The Overcontrol of Evolution

65:8.1Time and space are in­dis­sol­ubly linked; there is an in­nate as­so­ci­a­tion. The de­lays of time are in­ev­i­ta­ble in the pres­ence of cer­tain space con­di­tions.

65:8.2If spend­ing so much time in ef­fect­ing the evo­lu­tion­ary changes of life de­vel­op­ment oc­ca­sions per­plex­ity, I would say that we can­not time the life pro­cesses to un­fold any faster than the phys­i­cal meta­mor­phoses of a planet will per­mit. We must wait upon the nat­u­ral, phys­i­cal de­vel­op­ment of a planet; we have ab­so­lutely no con­trol over ge­o­logic evo­lu­tion. If the phys­i­cal con­di­tions would al­low, we could ar­range for the com­pleted evo­lu­tion of life in con­sid­er­ably less than one mil­lion years. But we are all un­der the ju­ris­dic­tion of the Su­preme Rulers of Par­a­dise, and time is nonex­is­tent on Par­a­dise.

65:8.3The in­di­vid­ual’s yard­stick for time mea­sure­ment is the length of his life. All crea­tures are thus time con­di­tioned, and there­fore do they re­gard evo­lu­tion as be­ing a long-drawn-out pro­cess. To those of us whose life span is not lim­ited by a tem­po­ral ex­is­tence, evo­lu­tion does not seem to be such a pro­tracted trans­ac­tion. On Par­a­dise, where time is nonex­is­tent, these things are all pres­ent in the mind of In­fin­ity and the acts of Eter­nity.

65:8.4As mind evo­lu­tion is de­pen­dent on, and de­layed by, the slow de­vel­op­ment of phys­i­cal con­di­tions, so is spir­i­tual prog­ress de­pen­dent on men­tal ex­pan­sion and un­fail­ingly de­layed by in­tel­lec­tual re­tar­da­tion. But this does not mean that spir­i­tual evo­lu­tion is de­pen­dent on ed­u­ca­tion, cul­ture, or wis­dom. The soul may evolve re­gard­less of men­tal cul­ture but not in the ab­sence of men­tal ca­pac­ity and de­sire—the choice of sur­vival and the de­ci­sion to achieve ever-in­creas­ing per­fec­tion—to do the will of the Fa­ther in heaven. Al­though sur­vival may not de­pend on the pos­ses­sion of knowl­edge and wis­dom, pro­gres­sion most cer­tainly does.

65:8.5In the cos­mic evo­lu­tion­ary lab­o­ra­to­ries mind is al­ways dom­i­nant over mat­ter, and spirit is ever cor­re­lated with mind. Fail­ure of these di­verse en­dow­ments to syn­chro­nize and co-or­di­nate may cause time de­lays, but if the in­di­vid­ual re­ally knows God and de­sires to find him and be­come like him, then sur­vival is as­sured re­gard­less of the hand­i­caps of time. Phys­i­cal sta­tus may hand­i­cap mind, and men­tal per­ver­sity may de­lay spir­i­tual at­tain­ment, but none of these ob­sta­cles can de­feat the whole-souled choice of will.

65:8.6When phys­i­cal con­di­tions are ripe, sud­den men­tal evo­lu­tions may take place; when mind sta­tus is pro­pi­tious, sud­den spir­i­tual trans­for­ma­tions may oc­cur; when spir­i­tual val­ues re­ceive proper rec­og­ni­tion, then cos­mic mean­ings be­come dis­cern­i­ble, and in­creas­ingly the per­son­al­ity is re­leased from the hand­i­caps of time and de­liv­ered from the lim­i­ta­tions of space.

65:8.7[Spon­sored by a Life Car­rier of Neb­a­don res­i­dent on Uran­tia.]