The Big Bang, or the moment the entire universe was compressed into a singularity smaller then the size of a dime from which it expanded to its current state 13.7 billion years ago, is referred to by some spiritualists as The Cosmic Egg.
The question of which came first, the chicken or the egg is one of humankind’s immortal questions and it is a question that goes back as far as the ancients. Greek historian Mestrius Plutarchus wrote; “The problem about the egg and the hen, which of them came first, was dragged into our talk, a difficult problem which gives investigators much trouble.” The earliest of philosophers pondered the question with considerable depth, because to answer the question is to know the origin of humankind.
A truly fascinating and profound question in deed. Let’s approach a possible answer from three perspectives; the chicken’s, the egg’s and neither of the two.
(1) The Chicken: If you think the chicken came first well then that would make sense right? The chicken would “HAVE TO BE” in order for an egg to eventually exist. This fits for creationists because a Divine will would have created the chicken first so subsequent chickens could be hatched from eggs, and this fits for evolutionists because chickens would have evolved from dinosaurs.
(2) The Egg: If you think the egg came first then this would be pragmatic, evolutionary thinking and speaking of evolution, since it applies to the topic, what exactly is it? Evolution is the gradual, generational mutation of a species over time. Now, dinosaurs have been laying eggs long before chickens were on the scene, and chickens just didn’t materialize from a cosmic aether so they had to evolve from dinosaurs. However this evolutionary change wouldn’t happen throughout a dinosaur’s hunting, eating and terrorizing day…..in other words the dinosaur wouldn’t wake up one morning and find she was a chicken. This change would take place during the embryonic stage with in the egg due to chemical, biological, genetic, physical and environmental changes inherited from the dinosaur. The egg and it’s gradually evolving embryo would be laid and hatched, then another, and another, and another, and another until a chicken eventually poked it’s beak out clucked. – Corny I know.
(3) Neither: Well this is an interesting point to consider and here’s why. Human evolution postulates that humankind (homo-sapiens, you and me) evolved from early hominids or…early apes 5 – 7 million years ago. Now many religious, spiritual, philosophical and even academic perspectives take issue with the theory of human evolution for a great many reasons. One reason is based on a very common-sense-like question and that is, “where are the bones”? Sure, archeology and paleontology have over time unearthed some amazing and significant finds that lend to, or from particular points-of-view substantiate the theory of human evolution. We’ve all heard of the “missing link” which is the evolutionary skeletal system scientist continue to search for that will link early hominid to current homo-sapiens, proving in fact that humankind did in fact evolve from ape.
To date there is no missing link, although in fairness…there have been some very compelling finds, but nothing definitive.
Now I have no training or schooling in archeology, paleontology, forensic pathology or anthropology and…this is just me here, but besides unearthing relatively complete skeletal systems in a localized area that are either definitively ape, human and sure…a few others that are in-between or all together different, plopping a bunch of fossilized ape heads on a chain of mixed human and ape bones just because the fames and hinges line up does not demonstrate the chain of evolution for me anyway.
Again, evolution means the gradual genetic, biological, chemical and physical change of a species. In both cases of the chicken and the egg and human beings, shouldn’t there be thousands if not millions of skeletal remains in various stages of evolutionary development buried all over the place. Well, there isn’t but again in fairness, there are many reasonable explanations for this, however…should the “Missing Link” have turned up by now? If not…IT, what about one of its clearly distinguishable mutating cousins?
I don’t know, I find many aspects of human evolution suspect, but this reasoning stands for the cosmic chicken and egg because evolution is a slow and steady process. One of the evolutionary cousins between the dinosaur and the chicken would have been the species to have laid the egg that would hatch the chicken as we know it today. So…techically in direct relation to the chick and the egg neither came first but some off shoot mutation between the chicken and the dinosaur.
Now let’s bring the discussion full circle. An interesting scientific fact: Egg shells can not be reproduced outside the species that laid the egg. According to a paper written by British researchers (“Structural Control of Crystal Nuclei by an Eggshell Protein”)who conducted an experiments on egg shells, they determined that the “crystal nuclei” proves that the chicken came first.
Hmmm……