Teilhard de Chardin
Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, (born May 1, 1881, Sarcenat, France—died April 10, 1955, New York City, New York, U.S.), French philosopher and paleontologist known for his theory that man is evolving, mentally and socially, toward a final spiritual unity. Blending science and Christianity, he declared that the human epic resembles nothing so much as a way of the Cross.
Various theories of his brought reservations and objections from within the Roman Catholic Church and from the Jesuit order, of which he was a member. In 1962 the Holy Office issued a monitum, or simple warning, against uncritical acceptance of his ideas. His spiritual dedication, however, was not questioned.
The Omega Point
Teilhard's attempts to combine Christian thought with modern science and traditional philosophy aroused widespread interest and controversy when his writings were published in the 1950s. Teilhard aimed at a metaphysic of evolution, holding that it was a process converging toward a final unity that he called the Omega point. He attempted to show that what is of permanent value in traditional philosophical thought can be maintained and even integrated with a modern scientific outlook if one accepts that the tendencies of material things are directed, either wholly or in part, beyond the things themselves toward the production of higher, more complex, more perfectly unified beings. Teilhard regarded basic trends in matter—gravitation, inertia, electromagnetism, and so on—as being ordered toward the production of progressively more complex types of aggregate. This process led to the increasingly complex entities of atoms, molecules, cells, and organisms, until finally the human body evolved, with a nervous system sufficiently sophisticated to permit rational reflection, self-awareness, and moral responsibility. While some evolutionists regard man simply as a prolongation of Pliocene fauna (the Pliocene Epoch occurred about 5.3 to 2.6 million years ago)—an animal more successful than the rat or the elephant—Teilhard argued that the appearance of man brought an added dimension into the world. This he defined as the birth of reflection: animals know, but man knows that he knows; he has knowledge to the square.
Another great advance in Teilhard's scheme of evolution is the socialization of mankind. This is not the triumph of herd instinct but a cultural convergence of humanity toward a single society. Evolution has gone about as far as it can to perfect human beings physically: its next step will be social. Teilhard saw such evolution already in progress; through technology, urbanization, and modern communications, more and more links are being established between different peoples' politics, economics, and habits of thought in an apparently geometric progression.
Theologically, Teilhard saw the process of organic evolution as a sequence of progressive syntheses whose ultimate convergence point is that of God. When humanity and the material world have reached their final state of evolution and exhausted all potential for further development, a new convergence between them and the supernatural order would be initiated by the Parousia, or Second Coming of Christ. Teilhard asserted that the work of Christ is primarily to lead the material world to this cosmic redemption, while the conquest of evil is only secondary to his purpose. Evil is represented by Teilhard merely as growing pains within the cosmic process: the disorder that is implied by order in process of realization.
Teilhard's Revolutionary Spirituality
Teilhardian spirituality and his path to God are fresh and new in many ways. Here are a few that will be discussed in greater detail later on:
- A New Starting Point
Teilhard's spirituality takes a different starting point from most classic approaches to God. Unlike those approaches which require that you spurn the world in order to love God, Teilhard wrote The Divine Milieu for those who love passionately both God AND the world.
In addition to the two classical ways of picturing God—either far away in heaven (transcendent) or living within your heart (immanent)—Teilhard's spirituality presents a third, much more comprehensive way to view our relationship with God. God is the One in whom we live and move and have our being. This is a way that was recognized in ancient times but never emphasized by formal religions.
Teilhard's spirituality embraces and accepts the findings of modern science, especially the laws of evolution, which are at the roots of his thought. His approach does not distance itself from science, progress, complexity, modern life, information technology, or the media, as traditional spiritualities tend to do.
Teilhard takes traditional individual spirituality—my personal relationship to God and my personal enlightenment or salvation—and expands it to become part of the grand project envisioned by God for humanity—a shared planetary destiny.
Teilhard shows how all our human efforts to create a better world are really ways to further God's planetary project, and so our actions are much more significant than just ways for us to get higher grades on our heavenly report card, as some traditional spiritualities would infer.
Teilhard offers a powerful way of interpreting human suffering.
Teilhard offers a new way to, and motivation for, inter-human communion, in addition to communion with God.
Teilhard offers an expanded understanding of the Eucharistic mystery.
There are many other new aspects of Teilhard's spirituality to learn about, but these will get you started on his revolutionary path to God