CONTRIBUTIONS OF

PIERRE TEILHARD DE CHARDIN TO EDUCATION

by Mary Agnes Correia

A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in the Division of Education

Fresno State College June, 1965 TABLE or CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE

I. THE PROBLEM AND DEFINITIONS OF TERMS USED X

The Problem 1

Definitions of the Terms Used 2

II. REVIEW OF LITERATURE 5

III. BIOGRAPHY OF PIERRE TEILHARD DE CHARDIN 9

Early Life 9

Early Manhood 9

Later Life 12

Last Days 12

IV. CONTRIBUTIONS OF PIERRE TBILHARD DB CHARDIN 14

1905-1908 14

1909 15

1927 16 19 1938 sin 1920-1955

1923-1955 34

V. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS 36 42 VI. BIBLIOGRAPHY CHAPTER I

THE PROBLEM AND DEFINITIONS OF TERMS USED

Just as the tension created between religion and science was becoming greater and appeared Irreconcilable, a fresh new light was thrown by a man who was highly knowledgeable and deeply dedicated in both spheres,

I. THE PROBLEM

Statement of the problem. What are the contributions which Pierre Teilhard de Chardln has made to the field of education? In order to show these this study will describe Teilhard as a man, and through a simple description of his works and the literature discussing him show how he has reconciled the positions of science and religion from two opposing camps towards a harmonious working together.

Importance of the study. In 1859, when Charles Darwin published his Origin of Species, important questions of seeming contradictions between what science was finding through research and the assumptions some protagonists of religion had made were raised. Before all the facts were In, a sharp cleavage was made in educational thought. Through his studies, Teilhard de Chardin Illustrated that

both sides of the coin were necessary, and that they were complementary and not antagonistic to each other. 2

II. DEFINITIONS OF TERMS USED

Biosphere- Webster's Third New International Dictionary describes the biosphere as: "living beings together with their environment." Tellhard limits the use of biosphere to mean living beings before thought came to earth.^

Cephalization. The "specialization of the anterior part of the animal and concentration of sensory and neural organs in an anterior head" is cephalization.2

Christogenesis. In the continuous progress that is evolution, Teilhard thinks the next stage above noogenesis

is Christogenesis when Christ will move all humanity as an

anthrogenetlc whole, and not as individuals.

Geosphere. The "solid earth distinguished from

atmosphere and hydrosphere"* is the geosphere, but Tellhard used it to limit it to the earth before life came on earth.®

Iphilip Babcock (ed.), Webster's N|W In^r- national Dictionary of the (Springfield, Massachusettss Merriam Company Publishers, 1961), p. 219. (Hereafter cited as Webster s»)

2Ibid., p. 364. Spierre Teilhard de Chardin, The Future ofMaa, New York: Harper & Eow Publishera T56lTrTr 339. (Hereafter cited as Teilhard, Future.) ^Webster's, op. cit., p. 950. SL— a m *_ 3 TJU 14* 1* r% . 2fi9 . Hominisation, The leap that was taken in the process of evolution to thought from instinct is called, by Teilhard, hominisation.6 That would make it the dividing line between the biosphere and the noosphere.

Human Planetisation. To teilhard, human planetisa-

tion is a completely new form of phylogenesis where, while man becomes outwardly different through climatic and geo­ graphic influences, he does not develop into a different species as do other phyla, presumably preparing himself for the next step of evolution.7 Through love, true planetisa- tion ends in men becoming as though they were all one person.

Mega-synthesis. A gigantic or extensive coming

together of all humanity in the "super-human" level is 9 what Teilhard calls mega-synthesis*

Noogenesis. This word is found in neither Webster's

Third New International Dictionary or in Van Nostrand's Scientific Encyclopedia, but the way Teilhard uses the word it means the world after thought came to it in the pangs of

6pierre Teilhard de Char din, The Phenomenon of Man, (New York J Harper & Sr others, Publishers, 1959), p. 1W7 (Hereafter cited as Teilhard, Phenomenon.;

7Ibid., pp. 241-242. ^Teilhard, Future, pp. 118-120.

9Teilhard, Phenomenon, p. 244. the birth of the next stage, "a world that is being born, instead of a world that is."10

Noosphere. Neither is this word in the new Webster's or in Van Nostrand's, but Teilhard uses it to mean "the thinking layer" of the earth that came after the biosphere.11

Point omega. This is the point reached through the continued growing of intelligence, (cephalization) when, according to Teilhard, Christianity will replace evolution, and is the fulfillment and maturation.12

Ontogenesis. This is the process of "the develop- ment or evolution of a single organism,13 as contrasted with phylogenesis where the whole phylum is involved,

Phylogenesis* The racial history of a whole phylum 14 is here indicated.*

Orthogenesis. Another name for this would be "deter­

minate evolution" or the variation of organisms in succes­ sive generations along some predestined line resulting in

progressive evolutionary factor®."13

UTeilhard, Phenomenon, p. 82.

l2Ibid., p. 287. 13H G. Emery and K. G. Brewster (eds.), The New Century D^Uon^.V * fork; ». Appleton-Centnry 157. fSSsTTpT 118«. 14Ibid., p. 1305. CHAPTER II

REVIEW OF LITERATURE

Much literature has been coming out concerning Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, most of it complimentary to him, and most often in the form of magazine articles. His own Jesuit order, which publishes America, and which was skeptical at first of his philosophical implications, has heaped abundant laurels on his contributions, especially in the early part of 1956, when scarcely a weekly issue has appeared without a mention of him in glowing terms. Only occasionally does a conservative recommend more study before accepting his thoughts fully*

I. 1955

A few days after Pierre de Chardin's deaths glowing tributes to him were found in the obituary columns of both

Time and Newsweek magazines. Time called him a paleontologist of world renown who had helped to discover the Peking Man whom Teilhard considered an important help in explaining the fact that

there was "no contradiction between Roman Catholic doctrine

and scientific evidence of man's animal origin."*

Newsweek added that Teilhard "was a research associate

of the Wenner Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research".2 6

II. 1956-1957

A scientist who had worked with Teilhard in the field, Ha 11am L, Movius, Jr., of the Peabody Museum and

Harvard University, wrote a glowing tribute to him in Science regarding him both as a great teacher and a great scientist who considered one's spiritual development as

important as the physical development and who ...quietly and certainly without intention Jecame the pivot of the staff. Blessed with a gentle but perceptive sense of humor, he was at all times the best of companions, always unselfish, always in­ spiring, and always ready with information for the furthering of the work at hand,^

III. 1958-1959

One of the most detailed biographers of Teilhard

was Claude Cuenot, whose 408 page book was published in France in 1958, and which includes a 72 page listing of

Teilhard's writings, and which a recent American reviewer

calls .... detailed account of Teilhard an child, «>>. «tndent soldier, novice, priest, traveler, geologist, ti-rrhneoioaist anthropologist, paleontologist, geog­ rapher prehistorian, naturalist, ethnographer, lineuist missionary* theologian, mystic, teacher, piX philosopher, psychologist, writer, lecturer, pioneer and prophet.

SHallam L. Movius, Jr., Science, June 20, 1956.

4Re»i 0. Dubugue, Tenhardde Chardln, by Claude Cuenot, America, 112: 726, May 15, l»o». 7

IV. 1960-1963

Leon Cristiani's book on Teilhard which appeared in English in 1960, and which did much to continue the flow of magazine articles in America, outlined the main parts of Teilhard's thought, told about the high points of his life, and discussed extensively important people who agreed with him and some who disagreed but who kept their high regard for his sincerity and his integrity. Cristiani said of him: Hp was sure that different civilizations are the r.i£c™n a" the result of the rellgl«« f.lth which insDired them; and he was equally sure that the os e se h C Christian religion alone P 5 ! ^ ®®® ^p1orable wag3the1"tendency XlVtli ToclTt'STU'TSS^' what they owe to their Christianity hy stopping short either at a narrow sclentism* or at ritualism.® Cristiani went on to develop a picture of Teilhard which was

that of a pur scientist, and at the same time, that of a

sincerely believing Christian. During this time, numerous magazine articles were

printed by such magazines as America, The Catholic World,

Christian Century, Commonweal, National Review, Saturday

Evening Post, and Time. Among the overwhelmingly favorable

comments occurs an occasional skeptical one, to the effect

that it was the age and not the man that caused the progress.

5Leon Cristiani (pseudonym - Nicolas Corte), Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, His Life and Spirit, trans. Martin Jarrett-Kerr, C~R. (New Tforlh The Macmillan Company, 1960, PP. 1-115. (Hereafter cited as Cristiani.) 3

V. 1964—1965

These years show no diminishment of interest in Teilhard in magazine articles; the Saturday Review, the Science Digest, and Commentary being added to the list in recent years that have commented on him. Perhaps the most outstanding article on Teilhard was the one printed by the Jesuit weekly magazine, America, on the occasion of the tenth anniversary of his death. Father Campion gives facts to prove that Teilhardism is established in the United States by stating that The Phenomenon of Man has sold 43,000 copies in the hardcover edition and 95,000 in the paperback, The Divine Mileau had sold 37,000, Letters from a Traveller 10,000 copies, and the Future of Man 40,000 copies. He mentioned that Hymn of the Universe had just

been put on sale, and that Claude Cuenot's "invaluable

biographical study" would be coming out in mid-April 1965,

He cites examples to show the influence of Teilhard s thought

into every level of the intellectual American life.

Braybrooke, in a book called Teilhard de Chardin:

Pilgrim of the Future, named after Teilhard*s "I am a

pilgrim of the future on the way back from a journey made

entirely in the past," developed Teilhard's theme that

sufferers have a very special contribution to make to the

6Donald R. Campion, "The Phenomenon of Teilhard - On the Tenth Anniversary of His Death, the Influence of His Ideas is World Wide", America, 112: 480-481, April 10, 1965. 9 world as "those who pay the price of universal progress."7 To him, sufferers, who to the world seem to be accomplishing nothing, are invaluably helping the progress of the world. His own suffering he offered to Christ, only too happy to be a c o-redemptor with Him.

7k'N e„vnililpe BBrarvbaroyoke,b rTeiolhoarmd ede ^Cha1rd~in:1 2Pi8lg-rim of the Future, New York: beaoux-y CHAPTER III

BIOGRAPHY OF PIERRE TEILHARD DE CHARDIN

1. EARLY LIFE

Pierre Teilhard de Chardi n was born on May 1, 1881, in a small village in the chateau of Sarcenat, Just to the west of Clermont-Ferrand, Franc®. His father, Emmanuel

Teilhard de Chardin, who gave him his great love of natural history, was related to Pascal; his mother, who was devoted to her family and to her religion, was the great-grandniece of Voltaire.1

The beauty of the Mongoulede Mountains played an im­ portant part in creating that calm which characterized him all his life. In college at Mongre he was quiet, studious,0 and showed a great interest in field geology and in minerology,

II. EARLY MANHOOD

At eighteen years of age, Teilhard entered the Jesuit arder; at twenty-four he taught physics and chemistry at a fesuit college in Cairo, and was ordained at 31,3

1Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, Letters from a Traveller, ew Yorkj Harper & Bros. Publishers, 1957), p. 13 - Sir lian Huxley (Introd.), (Hereafter cited as Teilhard, Letters.) 11 Cristiani mentioned that he developed an intense interest in prehistory and in the years 1912-1914 Teilhard attached himself to the Museum of Natural History in Paris under the direction of Professor Marcellin Boule, who was the director of the Paleontological Laboratory of the Paris

Museum, and took part in excavations in the north of Spain.4 Enthusiastically responding to France's need in 1914, he did outstanding work in the war as a stretcher-bearer for which he received the Military Medal and the Legion of

Honour. From the Sorbonne, Teilhard received a doctorate in

1922 and continued his studies on the evolution of man. As a Professor of Geology at the Catholic Institute of Paris he attracted many students, three of whom later taught at the University of Paris.® Teilhard's views were so unusual that his Jesuit superiors decided to limit him to scientific research, where he became so competent that he was later asked to lecture to important Intellectual gather- 7 ings throughout the world.

^Cristiani, og. cit., P• 12.

Slbid., p. 22. ^Teilhard, Phenomenon, p. 22. 7Teilhard, Future, PP- 155-182. 12

III. LATER LIFE

After 1923, Teilhard spent most of his time in China, at first working for the Paris Museum, but later for the Carnegie Foundation with Chinese, Swedish and American specialists.® At home in France in 1946, Teilhard suffered a heart attack. After a long convalescence, he visited the United States from where he was sent by the Wenner-Gren Foundation to South Africa to study the near ancestor of man, "Australopithecus", which had been found by Broom and Dart. Shortly after Teilhard was elected to the Academic des Sciences, his headquarters were moved to New York (1951) where he played an important role in framing anthropological policy, and made valuable contributions to the international symposia which the Wenner-Gren Foundation, then known as the

Viking Foundation, organized.9

IV. LAST DAYS

Towards the last, a great tiredness came over him, but he was active right up to the end. In a letter to his

8Cristiani, ££. cit., p. 35> ^Teilhard, Phenomenon, p. 25, 13 cousin, Mile. Teilhard-Chambon on April 1, 1955, he wrote from New York:

...Where human truth is concerned, the Christian has a sacred duty to search and to communicate what he finds to the professionals and on a professional level... I have recently sent to the P. E. six pages on Research, Work and Adoration. In this I point out that it is impossible for a priest to be in the laboratory (or the factory) without being obliged to reconcile Christian faith in the supernatural and the new *humanistic' faith in the ultra human... so that they form a single energizing force within him.AU When speaking at a dinner in New York at the French

Consulate fifteen days before his death, he had said he wished to die on the Day of Resurrect ion. After saying his

own Mass fervently on April 10, 1955, (Easter Day), he attended a Pontifical Mass at St. Patrick's Cathedral, and then had lunch with some Jesuit Fathers. Enjoying a religious gathering with some friends, Teilhard remarked,

"I've never had such a lovely Easter before. * Soon he fell, instantly dead in their midst. His burial place was

a hundred miles from New York at Saint Andrews-on-the-

Hudson.

lOTeilhard, Letters, P- 363«

HCristiani, o£. cit., P- 113• CHAPTER IV

SELECTED CONTRIBUTIONS OF PIERRE T1ILHARP DE CHARDIK

With few exceptions, Teilhard de Chardin's works were published posthumously, Teilhard's thinking was so in advance of the age in which he lived, that it took some years for him to be understood and appreciated by his Jesuit superiors. Because of the new phrase of reference, they feared some basic Catholic principles were in question} a continued study of his works proved no contradiction occurred in fact. Freed fro® teaching, Teilhard studied, did research in the field, and lectured extensively throughout the world.

I. 1905-1908

Teaching Assignment. At 23 years of age, Teilhard

was assigned to a secondary ftiMA *» Caiv©* %ypt* to teach physic, and cheeistry. The letters he wrote to his .other end f ether et this ties here just been published In e 256 page book which contains sowe choice bits of Utsrary t.lsnt when describing the classification of Insects that are wsry

rarely seen or some beautiful rock forest Ion.1 ars:1Ch wriwstopyheur s»• *: " 15 Belief in Western supremacy. Mooney, the reviewer for Letters from Egypt. criticised Teilhard for rarely mentioning Egypt's culture, life, language, literature, or politics, and claimed that here in these letters could already be seen ...the same Teilhard who, years later, would travel to every corner of the Far East, yet remain always a man of the West. Intellectually and spiritually, he was wedded to a single culture* His great love of the earth, the whole earth, was Joined to a conviction that hope for humanity lay only along the "Route of the West". For this he may legitimately be criticized, yet such a conviction is none the less one of the keys to his intellectual achievement.

II. 1909

Belief in Scientific Impartiality. When Teilhard was

29 years of age, he published his first article in Etudes.

Referring to the conclusion of the doctors who made the pre­ liminary investigations for the miracles at Lourdes and had declared that natural laws could not explain them, he wondered why they had not gone on to the obvious conclusions supported by the observable phenomena:

'Yet they could do so quite logically. The things con­ cerned are observable, they can be precisely studied, Just like an eclipse of the sun. But official science is silent on the matter; it feigns ignorance, or retreats before explanation, dodging phenomena which it finds embarrassing; and so it Is disloyal to its reputation for impartiality and for absolute respect for facts?3

2Ibid.

3Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, "The Miracle of Lourdes and Canonical Investigations", 22 pp.. as cited in Leon 16

III. - 1927

Teilhard completed The Divine Milieu in 1927. This book explains the reason for his dedication to his work in the scientific field. This one, more than any other of his works keeps referring back to his motivation without reserve in Christ.4

World, Christ centered? He asks the possibility of the "Christ of the Gospels" still being capable of forming and embracing "the centre of our prodigiously expanded universe". He admits the danger of the world bursting "our religion asunder", "of becoming more vast, more dazzling than Jehovah", gives the impression that all that is need­ ed is to enfold Our God in our arms, the only thing prevent­ ing that is our "inability to see Him."5 To try to get us to see Him, this book was written.

Purity of our intentions. Believing there is no ultimate value in material actions except as they are purified through our intentions, as he states:

4Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, The Divine Mileau, and f£saJE £2. the Interior Life, (New York, Harper, I960), 144 pp, 22 cm. " 17

...Whether men discover on© truth or one fact more or less, whether or not they make beautiful music or beautiful pictures, whether their organization of the world is more or less successful-all that has no direct importance for heaven... But what will count, up there, what will always endure, is this: that you have acted in all things conformable to the will of God,

God obviously has no need of the products of your busy activity, since He could give Himself everything without you. The only thing that interests Him, the one thing He desires intensely, is the faithful use of your free­ dom, and the preference you accord Him over the things around you.^

For those who know how to "see" here below, nothing is

"profane" because of the merits of the "Creation" and the

"Incarnation"7 he believes, and because of this, he says of himself: "I want to dedicate myself body and soul to the sacred duty of research. We must test every barrier, try every path, plumb every abyss."® Knowing that what still needs to be accomplished in the world cannot be done in one generation or one century or one thousand years, he caution®:

"They (some readers) should bear in mind that we are still only half way along the road which leads to the mountain of the Transfiguration."^

Detachment through action. Providing a man gives

6Ibid., p. 22. 18

The spiritual power of Matter. Matter, to Teilhard, is merely "the common, universal, tangible setting, infinite­ ly shifting and varied, in which we live" and can not be labelled by the Manichean tendency to regard as evil in re­ lation to spirit as good.10 He sees the spirituality of matteri On the one hand matter is the burden, the chain, the pain, the sin and the threat to our lives... But at the same time matter is physical exuberance, ennobling con­ tact, virile effort, and the joy of growth. The pagan loves the earth in order to enjoy it and confine himself within it; the Christian in order to make it.jurer and draw from it the strength to escape from it.

Belief in Hell? After one's own sanctification,

Teilhard believes that divinizing the whole world is the task of the believer even though it be to an "infinitesimal and incommunicable degree". He believes that if one truly loves Christ one must love others, and also "it is impossible to love others (in a spirit of broad human communion) without moving nearer to Christ."14 He showed his love for his fellow-man in this original prayers

10Ibid.. p. 81.

11Ibid., p. 82. 12 Ibid., p. 96.

13Ibid., p. 123. 19

You have told me, O God, to believe in hell. But You have forbidden me to hold with absolute certainty that a single man has been damned...the fires of hell and the fires of heaven are not two different forces but contrary manifestations of the same energy.

I pray, O Master, that the flames of hell, may not touch me nor any of those whom I love, and even that they may never touch anyone (and I know, my God, that you will forgive this bold prayer)} but that, for each and every one of us, their sombre gleam may add, together with all the abysses that they reveal, to the blaring plenitude of the divine mileau. 5

To wish the happiness of all humans of all time was s greatest desire.

CHAPTER IV - 1938

Teilhard completed the manuscript of the Phenomenon of

I in 1938. In it, Teilhard goes back to before there was

'• on this earth and then step by step, shows the direction

>lution has taken and what would be logical to expect the ture to hold in the light of what the past has shown, sir

•ian Huxley, in an extended introduction to this book, con- lers it his "most notable work" and adds:

His influence on the world's thinking is bound to be important. Through his combination of wide scientific knowledge with deep religious feeling and a rigorous sense of values, he has forced theologians to view their ideas in the new perspective of ©volution, and scientists

lsIbid., p. 129. 20 to see the spiritual implications of their knowledge. He has both clarified and unified our vision of reality. In the light of that new comprehension, it is no longer possible to maintain that science and religion must operate in thought-tight compartments or concern separate sectors of life; they are both relevant to the whole of human existence. The religiously-minded can no longer turn their backs upon the natural world, or seek escape from its imperfections in a supernatural world, nor can the materialistically minded deny importance to spiritual ex­ perience and religious feeling.

Evolution. Scientists today, Teilhard say^ no longer

question the fact of evolution, that the theory of evolution

is no longer a hypothesis, but a "(dim entiorial) condition

which all hypothesis of physics or biology must henceforth

satisfy." The question which remains is whether "there is

a preponderance of chance (the Neo-Darwinians) or of in­

vention (the Neo-Lamackians). "17 Teilhard, while believing

the scientists of tomorrow will "see a direction and a line

of progress for life" even as he now sees it, believes:

Science in its development — and even, as I shall show, mankind in its march — is marking time at this moment because men's minds are reluctant to recognize that evolution has a precise orientation and a ori- vileged axis. Weakened by this fundamental doubt the forces of research are scattered, and there is no determination to build the earth.

16Pierre Teilhard de Chard in, The Phenomenon of Man, (New York: Harper and Brothers Publishers, 1959), p. 25. 17 21

Planetization. Naturalists, says Teilhard, are in­

trigued by the fact that man outwardly differentiates himself

under influences of climate and geography, yet does not break

himself into different species as do other phyla.19 This com­

pletely new form of phylogenesis, he calls human planetisation,

for he feels it is a preparedness to the next stage in man's

evoli utio. « n.2 0

Mega-synthesis. Teilhard absolutely warns against the

"blind alley" of isolation in either the individual or the 21 . . group, believing

No element could move and grow except with and by all the others with itself.

Also false against nature is the racial ideal of one branch draining off for itself alone all the sap of the tree and rising over the death of other branches. To reach the sun nothing less is required than the combined growth of the entire foliage.

The outcome of the world, the gates of the future, the entry into the super-human - these are not thrown open to a few of the privileged nor to one chosen people to the exclusion of all others. They will open to an advance of all together (Footnote * "Even if they do so only under tC influence of a few, an elite.") can join and find

19Ibid., p. 241.

20Ibid., p. 242,

21Ibid., p. 238. 22

completion in a spiritual renovation of the earth, a ren­ ovation of the earth, a renovation whose physical degree of reality we must^ow consider and whose outline we must make clearer.

The point Onega. Teilhard points out that an in­ dividual is replaceable from the standpoint of continuation of life, but that mankind is irreplaceable, and that he will infallibly reach the goal, Point Omega, which is a pole reached by the convergence of collective man through his very high personalization and which he expects to be reached through three approaches:

A. "The organization of research",

B. "The discovery of the human object", he thinks that during "coming centuries it is indispensible that a nobly human form of eugenics, on a standard worthy of our personalities, should be discovered and developed." 23 C. "The conjunction of science and relxgxon.

22Ibid., p. 244.

23Ibid., pp. 275 - 282. 23 V . 1920 - 1955

During this time Xeilhard's thoughts in the form

of lectures and articles can be found in the Future of Man,

which gives reasons for the conclusions he reached.

World, Christ-centered

Progress and Christ. Teilhard believes that humanity,

in its cries for guidance, is really searching for no other

Shepherd "than He who has already brought it bread," explaining!

Christ, as we know, fulfills Himself gradually through ages in the sum of our individual endeavors. Why should we treat his fulfillment as though it possessed none but a metaphorical significance, of purely supernatural action. Without the process of biological, evolution, which produced the human brain, there would be no sanctified soulst and similarly, without the evolution of collective thought, through which alone the plenitude of human consciousness can be attained on earth, how can there be a consummated Christ? In other words, without the constant striving of every human cell to unite with all the others, would the Parousia be physically possible? I doubt it.

Task of Christianity, To Christianity, Teilhard gives the stupendous task of man's evolutionary growth until he teaches the Point Omega, which is a convergence of all man­ kind to the point of acting as one person, through a phylo- jenesis rather than an ontogenesis in a mega-synthesis of a certain Christagenesis, emphasizing! Love* 24 Noosphere. Teilhard here defines the noosphere as

"the thinking layer of the earth as we know it today". He thinks that before now civilisation has expanded rather than compressed, now it is compressing, causing "an irresistible 2S rise within us and around us of the level of Reflection."

About the noosphere he says*

In Man, as though by a stroke of genius on the part of Life, and in accord with the grand phenomenon of phylectic coiling, heredity, hitherto primarily chromosomic (that is to say, carried by the genes) becomes primarily 'Noo- sphggic' - transmitted... by the surrounding environment see

With every day that passes it becomes a little more im­ possible for us to act or think otherwise than collect­ ively

The noosphere can function only by releasing more and more spiritual energy with an even higher potential,.. Research, which until yesterday was a luxury pursuit, is in process of becoming a major, indeed, the principal, function of humanity.*. ...we must make no mistake about this, there will be an essential difference, a difference of order, between the unitary state towards whigh we are moving and everything we have hitherto known.,.

25Ibid., PP. 281

26Ibid., P- 163.

27Ibid., P. 171.

28Ibid., P. 172.

29Ibid., P. 173. 25 Planetisation. During the last century, Teilhard

thinks, "the profound cleavage" between "families, countries,

professions, creeds", and other social groups has produced

"two increasingly distinct and irreconciliable human types,

those who believe in progress and those who do not"31 but

he seems to believe it is possible to convince everyone to

"Planetize" themselves t

...if each of us can believe that he is working so that the Universe may be raised, in him and through him, to a higher level - then a new spring of energy will well forth in the heart of Earth's workers. The whole great human organism, overcoming a momentary hesitation, will draw its breath and press on with strength renewal... men upon earth... to learn to love one another, it is not enough that they should know themselves to be mem­ bers of one and the same thing, in 'planetising* them­ selves, of becoming one and the same person.

Enforced phase and free phase of collectivisation.

Teilhard believes that up to now human collectivisation has been in the "enforced phase," but will enter into the "free phsse" because "a natural union of affinity and sympathy will supersede the forces of compulsion" byi

(men having at last understood that they are insepara­ bly joined elements of a converging Whole, and having learnt in consequence to love the preordained forces that unite them).

31Ibid.. p. 117. 26

Faith in peace. Not only is peace possible, says

Teilhard, it is certain, "Mankind" can no more "stop or-

ganising and unifying itself" than the earth "stop turning"34

Rights of Man. Because he thinks: "Whether we wish

it or not, Mankind is becoming collectivised, totalised

under the influence of psychic and spiritual forces on a

planetary scale" Teilhard draws up three principles:

(1). The absolute duty of the individual to develop his own personality. (2). The relative right of the individual to be placed in circumstances as favourable as possible to his per­ sonal development. (3). The absolute right of the individual, within the social organism, not to be deformed by external coercion but inwardly super-organised by persuasion, that is to say, in conformity with his personal endowments and aspirations.35

Greater freedom of Man, less totalitiarianism, as man ac­

quires morality under the "force of purposive thinking"

towards a "collective human organization" which Teilhard caH?- the "mystic body" and the supreme right of the indi­ vidual to use the keys that have been handed down to him by

Ktocation, building towards the Point Omega in successively

iflher levels of progress — these appear certain to Teilhard.36

34 -Ibid- • pp. 149-152. 35-. . 27

Reasoned calculation. Tezlhard's optimism for the

whole world continues up to and including his last day on

earth:37

Far from being stultified by overcrowding, the cells of individual freedom, in a concerted action growing more powerful as they increase in numbers, will rectify and redress thesis elves when they begin to move in the direc­ tion towards which they are inwardly polarised. It is reasoned calculation, not speculation, which makes me ready to lay odds on the ultimate triumph of hominisa- tion over all the vicissitudes threatening its progress. ...for some obscure reason something has gone wrong be­ tween man and God as in these days He is represented to Man. Man would seexa^to have no clear picture of the God he longs to worship.

...the greatest event in the history of the Earth, now taking place, may be the gradual discovery, by those with eyes to see, not merely of Something but of Someone at the peak created by the convergence of the evolving Uni- ACi verse upon itself.

Education

Education-definition. Teilhard considers education to be neither "artificial, accidental, or accessory" but vital to the human organism in its evolutionary progress towards the collective:

The transmission by example of an improvement, an action, and its reproduction by imitation...Educa tion is a specific h uman phenomenon...an extrinsic mechanism, superposed at one remove on the transmission of life...

37Ibid., pp. 237-309. 28 ...an essential and natural form of biological additi- vity. In it we can perhaps catch a glimpse, still in the marginal, conscious state, of individual, germinal heredity in process of formation: as though organic mutation at this stage took the form of a psychic invention contrived by the parents and transmitted by them.. # * we se@ her. edity pass through education beyond the individual to enter into its collective phase and become social.4^

What education is. Explaining the part education plays in mankind, Teilhard had this to say:

Mankind, as we find it in its present state and pre­ sent functioning, is organically inseparable from that which has been slowly added to it, and which is propa­ gated through education. This 'additive zone gradually created and transmitted by collective experience, is for each of us a sort of matrix, as real in its own way as our mother's womb. It is a true racial memory, upon which our individual memories draw and through which they complete themselves. Applied to the particular and singular instance of the human species, the idea that education is not merely a •sub-phenomon', but an integral part of biological heredity, derives unquestionable veri­ fication from the very coherences which it brings to the whole landscape, and the relief into which it throws it... The additivity of organic life, as science now tells us, is something quite different from the superposition of characteristics added to one another like the layers forming a sedimentary deposit. Life does not merely 'snowball', it behaves more like a tree, which acquires successive rings according to the particular of its growth, in a predetermined or directed manner.

41Ibid., p. 29.

42Ibid., pp. 30-31. 29

Education and mankind. What appears to be confusion

at first sight, says Teilhard, is not that at all, if we

will but stand back further and take a closer look. In all

the accumulation of what at first appears to be quantitative-

ness, he seems to see a face outlined, "the face of Humanity",

which has been "gradually acquiring the knowledge of its

birth, its history, its natural environment, its external

powers and the secrets of its soul"j he points out?

But it is undeniable that, thanks to their accumulated efforts, we have a better understanding than they could possess of the dimensions, the demands, the potentiali­ ties and hopes; above all of the profound unity of the world within and around us. In the passage of time a state of collective human consciousness has been progres­ sively evolved which is inherited by each succeeding generation of conscious individuals, and to which each generation adds something. Sustained, certainly, by the individual, but at the same time embracing and shaping the successive multitude of individuals, a sort of generalized human personality is visibly in process of formation upon the earth. It seems that where Man is concerned the specific function of education is to ensure the continued development of this personality by trans­ mitting it to the endlessly changing mass; in other words, to extend and ensure in collective mankind a consciousness which may already have reached its limit in the individual. Its fulfilment of this function is the final proof of the biological nature and value of education, extending to the things of the spirit.43

Education and Christianity. Teilhard believes that education is the "single mechanism" that will join all the

43Ibid.. DD. 31-32. 30 lines together of Mankind until they merge into one whole.

He believes Christianity to be the future super-animator of

Mankind through a two-step process that to him seems in­

evitable:

To the Christian humanist - faithful in this to the most sure theology of the Incarnation - there is neither separation nor discordance, but coherent subordination, between the genesis of Mankind in the World and the gen­ esis of Christ in Mankind through His Church. The two processes are inevitably linked in their structure, the second requiring the first as the upon which it descends in order to super-animate it.

Task of educators. Teilhard sees a three-fold task

for Christian educators: (1). Furthering the process "of

biological heredity, which from the beginning has eaused the

world to rise to higher zones of consciousness,.in a re­ flective form; (2), Having a "passionate faith in the pur­

pose and splendour of human aspirations" to illuminate all his instruction, "whether his subject be literature, history, science or philosophy" in order to insure "the slow conver­ gence of minds and hearts"; and (3). Incorporating the

World in the Word Incarnate

...indirectly in the degree in which the heart of a collective Mankind increasingly turned inward upon itself is made ready for this high transformation; directly, to the extent that the tide of Grace historically released

44Ibid., pp. 33-34. 31

by Jesus Christ is propogated only by being borne on a living tradition.45

Possible paths. Teilhard believes a choice of two paths open before us: We may choose a path of pessimism, believing "the Universe totally pointless", or one of opti­ mism, believing "it has a meaning, a future, a purpose. Then two more paths are possible, he thinks: Those who break or withdraw from the world, and those whose faith in the Universe is so strong and who believe "in some ultimate value in the tangible evolution of things" choosing an "Optimism of

Evolution" as against an "Optimism of Withdrawal* .

Totalitarianism vs. Love. If love doe® not dominate us when individuals are massed together, then Teilhard be­ lieves the totalitarian principle of a "functional and enforced mechanisation" takes place which he deplores deeply.

Optimistically he looks to the future:

Love has always been carefully !^ter and positivist concepts of the world? but * * we shall have to acknowledge that it is the ^ ~ mediuja impulse of Life, or, if you prefer, the one natura^ in which the rising course of evolution can Wxth love omitted there is truly nothing °f ? the forbidding prospect of standardisation and enslave^ ment - the doom of ants and termites. . f and within love that we must look for the deepeningof our deepest self, in the life-giving coming together of 32

humankind. Love is the free and imaginative outpouring of the spirit over all unexplored paths. It links those who love in bonds that unite but do not confound, causing them to discover in their mutual contact an exaltation capable, incomparably more than any arrogance of soli­ tude, or arousing in the heart of their being all that they possess of uniqueness and creative power.

Common choice of mass of Mankind. This incurable optimi

Teilhard, believes that in the long run man will choose the

"Grand Option, that which decides in favour of a convergent

Universe" because he believes history teaches that the world cannot go back and that it shows "a quality of the inevitable in the forward march of the Universe."

A paleontologist looks at Man. Teilhard finds no reason to be discouraged and disillusioned with the goodness of man in recent years because sometimes movement can be so slow as not to appear to move at all. Man has only existed for a few hundred thousand years of the over 300,000,000 years Life has been on this earth, but Man has moved in a definite directioni Man today is cerebrally more developed 49 than Pithecanthropus or Sinanthropus.

47jbid., pp. 54-55.

48Ibid., p. 57.

49Ibid., pp. 61-74. 33

Noogenesis. Teilhard calls "Noogenesis": "a world that is being born, instead of a world that is"; its present troubles "the price - of an immense triumph". He says "it is... impossible... to love either God ox our neighbor without assisting the progress... of the terrestrial synthesis of the spirit".50

In the following diagram, Pierre Teilhard de Chardin has summed up all his beliefs in the future and the direction of mankind: Christian Faith, arising Upward, in a personal transcendency, toward the Highest.

Human Faith, driving forward to the ultra- human.

Christian Faith 'rectified1 or 'made explicit*, re­ conciling the two: salvation (outlet) at once Upward and Forward in a Christ who is both Savior and Mover, not only of individual men but of an thro, gogenesis as a whole. 1

50Ibid., pp. 80-95

51Ibid., p. 269. 34

VI. 1923 - 1955

In his work and travel throughout the world between

1923 and 1955, Teilhard wrote many letters to friends and relatives that reveal his deepest thoughts and which have been collected into Letters from _a Traveller«

Geologizing and philosophophizing. To Teilhard, geologizing was a game which was vital for him and in which he became absorbed completely, but he came to realize that what really mattered was "the science of Christ running

through all things". Admitting this great absorption of

science kept him from philosophizing much, he had developed

a unique philosophy:

I keep developing and slightly improving, with the help of prayer, my "Mass upon things". It seems to me that in a sense the true substance to be consecrated each day is the world's development during that day the bread symbolising appropriately what creation succeeds in producing, the wine (blood) what creation causes to be lost in exhaustion and suffering in the course of its effort.52

Common understanding of man. Teilhard felt that the

common understanding of man could be "reached only by

52Teilhard, Letters, p. 85. 35 breaking, reversing or re-framing a mass of conventions and prejudices that enclose us in a dead outer shell."33

Future of world. In spite of appearances, Teilhard wished to declare himself a believer in the future of the world, that man's future religious life lay therein,24 that

"The world must have a God; but our concept of God must be 55 extended as the dimensions of the world are extended.

53Ibid., p. 133.

54Ibid., p. 142.

55Ibid., p. 168. CHAPTER V.

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS OP THE CONTRIBUTIONS

OF PIERRE TEILHAKD d@ CHARD IN

X. SUMMARY

Teilhard's Contributions as a Man

Associates of Pierre Teilhard de Chardin remarked on his kindliness, cheerfulness, wonderful sense of humor, and how he brightened their days in the field. As the fourth child of eleven children, Teilhard kept very close to his family all his life even when he could not be with them at times of crises.

Wise enough to understand his own psychological na­ ture, Teilhard pursued knowledge with zeal and action, never allowing the fact of non-publication to embitter or discourage him, doing what he felt to be his part in the improvement of mankind with integrity and without com- promising his vow of obedience.

Teilhard's Contributions as a Scientist Encouraged by a naturalist father, Teilhard started hoarding bits of nature as a child of six. All his life

Teilhard dug into the hard earth so that he might find the 37

secrets of the future. The fossils and artifacts he

found revealed much of the past, hut it was not the know­

ledge he gained but the hope he gave out that were his

greatest contributions.

These dark times are only the convolutions of a

world in evolution towards a higher being.

He filled books with his findings carefully recorded

and annotated, but he was never hesitant to go on to a

level beyond science if the phenomenon which he observed

seemed to him to require it. Spiritualised matter was

dear to him, but only as a means of helping his escape into

the Omega.

Teilhard's Contribution as a Man of Religion

What Teilhard called his Soul was something far

greater than he was, it was something imbued with God, in

Whom he lost himself "like1* a "monist," Whom he worshipped

"like" a "pagan" but unlike the pagan, he could not touch

Him unless he had "wrestled with him and been vanquished

by him."1 He truly believed God to be everywhere and in

•^Pierre Teilhard d@ Chardin, "Hymn of the Universe "

(modified version), Critic, 23112-20, February-March, 1965, This is a pre-publication7 abbreviated version prepared by th.editorial staff of Critic. xTeT^lof" . ^, onrrontlv known as the compiere w«as> 38

everything, and he acted accordingly, believing he must

continue studying and doing research in ever ascending

levels in order to grow.

Teilhard was a twenty-four hour Christian, every day

of the year; he showed this in hi® priestly dedication tc

God, in his religious obedience to his superiors, in his

many acts of kindliness to everyone with whom he came in

contact, especially young, struggling students, and in hi®

insistence in conscientiously doing his work for the better­

ment of the world. He saw wars and the ills of the world as the birth pangs of the new world that is dawning.

Teilhard gave to the ill and to all who suffer a very high place towards the making of that better world which he was positive was coming. He invested with dignity even the

most humble human, whose work in the world is important.

Teilhard felt the whole history of the past world was reflected in him and in us, and that man was not the center of the world but it was an axis which would help God finish creating the world until complete maturation was formed in Point Omega thousands of years into the future with all the cultures of the world converging into a col­ lective man, which would be all mankind working and think­ ing as one person, but far surpassing the intellect of mam 39

today, and in turn this collective man converging into

Christ. This conclusion he considered reasoned cal­ culation, not speculation, and optimistically expected his

idea to gather momentum, once it was launched.

Through his findings of the past, he drew the picture of the cosmophere, the geosphere, the biosphere, the noosphere and in the future the Christosphere when Christ would come

to meet the perfected Mankind and evolution would stop* To

Teilhard, it was just the projection of science to its

logical conclusion*

Where others found conflict so great that they would

not touch the subject of religion when discussing science,

Teilhard studied and dug and found truths to support his

thesis that there is no conflict when one looks on both

sides of the coin, one phase merely complements the other.

Each is as important as the other, having its own special

place to play in evolution* He believed the world was gradually better instead

of worse. Extreme slowness explained the illusion of no

progress. Teilhard expected a superior person whom he

called the ultraman to develop in the future. What each

of us does now would contribute towards that collective

person whose intelligence would be far ahead of that of 40

Teilhard1s Contributions as an Educator

Starting his adult life as a teacher of young men,

Teilhard cheerfully went into research when his theories

were questioned. In the latter part of his life he de­

plored the fact the world was not doing enough research,

that much more was needed.

Education was a vital function to him, a function that would add to the stature of future generations, that would add to humanity like seasons add rings on a giant tree. Education was not a superfluous ornament that could be left off, but a necessary biological growth necessary to help Mankind reach the Omega Point,

He considered totalitarianism a step on the very low development areas, but it should be replaced by love as soon as it was possible, for that was when the greatest progress could be made.

II. CONCLUSIONS

Pierre Teilhard de Char din seemed to the writer to be very similar in educational theory to Emerson, Dewey, and Lewin. It is not recorded if Teilhard ever spoke to

Dewey or Lewin, yet they lived during the same time, Teil­ hard outliving them a few years, Emerson had died when 41 masting some of his disciples in his later years spent in America and having seen the results of their philosophy.

All these men were interested in the world going forward; all were interested in the most effective tech­ niques to make that possible. All were interested in the reflective method of teaching. All were convinced that totalitarianism was a very inferior method of education; all were attached to experience and to matter. Where then did they differ? Where Teilhard publicly paid tribute to the source of all love beyond us and the grave, the three

Americans were silent, and gave their disciples the op­ portunity to make of their silence the cause of their greatness.

When educationists were disipating their energies defending their own positions, Teilhard reaches out, proves there is no contradiction in the pood things that have been found in science and in religion, and by his own example and counsel builds a wealth of love and hope and faith in our midst, giving dignity to a suffering humanity which, in the midst of plenty, is crying out in agony, not knowing that the swinging of the pendulum in the ages of faith brought about the swinging of the pendulum in materialism, and that neither brino m

A. BOOKS

Braybrooke, Neville. Teilhard de Chardini Pilgrim of the Future. New York: The Seabury Press, 1964. 12© pp.

Cristiani, Leon, (pseudonym - Nicolas Corte). Pierre Teilhard de Chardin! His Life and Spirit. New York! The Macmillan Company, I960. 120 pp.

Teilhard de Char din, Pierre. The Divine Milieu; An Essay on the Interior Life. New York; Harper & Brothers, Publishers, 1960. 144 pp.

Teilhard de Char din, Pierre. The Future of Man. Translated from the French by Norman Denny (1st Amer. Ed.). New York; Harper & Row Publishers, 1964. 319 pp.

Teilhard de Chardin, Pierre. Letters from a Traveller. New York; Harper & Brothers Publishers. 380 pp.

Teilhard de Chardin, Pierre. Phenomenon of Man. New York: Harper & Row Publishers, 1959. 313 pp. + Index.

Teilhard de Chardin, Pierre, and R. A. Stir ton. "A Corre­ lation of Some Miocene and Pliocene Mammalian Assemblages in North America and Asia with a Discussion of the Mio-Pliocene Boundary, California. University. Publications in the Geological sciences. Berkeley, California! University of California Press, 1936, XXIII (1933-1935) pp. 177-190. 43 B. PERIODICALS

Brums, J. E. "God Up Above or Up Ahead?" Catholic World, 191:23-30, April 1960,

Campion, D. R. "Phenomenon of Teilhard," America, 112:480-1 April 10, 1965,

Collegnon, J,. "Christian1s Dilemma," Saturday Review, June 27, 1964.

Collegnon, J. "Phenomenon of Teilhard," Christian Century, 82:426-8, April 7, 1965,

Downs, H. "Vision of Father Pierre," Science Digest, 57:85-91, February 1965,

Editors, "Teilhard and the Church," America, 107:480.

Editors. "Moniturn on Teilhard," Commonweal, 76:412-13,

Editors. "Roots of Our Being: Excerpt from Divine Milieu," Commonweal, 73:146-7,

Editors. "Teilhard: A Profile." Christian Century, 80:95, January 16, 1963,

Editors. "Premature Admonition: Monitum Against Writings of Teilhard de Chardin," Christian Century, 79:951, August 8, 1962. • Editors. "Obituary, Teilhard de Chardin," Newsweek, April 25, 1955.

Editors. "Obituary, Teilhard de Chardin," TiffQ» April 25, 1955.

Editors. "Passionate Indifference." Time, 77:40, February 10, 1961,

Editors. "Pilgrim of the Future," Time, 80-60, July 27, 1962, 44' Evans, J. W. •'Phenomenon of Man,*' Commonweal. 72:439-43, September 2, 1960.

Francoeur, R. T. "For Teilhard no Flight from Time," Catholic World, 193:367-73, September 1961.

Lawler, J. G. "Chardin and Human Knowledge," Commonweal. 68;4 0-4, April 11, 1958,

Molnar, T. »'To t he Anthill with Love," National Review, 16:1073-4, December 1, 1964,

Movius, H. L., Jr. "Pierre Teilhard d@ Chardin," Palaeoanthropologist, Science, 123:92, January 20, 1956.

Polanzi, M. "Epic Theory of Evolution," Saturday Review, 43:21, January 30, 1960.

Poulain, D. "Christ and the Universe," Commonweal, 69:460-4, January 30, 1959.

Rabut, 0. "Teilhard de Chardin," America, 106:94-5, October 21, 1961.

Roth, Robert, J. "The Importance of Matter," America, 109:792-4, December 21-28, 1963.

Stern, K. "Great and Controversialist Priest and Scientist," Commonweal, 71:400-1, January 1, 1960.

Teilhard de Chardin, Pierre. "Hymn of the Universe," (modified version), Critic, 23:12-20, February-March 1965. This is a pre-publication, abbreviated version prepared by the editorial staff of Critic. The extent of change or abbreviation is not currently known as the complete text was not available at time of typing this thesis.

Toulmin, S. "On Teilhard de Chardin," Commentary, 39:50-5, March 1965,

Winkler, F. E. "Visionary," Saturday Review, 43:32-3, December 3, 1960.