A Warning ?

I deviate from my series distilling Teilhard’s concepts to inject some impassioned thoughts that interrupted my reading as I searched through his books.  He was a visionary who weaves together the strands of human knowledge that arise from two seemingly disparate ways to understand life and the world—science explores the material aspect of being to understand function, religion searches the spiritual dimension to seek meaning—Teilhard sees they are not disparate, but rather interdependent.  What follows are my thoughts combining with his wisdom.

            God doesn’t need us—

            there is a vast universe God is nurturing—

            if this tiny planet self-destructs

            its disappearance will hardly be disruptive . . .

            its loss can be easily compensated for.

            But we need God—

            the unknown God beyond our understanding

            who gives order and balance to the evolving universe.

            A God who calls forth human reason and compassion

            inviting our creative participation in a sustainable world.

            A God who calls forth love and morality

            thus enabling life to flourish.

            There are uncountable galaxies and planets

            beyond our knowing—

            but what we do know of

            is that which we have been given to shepherd—

            this terra firma upon which we stand;

            it alone provides for our continuation . . .

            its fate depends upon us and our choices.

            Only by our active recognition

            of need for the order and balance

            which is represented by a loving God

            who calls us to acknowledge our interdependence

            can we survive our individual selfishness.

Deuteronomy 30:19—“This day I call the heavens and earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses.  Now choose life, so that you and your children may live . . . “     (NIV)

             

Teilhard Series - 4th

If we are to realize the contribution of Teilhard de Chardin to our contemporary perspective, the most fundamental point of departure is: ‘Everything is interconnected’.  From the Bible to St. Francis of Assisi to Albert Einstein, to Pope Francis we’ve been told of the connectedness in different ways, yet it seems to not reach our understanding.  In 1972 scientist James Locklove originated the Gaia Theory that tells us that the entire earth functions as a single living organism; in living organisms injury or damage to any one part affects the entire organism.  He sounded an alarm we have failed to heed.  Einstein’s search for a Unified Field Theory arose from his conviction that all forces of nature answer to a single law—clearly he believes everything is connected.

Through his life-work in geology and paleontology, Teilhard came to realize the key to understanding how ‘everything is interconnected’, lies in understanding evolution and he presents scientific data that discloses the underlying pattern that ties all orders of development together.

Perhaps since the dawn of consciousness the human has been dimly aware of life’s interconnectedness but the demands of survival narrowed his focus to that part most critical to survival in that place at that time—yet stirring within the collective unconscious, has been the desire to know and understand more about ‘the big picture’—the everything.  That impulse led to the development of philosophy, the search for Wisdom—the true, the right and the just.  The search was once of a whole but at the time of the Renaissance the wisdom search split into seemingly opposing camps—Science and Religion.

It was a combination of necessity, circumstances and habit that led us to consideration of life from a narrow focus.  As knowledge advanced, uncountable pieces of information accumulated and it became necessary to compartmentalize it into manageable units.  Now, in the modern era we’ve been conditioned to see our world in separate units and that inhibits our wider vision.  When confronted with a problem we look only at the ‘box’ from which the problem arises.  We have a box for economics, a box for government, a box for technology, a box for psychology, a box for industry, boxes for religion and multiple boxes for science . . . we make our choices from within the box of the problem; we haven’t developed the means for dealing with that bigger picture of ‘everything is connected’.

Einstein said, “We must learn to think in a new way.”  To help us learn that new way Teilhard gives us the study of evolution.  He first brings us back to the beginning, when the earth was being born.  There is a pattern: we see movement from the simple to the complex.

       Geologists have defined the zonal composition of our planet; each layer necessarily            

       preceded the subsequent one and transformed it, and only because they developed

       as they did, was it possible for life to ultimately emerge:

            (the lifeless inorganic layers)

-       barysphere: central and metallic

-       lithosphere: it rocky surrounding crust

(the layers necessary for evolving and sustaining life)

-       hydrosphere: the fluid layers—earth’s waters

-       atmosphere: the air or gaseous surroundings

     to these 4 concentric layers, science identified another layer

            (the living membrane)

-       biosphere: living organisms

    Teilhard recognized and named another layer of transformation

            (the thinking layer)

-       noosphere:  of mind or mental processes

It is this quality of mind, mental processes or reflective awareness that sets the human apart, not a mere changes of biological state but a change of ‘being’.  The awakening of thought “marks the transformation that affects the state of the whole planet” (Teilhard’s words).  The presence of the human species has changed the face of the earth.  That is what we are called to fully recognize; we must expand our vision to see the whole picture because our collective choices set the course we travel.