manifests itself among people in
everyday life. Intelligent Design is advocated most forcefully today by aggressive,
materialistic, right-wing Christians with whom I don't want to be identified.
Yet, I am in awe of and profoundly
respectful of the things of the Universe, and I am not reluctant to refer to
the Universe as a creation. Since any creation has to have been created, nor am
I averse to thinking in terms of the Creator. I sense a Universal Creative
Force evolving things forward, and since we must use words to describe
concepts, the term "Creator" is OK with me.
Therefore, if the definition of
"Intelligent Design" eventually proves to rest on the simple notion
that a Creative Force seems to be creating the Universe in such a way that
certain evolutionary trends and natural laws are detectable by human minds,
I'll say that I'm a proponent of it.
However, if the final definition
encourages people to pray for Devine intervention in their own lives and if the
concept is identified with any particular religion -- particularly one
tolerating unrestrained and unsustainable materialism -- then I shall not be a supporter
of the concept of "Intelligent Design."
*****
JACK
This has been a sad week. Jack, the
eldest son of the plantation manager, was killed in a car accident in Houston. He leaves behind
a young wife and a beautiful boy not old enough to have said his first word.
On Tuesday I went with the hired
hand Master to dig Jack's grave near the Chapel.
Digging a grave for a friend is a
somber job, and when you are in the grave and the family and friends come to
see how things are going, you don't know what to do other than to keep on
digging.
The grave is dark and the heavy
odor of earth presses upon you. Sometimes you must rest and you stand up and
look out and you see how sweet and bright the world is beyond the grave, and
your own feeling for this thing called life assumes a genuine urgency. You feel
like getting out of that hole and going walking in the sunlight, throwing your
arms open to the sky.
You also think about the phrase
"dust to dust," for as you are bent over digging it becomes very
clear that "dust to dust" in more than a quaint phrase.