The Meaning of Noosphere in Teilhard's Cosmic Vision | John Haught

Summary

The script imagines a conversation between scientific giants Albert Einstein and Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, exploring their contrasting views on the universe's nature and purpose. It delves into Einstein's belief in the universe's timeless geometric forms and Teilhard's vision of an evolving cosmos with a noosphere, a sphere of human thought, as part of its ongoing awakening to greater consciousness and divine beauty.

Takeaways

• 🌌 The script suggests a hypothetical conversation between two scientific giants, Einstein and Teilhard de Chardin, to explore their views on the universe and the noosphere.
• 🕊️ Einstein's theory of general relativity revolutionized our understanding of the universe, emphasizing the inseparability of time and matter, which influenced Teilhard's own life and work.
• 📚 Teilhard de Chardin, a Jesuit priest and scientist, introduced the concept of the noosphere, the sphere of human consciousness, as an integral part of the cosmos.
• 🕰️ Einstein viewed time as inseparable from nature and the universe, but did not see the universe as a story or drama, unlike Teilhard who saw it as an ongoing process of awakening.
• 🔮 Einstein's spirituality was connected to the eternal and timeless, finding solace in the comprehensibility of the universe's geometric forms.
• 🌐 For Teilhard, the spiritual life was about being carried forward by time into the future's immensity and beauty, part of an unfinished universe that is still coming into being.
• 💡 Both scientists had a profound sense of wonder and awe at the universe's mysteries, but their interpretations of these mysteries and their implications for spirituality diverged.
• 🌟 Einstein's view of God was more aligned with Spinoza's pantheism, where God and nature are one, while Teilhard saw God as the ultimate horizon of the universe's awakening.
• 🧠 The noosphere, as proposed by Teilhard, represents a new stage in cosmogenesis, where the universe's development is tied to the evolution of consciousness and thought.
• 🚀 The script contrasts Einstein's and Teilhard's perspectives on the universe's destiny, with Einstein focusing on the eternal and geometric, and Teilhard on the temporal and evolving.
• 🌱 The conversation underscores the importance of viewing science and religion not as opposing forces, but as complementary ways to understand the ongoing story of the universe.

Q & A

Who were the two figures discussed in the script, and why was their conversation considered hypothetical?

The two figures discussed are Albert Einstein and Pierre Teilhard de Chardin. The conversation is considered hypothetical because, although they were contemporaries and lived close to each other in the United States, they never actually had a recorded conversation.

What was Einstein's revolutionary contribution to our understanding of the universe?

Einstein's revolutionary contribution was his theory of general relativity, which transformed the understanding of the universe by showing that time is inseparable from nature and matter, rather than being a separate, pre-existing entity.

How did Teilhard de Chardin's view of the universe differ from Einstein's?

Teilhard de Chardin viewed the universe as a dynamic and evolving entity, moving towards greater consciousness and a spiritual awakening, which he called the 'noosphere.' In contrast, Einstein saw the universe as timeless and complete, without a narrative or progressive development.

What was Einstein's perspective on religion and God?

Einstein believed in an impersonal God, akin to Spinoza's conception, where God and nature are synonymous. He did not believe in a personal God who intervenes in the universe, as he saw the universe as governed by immutable laws.

How did Teilhard de Chardin reconcile his Christian faith with evolutionary science?

Teilhard de Chardin reconciled his Christian faith with evolutionary science by viewing the universe as evolving towards a higher state of consciousness and unity with God. He believed that mind and thought are integral to the cosmos and that the universe is a spiritual and material process moving towards a divine fulfillment.

What is the 'noosphere' according to Teilhard de Chardin?

The 'noosphere' is a concept developed by Teilhard de Chardin to describe the sphere of human thought and consciousness that has emerged from the biosphere. It represents a new phase in the evolution of the universe, where the development of mind and culture is central.

How did Einstein's view of the universe relate to his sense of spirituality?

Einstein's spirituality was rooted in a sense of awe and mystery at the intelligibility and harmony of natural laws. He found spiritual meaning in the timeless beauty and order of the universe's geometric and mathematical structures.

What did Teilhard de Chardin believe was the ultimate direction of the universe?

Teilhard de Chardin believed that the ultimate direction of the universe was towards a greater spiritual and conscious awakening, culminating in a unity with God. He saw the universe as an ongoing process of becoming, with the noosphere representing a significant stage in this evolution.

How did Teilhard de Chardin's early religious training influence his later thought?

Teilhard de Chardin's early religious training, rooted in a Catholic tradition influenced by Neoplatonism, initially emphasized detachment from the material world and a focus on timelessness. However, he later diverged from this view, emphasizing the importance of engaging with the evolving cosmos and the future potential of the universe.

What metaphorical image does the speaker use to describe the development of thought in the universe according to Teilhard de Chardin?

The speaker uses the metaphor of a 30-volume book series to describe the development of thought in the universe. The emergence of thought is likened to the final pages of the last volume, indicating that it is a relatively recent and significant development in the cosmic story.

Outlines

00:00

🌌 Introduction to a Hypothetical Conversation

The script sets the stage for a hypothetical conversation between two scientific giants, Pierre Teilhard de Chardin and Albert Einstein, who were contemporaries and both exiled in the 1950s. The narrator proposes to moderate this imagined dialogue, highlighting Einstein's transformative theory of general relativity and its impact on our understanding of the universe. The script suggests that while Einstein viewed time as inseparable from matter and nature, he did not see the universe as a story, unlike Teilhard who saw the cosmos as an ongoing drama of awakening to God.

05:01

📚 The Spiritual and Scientific Visions of Einstein and Teilhard

This paragraph delves into the spiritual and scientific perspectives of Einstein and Teilhard. Einstein's view of the universe is contrasted with Teilhard's, with the former seeing it as complete and governed by unchanging geometric laws, while the latter viewed it as an unfinished story of gradual awakening. The paragraph also touches on Einstein's belief in a Spinozan God, equating nature with divinity, and his rejection of a personal God that could intervene in the laws of nature, which is in stark contrast to Teilhard's view of the universe as a spiritual journey towards an ultimate awakening.

10:02

🌐 The Concept of Noosphere and Teilhard's Spiritual Awakening

The script introduces the concept of the noosphere, a term coined by Teilhard to describe the sphere of human thought and consciousness that overlays the biosphere. It discusses how Teilhard, despite his initial adherence to a traditional Catholic spirituality focused on timelessness, began to see the universe as a dynamic process of awakening. This shift led him to view the noosphere as a critical part of the universe's ongoing evolution towards greater consciousness and spiritual understanding.

15:02

🕵️‍♂️ The Search for Ultimate Reality and the Role of Faith

This section examines the traditional hierarchical view of spirituality and the role of faith in understanding the ultimate reality. It contrasts the traditional Christian view of faith as being grasped by a higher power with the scientific perspective that emerged from Einstein's work. The paragraph also discusses how Teilhard's early religious training influenced his later thoughts on the universe and the role of the noosphere in the cosmic awakening.

20:03

🌱 The Evolution of the Universe and the Emergence of Mind

The script presents a cosmic timeline, starting with the Big Bang and leading up to the emergence of life and eventually human consciousness or 'thought' as Teilhard termed it. It emphasizes the relatively recent appearance of life and mind in the universe's history and Teilhard's view of the noosphere as a new epoch in this ongoing cosmic story. The paragraph suggests that while traditional spirituality often focuses on escaping the temporal world, Teilhard's perspective invites engagement with the universe's unfolding future.

25:04

🌟 The Cosmic Journey and the Search for Indestructible Meaning

This paragraph discusses the idea of the universe as an unfinished story and the role of human consciousness in understanding it. It contrasts the materialist view that might see the emergence of thought as a mere afterthought in the cosmic narrative with Teilhard's belief that thought has been an intrinsic part of the universe's evolution from the beginning. The script also touches on the importance of maintaining an attitude of expectation and openness to the ongoing cosmic story.

30:05

🎭 The Cosmic Drama and the Human Longing for Meaning

The final paragraph emphasizes the importance of human longing for meaning as an integral part of the cosmic story. It suggests that the emergence of mind and the noosphere signifies a shift in understanding the universe, challenging traditional spiritual hierarchies and inviting a reevaluation of the relationship between science and religion. The script concludes by highlighting the need to view the universe as an ongoing drama of awakening, with the noosphere at its core.

Keywords

💡Noosphere

The noosphere refers to the sphere of human consciousness and intellectual activity that envelops the Earth, as introduced by Pierre Teilhard de Chardin. In the video, it is presented as a critical concept within Teilhard's vision of the universe as an evolving entity, with the noosphere representing a new stage in this cosmic awakening, where mind or thought is recognized as an integral part of the cosmos.

💡Cosmic Vision

Cosmic vision, as discussed in the video, is a broad perspective that encompasses the understanding of the universe's nature and its evolution. It is integral to the hypothetical conversation between Teilhard and Einstein, as it frames their differing views on the universe's story, purpose, and the role of time and consciousness within it.

💡General Relativity

General Relativity is Einstein's groundbreaking theory that revolutionized our understanding of space, time, and gravity. In the script, it is mentioned as the foundation for Einstein's view of the universe, where time and space are inseparable and where the universe's structure is underpinned by geometric forms.

💡Timelessness

Timelessness is the concept of being beyond time, which is a central theme in Einstein's spiritual outlook as described in the video. It is the pursuit of a state where one is detached from the temporal world and connected to the eternal, unchanging truths of the universe, which Einstein found through his engagement with geometry and the laws of physics.

💡Awakening

In the context of the video, awakening is a metaphor for the universe's ongoing process of evolution towards greater consciousness and understanding. Teilhard viewed the noosphere as part of this cosmic awakening, where the universe is moving towards a greater awareness of itself and its potential.

💡Einstein

Albert Einstein, referenced throughout the script, is one of the most influential scientists of all time, known for his theory of relativity. His views on the nature of the universe, time, and the role of the intellect in understanding the cosmos are central to the hypothetical dialogue presented in the video.

💡Teilhard de Chardin

Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, a Jesuit priest, paleontologist, and philosopher, is one of the main figures in the video's narrative. His concept of the noosphere and his views on the universe as an evolving, spiritual drama are contrasted with Einstein's perspective to explore different ways of understanding our place in the cosmos.

💡Intelligibility

Intelligibility, in the video, refers to the comprehensible and understandable nature of the universe, as per Einstein's view. It is the quality that allows humans to make sense of the cosmos through scientific laws and mathematical principles, which for Einstein, is a source of awe and wonder.

💡Eternity

Eternity is discussed in the video in relation to Einstein's spiritual beliefs and his understanding of the universe. It is the attribute of timelessness and the belief in an unchanging, eternal reality that underlies the physical world and provides a sense of stability and meaning.

💡Naturalism

Naturalism, as mentioned in the script, is the philosophical belief that everything arises from natural properties and causes, and supercedes any supernatural explanation. Teilhard was concerned that a purely naturalistic view of the universe would not fully appreciate or love nature, as it would lack the sense of the indestructible and everlasting.

💡Cosmogenesis

Cosmogenesis is the process of the formation or creation of the universe. In the video, Teilhard's view of the universe is described as an unfinished cosmogenesis, where the universe is continuously evolving and awakening to new levels of consciousness and understanding, culminating in the development of the noosphere.

Highlights

Introduction of a hypothetical conversation between scientific giants Einstein and Teilhard de Chardin, who were both exiles from Europe in the 1950s.

Einstein's theory of general relativity revolutionized our understanding of the universe, integrating time with matter and nature.

Teilhard de Chardin introduced the concept of the noosphere, proposing that mind or thought is an integral part of the cosmos.

Einstein's view of the universe as a static entity contrasted with Teilhard's perspective of the universe as an ongoing story of awakening.

Teilhard's spiritual life was characterized by the anticipation of an immense, beautiful future event, indicative of the universe's unfolding drama.

Einstein's spirituality was deeply rooted in the comprehensibility and intelligibility of the universe, finding rapture in the harmony of natural laws.

Einstein's rejection of a personal God was based on the belief that the laws of nature are inviolable and eternal.

Teilhard's early religious training was influenced by a traditional Catholic spirituality focused on timelessness and detachment from the material world.

Teilhard's reinterpretation of the Christian faith in light of evolutionary understanding and the expanding universe.

The noosphere as a planetary phenomenon, encompassing not just individual minds but the collective consciousness influenced by technology and social tendencies.

Teilhard's vision of the universe as an unfinished, evolving entity, contrasting with the traditional view of a static, complete cosmos.

The importance of situating the noosphere within the context of cosmic evolution, emphasizing the ongoing process of awakening to infinite meaning, beauty, goodness, and truth.

The challenge of reconciling traditional religious views with the scientific understanding of an expanding and evolving universe.

Teilhard's emphasis on the future as the horizon of religious thought, rather than an escape to timelessness.

The metaphorical representation of God as 'up ahead' rather than 'up above', aligning with the Abrahamic tradition and the idea of an evolving universe.

The significance of the noosphere in demonstrating that the universe is a drama of awakening, with thought being an intrinsic part of cosmic history.

Teilhard's call for an expectation and acceptance of the unfinished nature of the universe and the limitations of our understanding.

The impact of the cosmic story on traditional hierarchical spirituality, suggesting a shift from a focus on timelessness to an embrace of the evolving universe.

Transcripts

[Music]

so what I'm going to

suggest is that we really can't

understand or appreciate tar dardan's

understanding of the

noosphere unless we place it within the

context of his Cosmic

vision and since I've recently written

two books one on one on Einstein

the thought has occurred to me recently

that it would be nice if we could listen

in to a

conversation between these two

scientific Giants who I'll introduce to

you in a

moment this is a conversation that never

actually took place but it could have

taken place because both tart and

Einstein were Exiles from Europe in the

50s and was working at the American

Museum of Natural History while Einstein

was at

the Institute for advanced studies in

Princeton New

Jersey and so they were only miles apart

and interestingly they died only days

apart in the spring of

1955 so I'm going to propose that I'd be

a kind of moderator in this hypothetical

conversation and first I'll introduce

Einstein and then tar and then see what

they might have thought uh in terms of

of a conversation uh with a serious

conversation of one with the other

Einstein of course is known as the

greatest scientist of our age and this

was primarily because his theory of

general relativity transformed our whole

understanding of the universe in a way

that actually we see made Tay's own life

and fame

possible he thought of

time perhaps for the first time in human

consciousness as inseparable from matter

time and nature are so tied up with each

other that if time suddenly came to a

halt nature would disappear as well and

this is different from the way in which

many philosophers and certainly

theologians had thought of time before

this time and space were considered like

containers into which God if you were a

theist or the content of creation they

were sort of pre-existing molds or forms

into which creation was born so what

Einstein did was quite revolutionary and

Ted was one of the first to pick it up

and that's to was to show that time is

inseparable from nature and that that

means therefore that the cosmos if you

allow that time is irreversible which

Einstein did not do at first if you

allow that time is irreversible if it's

tied essentially to Nature that means

that the whole Cosmos can now maybe for

the first time if I'm not mistaken be

understood as a story as a drama

perhaps Einstein however did not see

that he did not see the universe as a

story and it was because I think he

loved eternity more than time and

ironically this bound him more closely

to some of tart's religious ancestors

that I did to the cosmology that

developed after

Einstein he thought that religion if you

ask him what his religious life was what

his spirituality was he would say it's

getting close to

timelessness it's timelessness alone he

thought that can Deliver Us from the

cruelties of perishing and death that

occur in the temporal world for him

access to this world of timelessness was

not by meditation or prayer or hope but

by way of geometry omry and this gave

geometry kind of sacred significance in

his understanding of things he had no

need therefore for religious consolation

of a personal God the god of Abraham the

prophets and Jesus that was not part of

his way of thinking in fact it was

contrary to his way of thinking

especially about the nature of

science so he was content with an

impersonal universe as long as it was

reliably attached to this domain of

Timeless geometric forms which under

underlay his whole

cosmology meanwhile as most of you

know is Jesuit priest also by profession

a geologist a paleontologist and hence

an

evolutionist and when he was still a

young priest he started writing essays

on how you could connect his Christian

faith with his evolutionary

understanding of life and of the

universe well his Rel religious Superior

got wind of these experiments and

thought and they were afraid that they

were just a bit too adventurous for the

time so they literally persuaded maybe

even exiled tar to China which is the

wrong place to send people who like to

live to to to dig up old rocks and Bones

because while he was there in China for

a quarter of a century he developed the

Sterling scientific reputation as one of

the top two of geologists of the Asian

continent in his spare time while he was

in China he started writing his main

work we now call it the human phenomenon

then it was called his first English

translation was the phenomenon of man

and it was in this book that he

introduced the notion of a noosphere

within the context of his attention in

that book to show that mind or thought

is completely part of the cosmos at any

stage of thought it's just as much a

cosmic reality as it is a human or

terrestrial

reality he died relatively unknown in

New York where he was working at the

American Museum of Natural

History in

1955 very much alone and unknown he's

buried now in New York what I want

to accentuate about his thought was that

he was one of the first

scientists in the 20th century to have

seen the spiritual and cultural and

intellectual

significance of Einstein's Universe even

in a way that Einstein himself did not

see at least at first for tart the

universe became increasingly in his mind

a drama a story a great drama of

Awakening Awakening to what we'll see in

a moment but for him

God is the elusive personal Horizon to

which the whole Cosmos is Awakening by

way of what's happening to mind and

thought in our terrestrial precincts and

perhaps elsewhere in the universe so for

him the noosphere is primarily a new

epic in

cosmogenesis is in becoming of the

universe universe is

unfinished but the cosmogenesis consists

of a kind of increased gradual

intensification of Awakening

Awakening to God ultimately in his

thinking so if I had the two together in

conversation and I were moderating the

conversation I would ask each of them to

give me a sense of what gets them up in

the morning what gives meaning to their

lives Einstein would have no difficulty

in answering that

question what gives meaning to his life

is the rapture of Amazement these are

his words words at the harmony of

natural law which reveals an

intelligence of such superiority that

compared with it all the systematic

thinking and acting of human beings is

an utterly insignificant reflection so

his faith was a cultivation of the

mystery of the comprehensibility the

intelligibility of the universe great

mystery because we don't know why the

universe is intelligible but thankfully

it is it is beyond question the sense of

mystery and this Rapture at the harmony

of natural laws closely akin to that

which has possessed the religious

Geniuses of all ages so his he felt that

his Cult of timelessness Allied him very

much with all those religious people

throughout the ages who have made

attachment to timelessness and

Detachment to from time the goal of

their religious

lives if I asked her the same question

he would say the only thing that keeps

me youthful and

active he would often say what gives

zest to my life is the growing belief

that there is something immense

Something Beautiful about to take place

something that's coming in the future in

other words throughout the world

throughout the universe is what he meant

and that we must abandon ourselves this

is the good life for him the good life

consists of abandoning our abandoning

ourselves to the mighty current of this

development in which the universe is

Awakening to something more up

ahead so to summarize the spiritual life

of each of these men understood it or

Einstein spirituality is the sense of

being carried out of time into the

Timeless mystery of the universe's

geometric

comprehensibility I can picture Einstein

going into his study every day sealing

the door behind him and figuratively

speaking bathing himself in the eternity

the timelessness of the numbers and

patterns of mathematics and geometry

that put him in touch with something

solid something consistent something

that could respond to his anxiety

for tar the spiritual life consists of

the sense of being carried forward by

time into the immensity and beauty of

what is not yet of something more up

ahead the sense of belonging to a

universe that is still coming into being

and since for Te our being and

Consciousness our correlative tions the

way in which the universe becomes more

is by becoming more

conscious well if the conversation were

to continue I think Einstein would

immediately say to t i I don't see the

cosmos going anywhere at all there can

be no real increase or more being

emerging in the universe than the

universe already has accessible to it by

way of geometry we can see that the

beauty of the geometric forms and

patterns that have always underlay the

universe that that's that's reality

enough so let's get in touch with that

to get in touch with the real world and

as many of you know even today there are

theoretical physicists who have the same

kind of metaphysics a metaphysics in

which the really real is the Timeless

something that tar vehemently uh

rejected if I asked Einstein does this

mean you believe in God he would say I

believe in spinosus God Spinosa as as

you know is a early modern philosopher

who taught that nature and God are two

words two names for all that is so

there's nothing that transcends nature

because nature is already complete and

full and finished and I think this

affected Einstein's understanding of

faith and Eternity as

well since nature in traditional

theology had the attributes of Eternity

and

necessity that means Spinosa thought

that nature has the attributes of

Eternity and necessity which means that

nature is already complete the universe

is

finished God or if you want to call it

nature is complete the future in the

sense of the temporal future of what is

to come has already been closed off from

eternity and that makes the N the laws

that run nature indestructible and

eternal also and this is the basis for

Einstein's objection to the whole notion

of a personal God if nature is a closed

Continuum of causes and effects then the

laws of science that determine this

cause and effect relationship apply

absolutely and cannot be

violated so the existence of a personal

God a responsive God a God to whom one

could pray would interrupt the laws of

nature for such a God to be known as

such God would have to violate the

regularities of Nature and this cannot

happen if we really respect and love

science the way Einstein did a response

of God a prayer answering God an

intervening God would signal the end of

science so there is no reason in his

spirituality to pray I believe he would

accept the sarcastic definition of

prayer that Ambrose beer gives in his

Devil's dictionary that prayer is asking

that the laws of the universe be UN

olded in behalf of a single petitioner

confessedly

unworthy and so prayer would seem to

Einstein also to be something quite

absurd quite contrary to the nature of

reality

now interestingly T's own early

religious

training was essentially a cult of

timelessness he was following the

Catholic spirituality that had gone back

centuries that had been influenced by

neoplatonism through Augustine and

others and then by Greek philosophy

andinus this venerable tradition of his

own Catholic theological understanding

was itself it seemed for the young tar a

cult of

timelessness and I think he was starting

to bite at this bit of with some

aggression even rather early in his

thinking certainly by the time he was a

young priest this scheme that he was

raised in and that I as a Roman Catholic

was also taught in uh this is what I cut

my religious spiritual teeth on starting

in the 40s and 50s

this scheme was a static vertical

hierarchical level of layers which

operate according to what you might call

the hierarchical principle and that

principle maintains that understanding a

lower level in the hierarchy is not

enough to qualify you to understand a

higher level following the tradition not

just in Christianity but many other

religious Traditions there was a sense

on the part of the Great Mystics that

you need to undergo a personal

transformation in order to become

adequate to understanding or to come in

contact with the higher levels in the

hierarchy so this was T

spirituality the more important

something is the more immaterial the

more elusive it is you see the influence

of Plato on Catholic

spirituality so much so that nii once

commented that Christianity is platonism

for for the people and there's a certain

truth in that which T would eventually

agree

with so if there is an ultimate meaning

an Ultimate

Reality it would lie Beyond human

comprehension due to the hierarchical

principle that a lower level cannot

comprehend or grasp a higher

level however in T's Christian

tradition even though you can't grasp a

higher level you can have a sense of

being being grasped by it and in

Christian theology from coinus to Paul

tillich that was the understanding of

faith faith is an awareness of being

grasped by and allowing yourself to be

carried away by something higher in

being something more elusive but

something more real and since we can't

directly refer to this we have to talk

about it symbolically or analogically or

metaphorically something for which we

never were taught to apologize because

fact that we have to use fuzzy language

in faith and theology is a mark of the

Eminence or Excellence of that to which

we are trying to

refer so this scheme still gives meaning

to the lives of millions and I I think

if T were here he would say even

billions of people in our terrestrial

precincts the meaning of life is to

allow yourself to be carried step by

step

into a climactic communion with

timelessness and that would mean detach

detaching yourselves from the various

layers especially the lower levels the

material levels of the

hierarchy so it's important to

understand that this was the framework

of T's early spirituality and in way

it's closer to Einstein's cozying up to

timelessness than it is to the

implications that other scientists were

drawing out of Einstein's relativity

equations after Einstein as I said

was one of the first scientists to

realize that Einstein had changed if you

look deeply into his science had changed

the whole understanding of the universe

as something that's still coming into

being so for tea the most important

religious and Theological question was

not how can I get close to timelessness

but what's going on in this drama that

we call the universe and for T we'll see

what's going on is It's a drama of

gradual

Awakening and we have to situate the

noest feere as at least from an Earthly

point of view the latest stage in this

Cosmic

Awakening to to what to infinite

meaning to infinite Beauty to infinite

goodness to infinite truth names which

in T's Scholastic training were used to

refer to

God so traditional

spirituality explains why Christians and

other religious people for the most part

even to this day have very little

interest in the question that te was

interested in what's going on in the

universe traditional spirituality and

religious education points most

Christians and many other other

Traditions to something Beyond time to

an eternity which means timelessness up

above and that in order to reach that we

have to detach ourselves from the earth

and it's not even interesting to people

who have the spirituality what's going

on in the universe whereas that became

the main question for and that's

where he wants us to locate his

understanding of the noest

figure science starting with geology

then with darwinian Biology which tart

embraced and then with Einstein's

cosmology as interpreted by the matri

and others uh who had also witnessed

the findings and discoveries of Fred

Hubble and his staff at Mount Wilson

Observatory and the red shift of the

galactic

light proving giving Smoking Gun

evidence that the universe is still

expanding and that the universe is still

coming into being science has opened a

new horizon The Horizon of of this

worldly future to human consciousness

and instead of fleeing from that

awareness as many of his religious

colleagues theologians and his family

and friends did made the future of

the universe The Horizon of his not just

scientific thought but of his religious

thought and he did this on the basis of

the fact that deep down in his own

Christian tradition the prophetic

tradition the thinking of Jesus and St

Paul and and others the sense that God

inhabits the future more than the spure

of timelessness began to uh affect much

more deeply after you realize that the

universe itself is moving toward this

new future and so he wants to locate the

noosphere as a new chapter as a new

Epoch you might say uh not just in

terrestrial history but in the cosmos

tar talks a lot about the Earth but the

Earth is is something he wants to talk

about because it's a portal into the

cosmos he's basically a cosmic thinker

not an Earthly thinker so he can easily

be mistaken for being too terrestrial

but he ultimate objective was to talk

about the universe and to talk about his

faith uh in the context of this

understanding of the

universe if we understand the universe

apart from God then our understanding

will collapse into pure

naturalism and the problem with

naturalism is that it doesn't love

nature enough for T if you really love

love nature you want it to be not only

beautiful but

Everlasting and so he wants to to to

give us a universe which is consistent

with the basic religious impulse to

embrace something

indestructible but he wanted that

indestructibility not to be located up

above in some sphere of timelessness but

up

ahead in the Fulfillment of time so stay

with time is his message because time

itself might have a

fulfillment but if it's to have an

indestructible goal it has

to have a a kind of quality in which

this goal lies up ahead rather than up

above so think of God not so much as up

above but up ahead and you'll be more in

touch with the abrahamic tradition than

with the platonic Str

of thought that influenced Christianity

and other tra Traditions over the last

2,000 more

years so if Tay were here today he would

fully embrace the post einsteinian

cosmology which consists of a 13.8

billion year Cosmic story that science

is now telling us except the T would

want to emphasize the story is not

over if you collaps or Express the

temporal Scale of the Universe in 30 big

books each book being 450

pages each page representing 1 million

years in the story you can get some

sense of the magnitude of the immensity

of time and space the Big Bang would

take place on page one of volume one and

the first two shelves and part of the

third would consist of essentially

lifeless and Mindless material processes

and Mindless stuff Life

Begins after the Earth spins out around

the Sun four and a half billion years

ago a billion or so years later life

begins in a very unenthusiastic way and

it doesn't become really complex until

you get to the end of volume 29 a

dinosaurs come in after the middle of

volume 30 they go extinct on page

384 and mallan light and

eventually starting several Pages for

the end of volume 30 the phenomenon of

what T calls thought that's the

technical term he gives to the emergence

of Consciousness in this story thought

emerges first there's matter then

there's the Epic of life and then moving

fastly toward the present the Epic epic

of thought and in this epic of thought

he wants to include not just the thought

of individual minds and brains but of

the whole earth the phenomenon of

thought is now a planetary phenomenon

influenced by technology by education by

human psyche Human Social Tendencies

capacity to relate it's the sphere of

mind that has superimposed itself upon

the biosphere the noosphere he calls it

so the noosphere has been in the works

since the beginning the universe has

always been a kind of Awakening since

its very F first

moments in this scheme thought since it

just came about the last few pages of

the last volume can seem to be to the

scientific naturalist and scientific

materialist kind of like a cosmic

afterthought whereas for tart it's been

in the work from the very beginning and

so that's why the noosphere is so

important it makes explicit more than

any other phenomenon in Cosmic history

that the universe is a drama of

Awakening when we look at the 30 volumes

here all the gray ones where life does

not exist might suggest and it has

suggested to most scientists that the

universe is essentially mindless and

lifeless but tart's point in writing the

phenomenon in all all of his other

literature was to point out that this

means nothing if you understand the

universe as an Awakening thought has

been brewing in this process from the

very beginning and these three volumes

might turn out to be only the dawn of

this Awakening that he calls the

universe and so his understanding of

Science and religion is that we can make

better sense of them if we see them as

different ways or different levels of

explanation trying to read in depth this

Cosmic story but since the story is

still going

on we can't stop reading and we can't

decide immediately here and now that the

story is over or that we know by Dent of

science or any other discipline what the

universe is all about we have to adopt

the posture of expectation Bridal

expectation

of looking forward of accepting the

unfinished character of the universe and

accepting the limitations of our

understanding of the story of Awakening

of which we are part like a fish in

water and cannot get outside of it to

see what's actually really going

on so he's especially Disturbed at what

happened to his classic hierarchical

spirituality this Cosmic story has

seemed in the mind of most people who

who who look at it to Signal the

collapse of the classic hierarchy which

was the framework for spirituality and

piety uh in the past

matter which was the lowest level in the

traditional pre-scientific

hierarchy is now the dominant feature of

this new

cosmography life comes in only as a

fluke in volume

22 and mind in the sense of human

consciousness doesn't come in until the

very last page maybe the last fifth the

last 10th or so of the very last page of

the very last volume this is when not

only thought but ethical aspiration and

our faith Traditions including T's

tradition come into the

cosmos so it might seem therefore that

meaning

is something that we humans have

projected back onto those lifeless

volumes of the cosmos but for the

emergence of a longing for meaning

including Einstein's own longing for

meaning and longing for something

indestructible is an essential part of

the cosmic story and we can't understand

the cosmic story if we divorce it from

mind or or if we divorce it now from

what mind is turning into this new uh

and still developing phenomena that we

call the Noah

[Music]

[Music]

spere