Natural selection is how complex systems evolve and become adapted to their environment, not just organisms and populations, but cultures and communities as well. The trouble with natural selection is that it is mostly dumb luck. And a lot of creatures and cultures have to fail for every one that succeeds.

Once you see that, you get the AHA! moment, and everything suddenly makes sense. This is why Darwinism took the world by storm, because it explains so much. It also explains why it has been so bitterly resisted. People would rather have their superstitions explain why things are the way they are than accept that it just turned out that way naturally. Nobody's in charge, shit just happens.

But we are also thinking creatures. We can go against our natures, and we can alter our own destinies, especially if we understand the sources of our motivations, and those of our fellows. We need not be prisoners of evolution any more than we need be bullied by the laws of physics, or blindly accept the rules of some Bronze Age Diety. Sure, even if we accept the restrictions that nature places on us, there is still much we can do to control our own lives. We have power, even if we are not all-powerful. Once you understand your limitations, and accept them, you may find you still have much power to make things happen.

Read "The Naked Ape", by Desmond Morris. I was lucky, it was assigned reading at school, so I learned from it when I was still young enough to profit from it. It was a very controversial book at the time, although it is pretty tame by today's standards.

I have a friend who used to work at Busch Gardens. One day, the game keeper took her for a jeep ride through the animal park. He stopped at the edge of the moat around the Baboon Island. These apes are potentially dangerous, but are afraid of water, so they are isolated on an island for safety. "Watch this.", he told her, and he walked up to the edge of the moat and adopted the baboon threat posture, standing up and lifting his arms above his head. Immediately, the alpha male repeated the posture, rushed to the edge of the moat and opened his mouth in a wide scream, displaying his 3" canines.

My friend remarked there was no doubt that creature was ready to tear them apart, simply to display its dominance and protect its harem. And she realized at that moment how little actually separates us from our most remote ancestors.