Introduction
The path of “The Phenomenon of Man” from writing to publication
The main ideas of “The Phenomenon of Man”
Evolutionary-biological content of the “Human Phenomenon”
Philosophical problems in “The Phenomenon of Man”
Conclusion
List of sources used
Introduction
The years that have passed since the death of Fr. Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (1881-1955), were filled with fierce controversy that arose around his name. The books of this outstanding scientist, published posthumously, provoked reactions that were often diametrically opposed. If some call him “the new Thomas Aquinas,” who in the 20th century. again managed to find approaches to achieving the unity of science and religion; others characterize his teaching as a “falsification of faith” (Gilson), “replacement of Christian theology with Hegelian theogony” (Marittain) (1). The result was a procedure for the removal of T.'s books from the libraries of seminaries and other Catholic institutions and a decree of the Vatican Chancellery dated June 30, 1962, calling for the protection of Catholic youth from the influence of his works. However, no matter how one evaluates Teilhard and his worldview, no one can deny that he is a phenomenon in highest degree significant and symptomatic. His work has been and is being studied around the world with great interest from a variety of angles and from a variety of points of view. Historians of science debate the plausibility, value and prospects of further thinking through the comprehensive picture of the development of the Universe that Teilhard created “piece by piece” throughout his life.
Naturalists still use his research in several areas: general and historical geology, geomorphology, paleontology, paleoanthropology.
It answers many questions that concern thinking people today. Science and religion, evolution and the future transformation of the world are intertwined in his “The Phenomenon of Man” into a single living whole. A natural scientist and a priest, a poet and theologian, a thinker and mystic, a brilliant stylist and a charming person - he seemed created to become the ruler of the thoughts of current generations. Catholics are proud of him, communists publish his books, although both are far from fully accepting his teachings. Such is the power of his attraction.
T.'s creativity is multi-level and diverse. The work “The Phenomenon of Man” is devoted to the problem of the relationship between science and religion, questions of evolution and the future transformation of the world, the image of a “converging” Universe, and an exposition of the foundations for the vision of the world as a living organism, permeated with the Divine and striving for perfection.
1. The path of “The Human Phenomenon” from idea to publication
creative phenomenon religion Chardin
In 1923 he went on a research expedition to Tianjin (China). During the expedition, in the Ordos desert, he wrote several articles and essays; in 1926-1927, Teilhard wrote the book “The Divine Environment,” but he was not allowed to publish philosophical works, so Teilhard again traveled to China, India, and Burma. Java, Africa and China again. There, in the embassy quarter of Beijing, Teilhard is overtaken by war: Japanese troops occupy the Chinese capital in 1937. Remaining in isolation for many years, he continues to develop his teaching and creates his main work, “The Phenomenon of Man.”
With the finished manuscript of “The Phenomenon of Man” he returned to France in 1946, but obtaining permission to publish it turned out to be a hopeless task (2). Teilhard made his last attempt in this direction in 1947, reworking “Phenomenon” in the form of a version with the most sensitive points removed. In the autumn of 1948 Teilhard visited Rome. He tried to obtain permission from the papal curia to publish, if not the “Phenomenon” itself, then at least its fragments under the title “Zoological Group of Man.” However, this trip did not give the desired result. Then Teilhard introduces an additional chapter into the book in the form of an epilogue: “The Christian Phenomenon.” In it, he (as if forgetting about the phenomenological attitude repeatedly emphasized in the book and the rejection of theology in this work) introduced previously unmentioned transcendental objects and gave a version of ontology for which one could hope to obtain permission.
The hope turned out to be unrealistic, since even in this additional chapter there were many passages that looked “suspicious and unorthodox.”
All this, as is easy to understand, did not help to remove the accusations of anti-doctrinalism. Teilhard's main work remained hidden.
Teilhard was not allowed to take a chair at the College de France, where he was respectfully invited. Even Teilhard's election to the Paris Academy of Sciences in 1950 did not change the prejudices of the church hierarchy against his ideas. Teilhard was again not given permission to speak on problems of philosophy, and in 1951-1954. It was even forbidden to travel to Paris, in connection with this he accepted an offer to work in the USA and lead excavations in Africa, especially since just during these years new data was received about finds that connected him even more closely with the world of primates.
But Teilhard was no longer destined to use this data to deepen the picture of the “human phenomenon”; before his death, he only managed to make two trips to the countries of South Africa.
The beginning of the posthumous publication of Teilhard's collected works made a considerable impression and at the same time brought new condemnations on the author. Their series began with the removal of books from the libraries of seminaries and other Catholic institutions (1957) and a decree of the Vatican Chancellery headed by Cardinal Ottavini dated June 30, 1962, calling for the protection of Catholic youth from the influence of Teilhard's works.
2. Basic provisions of the “Human Phenomenon”
Descendant of Voltaire, who was the great-uncle of Teilhard’s mother. Author of the concept of “Christian evolutionism.” Professor of the Department of Geology at the Catholic University of Paris (1920-1925). Member of the Paris Academy of Sciences (1950). T.'s creativity is multi-level and diverse. Teilhard de Chardin always emphasized the interconnections of all sciences. He dreamed of a kind of superscience that would coordinate all branches of knowledge. In this context, Teilhard interpreted the special significance of religion, because science needs the conviction that “the universe has meaning and that it can and should, if we remain faithful, come to some kind of irreversible perfection,” from his point of view: “.. .we undoubtedly realize that something greater and more necessary than ourselves is happening inside us: something that existed before us and, perhaps, would exist without us, something in which we live and which we do not; we can exhaust; something that serves us, despite the fact that we are not its masters; something that brings us together when, after death, we slip out of ourselves, and our whole being, it would seem, disappears.” For a genuine breakthrough in understanding these problems, according to Teilhard, it is necessary to acquire a deep intuition of unity and the highest goal of the world. In this sense, religion and science appear as two inextricably linked aspects or phases of the same complete act of knowledge, which alone could cover the past and future of evolution. (Attempts to determine approaches to obtaining truly integral knowledge are not new for the history of philosophy - Aristotle’s theoretical delights on this topic are known, the idea of "free theosophy - integral knowledge" by V. Solovyov and many others.) Building a diagram of the architectonics of the development of planetary existence, Teilhard designated its stages as “pre-life” (or “sphere of matter” - lithosphere/geosphere), “life” (biosphere) and “human phenomenon” (“noosphere”).
Teilhard de Chardin's mystical interpretation of matter, the phenomena of creativity, and human activity - apparently, were close to the worldview of Christianity, but were presented by him through the prism of his deeply intimate, personally colored experience. Teilhard was close to the idea that the commodity world was able to rise to the noblest levels of perfection due to the fact that Christ was not God who took the form of an earthly being, logical selection and invention, mathematics, art, the measurement of time and space, love anxieties and dreams - all these the types of inner life are in fact nothing more than the seething of the newly formed center at the moment when it blossoms into itself." Subsequently, according to Teilhard, from the noosphere will develop "love, the highest, universal and synthetic form of spiritual energy, in which everything other soul energies will be transformed and sublimated as soon as they enter the “Omega region”). He was able to substantiate, in the context of his concept, a completely unique interpretation of humanism (measured not so much by the degree of postulated anthropocentrism, but by the degree of minimally predetermined mercy): “Could it be otherwise if balance must be maintained in the Universe? Superhumanity needs a Super-Christ. Super-Christ needs Super-Mercy... At the moment there are people, many people, who, having united the ideas of Incarnation and evolution, have made this unification an actual moment in their lives and are successfully carrying out a synthesis of the personal and the universal. For the first time in history, people have the opportunity not just to know. and serve evolution, but also love it; in this way, they will soon be able to say directly to God (and it will sound familiar and will not cost people any effort) that they love Him not only with all their hearts and with all their souls, but also “from the entire Universe.” Teilhard’s grandiose intellectual and religious model, organically including the ideas of “superlife”, “superhumanity”, “planetization” of humanity, allowed him to supplement the purely religious characteristics of the noosphere with its truly informative description: “A harmonized community of consciousnesses, equivalent to its own.” a kind of superconsciousness. The earth is not only covered with myriads of grains of thought, but is shrouded in a single thinking shell, functionally forming one vast grain of thought on a cosmic scale.
. Evolutionary-biological content of the “Human Phenomenon”
Evolution in Teilhard is invariably in the foreground, and its importance is emphasized with the utmost precision. Perhaps more emphatically than anyone else, Teilhard emphasizes that evolution is not limited to living nature, that “beginning with its most distant formations, matter appears to us in a process of development” (3). At the opposite end of the evolutionary ladder, in social structures, Teilhard also does not see a real pattern of movement. The most constructive part of Teilhard's doctrine of development is that which is associated with the biological level and its transformation into the “human phenomenon”.
The relationship between the “inner world” and the outer world in Teilhard is outlined in a similar way to Spinoza’s idea that the awareness of objects by the soul is richer the more complex it is. The difference between Teilhard's concept is due to the fact that Teilhard tries to separate his images of “internal” and “external” through the concepts of radial and tangential energy and the increase in complexity occurs in evolutionary series.
Of course, the continuity of Teilhard's work with the ideas of Diderot, Voltaire and other encyclopedists in relation to issues affecting the field of evolutionary biology. Evolutionary ecology did not escape the influence of intuitionism and other irrationalistic tendencies of his time.
It is no coincidence that the only place in The Phenomenon of Man where the “elements of consciousness” are spoken of as underlying the “elements of matter” affirms at the same time the parallelism of the development of both in duration, and not in time.
Evil, according to Teilhard, is, first of all, human suffering, but it is a necessary incentive for the human race to improve; evil is disunity, gradually overcome by the process of evolution, up to future stages of human development. This overcoming is accomplished through suffering.
The introduction of an evaluative moment into the process of deployment of evolutionary potentials, starting from the early stages and up to the higher (human, social, noospheric) phases, is a controversial and at the same time important place in Teilhard’s scheme.
By overemphasizing the role of a single core lineage in evolution, Teilhard ends up unifying the real diversity of phylogeny, which early split into eukaryotes and prokaryotes, then plants and animals, etc. The entire general evolution of plants remains outside Teilhard's field of vision, not to mention fungi, which are classified as a separate kingdom.
Teilhard's contribution to the theory of the biosphere is also associated with the idea of it as a biota, ultimately monophyletic, which appeared as a result of one “pulse”. The fate of this biot is significantly reflected in both parts of the name “bio-sphere”: it is the life shell of the Earth and it is a sphere that does not let its components go far from itself.
Teilhard's tradition is, first of all, a philosophy of nature, continuing the traditions of natural philosophy, this historically earliest form of philosophy in general (4).
4. Philosophical problems in “The Phenomenon of Man”
In the "prologue" Teilhard warns that in his book one should not look for the final explanation of the nature of things - some kind of metaphysics. One would expect, and it is so, that there are also attempts to outline a “third line” that would overcome the incompatibility of the first two. First of all, it is a call for a “union of reason and mysticism” (5) or science and religion, since there are more subtle differences between “reason”, “science” and “knowledge”, as well as between “mysticism”, “religion”, and “ “worship” Teilhard does not conduct. Teilhard depicts the forces of human culture as "converging" towards a higher unity called the Spirit of the Earth.
Teilhard sees matter as full of possibilities for development, generation, transcendence: potentialities that he, in his metaphorical language, calls “divine”, “transcendental”, etc. The relationship of matter to spirit is a relationship of primacy, at least insofar as Teilhard does not raise the question of any creation of matter: “matter is the mother of spirit, spirit is the highest state of matter.”
In “The Phenomenon of Man”, in the sense of the infinite and indestructible basis of the world, the term “fabric of the universe” is used, and matter is actually identified with substance.
Teilhard believes that essentially all energy is of a psychic nature, but divides all fundamental energy into two components: tangential (which connects a given element with all other elements of the same order) and radial energy (which attracts it in the direction of an increasingly complex and internally concentrated states) (6). Tangential energy is the "energy commonly accepted by science" and corresponds to movements within a single turn of a "heaving spiral" or movements along the surface of a sphere. Radial energy leads to a transition to new turns of the spiral or to an expansion of the sphere, to an increase in the level of organization. By radii, each element of a given sphere is connected with the center of it and all spheres, with the “sun of existence”, with the mystical point “Alpha”, which somehow is the point “Omega” located in the opposite direction, at an infinite distance from the surface of the sphere outward. Obviously, Teilhard hesitated between attributing to Omega the role of a kind of limiting concept or Kantian ideas of reason, for which there is no corresponding object in experience (these are ideas of the soul, the world as a whole, God), but which nevertheless regulate knowledge, and so that give Omega ontological status. Thus, Omega acts as a “pole of attraction” for radial energies.
The conceptual apparatus in the field of civil history and prediction is the same radial and tangential energies as in the field of pre-human and human evolution; At the same time, human nature is thought of as a kind of invariant, and this is already a discrepancy with the real state of affairs, which consists in the fact that “all history is nothing more than a continuous change in human nature.”
For Teilhard, the noosphere is a part of nature; it is not for nothing that he does not even use the term “culture” in The Phenomenon of Man.
Teilhard's conclusions are passive; they do not provide an incentive to choose one or another “scenario,” which still ends in the predetermined triumph of the “Omega point.” The constructiveness of Marxist forecasts lies not in optimism or in general the evaluative moment in itself, but in their orientation towards struggle, towards an active position, primarily at the social level.
Of course, in individual cases, a more complete assimilation of materialist dialectics by Teilhard’s adherents or their groups is possible. But in these cases we are already dealing with a scientific-materialistic approach to this or that problem.
Nevertheless, in the teachings of P. Teilhard de Chardin, thanks to the humane, optimistic and noble impulse with which it is permeated and which animates it; thanks to the recognition that the specificity of the human phenomenon in no way excludes the historical origin of consciousness; Thanks to his categorical, no-holds-barred assertion that human history has meaning, and his condemnation of the individualistic despair of decadent thinkers, there is much that is scientifically valuable (7).
Conclusion
Among learned specialists, inspired theologians and wise philosophers, it is extremely rare to find a universal thinker or even a truly interdisciplinary creator-researcher. It is extremely difficult to trace the relationships and interactions of the most diverse spheres, areas and dominions of culture, but it is even more difficult to connect the practically incompatible, to create something new as an organic alloy of extremely heterogeneous components. In this sense, the figure of Teilhard de Chardin is perhaps unique: he managed to manifest himself simultaneously in science, philosophy, religion and synthesize in his concept a whole series of ideas that were, at first glance, completely incompatible with each other.
Although Teilhard did not leave direct students and did not create a special school, his teaching was so famous that it gave rise to a whole movement of thought that bears his name and is grouped around a special journal. According to Fr. Alexandra Me, Teilhard’s works not only teach us a loving attitude towards the world and contribute to the construction of a holistic Christian worldview, but also help the dialogue of Christians with non-Christians. Of all theological doctrines, it is Teilhardism that appears - thanks to its broad evolutionary approach - to be symptomatic of the unorthodox diamatism: Teilhard was the only modern Western theologian whose works were published in the USSR. Teilhard's fame even extended into the realm of art: it is significant that Dan Simmons's acclaimed science fiction epic Hyperion suggests the effectiveness and relevance of Teilhardism even in the very distant future...(8)
Teilhard de Chardin died in New York of a heart attack on April 10, 1955, Easter Sunday. A year earlier, at a reception at the French consulate, he told his close friends: “I would like to die on Easter, on the day of the Resurrection” (9).
After the death of Teilhard de Chardin, a commission was created, which included many of his friends, including outstanding scientists (A. Breuil, J. Huxley, A. Toynbee, M. Merleau-Ponty, etc.). The commission compiled and prepared for publication a ten-volume collection of works, which included almost all of his works, with the exception of letters and some essays. The collected works were opened in 1957 by The Phenomenon of Man.
List of used literature
1. A.A. Gritsanov Philosophical Dictionary
2. Teilhard de Chardin. Images et paroles, 1966
3. P. Teilhard de Chardin “The Phenomenon of Man”, M: Nauka, 1987, p. 51
B.A. Starostin “From the phenomenon of man to human essence”
P. Teilhard de Chardin “The Phenomenon of Man”, M: Nauka, 1987, p. 225
P. Teilhard de Chardin “The Phenomenon of Man”, M: Nauka, 1987, p. 61
Roger Garaudy "Teilhard's Method"
Vasily Kuznetsov “Teilhard de Chardin: the desire of the living organism of the world for divine perfection.”
Ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teilhard_Chardin
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Ecumenical Liturgy
Marie Joseph Pierre Teilhard de Chardin
Translation from French by A. Kozyrev
Victim of the proposal
Lord, today, no longer in the forests of Aeon, but in the steppes of Asia, I do not have the opportunity to partake of bread and wine on Your altar. Therefore, I will ascend above the limitations of earthly signs to the greatness of Being and, as Your servant and helper, I will present You, instead of a Sacrifice, with the offerings of the labors and pain of my entire world, and let the Earth become my altar!
The rising luminary illuminated the far edge of the sky. And again, under the moving veil of flame, the living Earth begins to awaken, begins to move and prepares for its daily hard work. I will put on my paten, Lord, the harvest that will be brought by the labors of the awakening Earth, and my cup will be full of the juice of all the fruits of the grapes crushed today.
My cup and paten are the depths of the soul, trusting in the forces ascending from all ends of the Earth to Your Spirit. May those whom the Eastern Sun awakens for the labors of the day appear in my memory, and let me feel their invisible presence!
And now, one after another, Lord, those whom I love, who were given to me by You as the support and joy of my existence, pass before me. One by one, I remember the members of this family, so significant and important to me, which the closeness of hearts and minds created around me bit by bit. Not so clearly, but I also see everyone who forms a single body of humanity; everyone who helps and assists me, remaining unknown to me; and above all those who, rightly or wrongly, in offices, laboratories and factories, work for the development of the created world and will today seek the Light.
This is an agitated, unclear or clearly defined multitude, frightening hearts with its greatness; this human sea, which ripples, introducing doubts into the hearts most faithful to God - I wish that my whole being would respond to its unclear rumble reaching me. Everything in the Universe that today should bloom and fade, everything that was born and everything that will disappear - this is what, O Lord, I want to concentrate in myself to offer to You; This is the only Sacrifice that will be accepted by You.
Once upon a time they brought fruits, ears of corn and choice animals to Your temple. But the Sacrifice that You truly need, so that You can quench Your hunger and Your thirst every day, is the growth of the world, immersed in the stream of universal becoming.
Do not reject, Lord, this sacrifice, which the creation striving for You presents to You at dawn. I understand that the bread produced by our work is only a ground, crushed and baked mass of grains. And wine, which has absorbed our sorrows, is, alas!, simply moisture that relaxes the body and soul. But You have invested in this formless matter an unstoppable and sanctifying desire, which evokes in any mortal, from sinner to saint, the impulse: “Let us be one, Lord!”
Since, instead of the noble impulses and unattainable purity of Your Saints, You, Lord, have given me an irresistible desire for everything living in inert matter; since I, and I cannot change this, am more a child of the Earth than a slave of Heaven, at the dawn of the present I will rise with my soul to Your Height, bearing the weight of the hopes and disappointments of matter; and by the right of my priesthood, bestowed upon me by You, I will call upon the Flame for everything that is born and dies today under the rays of the morning dawn.
Flame over the world
We have a deep misconception that the Flame, the basis of everything that exists, comes from the depths of the Earth, and its rays shine along the brilliant trail behind the stern of the ship of Genesis. But, Lord, You made me realize that this idea is not true and in order to see You, I must change it.
In the beginning there was a Power with intelligence, love and creativity. In the beginning there was the Word, capable of completely subduing itself and kneading matter like dough. In the beginning there was no darkness and cold, but there was Flame. That's the truth.
Thus, light does not emerge gradually from the darkness of our world, but, on the contrary, exists initially and illuminates our night. We, created beings, by our very existence are darkness and emptiness. You, God, are the basis and constancy of the unshakable Environment, independent of time and space, into which the Universe plunges and finds its form, losing the clear boundaries of its existence, which is why it begins to seem so vast to us. Everything is being, everywhere there is only being, if you do not take into account the disunity of created phenomena and the struggle of their primary elements.
Fiery Spirit, creative personal Flame, the true Goal of unity, incomparably more beautiful and necessary than the deadly fusion that is the dream of some pantheism, descend once again onto that fragile surface of material existence in which the Universe will be clothed, and grant it a soul!
I understand that we cannot direct Your actions or even anticipate them. All good aspirations come from You, starting with this prayer of mine.
You are the luminous Word, You are the fiery Power, You sculpt multiplicity like clay in order to breathe into it the spirit of Your Life; I pray to You, touch us with Your hands, Your nurturing, omnipresent hands, which do not remain on the surface, unlike human hands, but penetrate into the depths of everything that exists, into the core of its present and past universality and influence us at the same time with all the most beautiful and hidden in us and around us.
With these unstoppable hands, prepare and form for the fulfillment of Your great plan the desire of the Earth for the Spirit concentrated in my soul. Transform it and change it from its very beginning. You know why it is impossible for Your creatures to arise except on the axis of eternal evolution.
And now shout over him through my lips great words, without which everything in our soul and life is destroyed and with which everything in our thoughts about Your world and our creative activity in it acquires unity and form, as far as we can comprehend it. Over everything living, over everything that is to arise, grow, blossom and ripen now, say: “This is My Body!” And over all death that destroys, weakens, destroys us, say (and this is the meaning and mystery of faith): “This is My Blood.”
Flame in the world
It's finished.
The flame once again enveloped the Earth.
No, it did not fall with thunder on the mountain peaks, like blinding lightning. Does the owner need to break down the doors to get into his house?
Without an explosion, without shocks, fire penetrated the substance of our existence from within. From the core of the invisible atom to the cosmic grandiose energies, it so naturally illuminated each primary element in particular and the entire Universe in general that the Flame shone as if without external shocks and influences.
In the new universal human body that is now forming, the birth of the Word continues forever, and because of His penetration into the depths of the world, the waters of matter, without even being disturbed, gained life. Outwardly, under the influence of the force transubstantiating the world, nothing has changed. Mysterious and real, the Universe, from interaction with the vital Word, which became the great Sacrifice of the proposal, turned into a body. All earthly flesh from now on, O God, has become Yours.
How long ago the human mind discovered amazing qualities in our world that make the Universe look like a body...
Like her body, she attracts us with the beauty of her curves and the mystery of her gaze.
Like the body, it remains inaccessible to us - our thoughts, destruction and the passage of time.
Like the body, its essence can only be unraveled by going beyond the boundaries of your small world.
We all, God, feel this combination of closeness and distance calling us from the world of our birth. In the legacy of pain and hope passed down from one human generation to another, there is no sadness deeper than that which prompts a person to weep from bitterness and longing for the Presence, inaccessible to him, hovering above the world around him.
Today, Lord, by the sanctification of the Universe, all the colors and smells of the world are made perceptible and comprehended for me in You. What my anxious thought saw and my heart, full of sincere desire, sought, You grant me in full measure: it is not enough that all things are united by You, so that not a single creature can remain out of connection with the rest, but the phenomena of the world are so united with one certain Center, that their co-existence gives them the qualities of inviolability and inseparability.
Overcome in us, Lord, by Your revelation the childish weakness of thought, which does not want to see in the Universe anything greater than the perfection of the human body! On the road to a truer knowledge of the Universe, the children of this world constantly surpass the sages of Israel. You, Lord Jesus, “in whom all that exists finds a solid foundation,” appear at last to those who thirst for You and Your Truth, as the highest person and the physical center of creation. Don't you know what I'm talking about our life? If I were not able to believe that Your help next to me revives, calms, fills with strength the slightest phenomena of the surrounding world that support me, wouldn’t I perish in Your cold world?
I thank You, Lord, for in many ways You taught me to see, until finally I saw the infinite simplicity of being! Gradually, under the influence of the gifts that grew in me over time, which You entrusted to me in my infancy, thanks to the extraordinary people and companions who appeared to me at the right moment on my journey to support and enlighten me, under the influence of the terrible and great mysteries that I passed thanks to You, I lost the ability to see and highlight something from that Environment where everything is one.
At the moment when Your life became the sanctification of the Universe, my mind became sharper, stronger and calmer, and now I am immersed in the blissful contemplation of a vision whose beauty and harmony are infinite.
Before the face of our world, embodied by Your incarnation, which has become Your single Body, O God, I feel not the absorption of a monist striving to melt without a trace in the One, not the trembling of a pagan who has fallen at the feet of a visibly perceived deity, and not the weak-willed resignation of a quietist who has trusted the will of higher powers .
Having drawn from these teachings some of their dignity, but without leading me into temptation, Your omnipresence allows me to take a position in which the three most dangerous impulses that have captured the human soul since the beginning of the century merge, ennobling each other.
Like the monist, I delve deeper into the All-Unity, but it is so perfect that I find in it, having rejected myself, the highest development of my personality.
Like a pagan, I believe in a Lord accessible to human perception. I touch Him through the phenomena of matter, for I am part of the material world. But if I want to find Him (to simply continue to interact with Him), I must continuously continue my path through all kinds of obstacles, falling under the power of created beings and at the same time striving to free myself from them - in continuous acceptance of the world and continuous liberation from it .
Like the quietist, I blissfully trust in the waves of God's will, but at the same time I understand that the depths of God's plan will be revealed to me only through the full use of all my faculties, all the components of my being. Like Jacob, I will touch the tangible Lord only when I am conquered by Him.
And so, when I saw the main goal towards which my nature is directed, all my forces suddenly begin to tremble in response to the unimaginably beautiful Divine Note, in which I hear the combination of opposite aspirations - the craving for action and the happiness of service, the joy of possession and the bliss of renunciation, the pride of development and the rapture of disappearance into something greater than myself.
Filled with the juices of matter, I ascend to the spirit, which triumphs, clothed in the greatness of the world. And, captivated by the mystery of the Body of God, I cannot determine which of these bliss is higher and nobler: to find the Word in order to triumph over matter, or to master matter in order to find the bright Word of God and surrender myself to Him.
May, O Lord, Your descent into the world be not just significant and attractive for me, as the fruit of abstract conclusions, but that it truly becomes Your real Presence to me. Both by force and by right, regardless of our will, You take on flesh in our world, and our very existence depends on You. But in reality, You are not yet equally present in the lives of each of us. We have all matured in the womb of one Universe, and despite this, each of us forms our own small Universe, in which the Incarnation occurs in a unique way, in different ways and ways inaccessible to others. That is why in prayer at the altar we say that the transubstantiation of the Gifts may happen for us: “That it may be our Body and Blood...” If I truly believe that everything in the world around me is the Flesh and Blood of the Word, then for me (and in a certain sense for no one else) the great “Diaphania” is realized, revealing in the depths of any phenomenon of the world the same light and warmth. If my faith weakens, then this light and warmth disappear, and the phenomena of the world are separated from each other.
In these moments, You descended, O Lord, on the beginning of the day. Unfortunately, how different is the degree of Your Presence in the trials prepared for us! In the same conditions into which I and my brothers will be plunged, You can be present completely, partially or absent altogether.
So that poison cannot destroy me today, so that death does not strike me, so that wine does not deprive me of my mind, so that in every creature I see You and find You, grant me faith, Lord!
Participle
The flame of God descended into the world in order to engulf and burn me; therefore, it is not enough just to see it and, with your faith, to forever preserve its glow around you. It is necessary, striving with all my nature for sanctification, which prompted him to ignite, to agree to Communion and offer Him in my person the food for which He came.
I fall on my face before Your, O Lord, all-presence in the world scorched by You, and in everything that has happened to me, is happening and will happen, in everything that surrounds me, in everything that I do and will accomplish in this life, I thirst for You .
How scary it is to find life and suddenly feel that, against your will, you are being continuously drawn by some formidable stream, striving, as it at first seems, to absorb everything that it carries away in its waves!
And I tell You, God: I want, through a turn of life that no one but You can accomplish, the horror of the incomprehensible changes that are ready to recreate my essence, to be transformed into the happiness of transformation in You.
And I, without trembling, will stretch out my hand to that flaming bread that You give me. In this bread, which contains within itself the seed of all evolution, I will comprehend the origins and meaning of the future given to me. I understand that taking this bread means giving myself over to forces that will painfully cut me off from my selfhood and throw me into a cycle of disasters, threats, hard work of soul and body, degeneration of thoughts, renunciation of my desires. To accept the bread of the Flesh of God means, in the name of that which surpasses everything, to doom myself to such feelings and such fetters that will not allow me to experience the joys that previously filled my life. Lord Jesus, I agree that You should take possession of me and lead me, by the power of Your suffering Body, to which I am henceforth involved, into such loneliness as man cannot create on his own.
Like every mortal, I would dream of pitching my tent on one of the selected, highest peaks of the Earth.
Like every mortal, I am afraid of an excessively dark and new future, towards which I am drawn by a menacing stream.
Like every mortal, I ask myself, You, everyone: to what goal, in what direction does our life flow?...
So let Communion of bread to Christ, who has the power to increase the world, save me from empty trembling and laziness. In the whirlwind of struggling principles, I move, O Lord, towards Your Word, in which my gift to discern Your Presence in every creature will increase. The one who truly loves Christ, who is hidden in the forces prompting the Earth to develop, the Earth will take him in its gigantic arms and lift him up to the visible face of God.
If Thy Kingdom, O my Lord, were of this world, then in order to see Thy presence and touch You, I could only surrender myself to the forces that draw us through suffering and dying, allowing us to tangibly grow in us - ourselves or something else. that we love more than ourselves. But since the Goal towards which the earthly world is directed is located far from the boundaries of not only each individual phenomenon, but also of everything that exists, since the work performed by the Universe is not to produce from the depths of its existence something higher than it is, but to accomplish oneself through unity in primordial being, then it becomes obvious that in order to achieve the fiery core of being, it is not enough for a person to live for himself or for any earthly cause. The world can find You, Lord, only through a change, a shift in the center, and in the course of this revolution, not only any success will temporarily disappear, but even the illusory possibility of carnal or spiritual human victory. To unite my essence and Yours, it is necessary that not only the monad, but also the world disappear in me, I need to go through the thorny path of humiliation, which nothing visible can compensate. That is why, collecting in a cup the bitterness of all defeats, destruction and disappointments, You bring it to my lips: “Drink, everyone.”
And how can I refuse this cup, O my Lord, at that moment when the bread You gave me generated in the very core of my existence a craving to unite with You beyond the boundaries of life - through death. The sanctification of the world would not have been accomplished if You had not given freedom to the forces of death. My communion could not have taken place (it would not even have the right to be called Christian) if, along with the development that I achieve daily, I had not agreed, in the name of myself and in the name of the Universe, as a direct participation in Your Sacrifice, the hidden or obvious action of destruction , old age, death, unstoppably threatening the world for its salvation or for its destruction. I trust blindly, O God, in the terrible diminishment by which my limited self will be replaced—for I believe it—by Your Omnipresence. If someone with all his essence loves Jesus, who is hidden in the forces destroying the Earth, then the Earth will lift him, exhausted by spiritual thirst, with her great arms, and together with her he will awaken from the spasms of non-existence on the chest of the All-Good Lord.
Now, O Lord, when, hidden in the powers of the world, You have truly become for me everything that is around me and in me, I combine the intoxication of what I have, and the thirst for what I lack, into one movement of the soul and say To you, following Your servant, those fiery words in which the contours of the Christianity of the future will appear more and more clearly - I believe in this:
“Lord, take me into the very depths, the very bosom of Your heart. And when You begin to preserve me in it, burn me, cleanse me, inspire me as much as You please, until I completely disappear.”
O my Lord! Finally, in the process of worldwide transformation and Communion, I found the One whom I can call with this name with all my soul! Until that moment, while I saw in You, Jesus, only a person who lived two thousand years ago, a great Teacher, Friend, Brother, my love for You was weak and unfree. Are there really no devoted friends, faithful brothers, experienced sages around us, who are also less distant from us? And, besides this, is a person capable of completely entrusting himself to human, only human nature? From the very beginning, the Universe, and not one of its components, took possession of my heart, and I will never be able to bow to anyone else. And therefore, even believing in You, my soul wandered for a long time, not knowing what I loved. But now, by the power of the superhuman power granted to You by the Resurrection, You deign me, my Lord, to see You in all the powers of the Earth, and I recognize in You my Master and with rapture I give my life into Your hands.
God works in mysterious ways. Two centuries ago, when the beating of Your heart began to be felt in the bosom of Your Church, it might have seemed that people were attracted by the fact that a clearer, more obvious beginning appeared in You than Your incarnation. And then everything suddenly changed! Now I see that through the “revelation” of Your heart, You first of all sought, Jesus, to give our love the ability to free itself from an overly narrow, crammed-in idea of You. In Your chest I see a flaming hearth, and the more earnestly I look at this fiery core of the world, the more clearly it seems to me how the outlines of Your Body are melting, that they are growing to immense dimensions, and from now on I do not see any other features in You, except for the image of the fiery world flaming with You.
Christ in Glory: the incomprehensible influence of God, dispersed throughout the depths of matter, and the dazzling focus in which innumerable threads of multiplicity are united; a force that obeys no one, like the Universe, and breathes fire, like life; You, whose brow is snow-white, whose gaze is sparkling, and whose feet exude a radiance brighter than the light of molten gold; You, Whose palms contain the starry sky, You are the first and the last, living, dead and resurrected; You, combining in Your Unity all enchantments, all feelings, all powers, all states; It was my soul that yearned for You with a desire as immense as the world. You are truly my Lord and my God!
“Receive me into Your depth, O Lord!”
Oh! I believe in this (and so strongly that this belief has become one of the pillars of the life of my soul): darkness, where You are not, would be absolute non-existence. Nothing can live or abide outside Your Body, Lord Jesus, and even those who are deprived of Your love still benefit, to their grief, from the help of Your presence. We all inevitably exist and live by You - the universal environment of density and life!
But precisely because we are imperfect, that we cannot be imagined as infinitely distant or merged with You, precisely because in us the subject of unity grows along with the unity itself, which gradually hands us into Your hands - for the sake of the very true essence of my listening, Lord , the desire of what I dare to call my soul, although with each new day I understand how much it exceeds me, in the name of quenching my thirst for all-being through the spheres of Your deepest essence right up to the holy of holies of Your heart - bring me closer to You!
The more clearly I find You, Lord, the more all-pervading Your influence appears before me; By this sign, I can understand at any moment how close I am to You. When I discover that all the phenomena around me, without losing their essence and obvious features, are nevertheless united by some incomprehensible force into an inseparable, immeasurably close and immeasurably distant beginning, when, having been accepted into the innermost depths of the Divine sanctuary, I will feel that without hindrance I wander through the sky of all Creation - then I will understand that I am approaching the point where the heart of the universe and the light emanating from God's heart meet.
In this center of cosmic combustion, subject me, O God, like a flame, to all influences which, if experienced at a greater distance from You, would become vain, ambiguous and alien to You, but, being sanctified by an energy “that is capable of subduing everything,” they are transformed in the physical depths of Your heart into messengers of Your victorious mission. With Your love You have incomprehensibly united the charm of everything created with its insignificance, its meekness with rage, illusory weakness with fear-inspiring power; I pray to You, kindle alternately joy and contempt in my soul, teach it true purity, not that which weakens and divides things, but that which is strengthened by all beauty; tell her that real love– this is not the one who is endowed with great power to break open all the locks of life at once; and, finally, give her, by the power of Your continually growing omnipresence, a gracious thirst to learn more deeply, create and endure the world in order to see You more clearly.
All my happiness and my true success, the whole essence of my being, all my love of life, Lord, depend on this most important insight, on the ability to see Your oneness with the Universe. May others, faithful to their higher calling, carry the message of the greatness of Your disembodied Spirit! And I am faithful to the destiny emanating from the subtlest strings of my soul, and I do not want and cannot preach the gospel of anything other than the countless manifestations of Your embodied essence in matter, I will never be able to proclaim anything other than the mystery of Your Body, O Soul, visible in everything around us.
Your Body in all its immensity, i.e. world, which, thanks to Your power and my faith, has become a shining spiritual crucible in which everything is melted to be reborn - with all the forces awakened in me by Your creative attraction, all my weak knowledge, my spiritual connections, my priestly title and (what is more important to me all) with the whole essence of my human faith - I surrender myself to be born, abide and die in him, Jesus.
Ordos, 1923
Pierre TEILHARD DE CHARDIN
LA MESSE SUR LE MONDE
Puisque, une fois encore Seigneur, non plus dans les forets de l;Aisne, mais dans les steppes d;Asie, je n;ai ni pain, ni vin, ni autel, je m;eleverai par–dessus les symboles jusqu;a la pure majeste du Reel, et je vous offrirai, moi votre pretre, sur l;autel de la Terre entiere, le travail et la peine du Monde.
Le soleil vient d;illuminer, la–bas, la frange extreme du premier Orient.
Une fois de plus, sous la nappe mouvante de ses feux, la surface vivante de la Terre s;eveille, fremit, et recommence son effrayant labeur.
Je placerai sur ma patene, o mon Dieu, la moisson attendue de ce nouvel effort. Je verserai dans mon calice la seve de tous les fruits qui seront aujourd;hui broyes. Mon calice et ma patene, ce sont les profondeurs d;une ame largement ouverte a toutes les forces qui, dans un instant, vont s;elever de tous les points du Globe et converger vers l;Esprit.
- Qu;ils viennent donc a moi, le souvenir et la mystique presence de ceux que la lumiere eveille pour une nouvelle journee!
Una un. Seigneur, je les vois et les aime, ceux que vous m;avez donnes comme soutien et comme charme naturel de mon existence. Un a un, aussi, je les compte, les membres de cette autre et si chere famille qu;ont rassemblee peu a peu, autour de moi, a partir des elements les plus disparates, les affinites du coeur, de la recherche scientifique et de la pensee. Plus confusement, mais tous sans exception, je les evoque, ceux dont la troupe anonymous forme la masse innombrable des vivants: ceux
qui m;entourent et me supportent sans que je les connaisse; ceux qui viennent et ceux qui s;en vont; ceux–la surtout qui, dans la verite ou a travers l;erreur, a leur bureau, a leur laboratoire ou a l;usine, croient au progres des Choses, et poursuivront passionnement aujourd;hui la lumiere.
Cette multitude agitee, trouble ou distincte, dont l;immensite nous epouvante, - cet Ocean humain, dont les lentes et monotones oscillations jettent le trouble dans les coeurs les plus croyants, je veux qu;en ce moment mon etre resonne a son murmure profond . Tout ce qui va augmenter dans le Monde, au cours de cette journee, tout ce qui va diminuer, - tout ce qui va mourir, aussi, - voila. Seigneur, ce que je m;efforce de ramasser en moi pour vous le tendre; voila la matiere de mon sacrifice, le seul don’t vous ayez envie.
Jadis, on trainait dans votre temple les premices des recoltes et la fleur des troupeaux. L;offrande que vous attendez vraiment, celle dont vous avez mysterieusement besoin chaque jour pour apaiser votre faim, pour etancher votre soif, ce n;est rien moins que l;accroissement du Monde emporte par l;universel devenir.
Recevez, Seigneur, cette Hostie totale que la Creation, mue par votre attrait, vous presente a l;aube nouvelle. Ce pain, notre effort, il n;est de lui–meme, je le sais, qu;une desagregation immense. Ce vin, notre douleur, il n;est encore, helas qu;un dissolvant breuvage. Mais, au fond de cette masse informe, vous avez mis - j;en suis sur, parce que je le sens - un irresistible et sanctifiant desir qui nous fait tous crier, depuis l;impie jusqu;au fidele: “Seigneur, faites– nous un! »
Parce que, a defaut du zele spirituel et de la sublime purete de vos Saints, vous m;avez donne, mon Dieu, une sympathie irresistible pour tout ce qui se meut dans la matiere obscure, - parce que, irremediablement, je reconnais en moi , bien plus qu;un enfant du Ciel, un fils de la Terre, - je monterai, ce matin, en pensee, sur les hauts lieux, charge des esperances et des miseres de ma mere; et la, - fort d;un sacerdoce que vous seul, je le crois, m;avez donne, - sur tout ce qui, dans la Chair humaine, s;apprete a naitre ou a perir sous le soleil qui monte, j;appellerai le feu.
Le feu au–dessus du monde
Le Feu, ce principe de l;etre, nous sommes domines par l;illusion tenace qu;il sort des profondeurs de la Terre, et que sa flamme s;allume progressivement le long du brillant sillage de la Vie. Vous m;avez fait la grace, Seigneur, de comprendre que cette vision etait fausse, et que, pour vous apercevoir, je devais la renverser.
Au commencement, il y avait la puissance intelligente, aimante et active.
Au commencement, il y avait le Verbe souverainement capable de s;assujettir et de petrir toute Matiere qui naitrait.
Au commencement, il n;y avait pas le froid et les tenebres; il y avait le Feu.
Voila la Verite. Ainsi donc, bien loin que de notre nuit jaillisse graduellement la lumiere, c;est la lumiere preexistante qui, patiemment et infailliblement, elimine nos ombres. Nous autres, creatures, nous sommes, par nous–memes, le Sombre et le Vide. Vous etes, mon Dieu, le fond meme et la stabilite du Milieu eternel, sans duree ni espace, en qui, graduellement, notre Univers emerge et s;acheve, en perdant les limites par ou il nous parait si grand. Tout est etre, il n;y a que de l;etre partout, hors de la fragmentation des creatures, et de l;opposition de leurs atomes.
Esprit brulant, Feu fondamental et personnel, Terme reel d;une union mille fois plus belle et desirable que la fusion destructrice imaginee par n;importe quel pantheisme, daignez, cette fois encore, descendre, pour lui donner une ame, sur la frele pellicule de matiere nouvelle dont va s;envelopper le Monde, aujourd;hui.
Je le sais. Nous ne saurions dicter ni meme anticiper, le moindre de vos gestes. De Vous, toutes les initiatives, a commencer par celle de ma priere.
Verbe etincelant, Puissance ardente, Vous qui petrissez le Multiple pour lui insuffler votre vie, abaissez, je vous prie, sur nous, vos mains puissantes, vos mains prevenantes, vos mains omnipresentes, ces mains qui ne touchent ni ici, ni la (comme ferait une main humaine), mais qui,
melees a la profondeur et a l;universalite presente et passee des Choses, nous atteignent simultanement par tout ce qu;il y a de plus vaste et de plus interieur, en nous et autour de nous.
De ces mains invincibles, preparez, par une adaptation supreme, pour la grande oeuvre que vous meditez, l;effort terrestre dont je vous presente en ce moment, ramassee dans mon coeur, la totalite.
Remaniez–le, cet effort, rectifiez–le, refondez–le jusque dans ses origines, vous qui savez pourquoi il est impossible que la creature naisse autrement que portee sur la tige d;une interminable evolution.
Et maintenant, prononcez sur lui, par ma bouche, la double et efficace parole, sans laquelle tout branle, tout se denoue, dans notre sagesse et dans notre experience, – avec laquelle tout se rejoint et tout se consolide a perte de vue dans nos speculations et notre pratique de l;Univers. – Sur toute vie qui va germer, croitre, fleurir et murir en ce jour, repetez: “Ceci est mon corps.” – Et, sur toute mort qui s; apprete a ronger, a fletrir, a couper, commandez (mystere de foi par excellence): “Ceci est mon sang!”
Le feu dans le monde
C;est fait.
Le Feu, encore une fois, a penetre la Terre.
Il n;est pas tombe bruyamment sur les cimes, comme la foudre en son eclat. Le Maitre force–t–il les portes pour entrer chez lui?
Sans secousse, sans tonnerre, la flamme a tout illumine par le dedans. Depuis le coeur du moindre atome jusqu;a l;energie des lois les plus universelles, elle a si naturellement envahi individuellement et dans leur ensemble, chaque element, chaque ressort, chaque liaison de notre Cosmos, que celui–ci, pourrait–on croire, s;est enflamme spontanement.
Dans la nouvelle Humanite qui s;engendre aujourd;hui, le Verbe a prolonge l;acte sans fin de sa naissance; et, par la vertu de son immersion au sein du Monde, les grandes eaux de la Matiere, sans un frisson, se sont chargees de vie. Rien n;a fremi, en apparence, sous l;ineffable transformation. Et cependant, mysterieusement et reellement, au conta& de la substantielle Parole, l;Univers, immense Hostie, est devenu Chair. Toute matiere est desormais incarnee, mon Dieu, par votre Incarnation.
L;Univers, il y a longtemps que nos pensees et nos experiences humaines avaient reconnu les estranges proprietes qui le font si pareil a une Chair...
Comme la Chair, il nous attire par le charme qui flotte dans le mystere de ses plis et la profondeur de ses yeux.
Comme la Chair, il se decompose et nous echappe sous le travail de nos analyzes, de nos decheances, et de sa propre duree.
Comme la Chair, il ne s;etreint vraiment que dans l;effort sans fin pour l;atteindre toujours au–dela de ce qui nous est donne.
Ce melange troublant de proximite et de distance, nous le sentons tous, Seigneur, en naissant. Et il n;y a pas, dans l;heritage de douleur et d;esperance que se transmettent les ages, il n;y a pas de nostalgie plus desolee que celle qui fait pleurer l;homme d;irritation et de desir au sein de la Presence qui flotte impalpable et anonymouse, en toutes choses, autour de lui: “Si forte attrectent eum.”
Maintenant, Seigneur, par la Consecration du Monde, la lueur et le parfum flottant dans l;Univers prennent pour moi corps et visage, en Vous. Ce qu;entrevoyait ma pensee hesitante, ce que reclamait mon coeur par un desir invraisemblable, vous me le donnez magnifiquement: que les creatures soient non seulement tellement solidaires entre elles, qu;aucune ne puisse exister sans toutes les autres pour l;entourer, – mais qu;elles soient tellement suspendues a un meme center reel, qu;une veritable Vie, subie en commun, leur donne, en definitive, leur consistance et leur union.
Faites eclater, mon Dieu, par l;audace de votre Revelation, la timidite d;une pensee puerile qui n;ose rien concevoir de plus vaste, ni de plus vivant au monde que la miserable perfection de notre organisme humain 1 Sur la voie d ;une comprehension plus hardie de l;Univers, les enfants du siecle devancent chaque jour les maitres d;Israel. Vous, Seigneur jesus, “en qui toutes choses trouvent leur consistance,” revelez–Vous enfin a ceux qui vous aiment, comme l;Ame superieure et le Foyer physique de la Creation. Il y va de notre vie, ne le voyez–vous pas? Si je ne pouvais croire, moi, que votre Presence reelle anime, assouplit, rechauffe la moindre des energies qui me penetrent ou me frolent, est–ce que, transi dans les moelles de mon etre, je ne mourrais pas de froid?
Merci, mon Dieu, d;avoir, de mille manieres, conduit mon regard, jusqu;a lui faire decouvrir l;immense simplicite des Choses 1 Peu a peu, sous le developpement irresistible des aspirations que vous avez deposes en moi quand j;etais encore un enfant, sous l;influence d;amis exceptionnels qui se sont trouves a point nomme sur ma route pour eclairer et fortifier mon esprit, sous l;eveil d;initiations terribles et douces dont vous m;avez fait successivement franchir les cercles, j;en suis venu a ne pouvoir plus rien voir ni respirer hors du Milieu ou tout n;est qu;Un.
En ce moment ou votre Vie vient de passer, avec un surcroit de vigueur, dans le Sacrement du Monde, je gouterai, avec une conscience accrue, la forte et calme ivresse d;une vision dont je n;arrive pas a epuiser la coherence et les harmonies.
Ce que j;eprouve, en face et au sein du Monde assimile par votre Chair, devenu votre Chair, mon Dieu, – ce n;est ni l;absorption du moniste avide de se fondre dans l;unite des choses, – ni l ;emotion du paien prosterne aux pieds d;une divinite tangible, – ni l;abandon passif du quietiste ballotte au gre des energies mystiques.
Prenant a ces divers courants quelque chose de leur force sans me pousser sur aucun ecueil, l;attitude en laquelle me fixe votre universelle Presence est une admirable synthese ou se melent, en se corrigeant, trois des plus redoutables passions qui puissent jamais dechainer un Coeur Humain.
Comme le moniste, je me plonge dans l;Unite totale, – mais l;Unite qui me recoit est si parfait qu;en elle je sais trouver, en me perdant, le dernier achevement de mon individualite.
Comme le paien, j;adore un Dieu palpable. Je le touche meme, ce Dieu, par toute la surface et la profondeur du Monde de la Matiere ou je suis pris. Mais, pour le saisir comme je voudrais (simplement pour continuer a le toucher), il me faut aller toujours plus loin, a travers et au–dela de toute emprise, – sans pouvoir jamais me reposer en rien, – porte a chaque instant par les creatures, et a chaque instant les depassant, – dans un continuel accueil et un continuel detachement.
Comme le quietiste, je me laisse delicieusement bercer par la divine Fantaisie. Mais, en meme temps, je sais que la Volonte divine ne me sera revelee, a chaque moment, qu;a la limite de mon effort. Je ne toucherai Dieu dans la Matiere, comme Jacob, que lorsque j;aurai ete vaincu par lui.
Ainsi, parce que m;est apparu l;Objet definitif, total, sur lequel est accordee ma nature, les puissances de mon etre se mettent spontanement a vibrer suivant une Note Unique, incroyablement riche, ou je distingue, unies sans effort, les tendances les plus oppositiones: l;exaltation d;agir et la joie de subir; la volupte de tenir et la fievre de de passer; l;orgueil de grandir et le bonheur de disparaitre en un plus grand que soi.
Riche de la seve du Monde, je monte vers l;Esprit qui me sourit au–dela de toute conquete, drape dans la splendeur concrete de l;Univers. Et je ne saurais dire, perdu dans le mystere de la Chair divine, quelle est la plus radieuse de ces deux beatitudes: avoir trouve le Verbe pour dominer la Matiere, ou posseder la Matiere pour atteindre et subir la lumiere de Dieu.
Faites, Seigneur, que, pour moi, votre descente sous les Especes universelles ne soit pas seulement cherie et caressee comme le fruit d;une speculation philosophique, mais qu;elle me devienne veritablement une Presence reelle. En puissance et en droit, que nous le voulions ou non, vous etes incarne dans le Monde, et nous vivons suspendus a vous. Mais, en fait, il s;en faut (et de combien 1) que pour nous tous vous soyez egalement proche. Portes, tous ensemble, au sein d;un meme Monde, nous formons neanmoins chacun notre petit Univers en qui l;Incarnation s;opere independamment, avec une intensite et des nuances incommunicables. Et voila pourquoi, dans notre priere a l;autel, nous demandons que pour nous la consecration se fasse: “Ut nobis Corpus et Sanguis fiat...” Si je crois fermement que tout, autour de moi, est le Corps et le Sang du Verbe; alors pour moi (et en un sens pour moi seul), se produit la merveilleuse "Diaphanie" qui fait objectivement transparaitre dans la profondeur de tout fait et de tout element, la chaleur lumineuse d;une meme Vie. Que ma foi, par malheur, se relache, et aussitot, la lumiere s;eteint, tout devient obscur, tout se decompose.
Dans la journee qui commence, Seigneur, vous venez de descendre. Helas! pour les memes evenements qui se preparent, et que nous subirons tous, quelle infinie diversite dans les degres de votre presence l Dans les memes circonstances, exactement, qui s;appretent a m;envelopper et a envelopper mes freres, vous pouvez etre un peu, beaucoup, de plus en plus, ou pas du tout.
Pour qu;aucun poison ne me nuise aujourd;hui, pour qu;aucune mort ne me tue, pour qu;aucun vin ne me grise, pour que dans toute creature je vous decouvre et je vous sente,
- Seigneur, faites que je croie!
Si le Feu est descendu au coeur du Monde, c;est finalement pour me prendre et pour m;absorber. Des lors, il ne suffit pas que je le contemple, et que par une foi entretenue, j;intensifie sans cesse autour de moi son ardeur. Il faut qu;apres avoir coopere, de toutes mes forces, a la Consecration qui le fait jaillir, je consente enfin a la Communion qui lui donnera, en ma personne, l;aliment qu;il est venu finalement chercher.
Je me prosterne, mon Dieu, devant votre Presence dans l;Univers devenu ardent et, sous les traits de tout ce que je rencontrerai, et de tout ce qui m;arrivera, et de tout ce que je realiserai en ce jour, je vous desire et je vous attends.
C;est une chose terrible d;etre ne, c;est–a–dire de se trouver irrevocablement emporte, sans l;avoir voulu, dans un torrent d;energie formidable qui parait vouloir detruire tout ce qu;il entraine en lui.
Je veux, mon Dieu, que par un renversement de forces dont vous pouvez seul etre l;auteur, l;effroi qui me saisit devant les alterations sans nom qui s;appretent a renouveler mon etre se mue en une joie debordante d;etre transforme en Vous.
Sans hesiter, d;abord, j;etendrai la main vers le pain brulant que vous me presentez. Dans ce pain, ou vous avez enferme le germe de tout developpement, je reconnais le principe et le secret de l;avenir que vous me reservez. Le prendre, c;est me livrer, je le sais, aux puissances qui m;arracheront douloureusement a moi–meme pour me pousser au danger, au travail, a la renovation continuelle des idees, au detachement austere dans les affections. Le manger, c;est contracter, pour ce qui est en tout audessus de tout, un gout et une affinite qui me rendront desormais impossibles les joies ou se rechauffait ma vie. Seigneur Jesus, j;accepte d;etre possede par Vous et mene par l;inexprimable puissance de votre Corps auquel je serai lie, vers des solitudes ou, seul, je n;aurais jamais ose monter. Instinctivement, comme tout Homme, j;aimerais dresser ici–bas ma tente sur un sommet choisi. J;ai peur, aussi, comme tous mes freres, de l;avenir trop mysterieux et trop nouveau vers lequel me chasse la duree. Et puis je me demande, anxieux avec eux, ou va la vie... Puisse cette Communion du pain avec le Christ revetu des puissances qui dilatent le Monde me liberer de ma timidite et de ma nonchalance! Je me jette, o mon Dieu, sur votre parole, dans le tourbillon des luttes et des energies ou se developpera mon pouvoir de saisir et d;eprouver votre Sainte Presence. Celui qui aimera passionnement Jesus cache dans les
forces qui font grandir la Terre, la Terre, maternellement, le soulevera dans ses bras geants, et elle lui fera contempler le visage de Dieu.
Si votre royaume, mon Dieu, etait de ce Monde, ce serait assez, pour vous tenir, que Je me confie aux puissances qui nous font souffrir et mourir en nous agrandissant palpablement, nous ou ce qui nous est plus cher que nous–memes. Mais, parce que le Terme vers lequel se meut la Terre est au–dela, non seulement de chaque chose individuelle, mais de l;ensemble des choses, - parce que le travail du Monde consiste, non pas a engendrer en lui–meme quelque Realite supreme, mais a se consommer par union dans un Etre preexistant, il se trouve que, pour parvenir au center flamboyant de l;Univers, ce n;est pas assez pour l;Homme de vivre de plus en plus pour soi, ni meme de faire passer sa vie dans une cause terrestre, si grande soit–elle. Le Monde ne peut vous rejoindre finalement Seigneur, que par une sorte d;inversion, de retournement, d;excentration ou sombre pour un temps, non seulement la reussite des individus, mais l;apparence meme de tout avantage humain. Pour que mon etre soit decidement annexe au votre, il faut que meure en moi, non seulement la monade, mais le Monde, c;est–a–dire que je passe par la phase dechirante d;une diminution que rien de tangible ne viendra compenser Voila pourquoi, recueillant dans le calice l;amertume de toutes les separations, de toutes les limitations, de toutes les decheances steriles, vous me le tendez. « Buvez-en tous. » Comment le refuserais–je ce calice, Seigneur, maintenant que par le pain auquel vous m;avez fait gouter a glisse dans la moelle de mon etre l;inextinguible passion de vous rejoindre, plus loin que la vie, a travers la mort. La Consecration du Monde serait demeuree inachevee, tout a l;heure, si vous n;aviez pas anime avec predilection, pour ceux–la qui croiraient, les forces qui tuent, apres celles qui vivifient.
Ma Communion maintenant serait incomplete (elle ne serait pas chretienne, tout simplement) si, avec les accroissements que m;apporte cette nouvelle journee, je ne recevais pas, en mon nom et au nom du Monde, comme la plus directe participation a vous– meme, le travail, sourd ou manifeste, d;affaiblissement, de vieillesse et de mort qui mine incessamment l;Univers, pour son salut ou sa condamnation. Je m;abandonne eperdument, o mon Dieu, aux actions redoutables de dissolution par lesquelles se substituera aujourd;hui, je veux le croire aveuglement, a mon etroite personnalite votre divine Presence.
Celui qui aura aime passionnement Jesus cache dans les forces qui font mourir la Terre, la Terre en defaillant le serrera dans ses bras geants, et avec elle, il se reveillera dans le sein de Dieu.
Et maintenant, jesus, que voile sous les puissances du Monde, vous etes devenu veritablement et physiquement tout pour moi, tout autour de moi, tout en moi, je ferai passer dans une meme aspiration l;ivresse de ce que je tiens et la soif de ce qui me manque, et je vous repeterai, apres votre serviteur, les paroles enflammees ou se reconnaitra toujours plus exactement, j;en ai la foi inebranlable, le Christianisme de demain:
« Seigneur, enfermez–moi au plus profond des entrailles de votre Coeur. Et, quand vous m;y tiendrez, brulez–moi, purifiez–moi, enflammez–moi, sublimez–moi, jusqu;a satisfaction parfaite de vos gouts, jusqu;a la plus complete annihilation de moi–meme. »
“Tu autem, Domine mi, include me in imis visceribus Cordis tui. Atque ibi me detine, excoque, expurga, accende, ignifac, sublima, ad purissimum Cordis tui gustum atque placitum, ad puram annihilationem meam.”
"Seigneur." Oh, oui, enfin! par le double mystere de la Consecration et de la Communion universelles, j;ai donc trouve quelqu;un a qui je puisse, a plein coeur, donner ce nom! Tant que je n;ai su ou ose voir en Vous, jesus, que l;homme d;il y a deux mille ans, le Moraliste sublime, l;Ami, le Frere, mon amour est reste timide et gene. Des amis, des freres, des sages, est–ce que nous n;en avons pas de bien grands, de bien exquis, et de plus proches, autour de nous? Et puis, l;Homme peut–il se donner pleinement a une nature seulement humaine? Depuis toujours, le Monde au–dessus de tout Element titi Monde, avait pris mon coeur, et jamais, devant personne autre, je n;aurais sincerement plie. Alors, longtemps, meme en croyant, j;ai erre sans savoir ce que j;aimais. Mais, aujourd;hui que par la manifestation des pouvoirs supra–humains que vous a conferes la Resurrection vous transparaissez pour moi, Maitre, a travers toutes les puissances de la Terre, alors je vous reconnais comme mon Souverain et je me livre delicieusement a Vous .
Etranges demarches de votre Esprit, mon Dieu! – Quand, il y a deux siecles, a commencement a se faire sentir, clans votre Eglise, l;attrait distinct de votre Coeur, il a pu sembler que ce qui seduisait les ames, c;etait la decouverte en Vous, d;un element plus determine, plus circonscrit, que votre Humanite meme.
Or, voici que maintenant, renversement soudain! il deviant evident que, par la “revelation” de votre Coeur, Vous avez surtout voulu, jesus, fournir a notre amour le moyen d;echapper a ce qu;il y avait de trop etroit, de trop precis, de trop limite, dans l;image que nous nous faisions de Vous. Au center de votre poitrine, je n;apercois rien d;autre qu;une fournaise; et, plus je fixe ce foyer ardent, plus il me semble que, tout autour, les contours de votre Corps fondent, qu;ils s;agrandissent au–dela de toute mesure jusqu;a ce que je ne distingue plus en vous d; autres traits que la figure d;un Monde enflamme.
Christ glory; Influence secretement diffuse au sein de la Matiere et Center eblouissant ou se relative les fibers sans nombre du Multiple; Puissance implacable comme le Monde et chaude comme la Vie; Vous dont le front est de neige, les yeux de feu, les pieds plus etincelants que l;or en fusion; Vous dont les mains emprisonnent les etoiles; Vous qui etes le premier et le dernier, le vivant, le mort et le ressuscite; Vous qui rassemblez en votre unite exuberante tous les charmes, tous les gouts, toutes les forces, tous les etats; c;est Vous que mon etre appelait d;un desir aussi vaste que l;Univers: Vous etes vraiment mon Seigneur et mon Dieu !
“Enfermez–moi en Vous, Seigneur” – Ah! je le crois (je le crois meme si bien que cette foi est devenue un des supports de ma vie intime), des tenebres absolument exterieures a vous seraient un pur neant. Rien ne peut subsister en dehors de votre chair, jesus, au point que ceux–la memes qui se trouvent rejetes hors de votre amour beneficient encore, pour leur malheur, du support de votre presence. Tous, nous sommes irremediablement en Vous, Milieu universel de consistance et de vie! –Mais justement parce que nous ne sommes pas des choses toutes faites qui peuvent etre concues indifferemment comme proches ou eloignees de Vous; justement parce qu;en nous le sujet de l;union croit avec l;union meme qui nous donne progressivement a Vous; – au nom de ce qu;il y a de plus essentiel dans mon etre, Seigneur, ecoutez le desir de cette chose que j;ose bien appeler mon ame, encore que, chaque jour davantage, je comprenne combien elle est plus grande que moi; et, pour etancher ma soif d;exister, – a travers les zones successives de votre Substance profonde, – jusqu;aux replis les plus intimes du Center de votre Coeur, attirez–moi !
Plus vous etes rencontre profond, Maitre, plus votre influence se decouvre universelle. A ce caractere, je pourrai apprecier, a chaque instant, de combien je me suis avance en vous. Lorsque, toutes choses gardant autour de moi leur saveur et leurs contours, je les verrai neanmoins diffusees, par une ame secrete, dans un Element unique, infiniment proche et infiniment distant, – lorsque, emprisonne dans l;intimite jalouse d;un sanctuaire divin , je me sentirai cependant errer librement a travers le ciel de toutes creatures, – alors, je saurai que j;approche du lieu central ou converge le coeur du Monde dans le rayonnement descendant du Coeur de Dieu.
En ce point d;universel embrasement, agissez sur moi, Seigneur, par le feu reuni de toutes les actions interieures et exterieures qui, subies moins pres de Vous, seraient neutres, equivoques ou hostiles; mais qui, animees par une Energie "quae possit sibi omnia subjicere", deviennent, dans les profondeurs physiques de votre Coeur, les anges de votre victorieuse operation. Par une combinaison merveilleuse, avec votre attrait, du charme des creatures et de leur insuffisance, de leur douceur et de leur mechancete, de leur faiblesse decevante et de leur effroyable puissance, – exaltez tour a tour, et degoutez mon coeur; apprenez–lui la purete vraie, celle qui n;est pas une separation anemiante des choses, mais un elan a travers toutes beautes; revelez–lui la charite veritable, celle qui n;est pas la peur sterile de faire du mal, mais la volonte vigoureuse de force, tous ensemble, les portes de la vie; donnez–lui, enfin, donnez–lui surtout, par une vision grandissante de votre omnipresence, la passion bienheureuse de decouvrir, de faire et de subir toujours un peu plus le Monde, afin de penetrer toujours davantage en Vous.
Toute ma joie et ma reussite, toute ma raison d;etre et mon gout de vivre, mon Dieu, sont suspendus a cette vision fondamentale de votre conjonction avec l;Univers. Que d;autres annoncent, suivant leur fonction plus haute, les splendeurs de votre pur Esprit 1 Pour moi, domine par une vocation qui tient aux dernieres fibers de ma nature, je ne veux, ni je ne puis dire autre chose que les innombrables prolongements de votre Etre incarne a travers la Matiere; je ne saurai jamais precher que le mystere de votre chair, o Ame qui transparaissez dans tout ce qui nous entoure!
A votre Corps dans toute son extension, c;est–a–dire au Monde devenu, par votre puissance et par ma foi, le creuset magnifique et vivant ou tout
disparait pour renaitre,
– par toutes les ressources qu;a fait jaillir en moi votre attraction creatrice, par ma trop faible science,
– par mes liens religieux,
– par mon sacerdoce,
– et (ce a quoi je tiens le plus) par le fond de ma conviction humaine,
– je me voue pour en vivre et pour en mourir,
Jesus.
Within the framework of which the theory of the noosphere arose. The time has come to tell about the most significant foreign representative of this movement - the French thinker Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, who managed to combine religious dogmas with evolutionary biology in his philosophy. Intriguing, right?
Pierre Teilhard de Chardin was born at the end of the 19th century at the castle of Sarsena near Clermont-Ferrand in the south of France, studied at a Jesuit college, entered the order and was ordained as a priest.
The least that can be expected from a Catholic monk is stories about cosmic evolution. Get used to it, this is Teilhard de Chardin. His treatise on the theory of evolution is imbued with Christian mysticism and is based on faith in the transcendent. But the church still considered his ideas pantheistic and close to atheism, imposing a publication ban.
By the way, Teilhard de Chardin was a distant descendant of Voltaire.
The Jesuits have always been an order closely associated with education - for a long time, Jesuit schools were considered among the most prestigious for the aristocracy. However, Teilhard de Chardin stood out from the others for his unprecedented love of science. He did not even think of denying evolution - he literally deified it.
Archeology and paleontology
At one of the order's schools, Teilhard de Chardin taught physics and chemistry, and later became interested in paleontology. His main subject of interest was the development of forms. Why do some development branches turn out to be dead ends, while others go further? Why does nature move along the path of increasing complexity? How to reconcile the indisputability of Darwin's theory with Christian dogma? Asking these questions, he nurtured the idea of combining science and religion into a spiritualized “superscience”, imbued with an awareness of the significance of everything that happens in the Universe.
Having already been ordained, Chardin worked at the Institute of Human Paleontology at the Paris Museum of Natural History and participated in excavations. After studying at the Sorbonne, he defended his dissertation at the Catholic University of Paris on the topic “Mammals of the Lower Eocene of France” and became a professor in the department of geology there. Teilhard de Chardin spent many years in China, where, during geological research expeditions, he took part in drawing up a geological map of the country.
This relative of Homo sapiens, called “Beijing man,” lived 400-600 thousand years ago in the territory of modern China. Teilhard de Chardin made a description of the find, and also found out that Sinanthropus knew tools and fire.
Analyzing fossils and geological finds, and on their basis drawing conclusions about how intelligence originates in our distant ancestors, the Jesuit paleontologist was as delighted as if he had been present at the creation of Adam. Chardin did not deny that human sensations and experiences, including spiritual ones, are the result of work nervous system and brain. However, in the way consciousness arises and becomes more complex, he, as in natural selection, saw a directed design and principle.
Theology
Unlike conservative representatives of the Catholic Church, Teilhard de Chardin believed that one should not turn a blind eye to discoveries about the past and deny scientific and technological progress that will determine the future. He interpreted church dogmas in such a way that new knowledge about the world fit organically into the religious worldview. Teilhard de Chardin criticizes the Catholic Church for the static teaching that settled on Thomism - the teaching of Thomas Aquinas about God, reflected in the treatise "Summa Theologica". These ideas, remaining essentially unchanged since the 13th century, do not convey the full dynamics of historical processes, while religious teaching must develop as the divine plan for the world is realized throughout human history.
Chardin saw future development, both evolutionary and religious, in the transformation of humanity into a single spiritual superorganism.
According to Chardin, the idea of collective salvation rather than individual salvation is best consistent with Christianity. For this conviction in the general spirituality of all living things, the church accused him of pantheism. The Church has always separated spirit and matter, insisting on the sinfulness of the flesh. Chardin did not see a problem here, believing that matter is a form of existence of energy.
The doctrine of the “Omega point”
Chardin expressed his philosophy in the work “The Phenomenon of Man,” which was published only after his death in 1955 and shook up scientific and religious circles. In this work, he first sets out his theory of cosmic evolution, which led to the emergence of life, and then concludes that contemporary society is moving from the Neolithic to a new, previously unprecedented state.
Thanks to the creative and transformative human mind, evolution, which strives to create ever more complex and perfect forms, has now acquired a sociocultural dimension. Teilhard de Chardin believes that there is a fundamental axis of evolution along which all “radial forces” flow, and which is directed towards increasing complexity and greater consciousness, towards “megasynthesis”.
In the future, our abilities will increase endlessly, and spiritual development will reach incredible proportions. After the lithosphere, the biosphere appeared, and now the noosphere is emerging - an immaterial continuation of man, the “carrying out” of the mind beyond the biological. This is facilitated by scientific and technological development, the spread of means of communication, and the growth of cities. All this seems to transform humanity into a single organism, a collective mind, connected by threads of wires. According to Chardin, in this way the planet “gains a soul.” The concentration of planetary intelligence will lead to an explosion, the consequences of which will be comparable in scale to the birth of the Universe.
Evolution according to Chardin is the process of movement from chaos and fragmentation to the point of unification.
At this point, which he calls Omega after the last letter of the Latin alphabet, the great unification of the historical and the transcendental, Parousia, will occur. After this, the categories of material and spiritual, real and unreal will cease to matter, and all consciousnesses of people will merge in the universal synergy of differentiated unity.
The diagram from the treatise “The Phenomenon of Man” shows how evolution strives for “concentration of consciousness.”
Reflection in culture
Although Chardin's paleontological discoveries have enriched science, his teaching remains, albeit unusual, but still a religious philosophy. Chardin's ideas are interesting from the point of view of studying the principles of development of systems, and the imagery attracts even physicists. For example, the term “Omega point” was used by Frank Tipler in his studies of general relativity. The "Omega Point" regularly comes up in discussions of the technological singularity, the theory of which also involves reaching a point of maximum communicative saturation.
The poetry and deep imagery of Teilhard de Chardin's work were appreciated by science fiction writers. The idea that sooner or later thinking beings will overcome the need for physical bodies and become pure energy is found in many works of fiction. Themes of collective planetary intelligence, universal fusion and the creation of the Divine by people often appear in popular culture, largely thanks to Teilhardism. For example, Dan Simmons's tetralogy "The Songs of Hyperion" about a cybernetic God is based on these ideas, and Arthur Clarke's "Childhood's End" was also clearly written under the influence of Chardin.
Dream of merger
Popular culture so readily embraced Chardin's idea because of its archetypal fears and hopes. Our mind is a complex instrument of adaptation, the product of which is self-awareness. Every personality at the upper level of needs strives for understanding and contact, because it is fully actualized through the perception of others. At the same time, the very presence of consciousness dooms the individual to loneliness. Developing emotional intelligence and building warm relationships with other people helps in everyday life. However, this does not solve the fundamental problem of the impossibility of sharing the unique experience of any experience.
The idea of a posthumous disembodied existence in most religions involves meeting other people, including the dead: this is a maximization of the idea of being finally understood and accepted.
Therefore, modern philosophy is increasingly turning to the problem of the Other.
Recently, American biologists trained monkeys to collectively solve problems by connecting their brains using ultra-thin electrodes into a network called a brainet. The main thing about this is not even that primates could move a virtual object with the power of thought, but that they did it while synchronizing. Scientists suggest that in the future these developments could help people who are in a coma or have lost control of their limbs - by going into a person’s consciousness, the operator will be able to help him restore motor functions. The words "travel into consciousness" are more apt to describe a science-fiction film than actual technology, but as Arthur C. Clarke wrote, "any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."
Teilhard de Chardin created his treatise at a time when many achievements of science and technology were only wild dreams. Given how quickly progress is moving, the predictions of futurists are generating new interest, and we are increasingly reading classic science fiction novels to say “that’s not how things happened at all.”
The name itself speaks for itself. Just a phenomenon. But then the whole phenomenon.
First of all only phenomenon. Don't look here explanation- that's just introduction to explanation peace. To establish around a person, taken as the center, a natural order that connects the subsequent with the previous, to discover among the elements of the universe not a system of ontological causal connections, and the empirical law of recurrence, expressing their sequential occurrence over time, is what, and only this, I tried to do.
Of course, beyond this initial scientific generalization, the field remains wide open for deeper theoretical constructions in the field of philosophy and theology. I consciously tried not to enter into these depths of existence under any circumstances. At the most, based on experimental data, I have ascertained with some certainty the general direction of development (towards unity) and noted in appropriate places the breaks that may be required for reasons of a higher order in the further development of philosophical and religious thought.
P. de Chardin
This work expresses the desire see And show what a person becomes and demands when viewed entirely within the framework of phenomena.
Why strive to see? And why specifically direct your gaze to a person?
See. We can say that this is the whole life, if not ultimately, then, in any case, essentially. To exist more fully is to unite more and more: this is the summary and conclusion of this work. But, as will be shown, unity increases only on the basis of an increase in consciousness, that is, vision. This is undoubtedly why the history of living nature comes down to the creation - in the depths of space, in which more and more can be distinguished - of ever more perfect eyes. Is not the perfection of an animal, the superiority of a thinking being, measured by the power of penetration and the synthetic power of their gaze? Striving to see more and better is not a whim, not curiosity, not a luxury. See or perish. Everything that is a constituent element of the universe is placed in this position by the mysterious gift of existence. And this, therefore, is the same, but on a higher level, the position of man.
But if it is really so vital and pleasant to know, then why still pay our attention primarily to the person? Isn't the person described enough - to the point of boredom? And isn’t science attractive precisely because it directs our gaze to objects on which we can finally take a break from ourselves?
We are forced to consider man as the key of the universe for two reasons, which make him the center of the world.
First of all, subjectively, for ourselves, we inevitably - perspective center. Due to naivety, apparently inevitable in the first period, science initially imagined that it could observe phenomena in itself as they occur independently of us. Instinctively, physicists and naturalists at first acted as if their view fell on the world from above, and their consciousness penetrated into it, without being affected by it or changing it. They are now beginning to realize that even their most objective observations are entirely imbued with accepted premises, as well as forms or habits of thinking developed in the course of the historical development of scientific research.
Having reached the extreme point in their analyzes, they no longer really know whether the structure they comprehend constitutes the essence of the matter under study or a reflection of their own thoughts. And at the same time, they notice - as the opposite result of their discoveries - that they themselves are completely intertwined in the web of connections that they hoped to throw on things from the outside, that they are caught in their own network. Metamorphism and endomorphism, a geologist would say. Object and subject are intertwined and mutually transformed in the act of cognition. Willy-nilly, a person again comes to himself and considers himself in everything he sees.
This is bondage, which, however, is immediately compensated by some unique greatness.
The fact that the observer, wherever he goes, carries with him the center of the terrain he passes through, is a rather banal and, one might say, phenomenon independent of him. But what happens to a person walking if he accidentally finds himself at a naturally advantageous point (the intersection of roads or valleys), from where not only views, but also things themselves diverge in different directions? Then the subjective point of view coincides with the objective arrangement of things, and perception acquires its fullness. The area is deciphered and illuminated. The man sees.
This seems to be the advantage of human cognition.
You don’t have to be human to notice how objects and forces are arranged in a “circle” around you. All animals perceive this the same way as we do. But only man occupies a position in nature in which this convergence of lines is not just visible, but structural. The following pages will be devoted to the proof and study of this phenomenon. Due to the quality and biological properties Thoughts, we find ourselves at a unique point, at a node that dominates an entire section of the cosmos that is currently open to our experience. The center of perspective is a person, at the same time design center universe. Therefore, all science should ultimately be reduced to it. And this is as necessary as it is beneficial. If truly to see is to exist more fully, then let us consider a person - and we will live more fully.
And for this we will properly adapt our eyes. From the very beginning of his existence, man has been a spectacle for himself. In fact, for dozens of centuries he has been looking only at himself. However, it is just beginning to acquire a scientific view of its significance in the physics of the world. Let us not be surprised at the slowness of this awakening. Often the hardest thing to notice is exactly what should be “catchy.” It is not for nothing that a child needs education in order to separate from each other the images that besiege his newly opened retina. In order for a person to fully discover a person, he needed a whole series of “feelings”, the gradual acquisition of which (this will be discussed later) fills and articulates the very history of the struggle of the spirit.
The feeling of spatial immensity in the great and the small, dividing and delimiting the circles of objects surrounding us within the boundless sphere.
A feeling of depth that diligently pushes into infinity, into boundless times, events that some force like gravity constantly strives to compress for us into a thin sheet of the past.
A sense of quantity that discovers and, without flinching, appreciates the terrifying multitude of material or living elements participating in the slightest transformation of the universe.
A sense of proportion, which - for better or worse - captures the difference in physical scale, distinguishing in size and rhythm an atom from a nebula, a tiny from a huge one.
A sense of quality or novelty, which, without disturbing the physical unity of the world, distinguishes in nature the absolute stages of improvement and growth.
A sense of movement, capable of perceiving an irresistible development hidden by the greatest slowness, extreme fermentation under the veil of peace, something new that has crept into the core of the monotonous repetition of the same thing.
Finally, a sense of the organic, which, beneath the surface succession of events and groups, reveals physical connections and structural unity.
Without these qualities of our gaze, a person will endlessly remain for us, no matter how hard they try to teach us to see, what he still remains for many people - a random object in a disunited world. On the contrary, one has only to get rid of the triple illusion of insignificance, plurality and immobility, and man easily occupies the central place we proclaim - the pinnacle (at the moment) of anthropogenesis, which itself crowns cosmogenesis.