"Let us then acknowledge the situation honestly: not only the "Imitation of Christ" but also the Gospel itself needs to undergo this correction, and the whole world will make them undergo it."
(T. de Chardin)
in: The Sheer Silliness of Teilhard de Chardin by Damien F. Mackey

n  n

We were introduced to Pierre Teilhard de Chardin a few years ago at a spirituality conference. We felt lost at the conference, but have continued to so very often see and hear his name and works mentioned, we felt we should read his most famous work, The Phenomenon of Man followed by his book The Divine Milieu. Well, we trudged through The Phenomenon of Man but with persistence and difficulty, so I’m not sure we’ll even try The Divine Milieu. Maybe we should go straight for an eNotes Study Guide for Phenomenon and The Divine Milieu Explained.

Teilhard de Chardin was both a Jesuit priest and a paleontologist. He found that his scientific work supported his beliefs as a priest. His argument is of a stunning simplicity.

-1- matter organizes itself towards life
-2- life organizes itself towards Christ
-3- earthly matter has only transformed itself into living matter once and no longer does so
-4- man cannot repeat the original transformation of matter into life in a laboratory

The implication of this is that the evolution of life on this planet is a divine process as much as it is a natural process.

As a work of philosophy and speculative non-fiction, it's a superb attempt at trying to ground human development with a basis in hard science. As a work of science, it's amazing how well it holds up, having been written around 1940, when molecular biology, genetic evolution, and cybernetics were all in their infancy. Out of Control: The New Biology of Machines, Social Systems, and the Economic World provides a slightly more modern, yet still remarkably consistent, picture of the idea of how evolution itself is evolving, and the destiny of man and the machines that he has created.

In an era dominated by reductionist materialism, the ground-breaking work "The Phenomenon of Man" by French palaeontologist and cosmologist Teilhard de Chardin emerges as a compelling counter-argument. Written against the intellectual backdrop where the concepts of 'Mental Structure,' 'Efficient Telos,' and 'Material Telos' held sway, this book challenges the core assumptions that have shaped the modern scientific worldview.

Materialism of the time led to a sharp separation between teleology and causality, reflecting the divide between mind and matter. Such a view led to the stripping away of purposefulness and meaning from the natural world. Modern science leaned heavily into describing natural phenomena as products of blind, meaningless, and random processes. By the early 20th century, this anti-teleological stance had almost attained the status of dogma, narrowing the avenues for meaningful dialogue around the subject.

In this intellectually rigid landscape, Teilhard de Chardin's "The Phenomenon of Man" comes as a breath of fresh air. Chardin argues not only for the inclusion of 'Formal Telos' and 'Final Telos' in our understanding of the universe but goes a step further to intertwine them seamlessly with material and efficient causes. He attempts to bridge the gulf between teleology and causality, mind and matter, thereby shaking the very foundations of reductionist materialism.

What is most striking about this book is its the combining of insights from palaeontology, cosmology, and philosophy. Chardin does not merely challenge the existing scientific paradigms but offers an alternative, one that is harmonious and integrative, respecting both the spiritual and the material aspects of existence.

For those who find themselves disconcerted by the bleak and purposeless universe painted by reductionist materialism, "The Phenomenon of Man" provides an alternative lens through which to view reality. It reinstates the lost dialogue between science and spirituality, offering a vision of the world where both can coexist and enrich each other.

One of the best books representing the idea of panentheism, integral theory and also one of the best books of all time.

The Unifying Evolutionary Drive of Consciousness

"The Phenomenon of Man" by Pierre Teilhard de Chardin is an extraordinary visionary book. Written in 1938, it predicted the advent of a so-called Noosphere, a layer of knowledge covering and connecting our planet, which has found a physical expression in the form of today's internet.

The book is mostly about paleontology, how life arose from abiotic material and how life evolved to generate man, who in its turn will lead to a convergence of evolution in what Teilhard de Chardin called the Omega point. This unique vision showing how the one became many and the many will become one again finds a strong resonance in the present day hype of the coming Technological Singularity.

But the book is not merely an accurate overview of the phenomenological aspects of evolution by a paleontologist; Teilhard de Chardin transcends the scientific method in giving a rightful place to the "within" of forms of being. This within is "consciousness" and if life was able to perfect itself to progress from mere physical interactions to sensations and culminating in knowledge of self and environment then this is because there was a conscious awareness associated with it, from the smallest forms of existence onwards.

Teilhard de Chardin therefore a priori seems a panpsychist or rather a pantheist, who pinpoints exactly the sole essence which really counts. But he does not stop there: Evolution has a direction, namely the direction of concentrating consciousness in form, striving towards an apotheosis of knowledge, which gradually is attained by the formation of the noosphere and which will culminate in the theogenesis of the Omega point. But this Omega point is not a simple merger of the drop with the ocean as in Hinduism, which advocates the dissolution of the (false) ego. Rather, the Omega point is the essence of "personalisation" in which the true ego of each living human reaches its pinnacle.

Written in days when totalitarian systems were usurping the power in the world, Teilhard de Chardin recognises that although there is a fundamental and crucial drive in the unifying purpose of such systems, their execution thereof is wrong by the very denial of the rights of the individual. Unification needs to be all-inclusive and lead to an expression of the best anyone can be. From a profound humanitarian point-of-view and not as a matter of exclusion of the weaker, Teilhard de Chardin even anticipates the necessity of eugenics to avoid degeneration of the physical aspects of the species in a world of abundance.

The strange thing is that Teilhard de Chardin was a Catholic Priest and his pantheistic and evolutionary ideas do not only prima facie seem to be contradictory to his religion but were de facto strongly condemned by his Church. Interestingly, Teilhard de Chardin sought to unify these opposing views by stating that the Omega point is not necessarily a future construct, but in fact in a sense is already there as the "Great Presence". He is able to justify his ideas as "Christian" as he reveals a proper unifying drive in all that is, an expression of intelligence and love seeking connection from the smallest particle to the highest creature. Thus his Pantheism is more a Panentheism in which God has both an immanent and transcendent aspect.

This is a book that even today has not lost a grain of its importance but rather is of ever increasing relevance in the light of the rapidly approaching Singularity.

A must read for every contemporary and future oriented philosopher!

Thought provoking. Inclined to get distracted by the growth in technology - DNA, Internet, Genetics, Psychological analysis, Astronomy physics etc, which were reflected in a 30's - 40's era. Nevertheless a classic treatise worth reading.

never finished this book for two reasons: I am stupid and the author also thinks I am stupid

Tập sách nghiên cứu không chỉ về con người, mà sâu rộng hơn, đã cho một kiến giải về sự hình thành vũ trụ, hình thành sự sống của sinh vật trên trái đất, để dần có sự xuất hiện của loài người, cùng với những giả thiết, mắc kẹt, suy đoán, để rồi cho thấy những nhánh rẽ của sự sống.

This book took some getting through. From the outset, a book heretical to both science and religion (in an attempt to consolidate both) seemed too good to pass up, and exactly what I'd want to read. The blurbs made this book seem as transcendant and moving as its postulates.

However, to this reader, what followed was more bewildering than anything else, which is either a function of the content or a flawed translation. For all that, it's still interesting. It's just not inherently readable, and a proper editorial sweep might have helped make it more to the point, if less personal and revelatory. So I guess I know why it is the way it is. Teilhard certainly makes a thorough examination, from Alpha to Omega, in the twinned light of evolution and belief, of the progress and point of the universe. There's some highly interesting stuff in this book that anyone with even a passing interest in the subject matter absolutely should read, doubts aside, for the sheer vastness of it.

I guess an inherently optimistic universe, a built-in deterministic purpose, and a point to evolution beat the alternatives. It's just impossible to say whether Tielhard is right, and he waves away apocalypse or failure so easily, and doesn't consider the usurpation of humanity at all, that I was stricken with doubts about his vision.

Enredado entre conceptos positivistas biológicos y geológicos y fantasías, pero divertido hasta cierto punto.

With some of the most provocative ideas about science, religion, and the future evolution of humankind, it's no wonder people still talk about this book almost a hundred years after it was written (1938). It's also no wonder the Catholic church forbade the author (a devout priest) to publish it in his lifetime, because it treats evolution as fact not heresy.

However it can be tough sledding - the writing is dense and loaded with obscure terminology. Some of this may be due to the translation from French to English. Some of it may be due to the author's training as a naturalist (before he joined the priesthood). But mostly I think it's just the author's style. It's hard work for the average reader like me, but rewarding.