Just imagine somebody... Somebody, whose whole life was a continuous prayer to God, a prayer, in which he constantly asked to break through the seal of traditional authority and common ignorance, and explore the depth of reality, the ultimate beginning and the ultimate end, and the reasons behind the emergence of life and conscious beings in the universe. Of course, that means that your books are put on the Index and you are almost made into a heretic by the True and Holy Catholic Church. But he didn't give up. He clearly saw his goals, his purpose. It was his life's work, to trace back the origins of mankind, and to speculate of its goals and ultimate outcome. It was his type of spirituality, scientific spirituality, that drove him incessantly to spend sleepless nights trying to make sense o

Has there always been conscious life in our universe? No, would be Teilhard's answer. Emergence of consciousness was indeed a breakthrough in the evolution of the world. But what kind of a breakthrough? What is the primordial element that gave rise to life in the universe? What is it composed of? As a Catholic priest, he should say, "well, the universe was created by God out of nothing in six days, and culminated in the creation of man out of earth." And this Old Testament myth, however surprising it may sound, is very close to what Teilhard does say in his essays. "Stuff of the Universe" is the name he gives to that primordial element, out of which the cosmos has been created, and which is the underlying ground for the evolution of the cosmos to bring forth consciousness, a thinking being. Out of the stuff of the universe, the cosmos was created. And out of the cosmos, life emerged. We have to understand one thing here: Teilhard was a scientist, who believed that there was more than just the material dimension in the cosmos. He reversed the traditional scientific principles that matter was all there is to the universe, and he based his assertions on scientific premises! "If the cosmos were basically immaterial," said he, "it would be physically incapable of containing man" - a spiritual being (120). Therefore, the "inner being of the universe must be made of spiritual stuff" (120). Which tell us, that "the stuff of the universe" contained both material and spiritual in themselves, in its primordial form. Except that spiritual 'part' didn't stream forth just as soon as the material part did. Why not? Teilhard doesn't say. He just looks at the facts of science, and draws his verdict. From inanimate matter, emerges organic life, and from it, emerges thought and man as a conscious being. With the emergence of man, the universe became "conscious of itself", "personalized". Spirit, I'm quoting, is the higher state of "primal and undefinable thing" - the 'stuff of the universe' (93). It is personality, thought, consciousness. All matter is bound to evolve to spiritual state, sooner or later. Evolution of spiritual state, on the other hand, can be unlimited, progressing to higher and higher states. Personality is one of the stages in the evolution of the spirit. Its goal is monocentrism - being conscious of being One with the All, and actual unification of all conscious entities into One Whole. This is the true goal of human soul - union into One with the All. Teilhard points out, that we are always in the presence of the All, which is the sum total of all conscious energies of the universe, with God as the center. All the conscious energies of the universe are directed towards the common goal - evolution. The center of the universe is single, unified consciousness. And this totality is reflected partly in each of our particular consciousnesses. God is the unifying principle, the center that directs all evolution towards unity. Teilhard further states, that "the organization of human energy - God - pushes us towards the ultimate formation, over and above each personal element, of a common soul of humanity" (137). So far, peak of evolution is what Teilhard calls a reflective thought - human consciousness. And the process of evolution is far from being over.

First of all, universe is not static. That is, there is no permanence in it. Everything is in the constant process of change, and a particular kind of change - evolution. How did man come to be, asks de Chardin. And the only plausible conclusion he can make is, that human being is a link in a chain of evolution. What was before man? And how does God fit into the whole picture? Let us follow Teilhard in his understanding of the universe through ourselves, human beings.

First of all, to realize that mass consciousness has influence on the universe, and that all thought should be directed towards unity with the All, forming 'single spirit

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Approximate Word count = 2830
Approximate Pages = 11 (250 words per page double spaced)