Today’s Post

Last week we took a first look at a way to deal with the ‘noospheric’ risks, suggested by Teilhard:  to better understand the noosphere itself and what part we play in it.

In a nutshell, Teilhard saw that over the fourteen or so billion years of existence, the universe can be seen to follow the basic principle of matter entering into more complex (and hence less probable) organizations under the influence of a basic ‘energy of becoming’ which is built into the ‘stuff of the universe’.   He sees this principle manifesting itself more explicitly as the complexity of the ‘stuff of the universe’ becomes more pronounced over time, and therefore sees how the actions of this energy are reflected in in human lives as we participate in our own evolution.

   Last week we looked at Teilhard’s metaphor of the ‘spiral’ as evolution’s rise can be seen as convergent through the first eight or so billion years.  This week we will see how this convergent rise continues through the life era, and to its current state of consciousness aware of itself.

The Conscious Spiral

Last week we saw how evolution proceeds through ‘discontinuities’ in which new and unexpected functionalities, such as a greater potential for union, and increased facilities of each new entity (such as influence over its environment, mobility, vitality and potential for further increase in complexity through future unions).

While the above manifestations of evolution occur in scientifically verifiable steps, each of them represents a highly discontinuous step from the preceding plateau of evolution.  On an evolutionary time scale, the transition to each new state of complexity can be seen to occur at an increasingly rapid rate.  Even to the stage of reflectively conscious entities (humans) the increasing convergence of the spiral can be seen.

Last week we looked at this phenomenon in the ‘material’ realm.  Recognizing that Teilhard makes no sharp distinction between this realm and the ‘realm of the spirit’, we can see how this rise of evolution through discontinuous steps spills over into the ‘conscious’ realm.   While the early days of humanity are only vaguely understood, this convergence of the spiral of evolution can be seen to continue (all dates approximate):

–              Very early humans began to invent intuitive modes of thinking, based on instincts and clan relationships some 200,000 years ago

–              The evolution of primitive ‘laws’ of society evolve from clan norms about 15,000 years ago

–              ‘Axial Age’ concepts of person and society emerge from primitive concepts into ‘philosophies’ based on intuitions and instincts 3500 years ago

–              ‘Left brain’ modes of thinking arise in Greece from the traditionally universal ‘Right brained’ thinking of earlier systems some 3000 years ago.

–              Merging of left and right ‘modes’ of neocortex functions begins with the introduction of ‘left brain’ thinking into the legacy ‘right brained’ mode as Jewish-inspired Christianity becomes more influenced by Greek thinking 2000 years ago

–              Scientific/empirical thinking evolves from the Christian right-left merge 1400 years ago

–              The ‘Enlightenment’ emerges from the prevalent right-brained post medievalism at the same time as establishment of the personal as locus for the juridical (Jefferson) three hundred years ago

–              The abrupt increase in human welfare (as documented by Norberg) begins two hundred years ago.

 

Each of these ‘discontinuities’ illustrate the three key steps ‘up the convergent spiral of increasing complexity’ that Teilhard identifies:

–              They are all initially similar to the less complex entities which preceded them

–              They all in turn effect an increase in both the vitality and potential for union from the components in the preceding stage

–              All such effects require a new and more complex way of uniting with other components in such a way to increase their differentiation, vitality and power to unite.

It’s also important to note the timeline: each discontinuity took less time to effect a step increase in complexity than the preceding.

The Continuity Beneath the Discontinuity

Thus, while Teilhard notes the occurrence of discontinuity in evolution, he also shows how underneath these discontinues lies a basic fundamental, continuous current which powers the ‘axis of evolution’.  He notes that at each such step, several things happen no matter which stage of evolution we are addressing:

–              The evolved element of ‘the stuff of the universe ’rises not only in its complexity, but in its uniqueness.  Each new appearance, while initially retaining its similarity to its parent, is highly distinguishable from its precedent.

–              This characteristic is very important to the recognition that human evolution occurs in the same way that all steps have occurred in universal evolution.  As Teilhard puts it:

“True Union Differentiates”, and this applies to evolution at every phase, from the Big Bang

       to the Human person

Thus, an important step in understanding the noosphere is to recognize that our lives are connected to a cosmic agent which, to the extent that we can recognize and cooperate with it, we will be lifted ever upward.  In Teilhard’s words:

 “..I doubt that whether there is a more decisive moment for a thinking being than when the scales fall from his eyes and he discovers that he is not an isolated unit lost in the cosmic solitudes and realizes that a universal will to live converges and is hominized in him.”

   Understanding this connects us to a fourteen billion year process which has raised the universe, as Richard Dawkins observes, “into its present complex existence”.   So, if we are to understand the noosphere, as Teilhard suggests is a step towards managing its risks, we need the ‘scales to fall from our eyes’ so that we can not only take in the breadth and scope of the universe, but see that the noosphere fits into it naturally, as a child to a loving parent.

The Next Post                   

This week we took a second look at ‘understanding the noosphere’ in terms of a rising, converging spiral, this week looking at the nature of the spiral as it rises from ‘complexifying’ matter to ‘enriching spirit’.  In understanding that the current state of human evolution is a sure and steady continuation of such rise over the preceding fourteen or so billions of years of universal existence, and that the basic nature of our lives is nourished and assured of survival by this personal agent of evolution, we need only to open our eyes to it, recognize it as active in our lives, and learn to cooperate with it if we are to be successful in dealing with the ‘noospheric risks’.

Having taken a closer look at those risks which can impede human evolution, and looked at a better understanding of the ‘noosphere’ as a start to managing them, next we will return to the core topic of this blog, ‘reinterpretation of religion’, to see how religion can be employed as a enterprise to build on Teilhard’s “clearer disclosure of God in the world” to assure our future.