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Unlike Darwin, Wallace believed a [[Creator]] guided the process of evolution, playing a key role throughout history in the inbreathing of spirit in mankind and bestowing mental faculties to humans. The following interview with Wallace in 1903 contains a very thorough revelation of Wallace's religious beliefs: {{cquote|"My whole argument tends in that direction [a Designer], though my object in writing 'Man's Place in the Universe' was purely scientific, not religious. Darwin believed that the [[mental]], [[moral]], and [[spiritual]] nature of man were alike developed from the lower [[animals]], automatically, by the same processes that evolved his physical structure. I maintain, on the other hand, that there are indications of man having received something that he could not have derived from the lower animals. I do not think it is possible to form any idea beyond this, that when man's body was prepared to receive it, there occurred an inbreathing of [[spirit]]--call it what you will. I believe this influx took place at three stages in evolution--the change (1) from the inorganic to the [[organic]], (2) from the plant to the animal, (3) from the animal to the [[soul]] of man. Evolution seems to me to fail to account for these tremendous transitions... To suppose that this one particular type of universe extends over all space is, I consider, to have a low idea of the Creator and His power. That would mean monotony, instead of infinite variety, which is the keynote of things as they are known to us. There may be a million universes, but they may all be different--certainly, I should say, not all matter. We are all agreed that ether is the fundamental, matter being its product; and it is possible that ether may have other products which are not perceptible by us. 'Then, as a scientist, you have no difficulty in believing in the existence of consciousness apart from material organism?' None whatever. At the same time, I have a difficulty in conceiving--though there is no reason why it should not exist--pure mind, pure spirit, apart from any substantial envelope or substratum. [[St. Paul]] speaks of a 'spiritual body'; that is a body possessed by disembodied spirits. To them it is real enough, but to us it is not corporeal."

Unlike Darwin, Wallace believed a [[Creator]] guided the process of evolution, playing a key role throughout history in the inbreathing of spirit in mankind and bestowing mental faculties to humans. The following interview with Wallace in 1903 contains a very thorough revelation of Wallace's religious beliefs: {{cquote|"My whole argument tends in that direction [a Designer], though my object in writing 'Man's Place in the Universe' was purely scientific, not religious. Darwin believed that the [[mental]], [[moral]], and [[spiritual]] nature of man were alike developed from the lower [[animals]], automatically, by the same processes that evolved his physical structure. I maintain, on the other hand, that there are indications of man having received something that he could not have derived from the lower animals. I do not think it is possible to form any idea beyond this, that when man's body was prepared to receive it, there occurred an inbreathing of [[spirit]]--call it what you will. I believe this influx took place at three stages in evolution--the change (1) from the inorganic to the [[organic]], (2) from the plant to the animal, (3) from the animal to the [[soul]] of man. Evolution seems to me to fail to account for these tremendous transitions... To suppose that this one particular type of universe extends over all space is, I consider, to have a low idea of the Creator and His power. That would mean monotony, instead of infinite variety, which is the keynote of things as they are known to us. There may be a million universes, but they may all be different--certainly, I should say, not all matter. We are all agreed that ether is the fundamental, matter being its product; and it is possible that ether may have other products which are not perceptible by us. 'Then, as a scientist, you have no difficulty in believing in the existence of consciousness apart from material organism?' None whatever. At the same time, I have a difficulty in conceiving--though there is no reason why it should not exist--pure mind, pure spirit, apart from any substantial envelope or substratum. [[St. Paul]] speaks of a 'spiritual body'; that is a body possessed by disembodied spirits. To them it is real enough, but to us it is not corporeal."

-Sir Alfred Russell Wallace<ref>Wallace, Alfred R. (1903, December 10).''[http://people.wku.edu/charles.smith/wallace/S741.htm A Visit to Dr. Alfred Russel Wallace (S741: 1903)].'' In ''The Christian Commonwealth''.</ref>}} Wallace called his advocacy for a Creator his "little [[heresy]]" because of the opposition it drew from the scientific community. His friend Darwin even contacted Wallace, expressing regret that Wallace's new emphasis on the [[supernatural]] might doom the theory of evolution. {{cquote|"In 1866, Wallace, never one to keep his opinions to himself, produced a pamphlet, 'The Scientific Aspect of the Supernatural,' which he sent to his eminent colleagues. In 1869, he published a review of a new edition of [[Lyell’s]] 'Principles.' In it, Wallace explained the mechanism of evolution and defended the laws of [[natural selection]] that accounted for it, but he also expressed the opinion that 'there yet seems to be evidence of a Power which has guided the action of those laws in definite directions and for special ends.' This was one of the first public expressions of a mystical turn that Wallace called his 'little heresy.' Darwin, warned in advance, had written anxiously to Wallace, 'I hope you have not murdered too completely your own and my child.' Wallace never did abandon natural selection, but later generations came to find him an unfit parent. He did not conform to the pattern of the modern scientist, who, on seeing the evolutionary light, was supposed to shed any illusion about the supernatural. Wallace attempted to reconcile the two, and his reputation suffered accordingly."

-Sir Alfred Russell Wallace<ref>Wallace, Alfred R. (1903, December 10).''[http://people.wku.edu/charles.smith/wallace/S741.htm A Visit to Dr. Alfred Russel Wallace (S741: 1903)].'' In ''The Christian Commonwealth''.</ref>}} Wallace called his advocacy for a Creator his "little [[heresy]]" because of the opposition it drew from the scientific community. His friend Darwin even contacted Wallace, expressing regret that Wallace's new emphasis on the [[supernatural]] might doom the theory of evolution. {{cquote|"In 1866, Wallace, never one to keep his opinions to himself, produced a pamphlet, 'The Scientific Aspect of the Supernatural,' which he sent to his eminent colleagues. In 1869, he published a review of a new edition of [[Lyell’s]] 'Principles.' In it, Wallace explained the mechanism of evolution and defended the laws of [[natural selection]] that accounted for it, but he also expressed the opinion that 'there yet seems to be evidence of a Power which has guided the action of those laws in definite directions and for special ends.' This was one of the first public expressions of a mystical turn that Wallace called his 'little heresy.' Darwin, warned in advance, had written anxiously to Wallace, 'I hope you have not murdered too completely your own and my child.' Wallace never did abandon natural selection, but later generations came to find him an unfit parent. He did not conform to the pattern of the modern scientist, who, on seeing the evolutionary light, was supposed to shed any illusion about the supernatural. Wallace attempted to reconcile the two, and his reputation suffered accordingly."

-Jonathan Rosen, [[The New Yorker]], "[http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/atlarge/2007/02/12/070212crat_atlarge_rosen Missing Link: Alfred Russel Wallace, Charles Darwin's Neglected Double]." 2007. <ref name=rosen>Rosen, Jonathan (2007, February 12). "[http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/atlarge/2007/02/12/070212crat_atlarge_rosen Missing Link: Alfred Russel Wallace, Charles Darwin's Neglected Double]." ''The New Yorker''.</ref>}} As Ron Grossman, a longtime [[Chicago Tribune]] reporter and ex-history professor, pointed out in 2009, Wallace is something of a '[[missing link]]' between early evolutionary theory and today's [[Intelligent Design]] movement: {{cquote|"As virtually every schoolchild learns, evolution means one life form evolves out of a previous one. That concept rankles religious fundamentalists because it doesn't leave room for the hand of God -- except in Wallace's version of the story... Subsequently, Wallace tweaked his theory of evolution. He still held that environment was key to change through survival. The [[antelope]] with stronger legs escapes predators to beget again another day. But he added that on three occasions in history, the natural process was interrupted by what he called "the unseen universe of Spirit." First, when life was created out of inorganic matter; second, when consciousness came to animals; and finally, when higher mental faculties were bestowed on humans. [[Creationists]] are always carping about supposed missing links in evolution. Wallace's theory is a kind of missing link between Darwin's ideas and the creationists' religious convictions. Mostly, nature carries the ball, but once in a while [[God]] throws a [[touchdown]] pass."<ref name=grossman>Grossman, Ron (2009, February 10). "[http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2009-02-10/news/0902090728_1_creationists-process-natural-selection-evolution The Man Everybody Ignored]." ''Chicago Tribune''.</ref>}} According to the [[Discovery Institute]], Wallace's views received an unusual source of approval in [[Charles Lyell]], the founder of [[Uniformitarianism]] (the concept geological processes and evolutionary rates are constant and gradual). {{cquote|"'13) What did Wallace’s scientific colleagues think of intelligent evolution?'

-Jonathan Rosen, [[The New Yorker]], "[http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/atlarge/2007/02/12/070212crat_atlarge_rosen Missing Link: Alfred Russel Wallace, Charles Darwin's Neglected Double]." 2007.<ref name=rosen>Rosen, Jonathan (2007, February 12). "[http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/atlarge/2007/02/12/070212crat_atlarge_rosen Missing Link: Alfred Russel Wallace, Charles Darwin's Neglected Double]." ''The New Yorker''.</ref>}} As Ron Grossman, a longtime [[Chicago Tribune]] reporter and ex-history professor, pointed out in 2009, Wallace is something of a '[[missing link]]' between early evolutionary theory and today's [[Intelligent Design]] movement: {{cquote|"As virtually every schoolchild learns, evolution means one life form evolves out of a previous one. That concept rankles religious fundamentalists because it doesn't leave room for the hand of God -- except in Wallace's version of the story... Subsequently, Wallace tweaked his theory of evolution. He still held that environment was key to change through survival. The [[antelope]] with stronger legs escapes predators to beget again another day. But he added that on three occasions in history, the natural process was interrupted by what he called "the unseen universe of Spirit." First, when life was created out of inorganic matter; second, when consciousness came to animals; and finally, when higher mental faculties were bestowed on humans. [[Creationists]] are always carping about supposed missing links in evolution. Wallace's theory is a kind of missing link between Darwin's ideas and the creationists' religious convictions. Mostly, nature carries the ball, but once in a while [[God]] throws a [[touchdown]] pass."<ref name=grossman>Grossman, Ron (2009, February 10). "[http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2009-02-10/news/0902090728_1_creationists-process-natural-selection-evolution The Man Everybody Ignored]." ''Chicago Tribune''.</ref>}} According to the [[Discovery Institute]], Wallace's views received an unusual source of approval in [[Charles Lyell]], the founder of [[Uniformitarianism]] (the concept geological processes and evolutionary rates are constant and gradual). {{cquote|"'13) What did Wallace’s scientific colleagues think of intelligent evolution?'

Most rejected it. But Charles Lyell, the great [[geologist]] to whom both Darwin and Wallace owed so much of their theories, never gave Darwin the approval he so desperately sought. When Darwin complained to Lyell of Wallace’s defection, Lyell replied, "I rather hail Wallace’s suggestion that there may be a Supreme Will and Power which may not abdicate its functions of interference, but may guide the forces and laws of [[Nature]]."<ref>Flannery, Michael A. "[http://www.alfredwallace.org/faqs.php Wallace FAQs]." Discovery Institute. Center for Science and Culture.</ref>}}

Most rejected it. But Charles Lyell, the great [[geologist]] to whom both Darwin and Wallace owed so much of their theories, never gave Darwin the approval he so desperately sought. When Darwin complained to Lyell of Wallace’s defection, Lyell replied, "I rather hail Wallace’s suggestion that there may be a Supreme Will and Power which may not abdicate its functions of interference, but may guide the forces and laws of [[Nature]]."<ref>Flannery, Michael A. "[http://www.alfredwallace.org/faqs.php Wallace FAQs]." Discovery Institute. Center for Science and Culture.</ref>}}

==Beliefs on spiritualism==

==Beliefs on spiritualism==

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wallace, Alfred Russel}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wallace, Alfred Russel}}

[[Category:pseudoscience]]

[[Category:Pseudoscience]]

[[Category:evolution]]

[[Category:Evolution]]