CONCLUSION
In light of developments such as computer bulletin boards and
"super-information highways" like the Internet, Teilhard de Chardin's fantastic
notions do not seem so fantastic. He is the unsung prophet of our collective
future. It is time that we begin to look forward to what these developments are
going to mean for us personally and developmentally. He says that Humankind is
now caught up, as though in a train of gears, at the heart of a continually
accelerating vortex of self-totalization. We need to consider how the
inevitable changes in our nature are going to affect us as individuals,
spiritually, psychologically, and socially. We can stop "groping about" in the
dark, and take conscious control of our evolution to speed it on its way. We
are, therefore, since the latter twentieth century, at the threshold of another
great leap in evolution, the contraction and unification of the human species,
the construction of the Noosphere, the focusing of our psychic energies.
Teilhard de Chardin tells us that the age of nations has passed. Now unless we
wish to perish we must shake off our old prejudices and build the Earth. The
result of such a realisation is the Noosphere, towards which we are moving even
now, via our cybernetic interconnections, whether we know it or not, like it or
not, want it or not. As our consciousness of unity progresses, the standard of
morality will eventually not be placed on the maintenance of private property,
but upon the health of the Whole, the commonwealth which will become more and
more perceptible to us as Noo genesis unfolds. Teilhard de Chardin himself
admits that these perspectives will appear absurd to those who do not see that
life is, from its origins, groping, adventurous, and dangerous. But these
perspectives will grow, like an irresistible idea on the horizon of new
generations. Indeed, it seems less and less absurd as this very process unfolds
before us. Instead of despairing, humanity can, in all optimism, hope for a
better future.
PART THREE
TEILHARDIAN HUMANISM TODAY
INTRODUCTION
Despite his rejection by the Catholic Church which considered
him to be a threat to the integrity of the faith, Teilhard de Chardin's ideas
were disseminated informally and sometimes secretly by friends and colleagues
in the Church. He set the stage for the renewal movements which finally came to
flower in the era of the Second Vatican Council. At the same time he also
suggested a program for the reconstruction of science. He put forward a
systematic critique of traditional science which was just as radical and just
as provocative as his criticism of traditional religion, and he provoked
equally extreme reactions in the scientific community. Partly as a result of
these defensive and dogmatic reactions to Teilhard de Chardin, he is today
tragically underestimated in both the religious and scientific communities.
While many of his ideas have worked their way anonymously into currency and
have been widely accepted, Teilhard de Chardin's innovative thinking has been
taken seriously only by a minority of thinkers who see science and religion
entering into a new era of cross-fertilization and creativity. For the vast
majority, Teilhard de Chardin's thought seems marginal at best, and his
insights are not studied in the depth they deserve. This is partially explained
by the active suppression of his ideas by the Church and the suspicion of his
ideas within the scientific community. However, Teilhard de Chardin's obscurity
is also to be explained, by his own style of writing and his tendency to wander
into the realm of pure speculation. Yet even in the face of Teilhard de
Chardin's rejection by most of our teachers as not being a philosopher in the
strict sense of the word, we think that his initiatives should be pursued. The
questions raised by his work cannot be avoided. Anyone interested in extending
the search for truth beyond the traditional frontiers of knowledge must wrestle
with his basic affirmations. His humanism remains relevant for future
generations.
CHAPTER SEVEN
TEILHARD DE CHARDIN'S HUMANISM ANDTHE
AFRICAN WELTANSCHAAUNG
Teilhard de Chardin throughout his writings invites humanity
as a whole to build the earth. How we accomplish this is by correcting our
errant perception of reality as being made up of separate units. He insists on
the fact that to love is to discover and complete one's self in someone other
than oneself, an act impossible of general realization on earth, so long as
each sees in the neighbour no more than a closed fragment following its own
course through the world. It is precisely this state of isolation that will end
if we begin to discover in each other not merely the elements of one and the
same thing, but of a single spirit in search of itself. The Teilhardian vision
of the world is similar to the African vision of the cosmos. For Africans, to
be is to be in relationship with nature, God, others and Being. One cannot
think of existing alone; love has a communal dimension. The world for Africans,
is not made of an aggregate of individuals, but of a communion of souls having
a common destiny. We do not want to enter into the polemic of knowing if there
is really a common vision of the world proper to Africans. Cheikh Anta Diop has
written a lot on this in L'unité culturelle de l'Afrique noire.
We know from him and from the African literature consulted, that there is an
African spirit, an African way of relating to nature, to Being, to the
Supernatural which is very different from the western vision of the world and
this is what we are going to consider in this chapter, bringing out the
similarities between the Teilhardian weltanschaaung and the
African weltanschaaung.
7.1. The Negro-african vision of the world
The conception of reality by Africans is in many ways
different from the way the Westerner views the world. Our attitude to life
cannot therefore but be different from the western attitude to life. It is
important to consider how the negro-African views reality in order to see why
Senghor adopts and adapts the Teilhardian considerations on the Civilization of
the Universal.
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