Teilhard de Chardin and Senghor on the civilization of the universal

I.3. THE PRESENT SITUATION AND MUTUAL DUTY OF HUMAN RACES

I.3.1. The conflict situation

In discussing the present situation and mutual duties of races, Teilhard de Chardin acknowledges that there is a contagious movement which is at present setting the various ethnic unities of the world in great hostility with one another. This antagonism among peoples, in which we are caught, seems to give a final knock to whoever dreamed of a unification of the universe. The world in his days was characterised by repulsion, isolation and fragmentation and this was revealed by wars and conflicts.

Teilhard de Chardin, who believed in the existence of human progress, remained optimistic despite the revival of racism in his days. He asserts:

Nous commençons maintenant à le sentir en nous, et à le constater chez nos voisins: avant les derniers ébranlements qui ont réveillé la terre, les peuples ne vivaient guère que par la surface d'eux-mêmes ; un monde d'énergie dormait encore en chacun d'eux. Eh bien, ce sont, j'imagine, ces puissances encore enveloppées qui, au fond de chaque unité humaine, en Europe, en Asie, partout, s'agitent et veulent venir au jour en ce moment ; non point finalement pour s'opposer et s'entredévorer, mais pour se rejoindre et s'interféconder. Il faut des nations conscientes pour une terre totale.^27(*)

Teilhard de Chardin bears witness to the fact that some peoples of the earth have lived in fear of one another and even in conflict. He imagines that these forces of opposition lying in every human unit in Europe or in Asia, were then in gestation and that they wanted to come out, neither to oppose nor crush themselves, but to unite, come together and to fertilize themselves. We need conscious nations for a total earth.

I.3.2. A step towards union

The apparent conflict situation in the world is just a step towards a union by dissension and gradually, all races are becoming aware of their duties towards one another. There is therefore, according to Teilhard de Chardin, no room for discouragement, since the process of globalisation will have to take a long period of time. What we need is patience and optimism:

Nous sommes donc en proie, à l'heure présente, aux forces de divergence. Mais ne désespérons pas...Dans la réalité des choses, un processus aussi vaste que celui de la synthèse des races ne se réalise pas d'un seul jet...Pour que l'ordre s'établisse sur la différenciation humaine, il faut sans doute une longue alternance d'expansions et de concentrations, d'écartements et de rapprochements. Nous nous trouvons placés, hic et nunc, sur une phase de divergence extrême, prélude à une convergence telle qu'il n'y a pas encore eu sur terre.^28(*)

Teilhard de Chardin says that nowadays, we are witnessing forces of divergence; but we need not despair. In reality a process as great as the synthesis of races cannot be realised quickly. It will take time more especially because we are in the phase of extreme divergence. The phase of extreme divergence which is characteristic of races and the world today is just a prelude to such a convergence, that is, the Civilization of the Universal as has never yet been on earth. In fact, according to Teilhard de Chardin, every move we make to isolate ourselves presses us closer together. So, in spite of quarrels and conflicts which it disturbs and saddens us to see, the idea that a concentration of humanity is taking place in the world and that, far from breaking it up, we are increasingly coming together, is not an absurd one.

* ²⁷ Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, La vision du passé, Paris, 1957, P. 294.

* ²⁸ Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, La vision du passé, Paris, 1957, p.294.