Unity

Early in this Wilderness Sabbath journey, I came cross Pierre Teilhard de Chardin and his work, The Phenomenon of Man. The people I was reading at the time, like Thomas Berry, other theologians and astrophysicists would mention him. So I bought Phenomenon and dove in. First, I should deal with the pronunciation of his name. Thomas Berry pronounced it tay-ard, which is good enough for me. Teilhard had science chops, starting out in the studies of geology, paleontology, and theology. He was also a Jesuit priest. He resonated with the Theory of Evolution, Darwin having published “On the Origin of Species” only 20 years before his birth. Yale Professor John Grim said Teilhard “combined theology and metaphysics with science.” His strong belief in evolution, and his skepticism of the doctrine of original sin, put him at odds with the Catholic Church, which forbade him to publish any of his works. The Phenomenon of Man was not published until a year after his death. Needless to say, Teilhard was controversial.

Matter/Antimatter

Combining science with theology is a matter/antimatter thing. I believe they are highly complimentary and should work together. But, perhaps not when mixed together in the same test tube. But Teilhard did exactly that, which is why Phenomenon is a pretty difficult read. But let me try to offer the gist.

Evolution is a process, which in turn has some logical conclusion. Teilhard posited that evolution does not end with human beings as we are. He believed the logical outcome for the process of evolution is what he called the “Omega Point“. Stay with me… The Omega Point is the last stage of evolution when all Creation becomes one with the Creator. Teilhard referred to Christ’s declaration in The Book of Revelation as being the “Alpha and Omega”, the beginning and the end. The Omega Point is when everything that exists becomes one with divinity.

Creation Joins Creator

This idea is a foundational notion for the WildSabbath project. Creation joins with the Creator. In a word, Unity…

…which is why it has been on my mind as a candidate for my Core Ideology.

The holiday season is a time of coming together, family, community, society. But even when we manage to drop our weapons for a few days to share presents and sing Christmas carols, a Monday in January will come and we will go back to it. The pandemic revealed in a visceral way how interconnected we truly are. Biologically, culturally, economically… And yet our response was isolation, for practical reasons, yes, but also culturally and politically. And this isolation has persisted to this moment. Despite all humanity has been through, we are no closer to unity and perhaps further apart than ever.

So…. what can I do?

“That, Detective, is the right question…” from i Robot

If I were to replace a current core value, it would have to be clear that the replacement would be vital in guiding my decisions. It would be a principle on which I could take action on. I would have some control in its practice. For this reason, I don’t believe Unity should take the place of any of the others. Lofty, if not divine, is the ideal of Unity as the end state of Creation. I just don’t see how we are going to get there on our own.

Now, is there a possibility it falls neatly within one of the others, perhaps Relationships? Maybe. But my embrace of Relationships as a core value is more of a one-to-one process. It connects me to friends and family. I don’t regard relationships as massive group activity.

I think for now, at least, I’ll put it further down the list of candidates. Perhaps I’ll contemplate it’s membership next year.

But there is some hope. If Teilhard was right, then Creation will culminate in the Omega Point regardless. Maybe technology will take us there in some foretold singularity. Maybe Creation will get there without us. Or maybe our evolution takes us into some “post-human” state where our being is less physical and more of spirit.

The planet has a way of taking care of itself. We are the only species that has the ability to decide the trajectory of our impact. In self interest and exploitation, we got to where we are. It will take unity to reverse course.

Maybe next year…