5.3.1. A spiritual phenomenon
"Globalisation", according to Teilhard de Chardin, would be
the effect of an irresistible attraction to the Omega Point, point of Universal
convergence. The word "totalisation" manifests this energy. He writes in this
regard:
K Representons-nous [...] un homme devenu
conscient de ses relations personnelles avec un Personnel supreme, auquel il
est conduit a s'agreger par le jeu entier des activites cosmiques. En un tel
sujet, et a partir de lui, il est inevitable qu'un processus d'unification se
trouve amorce, marque de proche en proche par les +tapes suivantes :
totalisation de chaque operation par rapport a l'individu ; totalisation de
l'individu par rapport a lui-meme ; totalisation enfin des individus dans le
collectif humain. - Tout cet K impossible » se realisant naturellement
sous l'influence de l'amour. »=
convergence coinciding and culminating at its summit, with
Him in quo omnia constant, that Heaven taught me to love.
I None of these words appears in Claude
Cuénot's Le nouveau lexique Teilhard de Chardin, Paris, Seuil,
I968.
2 Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, L'Energie
humaine (6 aoat I937), Oeuvres VI, pp. I82-I83. Let us represent
ourselves [...] a man who has become aware of his personal relationships with
the Supreme Personal, to which he is lead to merge through the entire cosmic
activities. With such a subject and from him, it is inevitable that a process
of unification begins, marked step by step through the following stages:
totalisation of each operation related to the individual; totalisation of the
individual with himself; and finally, totalisation of individuals in the human
togetherness. - All this "unbelievable" being realised naturally under the
influence of love.
5.3.2. Creation as a continuous process
According to Teilhard de Chardin, because the creation of the
universe takes its source in the "pure Multiple" or the "creatable
nothingness", it is a continuous phenomenon:
« Non, la Création n'a jamais cessé.
Mais son acte est un grand geste continu, espacé sur la Totalité
des Temps. Elle dure encore ; et, incessamment, bien qu'imperceptiblement, le
Monde émerge un peu plus au-dessus du Néant
»1.
This creation which is always in becoming is the very
expression of Evolution. It is neither a blind nor an automatic mechanism. It
implies and demands the active participation of the actors who are engaged in
it. Men are called to build the earth and Teilhard de Chardin insists on the
fact that man is co-creator of the world both through his great achievement and
in the least important of his works:
g Nous nous imaginions peut-titre que la Création
est depuis longtemps finie. Erreur, elle se poursuit de plus belle, et dans les
zones les plus élevées du monde... Et c'est a l'achever que nous
servons, meme par le travail le plus humble de nos mains.
»2
Hence, globalisation as these intuitions suggest would be a
collective project participating in the advance of the universe. It is a risky
project, an adventure full of chaos and disorder. Teilhard de Chardin, who does
not abide to the conception of those who are totally against globalisation,
remains optimistic. In this vein, he wonders:
I Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, Ecrits du temps
de guerre, Oeuvres XII, I9I7, p. I49. No, Creation has never ceased. But
its act is a great continuous gesture, spaced on the Totality of Time. It is
ongoing, and, everlastingly, although imperceptibly, the World emerges a little
more above Nothingness.
2 Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, Oeuvres IV,
I926-I927, p.50. We may imagine that Creation has been over ever since. This is
a mistake, Creation continues, unabated, and in the highest areas of the
world...We are called to bring it to its fulfilment even through the most
humble work of our hands.
~Mal de desordre et d'insucces :...], Mal de decomposition
:...]. Mal de solitude et d'angoisse :...] Douleurs et fautes, larmes et sang,
1...] Voila donc, en fin de compte, ce qui dans un premier temps d'observation
et de reflexion, nous revele le spectacle du Monde en mouvement. Mais est-ce
vraiment tout, -- et n'y a-t-il pas autre chose a voir 1
»1
Teilhardian optimism needs to be situated in a scientific
context in order to be understood as a counter trend to the pessimistic secular
eschatology of our days. Teilhard de Chardin was aware not just of the need to
counter pessimism, but also of the need for engagement, rather than withdrawal,
and solidarity, rather than isolation. He seemed to be more concerned that
humanity would run out of psychic energy before material resources were
exhausted. While he may have been naïve about the environmental dangers,
the difficulties that are faced by environmentalists today concern the lack of
will to change, an apathy in spite of knowing what the dangers might be. In
this sense, Teilhard de Chardin seems to be right in his estimation that
psychic energy is a prerequisite to action and knowledge. We need to learn to
be co-creative with the earth in engaging with it, rather than withdrawing from
it by turning away from its demands. The question of whether the evolution of
the cosmos has a goal remains the ultimate question to be tackled. We are
convinced of the fact that Teilhard's vision can help to sustain hope even in
the midst of more pessimistic accounts about the future of the universe and
planet earth.
I Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, appendix to Le
Ph+nomène humain of Octobre 28th I948. Sorrowful situation of
disorder and lack [...],sorrowful situation of decomposition[...], sorrowful
situation of loneliness and anguish [...], pains and mistakes, tears and blood,
[...], that is, ultimately, what at first observation and reflection, the
spectacle of the World in movement reveals to us. But then, is this really all
about our world, is there nothing else to envisage?
CHAPTER SIX
THE PROGRESS OF THE NOOSPHERE
According to Teilhard de Chardin, Consciousness and Matter are
aspects of the same reality, and are called the "Within" and the "Without"
respectively. Evolution is the steady increase in the "Within" or degree of
consciousness and complexity, through a number of successive stages: the
various grades of inanimate matter; life or the "Biosphere"; man or thought or
mind, the "Noosphere". Teilhard de Chardin thus follows the evolutionist
understanding of an evolutionary progression from inanimate matter through
primitive life and invertebrates to fish, amphibians, reptiles, mammals, and
finally man; always an increase in consciousness. With man a threshold is
crossed: self-conscious thought, or mind, appears. But even humans do not
represent the endpoint of evolution, for this process will continue until all
humans are united in the "Omega Point"I. Teilhardian cosmology thus
revolves around the idea of an evolutionary progression towards greater and
greater consciousness, culminating first in the appearance of self-conscious
mind in humankind, and then in the Omega point of divinization of humanity.
Inviting us not to despair and to believe in the progress of humanity, Teilhard
de Chardin asserts:
If progress is a myth, that is to say, if faced by the
work involved we can say `What's the good of it all?' our efforts will flag.
With that the whole of evolution will come to a halt -- because we are
evolution. (...) There is no such a thing as the `energy of despair' in spite
of what is sometimes said. What those words really mean is a paroxysm of hope
against hope. All conscious energy is, like love (and because it is love),
founded on hope.2
I See appendix II.
2 Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, The Phenomenon of
man, New York, I959, p. 23I, footnote included.
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