Notes by Doug Muder (1997)

"In thinking about miracles, I believe that our frame of reference has been too dramatic. We have been looking for the burning bush, the parting of the sea, the bellowing voice from heaven. Instead we should be looking at the ordinary day-to-day events in our lives for evidence of the miraculous, maintaining at the same time a scientific orientation." [pages 230-231]

Miracle of Health: "We can therefore say the same thing about physical disorders that we said about mental disorders: There is a force, the mechanism of which we do not fully understand, that seems to operate routinely in most people to protect and encourage their physical health even under the most adverse conditions."[page 239]

Miracle of the Unconscious: "If we identify our self with our self-concept or self-awareness or consciousness in general, then we must say concerning the unconscious that there is a part of us that is wiser than we are. …The fact of the matter is that our unconscious is wiser than we are about everything." [page 251]

Miracle of Serendipity: "The fact that highly implausible events, for which no cause can be determined within the framework of known natural law, occur with implausible frequency has come to be known as the principle of synchronicity. … [It] does not explain why or how this happened; it simply states that such implausible conjunctions of events in time occur more frequently than would be predicted by chance alone." [pages 254-255]

Miracle of Evolution: Peck compares spiritual growth to physical evolution. The argument he makes is flawed, but it is so close to being a beautiful metaphor that I'm going to try to fix it.

"Given what we understand of the universe, evolution should not occur; the phenomenon should not exist at all. One of the basic natural laws is the second law of thermodynamics, which states that energy naturally flows from a state of greater organization to a state of lesser organization, from a state of higher differentiation to a state of lower differentiation. … I state that the process of evolution is a miracle, because insofar as it is a process of increasing organization and differentiation, it runs counter to natural law. In the ordinary course of things, we who write and read this book should not exist." [pages 263-265]

A similar argument is made by creationists, who argue that evolution goes against natural law. The flaw here is that the second law of thermodynamics only applies to systems that aren't plugged into an external source of energy. Life on earth receives energy from the Sun; without that energy it would die rather than evolve. And so, there is no contradiction between evolution and thermodynamics.

"Again and again I have emphasized that the process of spiritual growth is an effortful and difficult one. This is because it is conducted against a natural resistance. … But as in the case of physical evolution, the miracle is that this resistance is overcome. We do grow. … Not all of us. Not easily. But in significant numbers humans somehow manage to improve themselves and their cultures. There is a force that somehow pushes us to choose the more difficult path whereby we can transcend the mire and muck into which we are so often born." [page 266]

Now the recognition of the Sun's role in evolution pays off in a metaphor that I find beautiful. This "force that somehow pushes us to choose the more difficult path" is a spiritual version of the Sun. Something shines on our souls and gives us the energy we need to overcome the resistance to our growth.

Return to The Road Less Traveled main page.