Teilhard Discussions: Recap of Discussion #1 on Smelling the Wind

[FVoehl@aol.com]

Prologue:  In discussion #1 on *Smelling the Wind*, we considered Ed Baker's 
first great question:  1. What evidence is there that human consciousness has 
evolved, can evolve, and will evolve in the way that Teilhard suggested?  As 
discussion leader, I envisioned that a total of at least five separate posts 
containing about 15 discussion arguments would probably be needed to cover 
this question using Teilhard's own materials, plus another 3-4 posts to 
summarize the materials.  Thus, to cover all four questions, a total of 30-35 
posts will probably be needed, but who can tell for sure at this concture.

The first post covered the first three of these arguments: (1)  On the Law of 
Molecularization--leading to the vast unit  (2) The State of Unanimity or 
Spirit of Earth (3) The Coming of the SuperTeam.

Some Comments and Thoughts from Discussion #1:  Thanks to John Woods and a 
few others, I would like to offer the following summary statements:  (a) we 
may say that evolution is a force of nature because It is the process of 
refinement and on-going expansion of everything that exists. (b) It is also a 
synonym for learning. John suggests that we wonder about evolution because it 
is a metaphor of ourselves. This is also classical Teilhard in that he taught 
that the essence of the human thought process is captured in the concept of 
evolution. (c) We are constantly refining our individual versions of what it 
means to be human. Our individual versions of the order of life are 
constantly evolving. That's what we do as human beings--create and refine 
some personal sense of order and use that to make sense of our experiences 
and our lives (Woods).  We naturally try to refine that and impose it onto 
the world to make our lives work according to how we think they should and 
try to get others to conform to our views. That is the law of nature of 
living, growing, and evolving.

Some Conclusions so Far:  A few DEN members suggested that people do not 
recognize that they are evolving as such, but they are. Often it does not 
take into consideration the feelings of others or the fact that others are 
doing this as well, and such individuals end up acting in ways that are 
fundamentally self-destructive. They do not recognize they are not separate 
from their families, communities, organizations, indeed, the world, but a 
part of everything. Woods argues that to do harm to that of which one is a 
part is to do harm to oneself. But self awareness, and our ability to reflect 
in a deep way on this awareness, has evolved for this very reason--to help us 
recognize that we are not separate, that life is a process, that we are 
constantly learning, that to look out for ourselves means looking out for 
that of which we are a part. 

This consciousness of self, Teilhard believed, has profound survival 
consequences. We come to develop a sense of order that takes into account 
that others have a different order from ours.  For this reason, it is 
inevitable that those with a deep level of awareness of the self, i.e., an 
awareness that we are all in this together, will more likely survive and 
prosper and evolve over the long haul than those without this awareness. Such 
individuals are less likely to act in self-destructive ways. They will, of 
course, make mistakes, but they understand that this about learning, about 
perfecting their humanity. Such individuals will naturally accommodate 
differences because they know this is how you create a world in which they 
are accommodated as well.

Such individuals have a humility about life as exemplified by Teilhard 
because it is such a mystery and such a gift to be able to contemplate such 
ideas in the first place. They want to know more of the world because they 
want to know more of 
themselves. They recognize that in interacting with others, those others 
can awaken parts of themselves they didn't know were there without that 
interaction. They understand that every new idea and experience is another 
way they can come to know themselves. They naturally, by their actions and 
words, want to help others appreciate this as well. They also do not want 
to impose their views and sense of order onto others but, rather, want to 
help them discover their own order.

Our role in life is to uncover what life is about, and if we're fortunate, 
we may come to see that the process of figuring it out and what we're 
figuring out are one and the same thing. An experience here, an insight 
there, and 
if we're lucky, we come to see that life is what we make it, and we have no 
choice in making it something. They only issue is what we make of it together 
and this leads to the evolution of the SuperTeam. 

*My paradigm says that I facilitate my own success by facilitating the 
success 
of everything else, the best I can.  I don't believe that it's a possibility 
that people and cultures will evolve to a higher level of awareness of our 
common humanity and purpose on earth. I believe, rather, that's it's 
inevitable. This has been the message of every spiritual tradition in the 
history of the world, and that's no accident either. Each of these traditions 
is really a deep exploration of 
our human nature and each is a particular articulation of what I have 
stated just above, written in the context of their time and culture.  We 
just keep learning these lessons over and over again in our time and place 
and use our own metaphors to explain it. Teilhard had his.  So we can say 
that when we smell the wind, we are taking in our own fragrance at the same 
time.*
(John Woods, some comments on Discussion #1).

Our next Topic for tomorrow's Teilhard Discussions #2 will cover the Topic of 
the Omega Breakthrough Point, which is a natural extension of the arguments 
cover in Discussion #1.

Let us know if this approach is helpful so far:  Discussion Topic, Arguments, 
followed by a separate post summarizing the points so far.

Frank Voehl (FVoehl@aol.com)
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