GENETIC ENGINEERING IN A SPIRITUAL SETTING

This was read at a concurrent session at the 'Eating into the Future' conference held at the Adelaide Hilton in April 1999. (Subsequently published in The Beacon July/August 2003)

This paper is offered, as a reminder, to the majority of us who often fail to ask ourselves, on a regular basis - is there any purpose, any meaning, in this vast array of life around us? Its intention is an attempt to place genetics within what may be regarded as a fully self-contained and self-conscious whole, which is dynamically geared to more freely express itself as a result of inner causes.

Does there have to be a first cause? Even with our limited consciousness it can be very difficult to conceptualise a void, and then to visualise something being created out of nothing. There appears to be an acknowledgment that Life has always existed, and because there is general agreement that our universe did start in a condensed state, it is a very plausible proposition that a creative force is immanent in all life-forms.

In 1930, Sir James Jeans wrote - "Today there is a wide measure of agreement....that the stream of knowledge is heading towards a non-mechanical reality; the universe begins to look more like a great thought than like a great machine.

David Bohm saw the universe as "unbroken wholeness" with an implicate order at a deeper "non-manifest" level; such implicate order becoming explicate as consciousness expands. He also likened the universe to a hologram, each part, in some sense, containing within itself the whole.

If these thoughts are reasonably close to the truth, it could be stated that God, the Creative Being, desired to express Himself through a dispersion of His consciousness through the ever-denser levels of substance that are created by reduced vibratory energy.

Is this life of ours the result of chance, or design? With our more highly developed consciousness, and detailed knowledge of the interdependent web of life in which we live, it would be difficult to ascribe this to chaos. Order can be made out of chaos, but that requires a thinker, a thought, and a resulting action. Our planet, Earth, has been imbued with life-forms that have consistently evolved and grown from the basic sub-atomic building blocks, recording an ever-growing expansion of consciousness as life evolved. This process must surely indicate a Creator, with a plan that will eventually realise a fully conscious creation that can then fold back in on itself.

An ideal creative material is one that is very basic but with infinite capacity, and flexibility, for evolution and growth. In looking at this idea it is assumed that it is generally known that all life is energy. Behind every material form, and behind every less-dense form that we are aware of, there is an underlying pattern of energy.

Relativity theory showed that mass has nothing to do with substance, but is a form of energy. Energy is dynamic and therefore all substance is in a state of readiness for change. All life forms are therefore space/time constructs of energy patterns that intersect and form patterns which can be discerned by the human eye, ear, taste buds, or touch, and interpreted by the brain.

DNA is, itself, an energy pattern, made up of sub-atomic particles which have aggregated to form the molecular structure which geneticists use as the basis for their work. A German scientist, Ernst Peter Fischer, concluded, from the discrepancy between traditional and new models of genetics - "There are, therefore, no genes! There are - at least in the cells of higher organisms - only pieces of genes, which the cell can use when it makes proteins. A gene is by no means a molecule that exists in a cell. Rather, a gene is a task that a cell has to accomplish. Genes don't exist; they are always becoming - shades of quantum physics."

Quantum mechanics, the physics of subatomic events, suggests that the universe is nothing but probability. Einstein was not comfortable with this and said "God does not play dice." Probability means that anything can happen in a given set of subatomic particles and surely this is another pointer to the idea of a Creative being. Why not experience everything that is possible, in the knowledge that the whole is inviolate.

And doesn't that alert us to the dangers of using genetics without a full and complete understanding of what life is for? How many times does a scientist, or any of us, for that matter, say to him (her) self, what is the purpose of this act that I am undertaking. Is it necessary, is it a positive step forward, will it fit in, and harmonise with the existing ecology (in its broadest sense), or will it have a disruptive effect which may have unknown ramifications, be they positive, or harmful.

If Ernst Peter Fischer is correct in his definition of a gene, it is in order for a non-scientist to formulate a belief that a geneticist who transfers a gene, or parts of an organism such as a virus, bacteria, or an antibiotic, may unwittingly allow that transfer to produce a new substance which may, or may not, be benign.

The evolutionary pattern has been mineral, to plant, to animal, to human, each one resulting in an expansion of consciousness, with a long way to go. This expansion is achieved by lifting the vibratory pattern of the ensouled entities.

A question can be asked as to whether disease and disability are necessary. If man is to continually refine his bodies, the etheric, astral (emotional), and mental, there has to be an external cause, until such time as his mental development allows for a conscious realisation of why he is here and how he is to progress into the next kingdom, the fifth. As Man, like all other life forms is an energy body, the way forward is to increase the vibratory rate of the atoms within his bodies.

One lifetime is insufficient for the tremendous increase in consciousness that is called for, the etheric, astral, and mental bodies need eons of purification. In any one life it is not generally possible to do more than small improvement, so after the form in a current life has fulfilled its purpose it is cast aside until the indwelling spiritual entity is prepared to reincarnate. Prior to the conscious awareness of the need to evolve, the unaware entity has to be prodded by external forces. Amongst these are disease and disability, and they are intended to produce an awareness of the need to change in a more positive direction. Karma is a very involved and complex process to describe, but it does portray the Law of Cause and Effect, the "as ye sow, so shall ye reap", of the Bible.

Disease and disability not only arise to prod the sufferer, but also, in many cases, to provide an opportunity for change in the parents, and others who come into contact with that individual. You will all be aware of how such apparently negative attributes have inspired people to radically change their approach to life, and their relationships with others. Remedies for diseases, and disabilities, are not necessarily of universal application because no one person has a DNA profile that is the same as another's. Often it is a case of finding what particular process or medicine is right for each individual affected. One man's meat is another man's poison. It is of interest to note that many acclaimed cures only seem to work in certain individuals.

Some geneticists are proposing to experiment with germ-line changes, in the expectation of eliminating certain diseases from future generations. If, however, there is a need for an entity to face life through some form of disease, or disability, and these are gradually eliminated, there is a potential for new diseases and disabilities to appear.

Man is meant to co-create with God, but that implies that Man has the wisdom of a God, and the bulk of us fall far short of that requirement. Experimentation, and theorising, are necessary for advancement to this promising future and it is the purpose of Man's thrust in these endeavours which is of prime importance. Unfortunately, it is the intensity of our preoccupation with the material side of life that blinds us to the need for using judgement in the purpose for which the new developments are to be used. Discoveries are usually diverted to commercial use before they are fully investigated. Lack of sufficient public funding is a prime cause of this diversion of effort into premature usage for private profit.

Experimentation into all facets of the genetic basis of life is a prime necessity, if man is to become involved in the process of assisting in evolutionary change. The fact that the basic building block, i.e., DNA, is so complex, and rightly so if a Creative being is to have infinite means at Its disposal, must surely give good reason for caution.

Because geneticists only have detailed knowledge of approximately three to five per cent of the DNA strand, the remaining ninety-five per cent or so has been labelled as 'junk DNA'. There is always purpose in the way of nature and if we cannot easily understand apparent inconsistencies there is a need to continue investigation before fixing on a course of action. I recently read that scientists believe there is structured order in the 'junk DNA' and it is conceivable that this very large section of the DNA strand has a connection with reincarnation. As a plant passes on its growth experience to its seed so, perhaps, an entity's life experience is encoded into the DNA as a guide to the need for particular life experiences in a future life.

The present preoccupation with trying to eliminate imperfect bodies avoids the fact that they have their uses. In today's climate of genetic experimentation a Stephen Hawking, and others of his ilk, would likely not be born - their disability quite possibly leads them along the path they take to triumph over that which oppresses them.

Today's science tends too much to specialisation, an inability, or an unwillingness, to look at the whole, of which everything is ultimately a part. Parts only make sense if they are studied within the totality of the environment. Geneticists betray their usefulness to society by adopting a narrow viewpoint, and those employed in industry, and in industry-funded university research, betray humanity by their dedication to the profit motive.

Earth's life forms have been created in such variety, and in such large numbers, that the opportunity for the evolution of new forms is very extensive. Each species is virtually barred to the entry of genes from others, perhaps the only active penetration of those barriers being viruses and bacteria, other sources still being open to conjecture.

One has to question why the Creative Force elected to partition its creation into so many separate groupings. We must be very careful when we transfer genes between species, in a manner that cannot occur naturally, with some noted exceptions. Despite the almost impenetrable barriers life forms are almost infinite in number and variety. In acting like a God we fail to consider the great depth of consciousness which has created a cosmos that many scientists believe could contain as many as nine dimensions.

As biodiversity decreases in a species, so other species will also suffer decreases, interdependence is a very evident quality in the planet's web of life. A lessening in variety exposes a species to gradual extinction because the appearance of viruses, bacteria, fungi, and similar organisms cannot be resisted without a large pool of genetic material that can be used to breed more resistant forms.

Genetic engineering, as presently practiced is more interested in volume of sales of a few varieties as that is where the profits are made. Cross-breeding of genetically altered plants with wild relatives will render the latter virtually useless as a source of new stock.

In the past there has been much speculation as to the reason for wildlife exhibiting such characteristics as migration over thousands of kilometres, nest building abilities with no training, symbiosis of different species that can only interact with one another, and the many other evidences of some intelligent presence. Rupert Sheldrake has been in the forefront of the theorising, and experimentation, in this field. He suggests that all species are enveloped in energy fields which have been called morphogenetic fields. J. Needham defines biological morphogenesis as the "coming-into-being of characteristic and specific form in living organisms."

The energy fields, in essence, are much like a template which orders the growth of life forms which exist in that particular species' field. It is almost as if the energy field regulates the growth, characteristics, and actions of the life forms in it. This could be the basis of the similarity exhibited by all members of a species.

Energy fields can be found in abundance, examples being the earth's magnetic field, the human body's electrical field, solar, planetary and lunar fields, the list is virtually endless. The fields appear to have an intelligent entity that controls their growth, maintenance, and changes needed to meet varying environmental impacts. These energy fields would have to be well-defined and separated from each other in order to avoid any mixing, which would interfere with their integrity. As previously noted, "all life is energy" and therefore the presence of morphogenetic fields can follow quite logically.

Thought is energy. This fact may explain "formative causation", the process of establishing a new species, a new variant, the enabling of the crystallisation of a new material to be performed more rapidly as the energy field is established; animals in laboratory experiments that entail learning new pathways seem to pass on that learning to far-distant animals which learn those same paths far more quickly than expectation would warrant.

Bearing in mind, again, that all is energy, it should be expected that any discipline which advocates the transfer of energy across energy field boundaries would be very wary of the potential for unforeseen consequences. In genetics, for example, transferring the energy of a gene across a species boundary, if performed often enough, could open a pathway to be utilised by unwanted gene energies and in a very far-fetched scenario could lead to a collapse of species boundaries.

In Man's early cultures a priest/astrologer was the individual responsible for divining the course of a ruler's life, and also that of the nation. He interpreted the signs and advised the ruler on what actions to take. In addition, he was the mediator between the Gods and the people.

In our modern cultures, this position is gradually returning, scientists becoming the priests, the interpreters of the causes of earth's phenomena. Religions, in general, have failed to develop their theological philosophies in line with developing consciousness, and it has therefore been left to the scientists to take over that role. It is now becoming apparent that the origins of life, and the meaning of life, are now taking on a scientific basis. Natural laws are being discovered that indicate God as an impersonal Creator Who has left clues to the meaning of life which can be discovered by using a scientific approach.

In keeping with this new role as a priest, it is incumbent on geneticists to ensure that their work fits in with life's needs rather than those which tend to the personal or the purely commercial. There is therefore a need to study widely, beyond the specialisation, and be more cautious in the choice of direction which can be followed.

It would be appropriate to look at the broad picture that contains Man's evolution over the ages, and attempt to find a way of continuing that evolution, and the evolution of the other kingdoms, in a manner that befits a wise creator. This will slow the pace of progress but it will also provide an opportunity for mature judgement when placing possibilities before the rest of us.

In conclusion, it could be said that genetic engineering has been forcibly inserted into the world's economy because of a greed for profit. If man has been designed to take part in creative consciousness he must first have full knowledge of how and why life was created. When that stage is reached his ability to co-create must be used to help the progress of all life on earth and be based on the highest spiritual, moral and ethical grounds.

James Jeans. The Mysterious Universe. MacMillan. New York.

J. Needham (1942) Biochemistry and Morphogenesis. C.U.P.

Rupert Sheldrake. A New Science of Life. Paladin.

A Question of Genes. Craig Holdredge. Lindisfarne Press & Floris Books

The Holographic Paradigm. Ed. By Ken Wilber. Shambhala, Boston & London