The existence of genes shared by widely different organisms certainly invites one either to wonder why (a mood of pensivity) or to experience awe of varying degrees of contentment -- degrees depending on one's habituated level of curiosity or need/want/desire for explanation.

Personally, the awe I feel in contemplating the empirically gathered data of shared genes does not rise to the level of my desiring to take a partisan position in the debate between Darwinian Evolutionists and Believers in an Intelligent Design. I do, however, confess to permitting myself to harbour the nearly impossible idea that I might myself one day articulate a synthesis of both sides of the debate.

Unlike the priest of Ventner's story, my social self-presentation does not require me to argue for Intelligent Design. And unlike Remi, my social presentation does not impell/incline me to leap to the conclusion that "Such a kinship is a direct consequence of Darwinian evolution, but just doesn't make any sense under the intelligent design theory."

Instead, I find a sort of "wondering gnostic stability" in putting forth the following idea: the universe I perceive outside has an observable coherence in it because the gnosis I repeatedly want to have is that I either have coherence inside now or I am capable, in conversation with decent souls such as I find in Remi and DWA and Silverfox and Homer and Frank and Crossbowman, of finding/creating coherence inside in alternate and increasingly combined experiences of pensivity, relationship, and contented awe.

For those of you who are accustomed only to empirical arguments -- such as the account Ventner gives of the priest's shock -- being satisfying, I hope that this post will encourage you to enjoy some self-reflections. I hope also you will want to venture some verbal self-assertions following self-reflections such as have resulted in this post. If you have not already tried the "I have X emotion now" form of lingusitic gnosis, I encourage you to do so, and hope that a visit to

http://www.authentixcoaches.com/AgeofGnosis.html