The human race, it has been said, represents the crowning glory of creation, the summit of the evolutionary tree.We have one thing that other creatures lack, a conscious, intelligent mind, a mind which can detach itself from the here and now (to talk about yesterday's football, for example) and can form opinions and make considered choices and decisions.This has given us a competitive advantage, in evolutionary terms, over all other species: we have 'dominion . . . over all the earth'.

And yet, these conscious operations of the human mind do not really work very well.They do not work anything like as well as the highly developed instinctive and subconscious mental abilities that we share with other animals.

The brain is an organ for coordinating movement.How well this function works. Think of what is involved in the simple process of walking over rough ground, which is something that many other animals can do. The brain receives messages from the eyes, the feet and the sense of balance.It processes all this information and controls and coordinates all the muscles to keep us walking and keep us upright, all without our having to think about it. When the complexity of these mental tasks, which are accomplished without effort and at considerable speed, is compared with the simplicity of a straightforward calculation (like multiplying 9876 by 5432), is it not rather surprising that most of us find mental arithmetic so much more troublesome than walking?

Then look at the life of social insects and how well the complicated work of a colony of ants, for example, is controlled by brains that are much smaller than ours.

Then there is recognition.Humans and other animals are able to recognise certain individuals of the same and different species.Yet even with humans, this works well as a subconscious process but not if we rely on the conscious, intelligent, verbal part of our mind (try using words to describe a person who is well known to you, in such a way that somebody else could use your description to pick that person out in a crowd).

Compared with the smooth, reliable efficiency of the subconscious, instinctive workings of the mind, the conscious, intelligent operations of the human mind give the impression of a rather rough-and-ready prototype. Humans, unlike other creatures, are moral beings, with the ability to think and behave in a moral way — yet so often our thinking and behaviour are not moral at all. The human mind has the ability to think clearly and rationally — yet so often our thoughts are confused and irrational.Humans have an advanced ability to communicate, by speech and in other ways — yet so often our understanding of one another is terribly inadequate.Human beings are capable of worship, capable of being in awe of the splendour and majesty of creation and the Creator — yet so often our thoughts are petty and self-centred.

If a prototype bird had owed its competitive advantage to its ability to fly, and if its wings had let it down as often as the human mind lets us down, it would not have lasted long in the evolutionary stakes.It would soon have made way for a bird with wings that really worked.

Will evolutionary processes lead, eventually, to present-day humans making way for creatures with conscious, intelligent minds that really work?Will today's Homo semi-sapiens make way for beings that really deserve the name sapiens?And what will these beings be like?Will they be more successful in thinking and communicating clearly?Will they have a deep understanding of themselves and each other?Will they have an unerring moral sense that can be relied upon to rise above temptation?Will they be beings for whom worship is the most natural thing in the world?

Is that where evolution is leading?If so, this evolutionary perspective points to a future remarkably like that foreseen by prophets and visionaries, and remarkably like that exemplified in the earthly life of Jesus.

The prophet Isaiah, for example, wrote of the Messiah: 'And the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord; and shall make him of quick understanding in the fear of the Lord: . . . with righteousness shall he judge . . .'.

Several centuries later, St Paul wrote: 'When that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part will be done away. . . . For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known'.

Much later still, the hymn writer F H Hosmer wrote of the coming of God's kingdom: 'When knowledge, hand in hand with peace, shall walk the earth abroad: the day of perfect righteousness, the promised day of God.’

The earthly life of Jesus offers us a vision of what human beings could aspire to, the unique combination of humanity and perfection. He had no difficulty in thinking and communicating clearly.He understood himself and other people.He had an unerring moral sense, coupled with the strength to overcome all temptation.He was somebody for whom the worship of his heavenly father was the most natural thing in the world. 

If this is the future that the human race can look forward to, well may we pray, 'Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done.'

Reproduced by permission from The Lantern, the parish magazine of Keyworth and Stanton on the Wolds, September 2000.

© Keyworth Parochial Church Council