Morowitz speaks of pruning or exclusion principles. Nature is simply too random to be of much use so exclusion principles operate to limit possibilities to options that are more workable for life.

“the selection principle is a rule that selects a certain small set of states of matter from the inconceivably vast array of possibilities…The Pauli principle by defining all chemical interactions organizes all the subsequent emergences…It is a pruning principle deep within the laws of nature that only permits behavior of a certain symmetry character. It selects a set of states from all possible states”. He then elaborates that there are probably all sorts of selection principles operating at all levels of reality and life that explain the emergences to ever higher stages. Even mind- “I would suggest that emergence of mind will have at its deepest roots some such sort of selection principle”.

He then goes on to conclude the evolving world is a world of chemical complexification. “Matter as we know it has emerged from the colossal explosion, the great condensing caldrons, and the enormous heat. These are repeated creations of the immanent God that follow from the laws of physics. Because of the Pauli principle, matter is informatic, and something akin to mind has already entered the universe…I repeat, matter is informatic”.

Let me just stop, bow and say ‘Wow’ before proceeding. What an important insight.

At every level laws order things. They engage the vast randomness of matter and from those inconceivably huge possibilities, laws order things into limited sets that offer usefulness and help progress to the next stages of order and complexity.

Some say we don’t know where the laws are from or why they are there. But we reason that because they order things forward therefore they are informatic and of the nature of mind. This is common sense. And so we see mind operating in matter from the very beginning. Morowitz is quite right to say these laws are the immanence of God. Operating every moment, everywhere in matter.

Naturalism in its extreme form denies this mystery and robs us of the wonder of everyday matter and life and our existence. It has long called these selecting principles the ‘laws of nature’ and has given its definition of nature a strongly philosophical/ideological meaning that counters the entire history of human insight. Why does it (and I refer to this very minority viewpoint of extreme naturalism) come to this conclusion? It dogmatically asserts that the laws are purely natural (as if anyone could ever know this factually and finally) and argues they come from nothing and mean nothing. This is a profoundly philosophical stance that is not based on any evidence of any sort and in fact counters massive evidence to the contrary. I suspect it is a reaction to irrational religious explanations of past centuries. Unfortunately, the extreme fringe of this reaction counters the evidence of an entire universe and all past history. It has now become a dogmatic commitment to meaningless in its reaction to religious meaning. What I am trying to counter is the theory drift that sweeps over into so many other areas and confuses people in their own endeavors to make sense of reality and life. It has huge impacts through modern societies, notably in Europe.

The laws of reality and life are profoundly informatic and meaningful. They order everything toward higher states/stages and more complex reality and forms. They order the random toward something more useful and eventually something more human. This is the only direction the universe has taken and can take. It is not one option among many, as meaningless dogma asserts. This appears to be an almost nonsensical denial of our very selves sitting and contemplating it all right now. The whole universe of matter has arrived at this complex stage now (anthropic principle here).

The extremist naturalism (the naturalism that goes beyond a limited variety that tries to understand how matter operates and moves into the forbidden territory of philosophy and meaning, violates the science/religion boundary), this naturalism is perhaps too much of a silly reaction against common sense, common faith and intuition. Once again, to balance and qualify- a small element of naturalism has been helpful in the scientific movement. This naturalism, of necessity, had to exclude the more rank elements of supernaturalism to enable us to better see how matter functioned so we could thereby improve life in this world. The extremist element confused this useful naturalist science with the broader human quest for meaning and in reaction to dogma on that side, ended up throwing out the baby with the bathwater.

The greater human quest for meaning has always been to understand what God was doing (Einstein- to know the mind of God and God’s purpose of creating something more humane). We try to know that and then make it our own endeavor. To join God in this venture of creating something more humane. We recognize with all humanity that all is from God, all is infused with God and all returns to God. These has long been the mothers of all givens.

It is right that science and religion have been about the human search for meaning and that has always ultimately been located in God.

So we get to human meaning in getting this universe story as being all about the human thing. The impulse to create something more humane. This drives all life and appears to be so evidently the purpose of God. It is so evident in the direction of the universe, the direction of life and the crowning glory of consciousness. We understand this is why God/Mind incarnated in the universe, in matter, in life and now in human consciousness.