🎙️ Petit Petit Summit (17) The Fusion of Evolution and the Divine

October 25, 2022 — Part 3

Consciousness, Not Environment, Changes Living Things

Goro: Wait a second, let me organize this in my head. Yūdai-san, you said, "Matter is created through the activity of the soul," and Ishikof-san, you rephrased that as, "Both living and non-living things are formed as a result of the gathering of countless existing consciousnesses." Does that mean the "soul" and "consciousness" are the same thing?

Allan: Ah, I see. If we use the word "consciousness," it might be taken as merely a function of brain activity. Hmm... maybe it’s more like a "subconscious consciousness"?

Yūdai: Well, it likely includes things thought by the brain as well. Once we're given these vehicles called bodies and appear in this world, we gain experiences. The consciousness that results from thinking with the brain based on those experiences is probably added to the mix too.

Allan: If we look at Yūdai-san’s theory that "matter is created by the activity of the soul" from a different angle, I feel like it changes our perspective on the theory of evolution. Darwin’s theory—specifically "natural selection"—states that organisms change to adapt to their environment. But Yūdai-san, you’re suggesting that what changes an organism isn't just the environment, but a kind of collective consciousness or a "will to become" something else.

Yūdai: Exactly. For instance, take the Forest Green Tree Frog (Mori-ao-gaeru). They lay large, white, foamy egg masses—looking like steamed buns—on tree branches or leaves hanging over ponds or marshes. The tadpoles grow inside that foam, waiting for rain to dissolve the mass so they can drop into the water below.
There’s another frog, very similar but a size smaller, called Schlegel’s Green Tree Frog (Schlegel-ao-gaeru). Despite being saddled with a German name like "Schlegel," it’s a distinct species native to Japan—all green and quite laid-back. They dig holes along the edges of rice paddies to lay their white egg masses.
Before humans created paddies, they must have dug holes at the edges of ponds. The tadpoles grow inside the foam within those holes. However, this method of spawning has many failures. If it rains hard enough for the water level to rise and enter the hole, they can swim out successfully. But if it doesn't rain that much, the tadpoles dry up in the dirt. Conversely, if it rains too hard before they hatch and the egg mass gets washed into the water, it rots, and they’re wiped out anyway.
I’ve long suspected that the ancestors of the Forest Green Tree Frog were actually Schlegel’s Green Tree Frogs.

Goro: So you mean a segment of Schlegel’s frogs evolved into Forest Green Tree Frogs?

Yūdai: I don’t know if "evolution" is the right word. As Ishikof-san put it, it's a "change." I imagine that the more energetic and proactive individuals among the Schlegel’s frogs thought their spawning method was too inefficient. So, they came up with the idea of climbing trees to lay eggs. To do that, they needed more stamina than they had, and a larger body to lay larger eggs. The group that held that collective intent eventually "changed" into the Forest Green Tree Frog.

Goro: That’s fascinating! So they didn't change because of the environment, but because of a collective consciousness.

Yūdai: Precisely. Both frogs live in very similar environments. If it were purely the environment causing the change, then either all Schlegel’s frogs should have become Forest Green Tree Frogs, or they all should have remained as they were.

Goro: Well, whether the Forest Green Tree Frog actually diverged from Schlegel’s is another matter...

Yūdai: If you start nitpicking like that, we’re done here! I’m just telling you that’s what I think.

Allan: Why not? It’s a fine theory. If living things are born from a gathering of pre-existing "consciousness," then it follows that "consciousness" is also what changes them. After all, changing something is much easier than generating it from scratch.
And if we look at that from yet another angle, it means human society also changes according to the collective consciousness of the people who compose it. That seems like a perfectly natural interpretation to me.