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The history of the universe and the history of humanity, from the beginning to this moment, appear to be  a continuous flow of cause and effect. Select any part of it, long or short, eons or centuries or years, and we can—in our blundering way—see how one thing appears to lead  to another.  But not always, for in that history there are three particularly baffling episodes or transitions or jumps—not hurdles or leaps; nothing to hurdle or leap  over. Just jumps, a jump from A to B. Nothing in between. You are at A, then suddenly you are at B. Something new shows up, but there is no apparent cause, no apparent reason. Totally irrational.  Totally unscientific, but these causeless events are primary to all history, a third of the whole. We know of three such jumps.

The first is the start of the universe, the “Big Bang.”   Before time began, most physicists tell us, there was nothing, then there was something, and that something, a singularity about 13.8 billion years ago, was the sudden inflation into what the physicists  call fundamental particles: neutrons, electrons and protons. These met and combined to form atoms which in turn met and formed molecules which then joined together, and here we are.  There was an effect but no cause. There was also, by the way, no noise, nor was there anyone to hear it if there were, just an expanding universe. That was the first jump, from nothing to something. Even if the physicists are wrong and there was no “Big Bang”, still, since we cannot imagine that the universe has been here eternally, there must have been a time when one moment there was nothing, then there was. A jump from nothing to something.

The second jump came when some of the molecules met and began to live. There was no life and then there was life, no leap, no fast transition, no caused effect. A jump.  The molecules just began to interact, replicate, form organisms and eventually become creatures such as you and me. Simple organisms then evolved into more complex entities. The more recent stages of that evolution have been studied, but why it began and and why it continues is still mystery. The traditional “natural selection of random mutations” tells us nothing and is indeed contradictory. (Whispers # 85) We have, first, particles, then life, then a parade of organic changes leading to us. We cannot imagine a cause. That was the second jump, from non-life to life.

The third jump in human development was the appearance of  mind, not brain, mind. They are not at all the same. All creatures have brains, at least those higher up on the spectrum.  By the time a creature has appendages, movement, reproduction, there is a brain to guide and direct. Insects have brains, but only the most highly developed animals have minds which are very difficult to define, impossible to explain.  The brain is not the mind. The mind is that which is ‘aware’ of things.  There is no good word, but we have a general idea of what ‘aware’ means and it is because of mind that we can be ‘aware’ of things. That is the third big jump, from brain to mind. First, existence,  then life, then conscious, intentional thought,  a trinity that is us.

The brain doesn’t think; it responds. The senses use the brain tell the body what is going on outside.  The brain then through a system of nerves tells the body to react this way or that, but the brain, strictly speaking, does not think about it. It is the mind that thinks. Here is the great mystery. Here is where artificial intelligence is not intelligence.

Put the greatest computer ever or ever will be on a table. Next to it put a living  person. The person will be aware of what is outside; the computer will not. You can walk up to the person and the computer with a sign that says “You are a jerk.” The computer doesn’t care.  The person may yawn or kick you, for the person is ‘aware’ of your thoughts. He knows what a ‘jerk’ in that context means. A computer, even if it has suitable recognition machinery built in, may send out a robot to bash your head, but it does not, it cannot care. The computer through sensors may respond to noise, heat, etc., but it will not know your thoughts;  it will not be ‘aware’ of what it is doing. Both you and the computer have brains (as it were), but you also have a mind. The computer does not. A mind ‘understands’; a brain does not. The mind may need a brain, but they are not the same thing. God does not have a brain, but He does have a mind!

Who knows about animals? A dog can be in the house by the fire and will suddenly lift his head and maybe go to the door. He is aware of something outside.  It certainly looks as though he is alert, aware. And primates. Chimpanzees, monkeys, gorillas. Some birds. They appear to be capable of something like awareness, thinking.

Maybe my particular analysis is not quite accurate. Maybe there are other jumps. Maybe the critical jumps are not quite as I conceive them. Nevertheless, there is a particular value in giving some thought to the idea of big jumps. While all of life is mystery, we take for granted most of it. We sprout and grow, florish, wilt and die without being properly astonished by the mystery of everything, and maybe by thinking of these big mysteries, we may more value the routine miracles of life, for, really,  all is mystery, mystery, mystery.