Natural Creation or Natural Selection? - Reviews and Comments

Why are we here? How are we here? Continuously over the ages these questions and doubts have puzzled, intrigued and confused philosophers, scientists and theologians, and indeed, the average man in the street. John Davidson investigates and expands with his customary keenly discerning mind and amazingly extensive knowledge, the origins of life on earth.... Whilst acknowledging the value of Darwin's theory of gradual evolutionary change brought about by a process of natural selection and the survival of the fittest in dispelling rigid religious dogma prevalent in his day, the author with conviction feels that it portrays a horizontal mechanistic picture, missing the essence of life, the inner spark of consciousness, the Life Force, emanating through the universal formative mind of God.

We are presented with the mind-stretching supposition that the true natural ecology is an ecology and integration at the level of subtle tattvic configurations or microcosms.... Whatever changes or degrees of evolution may appear, they come from within, within the mind, within the soul of man, they are not the result of outward or outside influences, and this is because we are part of, and one with, the universal formative mind, the Life Force, the Word, the Logos of God. As above, so below. As below, so above.

In his writing and theories, John Davidson enables us to fathom out and to reach our own answers to the age-old questions we so constantly ask ourselves. We are led along paths of new and fresh ideas, so consistent with our time, stimulating our levels of thinking, inspiring and elevating the extent of our present knowledge and our sense of conscious awareness.

Doris Middleton, Beyond, The Seekers Trust, Addington, Kent

Davidson argues that neither Darwinism nor neo-Darwinism offers a satisfactory concept of the origin and development of species; nor, he says, are these theories verified by the evidence available from fossils. Evolutionary theories, he points out, are based on the purely materialistic concept - that is, of accepting material examinations as providing the 'answer'. Here the anthropologist falls into the same trap as that occupied by many researchers: awfully clever at examining what - failing completely to have a comprehension of why.

In his first volume (Natural Creation and the Formative Mind), Davidson declared, "We, with our modern, logical minds and out assumption that time progresses only linearly like a steam roller out of control, from past to future, find it difficult to perceive the whole of nature as one plan - a wholeness and implicate order, where past, present and future are collapsed into one mystic whole. It is not easy to realize that such conceptions of linear progression are more indicative of how our human, intellectual minds function that of how nature organizes itself." What is absent from these concepts is the centre of all existence - mind. Most of the scientific theories regard mind as being a by-product of matter; it is much more strongly arguable that matter is no more than a by-product of mind.

In his second volume (Natural Creation or Natural Selection?), Davidson doubts that evolution is a scientific theory. He writes, "It is all concerned with what has happened, not what is happening. You cannot perform a repeatable experiment in history or evolution, like you can in physics or chemistry. And since the history of living creatures so clearly involves the minds of those creatures, to assess the nature, vibration and general atmosphere of times past is almost impossible in anything but the broadest outline."

From his profound study of yoga and meditation, Davidson offers a fascinatingly detailed approach. Excellent stuff.

Richard Miller, Yoga and Life, Yoga for Health Foundation, Ickwell Bury, Biggleswade, UK

John Davidson is proposing a new model that fits the evidence put forward by both protagonists of evolutionary theory that have held the field up to now: the Creationists with their literal interpretation of the biblical account, and the Darwinists with their theory of natural selection. The Creationists ignore the methods of mystical Bible exegesis that are more than 2 millennia old, while the Neo-Darwinists reject anomalies and fail to take into account fossil witness provided by paleontologists. Davidson examines the evidence available from recent scientific observation, including anomalies, to demonstrate conclusively that it is now essential to replace the old model by a new one.

What is exciting to students of yoga is that his model not only satisfies the new scientific evidence, but relates it to classical yoga teachings about the tattwas (the five 'elements') and the yugas (the recurring cycle of ages). He argues that we are only beginning to understand the significance of DNA and genetic structure and advances some insights into how they are patterned by the energies of the mind. He presents strong evidence that evolution does not occur by natural selection ... but because the potential for adaptation to the environment is built into the genetic structure, which is itself patterned by the universal mind....

A stimulating and informative book by the foremost reconciler of yoga and natural science.

Bill Heilbronn, Caduceus, Leamington Spa, UK

In recent months, Professor Stephen Hawkin has remarked that if we could understand the nature of time and the origins of the universe, we would come close to reading the 'Mind of God'. But if we really want to obtain some faint glimmerings into the utterly transcendent, it is in relation of the life force to the processes of evolution that our enquiry must be made. This is the subject of John Davidson's brilliantly provocative new book.

Bill Heilbronn, Spectrum, British Wheel of Yoga, UK

So far I have got to page 60 of your book, and am finding it most enthralling. I have accepted the underlying concept for a long time, but the detailed development of the argument and the supporting evidence is largely new to me, and I am indebted to you for explaining it all so clearly.

Bill Heilbronn, Leamington Spa, UK

His approach to evolutionary theory is refreshingly open. His analysis of the links between evolutionary theory and the universal philosophy expressed by mystics throughout the ages is spiritually inspired and intellectually sound.

Johan Quanjer, The New Humanity

I am writing to tell you how much I have appreciated Natural Creation or Natural Selection? ... The idea of super species, and making sense of extinction and regeneration cycles is a break-through, and seeing Mind as a filter, dense or not so dense, makes things easy to understand. You have found an all-embracing pattern, and, actually I am lost in awe-struck respect. The Epilogue is a very useful gathering together of information and discovery. Thank you. I am looking forward with eagerness to Natural Creation: The Mystic Harmony.... Integrating the ebb and flow of the yugas with the extinction and regenerating cycles was what thrilled me, and finding that Mind has cycles, too. On such a broad scale, it makes sense. So far I have got to page 60 of your book and am finding it most enthralling. I have accepted the underlying concept for a long time, but the detailed development is largely new to me and I am indebted to you for explaining it all so clearly.

J.O'B., Cambridge

I have been reading it in the train mornings and evenings - it's certainly taken my mind off the heat! I like it very much. I particularly liked the concept of "super-species". I hadn't come across it before.

T.B., London

I have just finished reading your very interesting book, Natural Creation or Natural Selection? It certainly puts a new angle on evolutionary theory, and has given me much food for thought.

E.F., Burnham, Buckinghamshire

I would like to thank you for expressing your ideas on consciousness, mysticism, mind, and so on, together with scientific facts, so openly.

S.S. Pope, London