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object:1.06 - A Summary of my Phenomenological View of the World
book class:Let Me Explain
author class:Pierre Teilhard de Chardin
subject class:Christianity
subject class:Science
class:chapter



A Summary of my Phenomenological
View of the World



As a conclusion to this first part (which Teilhard called his 'phenomen-
ology') we give the statement which he sent to Claude Tresmontant and
Jeanne Mortier (see Introduction, p. 12).

The starting point and key of the whole system
'Developing as a counter-current that cuts across Entropy,
there is a cosmic drift of matter towards states of arrangement
of progressively greater complexity (this being towards - or
within - a "third infinite", the infinite of complexity, which is
just as real as the Infinitesimal or the Immense). And con-
sciousness presents itself to our experience as the effect or
the specific property of this Complexity taken to extremely
high values/

If this law of recurrence (I call it the law of 'complexity-
consciousness') is applied to the history of the World, we see
the emergence of an ascending series of critical points and
outstanding developments, which are the following.

1. Critical point of vitalization

Somewhere, at the level of the proteins, an initial emergence
of consciousness is produced within the pre-living (at least
so far as our experience goes). And, by virtue of the accom-
panying mechanism of 'reproduction', the rise of complexity
on earth increases its pace phyletically (the genesis of species
or speciation).

Starting from this stage (and in the case of the higher
living beings) it becomes possible to 'measure' the advance of

7i



Let Me Explain

organic complexification by the progress of cerebration.
That device enables us to distinguish, within the biosphere,
a specially favoured axis of complexity-consciousness: that
of the Primates.

2. Critical point of reflection (or hominization)

As a result of some 'hominizing' cerebral mutation, which
appears among the Anthropoids towards the end of the
Tertiary period, psychic reflection - not simply knowing, but
knowing that one knows - bursts upon the world and opens up
an entirely new domain for Evolution. With man (appar-
ently no more than a new zoological 'family') it is in fact a
second species of life that begins (the Noosphere).

3. Development of Co-reflection (and rise of an ultra-human)
If it is applied to the great phenomenon of human socializa-
tion, the criterion of complexity-consciousness provides
some decisive evidence. On the one hand, an irresistible and
irreversible technico-cultural organization, noospheric in
dimension, is manifestly in progress of development within
human society. On the other hand, as an effect of Co-
reflection, the human mind is continually rising up
collectively - collectively, because of the links forged by
technology - to the appreciation of new dimensions: for
example, the evolutionary organicity and corpuscular struc-
ture of the Universe. Here the coupling of organization
and interiorization can again be very clearly distinguished.
This means that all around us the fundamental process of
Cosmogenesis is continuing just as before (or even with
renewed vigour).

Considered as a zoological whole, mankind is presenting
the unique spectacle of a phylum that is organico-psychically

72



Phenomenology

synthesizing upon itself. It is, indeed, a 'corpusculization and
a 'centration' (or centring) upon itself of the Noosphere as a
whole. 1

4. Probability of a critical point of Ultra-reflection ahead of us
If it is extrapolated into the future, mankind's technico-
socio-mental convergence upon itself forces us to envisage a
climax of Co-reflection, at some finite distance in time ahead
of us: for this we can find no better (indeed, no other) defini-
tion than a critical point of Ultra-reflection. We cannot, of
course, either imagine or describe such a phenomenon,
which would seem to imply an escape from Space and Time.
Nevertheless there are certain precise conditions in the field of
energy that must be satisfied by the event we anticipate (a
more pronounced awakening in man, as it comes closer, of
the 'zest for evolution' and the 'will to live') ; and from these
we are forced to conclude that Ultra-reflection coincides
with a final attainment of irreversibility. This must be so,
since the prospect of a total death would be so disheartening
as to stop the further development of hominization.

It is to this higher term of Co-reflection (which means in
fact, of unanimization) that I have given the name of 'Omega
Point' : the cosmic, personalizing, centre of unification and
union.

5. The likelihood of a reaction (or 'reflection') of Omega on the
Human in the course of Co-reflection (Revelation and the Chris-
tian phenomenon)

The more we consider the indispensability of an Omega to
maintain and animate the continued progress of hominized
Evolution, the more clearly can we see two things.
1 Teilhard uses the English phrase, as a whole.

73



Let Me Explain

The first is that a purely conjectural Omega - one that was
arrived at simply by 'calculation - would be powerless to
keep active in man's heart a passion strong enough to make
him continue the process of hominization to the very end.

The second is that if Omega does really exist, it is difficult
not to accept that its supreme 'Ego' in some way makes
itself felt as such by all the imperfect Egos (that is to say all
the reflective elements) of the Universe.

From this point of view the ancient and traditional idea
of 'Revelation' reappears and again finds a place in Cosmo-
genesis - entering it, this time, through biology and the
energetics of evolution.

From this point of view, again, the Christian mystical
current takes on an extraordinary significance and actuality:
and this because, while it is true that, by the logic of
energetics, the heart of some intense faith is absolutely indis-
pensable to the completion of the process of complexity-
consciousness, at the same time it is equally true (how true,
you have only to look around the world to realize) that at the
present moment no faith can be distinguished that is cap-
able of fully taking over (by 'amorizing' it) a convergent
Cosmogenesis, except faith in a Christ, a Christ of the
Pleroma and Parousia, in quo omnia constant, in whom all
tilings find their consistence.

New York, 14 January 1954.

Note: this fifth section is more properly a summary of the apologetical
dialectic presented in Part 2, where it will accordingly reappear (see p.
108). It has been printed above in order to give the reader Phe Teil-
hard's statement as an integral whole.



74



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