| OCR Text |
Show 269 governed by a principle like King's plasticity. Further, there was the relationship between cause and direction in natural selection. If there was a cause which operated "behind" natural selection, as Muir believed, some abstract quality, power, or efficacy, by which change is produced • a quality not identical with events, but disclosed by means of them - if there was such a cause, then there might be direction as well. Lyell wondered about this, and Asa Gray carried on a correspondence with Darwin which one commentator calls "frankly theological." Gray could not give up a heartfelt belief in design, and even though Darwin admitted to be inclined in that direction, he finally concluded that "the whole subject is too profound for the human intellect. . . . Let each man hope and believe what he can." As Muir admitted in his interview, he chose with Gray to believe that a final cause ruled behind natural selection, and he had no problem calling that God. But Muir was not ready to enter the realm of abstract speculation in 1873 when he prioritized his program of writing. He was going to write about the creation and metamorphosis of the Sierran landscape, from canyons to lakes, to meadows, and finally to forests. And he also thought that he would write some portraits of "Birds, bears, etc." As it turned out, the portraits of animals and birds would win him an audience, and much more. They would be instruments he would use to discuss the superiority of Nature's breeding program. But they would also gain sympathy for his own plan to reintroduce Man in Nature. He would use great care in writing, making sure |
