Journalist Margaret Wente has vented her disapproval about the repudiation of Darwin's Origin of Species and felt that this repudiation by the Ontario school system is more than a sinister plot of our fundamental creationists(2). Wente questions the literal interpretation of the Bible and writes "The Bible says that the world was created by God, and that Adam and Eve appeared promptly on Day 6." She also explains that the repudiation of evolution is due to "the profound aversion of the school system to anything that smacks of controversy."

There is a strong misunderstanding among the public in the fact, that in most instances, the biological evolution of life has been equated to Darwin's theory of evolution of natural selection(3), a theory where life is depicted as a continuous struggle for the survival of the fittest. The biological evolution of life has nothing to do with Darwin's at all(4), and in this respect we can refer to the "theory of living systems(5)" where living is nothing else but the expression of our 'mind' that is learning. And mind is not necessarily associated with brain either, mind is associated with the concept of self-organization which is present in all living things; and self-organization is not a gambling process, but a creative (or spiritual) process. In the end, the theory of living system can reconcile science and religion, and provide a better outlook on how to understand our society and related evolution to a better world(6).

The school system is wrong in dismissing evolution all together from their curriculums, and as a consequence our students are left with a deep vacuum in their capacity to understand and learn life; as students, they are going to believe that the world was created in six days, and as adults they are going to believe that life is a struggle for the survival of the fittest. And where is living and learning(7)? And where is the TRUTH? And as today we know "See It, Imagine It -- It's the Same to Your Brain(8)," I ask: how are we supposed to learn without imagination?

References/Endnotes

Articles by Mario deSantis

1. Evolution dropped in Ontario schools. Special course only: Darwinism replaced by safe, 'value-neutral' topics, Tom Spears, October 30, 2000, Ottawa Citizen

2. Day, Darwin, darkness, Margaret Wente, November 2, 2000 The Globe and Mail,

3. What is Darwinism?, Phillip E. Johnson, November 1992,

4. Refer to this site for many sarcastic jokes on Darwinism. The site is managed by Wendy Northcutt, author of the book The Darwin Awards: Evolution in Action

5. THE THEORY OF LIVING SYSTEMS AND ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGES ARTICLE 3-A CONCISE DESCRIPTION OF THE THEORY OF LIVING SYSTEMS (Living Systems: Organization/Pattern, Structure, and Process/Cognition) By Mario deSantis, September 4, 1998

6. THE THEORY OF LIVING SYSTEMS AND ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGES ARTICLE 4  A CONCISE DESCRIPTION OF THE THEORY OF LIVING SYSTEMS (Living Systems: Principles of Organization and Building Sustainable Human Communities) By Mario deSantis, September 12, 1998

7. Revisiting Maturana's Genius at Christmas 1999: Being human means languaging and emotioning, by Mario deSantis, December 22, 1999

8. See It, Imagine It -- It's the Same to Your Brain, Wednesday November 1 4:11 PM ET, http://ca.dailynews.yahoo.com/ca/headlines/ts/story.html?s=v/ca/20001101/ts/science_brain_col_2.html