25Intelligence Structures the Material World

 

I was eager to learn how things worked.

I wanted to understand how everything interacted. I was curious and constantly wondering, What is going on? I loved the moment when knowledge would suddenly “click.”

When I discovered order and intelligence in the world, it brought me great joy.

My first real “aha” moment came in the fourth grade, when we were introduced to the organ systems of the body. I was amazed by the different functions of each organ and how they all worked together so smoothly.

It felt like discovering a hidden design.

At home, I had a chemistry set and a microscope. I loved experimenting — watching substances change and transform, almost like magic.

But my favorite pastime was the microscope.

I would spend hours looking at pond water, even scummy water, discovering a hidden world of microorganisms — vorticella, paramecium, euglena, and amoeba. Seeing such tiny forms of life, with symmetry, movement, and specialized functioning, fascinated me.

There was intelligence there.

Even in the smallest forms of life, there was order, purpose, and design.

I could sit for hours, completely absorbed.

These were my favorite pastimes… until, as life would have it, my attention began to include boys.

In the seventh grade, I learned about DNA and mitochondria. I remember staining onion root tips and looking through the microscope, watching the cells divide. It felt like I was witnessing life itself in motion.

I created a model of an amoeba for a science project and was able to take it to the regional science fair in Lakeland. I loved being there, seeing the creativity and curiosity of others.

The following year, I wanted to work with planarians — flatworms that can regenerate. If you cut off their head, they grow another. If you split their head, they can grow two.

It was a fascinating idea. But I had trouble getting the worms. Even so, something had already taken root in me.

A fascination with life.

With intelligence.

With the hidden order beneath what we see.

Looking back now, I can see:

I wasn’t just learning science.

I was beginning to recognize something deeper.

That life is not random.

That something is organizing,

guiding,

shaping.

From the smallest cell

to the widest world,

there is an intelligence at work—

quiet,

precise,

and everywhere.