang could occur (if there was such an event). There had to be a fundamental framework of "Laws" in place to create matter and energy and then guide this colossal event.

Evolution is just one of the "Laws of Nature" (just like gravity and inertia, etc.). It is a part of the larger category of the "life force" that pervades the universe. Evolution is the means that nature uses to create millions of diversified life forms. Evolution may be a series of random mutations of DNA caused by cosmic rays or other means - but it is also an intregal part of the "Laws" of nature.

The mutations may be completely random but they end up just the way nature intends. It can be compared somewhat to our lives, we all go through life with completely random motions but we all end up just where nature intends - dead. This is "Predetermined Randomness". Science still has much to learn about the intricacies of the "Laws of Evolution".

This "Predetermined Randomness Evolution" is the means that nature uses to diversify life on a planet, when and if it becomes habitable. Evolution may eventually lead to intelligent forms of life. Intelligence progression is just one of the random paths of evolution, most paths just lead to more diversification without becoming more intelligent (plants, animals, microbes, etc.)

On our planet, evolution produced an imaginative being, the Homo Sapiens species - humanity. I call it the "Homo Imaginative Sapiens". The powerful imagination of these beings have made it possible to discover and perceive the beauty of nature's creations, eventually discovering many of the secret worlds of nature that no one even suspected existed, until recently. (The microscopic world of microbes, the macroscopic world of astronomy, the electromagnetic world of radio waves, the puzzling world of quantum mechanics, etc.).

The 3 steps of the evolution of life on a planet are:

Life exists throughout the universe. It is one of the Laws of Nature. (It would be foolish to think that life only exists on our little piece of "space dust".) When the enivironment of a planet becomes suitable, some hardy life forms that are able to adapt to the environment will began to multiply, eating whatever can be found, possibly the minerals of the planet.

1st - The primary life forms are the most, primitive, simple, rugged, living cells that exist in the universe. There may be many types of these primary life forms that exist throughout the universe or there could be only one fundamental type that is able to adapt to different conditions. When a planet becomes habitable some of the most hardy and most adaptable (to the prevalent atmosphere, temperature, gravity, etc. of the planet) will begin to survive and multiply.

It may be that more then one type of primary life form is able to survive and thrive on a particular planet. They will either co-exist or one will prevail over the other by changing the environment so that the others die off. If the environment changes radically - as happened on Earth as more oxygen was released into the atmosphere by the Cyanobacteria.

The life forms that are able to adapt, will survive and become dominant while the others either die off completely unless they are able to find a niche environment on the planet where they can survive. The dominant single cells thrive and multiply and slowly evolve (mutate) to the point where they begin evolve into cooperative colonies.

2nd - Within these colonies the cells begin to evolve into specialized cells and eventually become part of a multicell plant or animal. This process continues for billions of years evolving into evermore complex multicell plants and animals - filling the planet with a wealth of diversified living beauty.

3rd - Finally after billions of years, when there are millions of species of plants and animals on the planet an imaginatve being (mankind in the case of the Earth) may evolve who can become aware and comprehend the wonders of nature, discover its secret worlds and even create things that nature cannot. Human nature being what it is however - how long these imaginative beings (modern humans) can exist with such a powerful imagination at its disposal is anyone's guess. (The USA now has enough power, on its Trident submarines alone, to destroy the world as we know it.)

Humanity may be the final cresendo in the life story of our particular planet (Earth). However, there are trillions of planets similar to ours in various stages of evolution in the universe - so life will go on regardless of planet Earth's fate. If humanity is to survive for any length of time, we had better try to get along with each other and keep our home planet habitable for as long as possible - not to please our Creator but just to survive and enjoy the fruits of our imagination. (It would be no big deal for the "Creator" - if intelligent life on Earth ceased to exist, or even if the planet itself ceased to exist.)

Donald L. Hamilton, author of: "THE MIND OF MANKIND: Human Imagination the source of Mankind's tremendous power!"

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