Hi Harv,
I know you meant "teeming with life" but I just couldn't resist. I believe the universe is also literally "teaming with life". Let me explain.
Unschooled as I am, I am trying to catch up. I am currently taking an audio course in philosophy given by John Searle. To my surprise, I learned that professional philosophers have abandoned dualism in the last hundred years or so and are still trying to get out from under the dualistic concepts embedded in our language. He says that the only remaining dualists are amateurs, such as myself. I didn't realize that I was nearly alone in my dualistic views.
I'm not an easy sell, though. Searle has a lot more convincing to do to corral me into the ranks of the professionals and force me to choose between idealism and realism.
In my view, the duality consists of mind and thoughts. I am with Berkeley in considering material to be merely thoughts in the mind of God.
I believe that after the creation of matter (simply by God thinking about certain patterns of numbers), sufficient complexity arose to allow the painfully slow construction of organisms (largely constructed by the laws of physics as Alex describes, but "steered" in successful directions via quantum choices as I have described). Once these organisms were sufficiently complex (animals with brains), "remote viewing" and remote control was possible by God donning the "VR helmet and gloves" in order to willfully control the behavior of the animals.
In this way, bringing me, finally, back to your quote, you could say that God, or nature, was "teaming with life" in order to make more progress.
Just having fun with speculation.
Warm regards,
Paul |