We are about to experience a major paradigm shift based on a natural law which has yet to be fully understood but whose existence is demonstrable.

In the ongoing debate between Intelligent Design proponents and those who espouse the scientific evolutionary point of view, something is becoming increasingly obvious.

In this question of mans origins, the stakes are much higher than they are for other sciences because the answer to that particular question will also answer questions about our destiny. It is forcing us to consider what the source of the answers to our carefully controlled questions really is.

The field of mans origins has become the battleground on which materialism is fighting spirituality for the right to be the basic tenet of human existence.

Science, with its proven effectiveness as a methodology that harnesses the forces of nature to improve mans condition, has replaced the formerly prevailing religious world view.

This has led to an ideological pendulum swing to the side of facts to such an extent that any idea is held in contempt if it challenges the belief - the world view - that an external, material universe will dictate to us what is and what is not true.

The argument against the Intelligent Design theory is that ID has no basis in science at all and is simply a throwback to the olden days of witch burnings and government by divine right.

Intelligent Design would appear to be losing the battle except for the fact that huge and growing numbers of people are backing it, including powerful politicians and scientists in top positions.

This is partly because of advances and discoveries in branches of science unrelated to evolution. We've all heard of how the observer and the thing observed are bound at an intimate level when dealing with the physics of the very small.

These other branches of science have demonstrated that when our observations are taken to another plane and the peripheral noise that surrounds everyday life is eliminated as a factor, it becomes obvious that we are connected to the universe around us in ways and at a depth previously unsuspected.

Science, simply stated is based on the process of first formulating a theory. If a natural law can then be demonstrated to confirm that theory through experiment, the theory is accepted as scientific fact.

Outer reality can be demonstrated to be a reflection of an inner state.

This confirms ID because it eliminates accident as the determining factor in external events. This natural law does in fact exist and can be replicated by all men of good faith. It only requires focused will, desire, and time, to overcome the peripheral noise.

A paradigm shift occurs when conditions have developed to permit it and the need is overwhelming in a critical mass of a population.

People of influence in any domain who are backing I.D. are doing so because they know from personal experience that outer reality is a reflection of an inner state. That is how theyve reached the positions of influence they are in.

This is the natural law which will be the basis for the next major paradigm change. The precursor to this paradigm change is the revolt currently taking place against a world view that would have man as an accident in a mindless machine. Taken to its extreme, that is what the theory of evolution is perceived to be saying

The conditions permitting this change, mainly instant, mass, free communication brought about by computers, now exist in western society and its a matter of only a little time before the shift manifests.

When a world view appears to be at the height of its powers and impregnable, that is when it is ripe for a fall, to be replaced by a more comprehensive science that will not lose any of its power but will satisfy a need that we were previously unable to address.

Copyright 2006 Paul Freynet