Man's Inner Guide by "Lumalett"

[Federica]

Inspired by, among other things, today’s thoughts on the earthly globe and the power of triangulation, I have flipped through the above-mentioned Pierre Teilhard de Chardin’s only book in my possession and found the following passage, where he pulls the strings of his long-span, overarching Idea, to make sense of the peculiar phase humanity is going through in our times (disclaimer - my translation):


"In fact, in the current stream of totalization that seems determined to tear us apart, as it decenters us, it’s simply the eternal game being put into play once again, always the same, although on a higher plane. It's the game of vitalising “corpuscle-isation” that, after reaching its apparent culmination in the seed of reflected consciousness, now tasks itself with the aggregation, the synthesizing of such particles of thinking with one another. After Man, Humanity: a movement initiated, as we know, since the Pre-hominids, later continued in a subtly and secretly enveloping mode all along the development of Homo Sapiens, and only today - for a very determinable reason - entering its critical phase of encirclement.

Looking back to the comparison by which we opened the study of the Noosphere: the wave of hominization has been propagating itself from North pole to South pole, within a symbolic globe. The modern Individuation crisis, in this framework, matches the coming of this wave to the equator, that is to say, the optimal separation - meaning independence - among highly differentiated elements in the course of the expansive play of Civilization. But the equilibrium is precarious, where - on an overpopulated Earth - the slightest increase in the tightness among strongly charged human molecules would cause the inversion of which we are at once the operators, the subjects and the witnesses: a change of Emisphere, where the Universe suddenly closes up, like a dome above our heads. The passage from Dilatation to Compression.
(...)
Should not the ultimate cause of our uneasiness be sought precisely in the change of curvature which, from a Universe still dominated by divergence of lines and by spacing, is suddenly transferring us to another type of Universe, rapidly converging on itself, with Time? It is a radical transformation of structure and climate, affecting and reshuffling in one go the totality of our vision and action. Since the 16th century, Man had progressively understood that the Cosmos he finds himself in was moving, and that such mouvement primarily consisted of an arrangement oriented to the More-Life. Only now, by a third step (the most dangerous of all) he is starting to realize that the so-called Cosmogenesis, not only is continuing, but also is spiraling, much quicker that expected, above his head.

In this decisive moment when, for the first time, Man is scientifically becoming aware of the general form of its earthly future, what he most urgently needs is, perhaps, to realize - for strong experimental reasons - that the sort of spatio-temporal dome, or cone, under which his destiny is taking him is not a deadlock where the flow of earthly life will crash and choke on itself. Instead this cosmic spindle corresponds with the gathering on itself of a power meant to find - in the intensity released by its convergence - enough momentum to break through all limits - whatever they might be."



based on: Teilhard de Chardin, P. (2007). La place de l’homme dans la Nature. Albin Michel, Paris, p. 219-221.

[AshvinP]

Inspired by, among other things, today’s thoughts on the earthly globe and the power of triangulation, I have flipped through the above-mentioned Pierre Teilhard de Chardin’s only book in my possession and found the following passage, where he pulls the strings of his long-span, overarching Idea, to make sense of the peculiar phase humanity is going through in our times (disclaimer - my translation):


"In fact, in the current stream of totalization that seems determined to tear us apart, as it decenters us, it’s simply the eternal game being put into play once again, always the same, although on a higher plane. It's the game of vitalising “corpuscle-isation” that, after reaching its apparent culmination in the seed of reflected consciousness, now tasks itself with the aggregation, the synthesizing of such particles of thinking with one another. After Man, Humanity: a movement initiated, as we know, since the Pre-hominids, later continued in a subtly and secretly enveloping mode all along the development of Homo Sapiens, and only today - for a very determinable reason - entering its critical phase of encirclement.

Looking back to the comparison by which we opened the study of the Noosphere: the wave of hominization has been propagating itself from North pole to South pole, within a symbolic globe. The modern Individuation crisis, in this framework, matches the coming of this wave to the equator, that is to say, the optimal separation - meaning independence - among highly differentiated elements in the course of the expansive play of Civilization. But the equilibrium is precarious, where - on an overpopulated Earth - the slightest increase in the tightness among strongly charged human molecules would cause the inversion of which we are at once the operators, the subjects and the witnesses: a change of Emisphere, where the Universe suddenly closes up, like a dome above our heads. The passage from Dilatation to Compression.
(...)
Should not the ultimate cause of our uneasiness be sought precisely in the change of curvature which, from a Universe still dominated by divergence of lines and by spacing, is suddenly transferring us to another type of Universe, rapidly converging on itself, with Time? It is a radical transformation of structure and climate, affecting and reshuffling in one go the totality of our vision and action. Since the 16th century, Man had progressively understood that the Cosmos he finds himself in was moving, and that such mouvement primarily consisted of an arrangement oriented to the More-Life. Only now, by a third step (the most dangerous of all) he is starting to realize that the so-called Cosmogenesis, not only is continuing, but also is spiraling, much quicker that expected, above his head.

In this decisive moment when, for the first time, Man is scientifically becoming aware of the general form of its earthly future, what he most urgently needs is, perhaps, to realize - for strong experimental reasons - that the sort of spatio-temporal dome, or cone, under which his destiny is taking him is not a deadlock where the flow of earthly life will crash and choke on itself. Instead this cosmic spindle corresponds with the gathering on itself of a power meant to find - in the intensity released by its convergence - enough momentum to break through all limits - whatever they might be."



based on: Teilhard de Chardin, P. (2007). La place de l’homme dans la Nature. Albin Michel, Paris, p. 219-221.

Thanks Federica, for another great share! This post reminded me of a succint quote I saw on Facebook.

"Two prisoners whose cells adjoin communicate with each other by knocking on the wall. The wall is the thing which separates them but it is also their means of communication. It is the same with us and God. Every separation is a link."
—Simone Weil, ‘Metaxu’

Of course there is a lot more going on in Chardin's quote and I may comment more on that later. But in these dire times for the Cosmic soul and spirit within humanity, I like to remember that people are always only one simple willed act of self-conscious thinking inquiry away from making their dialectical/reflected separation from the Divine, into their most promising link for communing with the Divine.

[Federica]

Yes, both quotes end on a hopeful note!
I'm finding translation a useful exercise to stay longer on a text and to better integrate the ideas, and I might do more going forward. I hope you don't feel like your replies are expected! This passage in particular was also to collect more data points and inspiration to facilitate the understanding of time.

[AshvinP]

Yes, both quotes end on a hopeful note!
I'm finding translation a useful exercise to stay longer on a text and to better integrate the ideas, and I might do more going forward. I hope you don't feel like your replies are expected! This passage in particular was also to collect more data points and inspiration to facilitate the understanding of time.

No, not at all - I know you don't expect replies. Sometimes I just get eager to comment when a quote inspires me. I look forward to more of your translations!

[Federica]

Thanks! I only need to clarify that the book by Teilhard de Chardin, exists in English, it's just that I don't have it.
By the way, in case someone is interested, I see now it's available even as free book.
As I said before, I don't mind looking ridiculous (most of the time)

https://openlibrary.org/books/OL1358201 ... _in_nature