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Teilhard de Chardin’s planetary vision of humanity: The Noosphere.

Agustín Udías

Universidad Complutense de Madrid

Summary

Teilhard de Chadin, a pilgrim of the future, had his interest always put on the future of the

universe to be achieved through mankind. The Earth’s evolution entered a new stage with

the appearance of men and rise of the noosphere. Its evolution at planetary level progress

through the process of socialization or planetization. Overcoming the dangers of

individuation, which tends toward the multiple, socialization is directed toward some kind

of unity. The process leads the noosphere to a new unity or superorganism based on

knowledge. Of the many ways humanity can take only the evolution of unity is driven by

the Spirit of the Earth. The force which drives humanity toward a final unity is love. The

final unity is achieved not as an aggregate but by the union in the Omega Point, who is

really attracting the whole evolution toward himself. The free nature of the noosphere

requires a great Option to achieve its unity, which is also guaranteed by the action of the

Omega Point on the noosphere. For Teilhard, as a Christian, the Omega Point is identified

with Christ already present in the world attracting all to himself. Thus, for Teilhard the

union of the noosphere will ultimately form the universal Christ.

Introduction

Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (1881-1955), Jesuit priest and paleontologist, developed

throughout his scientific carrier an original system of thought which may be placed at the

boundaries between science, philosophy, theology and mysticism. During his life, the

publication of his non-scientific writings was barred by ecclesiastic authorities, but

circulated in private copies among his friends. When Teilhard’s writings began to be

published, after his death in 1955, they produced an enormous impact and were rapidly

translated into many languages. The publication of all his writings was a slow process. In

the original French, the first volume of Teilhard’s works (Vol. 1, Le phénomène humain)

was published in 1955 and the last (Vol. 13, Le coeur de la matière) in 19761. Other

writings and letters were also published during this period and later. Soon his writings were

translated and published in many languages and Teilhard’s ideas spread through the world.

The early interest for Teilhard’s ideas can be measured by the publication about them in

different countries, between 1956 and 1980, of about 3000 books and articles. A very

extensive list of books and articles about Teilhard can be found in Polgar’s bibliography2.

Teilhard’s thought has been the object of many studies, which analyze its scientific,

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philosophical, theological and mystical aspects. After 1980, the interest for Teilhard seems

to have declined, but we can see something of a revival recently. In the new dialogue

between science and religion, which began about 1970, Teilhard is not often mentioned.

However, a recent article by Amy Limpilaw gives a list of 521 publications from 2000 to

2008, showing the continuous interest in Teilhard’s ideas3. In this paper I examine his

ideas about the development and future of mankind, or what he calls the noosphere.

References to Teilhard’s works are given to the French edition.

A pilgrim of the future.

A “Pilgrim of the Future” (Pélerin de l’Avenir), appellative which Teilhard de Chardin

applied to himself, may be the best description of what he wanted to be. In 1923, he wrote:

“A Pilgrim of the Future, I return from a journey made entirely in the Past” 4. His

dedication to geology and paleontology could rather indicate the contrary, an interest for

the past: the past of the Earth’s formation, the past of life, the past of man. However, for

him the past was only a means to understanding the future. The future was always the

principal object of his enquiries. But he was very aware that we cannot look into the future

if we don’t know the past and its evolution in time. Thus, cosmic evolution is at the center

of his vision which he projected to the future. Late in his life in 1952 he wrote: “Geology is

at present displaced for me by the human and the ultra-human…the neo-anthropology takes

the first place now in my reflections and conversations”5. He meant by this that the future,

understood as the future of man (neo-anthropology), occupies now the center of his interest

instead of the past (geology). For him with the appearance of man (the noosphere), the line

of evolution has passed from the biological evolution to the social evolution. It is in the

latter that evolution will continue to the final achievement of the whole universe. The

Pilgrim of the Future will have to follow the steps of the evolution of humanity looking

always toward what is ahead.

The potentialities of Matter.

Before entering the subject of the emergence and evolution of the noosphere, we need to

recall some fundamental ideas of Teilhard’s understanding of the nature of matter which

forms its primordial stuff. He begins by rejecting all matter-spirit dualism, and presents a

concept of matter which includes the spiritual dimension. He tries to understand the nature

of matter, not from the point of view of its simplest particles (quarks and leptons), as

physicists do, but from the evidence of human consciousness. For this reason, Teilhard

calls his fundamental work where he presents his system “The human phenomenon”; man

is for him the key to understand the nature and history of the cosmos. If man is a conscious

material being, this quality of reflexed consciousness, explicitly and clearly present in the

human person, must be, for Teilhard, present in all matter. This leads him to propose that

there is an inside (dedans) of matter, besides its outside (dehors), which is the object of the

natural sciences6. To this twofold character of matter correspond two types of energy: a

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tangential (tangentielle) energy, which corresponds to the physical energy, and a radial

(radiale) energy, which is responsible for the converging evolution of matter along the line

of greater complexity and greater consciousness, which is finally revealed in man.

Complexity means the creation of more centered units formed by increasing number of

elements. As complexity increases there is an evolution from the inanimate to the living

and from the living to the conscious, with an increase in the presence of the “spirit”, since

Teilhard identifies spirituality and consciousness. For this reason, the radial energy

responsible of the evolution can be also called the “spiritual energy”. We will see how this

energy at the human level is finally identified with love. These concepts of matter and

energy are a consequence of his vision of the continuity of the evolution of the universe,

from the elementary particles up to man and beyond. The evolution in the line of an ever

increasing complexity leads Teilhard to discover a new metaphysics in which “to be”

means “to unite” or “to be united”. Union becomes the key to understand existence at all

levels; his metaphysics is a “metaphysics of union”. Union is present in every stage of the

evolution of the universe from the nucleo-synthesis of the elementary particles to the

personal union of men through love. Applied to the whole universe the evolutionary

process must, then, end in a final union in what he calls the Omega Point, which Teilhard

finally identifies with God. By this dynamism the cosmic evolution must be necessarily

convergent. Convergence is a fundamental element in Teilhard’s thought, a consequence of

his metaphysics of union.

It is important to consider the internal dynamism of Matter (written with capital letter) for

Teilhard, which includes the spiritual and leads it in an ever-increasing spiritual dimension.

We observe that cosmic evolution which begins, according to what science tell us today,

with a universe formed only by elementary particles proceeds in a long process of about

fourteen thousand million years, along the line of elements of an ever increase of greater

complexity: nuclei, atoms of increasing atomic number, molecules, galaxies, stars, planets,

etc. At the living stage on the Earth, biological evolution proceeds also from the simple, the

unicellular, to more and more complex animals to reach man. To this increase in

complexity corresponds an increase in consciousness, which Teilhard identifies with a

greater spirituality. As beings evolve from inert matter to life and consciousness, their

spiritual dimension keeps increasing together with their complexity. For him

consciousness, fully present in man, must also exist, in a primitive manner, in all material

beings. Teilhard recognizes two basic processes present in the universe, downward and

upward, toward matter and toward the spirit (matérialisation and spiritualisation). Matter

and spirit are strongly linked together, like the two faces of the same thing . Behind this

understanding is what he calls the “spiritual power of matter”, which allows matter to

become the matrix of the spirit7. Thus, for Teilhard matter itself has a dynamism which

makes it to evolve from the inert stuff of Earth’s materials toward the spirit in man. In its

final development, through the human spirit, matter itself finds its final accomplishment in

the union with the Spirit of God. For Greek philosophers matter was considered as a

hindrance to the spirit to be overcome. This was the source of the matter-spirit dualism

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present at all times in much of western thought. Teilhard giving to matter the power to

progress to the spirit, overcomes this dualism. He ended his considerations about matter

with a mystical “Hymn to Matter” in which matter is saluted as the “powerful Matter,

irresistible Evolution, Reality always being born… divine milieu full of creative power,

ocean agitated by the Spirit, clay kneaded and animated by the Incarnated Word” 8. The last

words point to the Christological dimension present always in Teilhard’s thought.

From Teilhard’s point of view, the nature of matter, as known by science, is in itself

incomplete, since it cannot explain the evolution of matter toward greater complexity and

consciousness, which finds its full expression in man. However, he did not introduce a

dualistic principle to explain consciousness; on the contrary he put in matter itself the

power to evolve into consciousness. For Teilhard consciousness was in fact a dimension of

matter, which is linked to its complexity. As matter becomes more and more complex,

greater degrees of consciousness appear. In living organisms, growth in complexity in the

latest stages takes place in more complex brains with greater conscious capacity. Thus,

consciousness constitutes what we may call the spiritual dimension. Matter and spirit are

not, then, two opposing realities, but two dimensions of the same reality. This

understanding of matter-spirit reality cannot be understood without Teilhard’s idea of a

convergent universe toward greater consciousness or spiritual dimension, attracted by the

super-conscious and super-spiritual Omega Point. All the potentialities of Matter depend

finally on the complete dynamic structure of reality which can only achieve its final

completion in the union, through the convergence of man, with the Omega Point. Already

in one of his earliest essays, “The Cosmic Life” he states that man affirms his superiority

over all the other things being the active part of the universe. His role is to achieve the

cosmic evolution till the realization of its last promises9. Through the human the

“spiritualization” of the universe takes place, when matter is absorbed by the spirit

through the communion in the Omega Point. At the level of the noosphere, human forward

progress (en avant) in more evolved societies is also an upward progress (en haut) to a

greater spirituality in the direction of his final convergence in the Omega Point.

The emergence of the noosphere

In the process of evolution there are two moments of what Teilhard calls discontinuity in

continuity, the appearance of life and of consciousness or thought. The first gives origin to

a new layer or envelope of living matter over the Earth, the “biosphere” (term introduced

by the geologist Eduard Suess, 1831-1914). The second corresponds to the appearance of

the human with his reflexive knowledge or consciousness. Man not only knows, but he is

aware of his own knowledge, he knows that he knows. Teilhard used the term “noosphere”,

for the first time in 1925, for this new envelope of conscious matter on Earth, the sphere of

reflection or thought10

. Once conscious thought has appeared on Earth, a new dynamic and

irresistible process at planetary and cosmic levels begins which Teilhard calls human

“socialization” or “planetization” 11

. Planetary motion is conditioned by the limited

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spherical form of the Earth’s surface that forces the humans to organize more and more

among themselves, creating units of greater social complexity filling the whole planet. This

process of human organization is actually a continuation of the cosmic tendency of

increasing complexity present in the whole history of the universe. Teilhard’s planetization

can be compared with the modern term of globalization, that is, social processes affecting

the whole world. The influence of man on all aspects of the Earth has raised the proposal

of a new geological epoch, the “anthropocene”, dominated by humanity, which is

considered to follow the holocene. There are several proposals for the beginning of this

epoch, which varies from about 8000 years ago with the beginning of the farming

revolution to the end of the 18th

century with the industrial revolution. One can see the

anthropocene as the consequence of the impact on the physical Earth of the development

and progress of the noosphere.

Teilhard finds two movements or stages in the formation of the noosphere which he calls

two types of “socialization”: a socialization of expansion and a socialization of

compression12

. The socialization of expansion implies that individuation and civilization

was present in the first human groups as they moved from hunter-gatherer tribes to the

first civilizations. This stage stresses the needs and values of individuals and foster the

increasing possibilities of separated persons. Emphasis is put at the individual person, his

needs, rights, welfare and happiness and also at groups, be them families, tribes or nations.

We are still today in many aspects at this stage. Teilhard also calls this stage the pluralistic

solution, which is present as humanity expands to occupy the complete surface of the Earth.

The socialization of compression implies “totalization” and “personalization” at a higher

level. This process takes place as world population keeps increasing and human

organization becomes more tightly united in order to form just one social body. Social,

cultural, religious, political, economical, and technical organizations contribute to this

process. The emphasis on the individual is, at this stage, superseded by the emphasis on the

social. Unity is now placed at the planetary level, that is, it must be formed by the whole

humanity. Teilhard sees this process not as a merely additive one made up of human units,

but as the emergence of a new social unity at planetary level. Although he uses the word

“social”, the new unity of the noosphere is achieved through, what he calls, a “physical

irresistible process”. From the “cerebralization” of the individual, that is, the evolution of

animal forms along the line of more complex brains, in the first stages of the noosphere ,

we pass now to what can be called a “collective cerebralization” at planetary level in

search for a final unity.

Immediately after the experience of the Second World War, which Teilhard saw as the

most terrible shock suffered by the living layers of the Earth, he insisted in the inevitable

human unifying process of what he calls “planetization”13

. By planetization Teilhard

understand the establishment of all cultural and social processes at the planetary level

overcoming individual and group interests. Though the war was a confrontation that

moved in a direction opposite to what he had hoped for, he realized that after the war the

world started to became more connected through a process of increasing socialization. In

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his analysis, he presents three elements of the socialization: collective memory which

results in an accumulation of common experiences; a network of communications covering

the whole Earth and the emergence of a new faculty of common vision. We can see that

these elements are present and keep growing in the world today. For example, global

communication, very limited still in Teilhard’s times, has greatly increased with the new

instruments of communication media, such as, mobile phones, internet, social-networks,

etc. As Teilhard expresses it, the noosphere, the thinking envelope of the Earth keeps

increasing its “temperature”, raising its “psyquisme” in an external and internal human

planetization. Humanity becomes totally reflected over itself in what can be called a

“second hominization”14

. In this process, contrary to what we may think, the

collectivization leads also to an increase in personalization. Individuals don’t lose their

personalities, but increase them at a higher level.

The result of these processes in the development of the noosphere is, in Teilhard’s view,

the creation of a new unity or “superorganism” based on knowledge. Another term he uses

is that of a “superbody” (supercorp). He considers that we must pass from a juridical

interpretation of the links between men to an organic or biological one15

. A powerful

instrument in this process is the progress in the communication media. Although Teilhard

knew only the very limited media of his times (telephone, radio, television), he foresaw

their increasing progress in power, so that they could truly become what he calls a

“liberating machine” (machine libératrice) of the noosphere. He understood this as a

liberation from the constraints to communication imposed by space-time limits. Teilhard

saw the media as contributing to the formation of what he called an “ethereal co-

conscience” (co-conscience etherée). He doesn’t elaborate what he means by this, but we

can see here a premonition of the “virtual-world” and the “cyber-space” of the internet and

the social networks. In this process a predominant role is played by science and technology

which form the arrowhead of human evolution. Thus, for Teilhard, scientific research is not

just a part of human effort, important as it may be, but the “great affaire of the world” (la

Grand Affair du Monde) , the vital human function, as vital as nutrition and reproduction16

.

He insists that it is through science that man can create a mystique that will form a true

human unanimity.

The spirit of the Earth

Once thinking conscious elements have appeared on the Earth (noosphere) and the

currents toward their greater unification have been established, two possibilities are still

open for humanity because of its free nature: each person might choose either to seek his

own good, the individual achievement or to build in solidarity the good of the world. In this

form humanity would continue at the conscious level the line of evolution toward a greater

unity present in the whole universe. Teilhard links this problem with that of the foundation

of morality. The free elements of the noosphere are faced in their action with the problem

of choosing what ought to be done: the basic question of ethics. The two possibilities we

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have mentioned result in two ethical or morals systems: one based on a static individualism

and the second on an evolutionary collectivization. The first which give priority of

individual and personal interest is the result of a pluralistic conception of humanity. This

contradicts the general movement of evolution, which cannot be stopped with the

emergence of man. The second is a consequence of evolution at the level of the noosphere

which must continue in the direction of greater unity at social level through an increase in

personalization and spiritualization. This must rule human actions taking into account the

free nature of its elements.

As Teilhard wrote: “There are not only spirits on the Earth. The world must continue: it

will be one Spirit of the Earth” (Esprit de la Terre)17

. The “Spirit of the Earth” is what

makes possible the convergent motion of the free elements of the noosphere toward their

final achievement in the Omega Point. He places the Spirit of the Earth in the future, as

something to be achieved by the unanimous work of humanity and at the same time as

something already present which impulses the noosphere in that direction. He rules out

first the possibility of a total death (la mort totale) of humanity, excluded by the presence

of the spirit from the very origins of the cosmic evolution. Such death would indicate the

world to be what he calls “a monster of the spirit”. For Teilhard the spirit constitutes

precisely the indestructible part of the universe and therefore something necessarily

permanent. Once this obstacle is saved, two motions opposed to this unifying process are

still present: repulsion and materialization. The first springs up from the instinctive

repulsion of the human molecules for each other, a tendency which is present in every

individualistic interaction. The second corresponds to a reversal in the cosmic evolution

which must tend always toward a greater spiritualization.

Teilhard is aware that in the social organization there are many roads along which

humanity can make its way. He reduced them to two: “evolution of plurality” and

“evolution of unity”. The first leads to divergence, where the elements tend to oppose each

other, moved by what he called a “mystique of separation”. This tendency can be seen in

the growth of particularisms and nationalisms, which seek satisfaction in a progress of

individuals or groups against each other. This, for Teilhard, would be to introduce, in the

evolution at the conscious level, an element of desegregation and death. Beginning with the

individual and extended to any group, tribe or nation, this tendency is opposed to a true

unification at planetary level. Behind this motion one can always find the “spirit of egoism”

opposed to the Spirit of the Earth, which is really the spirit of evolution. No matter how

strong these particularizing tendencies present themselves, they will be overcome by the

unifying process which is driven by Spirit of the Earth. Another expression Teilhard uses in

this context is the “Sense of the Earth” (Sense de la Terre) which he defines as a passionate

sense of the common destiny of humanity. This Sense of the Earth opens our hearts to the

call of the world to a true unanimity. Unanimity is a word often used by Teilhard to indicate

the unity at conscious level. For him the only unanimity or human unity which is really

natural and real is that achieved by the Spirit of the Earth and fostered by the Sense of the

Earth.

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We still need to know which force will drive men toward this unity overcoming all the

obstacles. Teilhard’s answer is very clear, stating that the force behind this process, which

must be realized in freedom, cannot be other than that of love. For him “love is the most

universal, the most formidable and the most mysterious of the cosmic energies”18

. This may

seem strange, but Teihard uses this word in the very general sense of a mutual internal

affinity (affinité mutuelle interne). Thus at the human level love is a continuation of what

he has called the “radial energy”, that is, the energy that has been the driving force of

evolution from the very beginnings of the synthesis of elementary particles of inanimate

matter. At the human level, that is, for persons, this force takes the form of love, for love is

the only force that can achieve unity without negating individuality19

. In his own words:

“Only a union realized for love and in love has physically the property not only to

differentiate, but to personalize the elements that it organizes”. His conception of human

evolution is, then, a dynamic one, tending toward unity through the impetus of love,

without losing the individuality and personality of those who are united. The insight

Teilhard has induced from the natural sciences does not allow for other approaches, since

they show a dynamic universe in a converging evolution through the line of ever increasing

complexity, from the elementary particles to the human. The continuation of this tendency

at the conscious level of the noosphere implies a motion toward its unity through the force

of love. Social sciences show us also a progressing motion of humanity along its history,

which tends always to some kind of unity.

The great option

As we have seen, Teilhard sees the world at the noosphere level driven by the force of

love toward an ever greater unification. However, the elements of the noosphere, that is,

individual persons, are free to choose their future. How can we fit this with the inevitable

union implied in the Spirit of the Earth? Here we find the most difficult problem Teilhard

has to solve: the necessary convergence of the noosphere and the free nature of its

elements. Can the elements of the noosphere freely choose not to converge? The

noosphere’s freedom of choice and its necessary convergence toward unity seem to be

opposed to each other. Teilhard considers this problem is his essay titled “The great option”

(La grande option)20

. Faced with his future, humanity is presented with a variety of

possible roads to follow: pessimism or optimism, optimism of evasion or of evolution,

evolutionism of plurality or evolutionism of unity. One by one Teilhard rules out the

negative choices to remain with the evolution of unity as the only possible choice.

Nevertheless, the experience of human tendencies toward dispersion can still make us

doubt of the inevitability of the convergence toward unity that Teilhard presents as a

necessity21

. To solve this problem he distinguishes two types of unifications: forced and

free. The forced one results as a consequence of what he calls the geometric or geographic

and the mental or psyquic curvatures of the noosphere. The first is conditioned by the finite

spherical surface of the Earth which brings people more and more physically together. The

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second by the conditions of the conscious reflexed nature of the noophere, which tend to

create a forced coalescence. However, experience shows us the scandalous and chaotic

dispersion of humanity. How can we be sure that in spite of all difficulties the noosphere

will arrive to the desired union? Is not experience showing us just the opposite?

Teilhard has to bring here a new and final attraction that will control the movements of

the noosphere. Like the first two (the geometric and psychic curvatures), this third power is

also of planetary dimensions, but it will not act in a forced form but as a free one. Its

operation is in the way of “seduction” by a “superpersonal” Center, the Omega Point,

which operates through a free consent. Since at the noosphere level the unifying motion is

made through the force of love, the influence of the Omega Point can only be through a

truly “super-love”22

. The unifying convergence of the noosphere is, thus, guaranteed and

ends in the final focus of the cosmic evolution, the Omega Point, precisely by the presence

and attraction through love of the same Omega Point. This presence and action prevents the

possibility of a definitive negative option that would doom the world to the abyss of

diverging multiplicity and at the same time respect the freedom of choice of the noosphere.

We have mentioned that the modern phenomenon of globalization may be interpreted as

a sign, weak as it may be, of the human convergence postulated by Teilhard. This sign can

be seen also in various other phenomena present today in society, such as the increase in

world communications, rapid global transportation, concern for international affairs and

strengthening of the role of the international organizations (United Nations, International

Criminal Court, etc.). However, modern times are also witness to many divergent motions,

such as, nationalisms, violence, wars and terrorism. Technology which has created many

conditions for human unity is also responsible of ways of life which foster individualistic

tendencies, such as consumerism and growing inequalities. In view of this, one may ask if

there is a reasonable ground for Teilhard’s optimistic view23

. It is a matter of weighting the

evidences at hand, though we are still too far away to see clear signs of a true human

convergence. We must not forget that Teilhard developed his vision during the time of two

world wars and the tragic divisions present during the cold war. Today we need some of his

optimism to be able to see, through the many dark signs, the light at the end of the tunnel

which shines as a hope for the future of mankind.

The Christological dimension

In this context, Teilhard introduces the role of the Christian faith as a force which

works in the same direction as that of the human convergence. For him Christianity has to

become the “religion of the future” (religion del’avenir) by discovering what he calls the

“Human Sense” (Sens Humain), which is really already implicit in it, as he recognizes. The

human sense is the drive of all men toward a unified achievement, and, for a Christian, this

achievement is fulfilled by the union of all men in Christ. Thus, he adds that “the light of

Christ is not eclipsed by the shining of the ideas of future, research and progress, but it

occupies the center which sustains its fire” and concludes that Christ is the only one who

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can save the human aspirations of our time24

. In the epilogue of his fundamental work,

The human phenomenon, entitled “The Christian phenomenon” (Le phénomène chrétien),

Teilhard ventures a Christian interpretation of the whole cosmic evolution in which the

Omega Point is identified with the figure of Christ25

. The postulated attraction of the

Omega Point which drives the noosphere through love to its convergence is realized in the

historical presence of Jesus of Nazareth. The universe, then, through the convergence of

humanity tends really to an ultimate unity which can only be achieved in union with Christ.

Christ is, then, the Presence of the Omega point in the human history, attracting human

progress toward himself, and thus helping its achievement. In this way Teilhard finally

solves the tension between the free nature of the noosphere and its convergence into unity.

In this interpretation the cosmogenesis of evolution becomes truly a “Christogenesis”, since

the pole of evolution is identified with incarnated Christ. The unity of humanity and the

universe with Christ is what Teilhard calls the “total” or “universal” Christ.

These ideas are more fully expanded in his last essay, “Le Christique” written in March

1955, a few days before his death26

. He begins with the idea of a convergent universe and

identifies the Omega of evolution with the Christ of revelation. In this form, he finds both a

consummation of the universe in Christ and of Christ by the universe, which he describes

as a “Christified universe” and a “universalized Christ.” The evolving cosmogenesis

becomes in this form a true Christogenesis, that is, the convergence of the whole universe

in the universal Christ. The active presence of Christ in the world constitutes what he calls

the “evolving super-milieu.” The encounter between the spiritual potentialities of a

convergent universe and the cosmic demands of the Incarnated Word forms the “Christic

Milieu,” where heavenly and earthly forces meet. Christianity, born again under these

perspectives, is the religion “specifically driving evolution,” in other words, what he has

called the religion of the future27

. Teilhard has finally found in the mystery of the

Incarnation the absolute guarantee that the noosphere, and the whole universe with it, will

achieve its consummation in union with Christ.

Conclusion

Teilhard de Chardin conceives humanity as the thinking envelope of the Earth or the

noosphere. As the biosphere was the transition from the non-living to the living, the

noosphere is the transition from the unconscious to the fully conscious and thinking. As he

has followed the line of cosmic evolution in the direction of an ever greater complexity,

with elements uniting to form new more complex unities, he proposes that this process

must also be present in the noosphere. The unifying process in which the human groups

become more a more united is now called socialization and planetization. The unifying

force present in cosmic evolution and responsible for its direction through the mutual

attraction of its elements toward greater complex centers takes at the conscious level the

form of the force of love. Through the force of love the noosphere will eventually achieve

in freedom its final unity in the Omega Point who is attracting it toward himself. From the

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Christian point of view, the Omega Point is identified with Christ in whom all men and the

whole universe will finally unite.

Notes

1. Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (1955-1976). Oeuvres de Pierre Teilhard de Chardin;

Vol. 1 – 13. Paris: Éditions du Seuil.

2. L. Polgar (1990). Bibliographie sur l’histoire de la Compagnie de Jésus (1901-

1980), Vol. I-IV, Rome: Archivum Historicum Societatis Jesu. 359-563.

3. Amy Limpilaw. The continuing influence of French theologian Pierre Teilhard de

Chardin in the twenty first century. American Theological Library Association.

Summary of Proceedings, 62, (2008) 141-173.

4. Letter to Henri Breuil of October 1923 from the Yellow River, Teilhard de

Chardin, P, Lettres de voyage (1923-1955). Paris: Bernard Grasset, 61.

5. Letter to his brother Joseph of 15 July 1952 from Berkeley, California. Ibid. 328-

329.

6. “Le phénomène humain” (1938-40), Oeuvres 1, 49-64.

7. “La puissance spirituelle de la matière” (1919), Oeuvres 12, 467-478.

8. “Le coeur de la matière” (1950), Oeuvres 13, 75-91.

9. “La vie cosmique” (1916), Oeuvres 12, 40-42.

10. “L’humanisation” (1925), Oeuvres 3, 75-111.

11. “La planétisation humaine” (1945), Oeuvres 5, 157-175.

12. “La place de l’homme dans la Nature” (1949), Oeuvres 8, 1-173.

13. “La planétisation humaine” (1945), Oeuvres 5, 157-175.

14. Ibid., 169.

15. “La formation de la noosphère (1947), Oeuvres 5, 199-231.

16. “Sur le valeur religieuse de la recherche” (1947), Œuvres 9, 258.

17. “L’Esprit de la Terre” (1931), Oeuvres 6, 22-57.

18. Ibid., 40.

19. “L’énergie humain” (1937), Oeuvres 6, 180-192.

20. “La grande option” (1939), Oeuvres 5, 55-81.

21. “Comment concevoir et espérer que se réalise sur Terre l’unanimisation

humaine?” (1950), Oeuvres 5, 365-374.

22. Ibid., 372-374.

23. A. Danzin and J. Masurel (2005), Teilhard de Chardin, visionnaire du monde

nouveau. Paris : Rocher, (V. L’optimisme de Teilhard en question) 125-167

24. “Le sense humain” (1929) Oeuvres 11, 21-44

25. “Le phénomène humain” (1938-40), Oeuvres 1, 324-332.

26. “Le Christique” (1955) Oeuvres 13, 93-117.

27. Ibid., 114