The Divine Milieu

by Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

A classic work by the great Jesuit theologian and anthropologist whose writings were not allowed to be published until after his death. Pierre Teilhard de Chardin was more famous after his death in 1955 than during his life when he worked as a geologist in France and in China where he was one of the discoverers of “Peking Man.” The Divine Milieu is an essential companion to Teilhard de Chardin’s The Phenomenon of Man and expands on the spiritual message so basic to his thought. He shows how man's spiritual life can become a participation in the destiny of the universe.

Genres: Philosophy, Religion, Theology, Spirituality, Christianity, Nonfiction, Science

192 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1957

About the author

Pierre Teilhard de Chardin was a visionary French Jesuit, paleontologist, biologist, and philosopher, who spent the bulk of his life trying to integrate religious experience with natural science, most specifically Christian theology with theories of evolution. In this endeavor he became enthralled with the possibilities for humankind, which he saw as heading for an exciting convergence of systems, an "Omega point" where the coalescence of consciousness will lead us to a new state of peace and planetary unity. Long before ecology was fashionable, he saw this unity as being based intrinsically upon the spirit of the Earth. Studied in England. Traveled to numerous countries, including China, as missionary.

Died in New York City on Easter 1955

Reviews

[Bob Couchenour · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was first introduced to the writings of Pierre Teilhard de Chardin while I was living on the streets of Austin Texas, homeless, by another homeless individual by the name of Charlie. Charlie was an intellectual and obviously had some of the same interest as me, primarily the world, (the nature of reality), Society & culture, and surviving in the midst of what was seemingly an alien and hostile environment. We would see Charlie at least once a month at a local Presbyterian Church which offered breakfast, a place to rest and fellowship, and much needed resources. In the span of time we began sharing the same table with Charlie and often found ourselves in conversation. During one of these conversations Charlie showed me a book he was reading it was entitled the Phenomenon of Man by Pierre Teilhard de Chardin....

Our regular spot to hang out was the library, you could find many of the homeless here. In many ways you could say the library became our home away from home and there really wasn't a much better place to be. We would either find ourselves spending time on the computers or on another floor devouring some books. It was here that I found a copy of the phenomenon of man and began reading. During my time I was only able to finish half of the book and will find it and continue will begin again from the beginning, as I was intrigued but many of de Chardins ideas...

At my first reading of de Chardin I did not realize who he was or what he was but his ideas were definitely interesting at the least and they still intrigue me enough to finish the book. It is only recently but I have come to know more about de Chardin. I am a bit surprised that he could be both a scientist and a Catholic priest and still hold to what he expresses in his writing. There is obviously some things I still need to learn concerning a man's ability and desire to try and retain a loyalty to an old order which is so contradictory to what the evidence is...

Notwithstanding what de Chardin expresses was well worth considering, giving requisite thought and possibly allowing greater influence, as there are things some can see and comprehend which others because of our predispositions would rather not consider...

Where I was considerably impressed with the Phenomenon of Man I have found this volume "The Divine Milieu" far less interesting and engaging. Of course if one is already predisposed to believe in God as traditionally understood by the Church much may be gleaned. And there's a certain mystical bent, which is purely Pierre Teilhard de Chardins de Chardin, but it seems the primary purpose is to substantiate own religious faith in relation to Catholic tradition. IE if one is already predisposed to accept the existence of God as defined by the church you may enjoy this. But I personally found it to be a step back from his other work...

As a matter of psychological health (CG Jung) people have a tendency to adopt and attach ourselves to various Myths, each filling out the need of our conscious minds to complete and make sense of the world we inhabit. We need to understand what a myth is.sAmericans we live under the illusion of certain myths. First there is the myth of the so-called American dream. We cling to this myth because for many of us it seems to hold true [unfortunately we tend to neglect the ones for whom it does not work]. Then there is the myth of Manifest Destiny. This myth declares that from the founding of this nation we were “a city set on a hill” and it was our right to extend our borders across the continent “from sea to shining sea” regardless of prior claims by others inhabiting the land we desired to possess. This idea of manifest destiny was of a biblical nature and we still adhere to it under the guise of spreading democracy. But it is a collective myth. It is not real except that it is an ideal that most of us Americans have been sold and bought into that is something which we claim as “divine right”...

De Chardin’s presentation in this book is little more than an assumed support of the Catholic myth shrouded in an air of mysticism. About 25 years ago I was drawn to the writing of a professor of apologetics at Westminster theological seminary, Cornelius Van Til. One of his primary writings was a book entitled “Defense of the Faith”. I am not here to criticize Van Til. As I found it at the time I would consider it a work of genius, albeit a Reformed religious genius. But you cannot deny the man was brilliant. If I were to re-title this book I would call it “Defense of the Myth”. Though I respect de Chardin for his intelligence and mind I cannot help but consider this work more a defense of his Catholicism then of real academic inquiry… We all do what we need to, too secure ourselves...

[Yaholo · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is truly close to my heart. It bridges the gap between the best wisdom of mysticism regarding the personal spirit to apply these concepts to our collective spirit. So often mysticism in an introverted discipline, focusing on the interior life. The Divine Milieu is a beautiful vision of what Christian Mysticism could look like on the level of a church, a community, and a civilization.

I wish more pastors and church leaders read this book!

[Sue · Rating 5 out of 5]

I LOVE this book (and this man!). Loved it so much I'm now writing my dissertation on it and the author. So, it has indeed greatly influenced the way I think and talk about my Christian faith, and how I teach it also. Not an easy read - it's NOT spiritual "fluff" - but I highly recommend!

[Zach · Rating 4 out of 5]

"What is most divine in God is that, in an absolute sense, we are nothing apart from him." (49)

"No one lifts his little finger to do the smallest task unless moved, however obscurely, by the conviction that he is contributing infinitesimally (as least indirectly) to the building of something definitive - that is to say, to your work, my God." (56)

"At the heart of our universe, each soul exists for God, in the Lord. But in all reality, even material reality, around each one of us, exists for our souls. Hence, all sensible reality, around each one of us, exists, through our souls, for God in our Lord." (56)

"Any increase I can bring upon myself or upon things is translated into some increase in my power to love and some progress in Christ's blessed hold upon the universe." (63)

"God, in all that is most living an incarnate in him, is not far away from us, altogether apart from the world we see, touch, hear, smell and taste about us. Rather, he awaits us every instant in our action, in the work of the moment. There is a sense in which he is at the tip of my pen, my spade, my brush, my needle - of my heart and my thought." (64)

"Nothing here below is profane for those who know how to see. On the contrary, everything is sacred for the men who can distinguish that portion of chosen being which is subject to Christ's drawing power in the process of consummation. Try, with God's help, to perceive the connection - even physical and natural - which binds your labour with the building of the kingdom of heaven; try to realize that heaven itself smiles upon you and, through your works, draws you to itself; then, as you leave church for the noisy streets, you will remain with only one feeling, that of continuing to immerse yourself in God." (66)

"Never, at any time, 'whether eating or drinking', consent to do anything without first of all realizing its significance and constructive value in Christo Jesu, and pursuing it with all your might." (66)

"O God, whose call precedes the very first of our movements, grant me the desire to desire being - that, by means of that divine thirst which is your gift, the access to the great waters may open wide within me." (79)

"Teach me to treat my death as an act of communion." (90)

"Your essential duty and desire is to be united with God. But in order to be united, you must first of all be - be yourself as completely as possible." (96)

"By means of all created things, without exception, the divine assails us, penetrates us and moulds us." (112)

"Let us leave the surface, and, without leaving the world, plunge into God. There, and from there, in him and through him, we shall hold all things and have command of all things." (115)

"The human layer of the earth is wholly and continually under the organizing influx of the incarnate Christ." (124)

"The Eucharist must invade my life. My life must become, as a result of the sacrament, an unlimited and endless contact with you - that life which seemed, a few moments ago, like baptism with you in the waters of the world, now reveals itself to me as communion with you through the world. It is the sacrament of life. The sacrament of my life - of my life received, of my life lived, of my life surrendered..." (127)

"The kingdom of God is within us. When Christ appears in the clouds he will simply be manifesting a metamorphosis that has been slowly accomplished under his influence in the heart of the mass of humankind." (128)

"God tends, by the logic of his creative effort, to make himself sought and perceived by us. . . . But in the end the initiative, the awakening, always comes from him." (131)

"In a real sense only one man will be saved: Christ, the head and living summary of humanity. Each one of the elect is called to see God face to face. But his act of vision will be vitally inseparable from the elevating and illuminating action of Christ. In heaven we ourselves shall contemplate God, but, as it were, through the eyes of Christ." (143)

"Christian charity, which is preached so fervently by the Gospels, is nothing else than the more of less conscious cohesion of souls engendered by their communal convergence in Christo Jesu. It is impossible to love Christ without loving others. And it is impossible to love others without moving nearer to Christ." (144)

"The man with a passionate sense of the diving milieu cannot bear to find things about him obscure, tepid and empty which should be full and vibrant with God. He is paralysed by the thought of the numberless spirits which are linked to his in the unity of the same world, but are not yet fully kindled by the flame of the divine presence." (144)

"I confess, my God, that I have long been, and even now am, recalcitrant to the love of my neighbor. . . . Grant that I may see you, even and above all, in the souls of my brothers, at their most personal, and most true, and most distant." (145)

"Humanity was sleeping - it is still sleeping - imprisoned in the narrow joys of its little closed loves. A tremendous spiritual power is slumbering in the depths of our multitude, which will manifest itself only when we have learnt to break down the barriers of our egoisms and, by a fundamental recasting of our outlook, raise ourselves up to the habitual and practical vision of universal realities." (146)

"The history of the kingdom of God is, directly, one of a reunion. The total divine milieu is formed by the incorporation of every elected spirit in Jesus Christ." (146)

[Max Bodach · Rating 4 out of 5]

chardin is very readable here. there's so much optimism and joy in his writing about the spiritual life and its connection to our intellectual and moral pursuits.

[César · Rating 4 out of 5]

Una lectura intensa. Parece mentira que la pasión que late bajo el texto siga intacta casi un siglo después.

[Deborah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Teilhard presents complicated science and metaphysics, and it's fascinating. So fascinating that I can't believe that he's not a household name! His theories are reminscent of ideas presented by Paul Davies and Rupert Sheldrake. I suppose that someday science will catch up with religion!

[Caitlyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don’t think I’m smart enough to really appreciate what this book has to offer. It was incredibly dense and referenced a lot of foundational philosophy that I’m just not familiar with. I found his perspective on asceticism refreshing, and got a lot out of praying along with him. A lot of the truths he gets at (we exist in cooperation with the world, and all creation reveals the nature of God) seem self-evident— but maybe that comes from my long-term exposure to said evidence.

[Paul Dubuc · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very interesting author and ideas. A good translation with a biographical introduction. I thought the author's ideas on the meaning of death were profound, thought provoking and inspiring. Inspiring also were the italicized prayers at the end of some of the sections. Some of his other ideas in the book were not so interesting, but still worth considering. Lots of Latin phrases sprinkled throughout which were lost on me. I enjoyed reading the book; it was well worth the time spent.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a really deep theological book that takes a lot of thought, energy and contemplation to read. I have been working on it for several mouths and this is my second reading of it. Well worth the time however and glad I have a bit of a handle on what he is saying and I agree with his premise that our world is evolving and being divinized.

[Timothy Ball · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Just as, at the centre of the divine milieu, all the sounds of created being are fused,
without being confused, in a single note which dominates
and sustains them, so all the powers of the soul begin
to resound in response to its call ; and these multiple tones,
in their turn, compose themselves into a single, ineffably
simple vibration in which all the spiritual nuances — of love
and of the intellect, of zeal and of tranquillity, of fullness
and of ecstasy, of passion and of indifference, of assimilation
and of surrender, of rest and of motion — are born and pass
and shine forth, according to the times and the circum-
stances, like the countless possibilities of an inward attitude,
inexpressible and unique."

[A.K. Frailey · Rating 5 out of 5]

I believe I like this book the best of all of Teilhard's works that have read so far. This one seems to have the greatest insight toward Christian thinking as a living response to God's invitation to be a part of Himself in His created world. It's hard to focus on some of the lenses that Teilhard peers through, but I was surprised when he mentioned that the biblical concept of hell and damnation cannot simply be set aside in the hope that everyone will eventually respond to God's call. I had wondered if he simply ignored that part of the Bible. Apparently not. Reading Teilhard's work is like diving into the deep blue sea. I may not always feel comfortable, but when I come to the surface, my world looks a whole lot bigger.

[Kendalyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was like a very long poem singing the praises of the creation and the Creator. Such beauty in these pages.

"God whom we try to apprehend through the groping of our lives- that self-same God is as pervasive and perceptible as the atmosphere in which we are bathed. He encompasses us on all sides, like the world itself. What prevents you, then, from enfolding Him in your arms? Only one thing: your inability to see Him."

[Joyce · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think I got the gist of the book. But for me, it was difficult to read in that the sentences were usually a paragraph long, with big words and Latin references. I'd read and then not be sure I understood what was being said. My comments are a reflection on me, not smart enough, not the book.

[Austin Spence · Rating 3 out of 5]

One of those "Glad that's over" books. Good mystic/ scientific theology, Teilhard de Chardin is one of the foremost Christian thinkers who is a proponent of a transhuman goal, which drew me to him and because this was a free book.

[Bridget · Rating 2 out of 5]

So long as I kept my eyes peeled, there were some worthwhile nuggets to be found in this text. Be it as it may, reading this felt like a Herculean task. Gah

[Dean Summers · Rating 5 out of 5]

From time to time my internet provider will fiddle with my email platform. Despite my initial grumbling, it doesn’t take all that long before I become accustomed to the new look and the new features. Eventually I come to embrace what I first considered foreign. I’ve had a similar experience with The Divine Milieu.

A Jesuit and a paleontologist from France, who served many years in China, Pierre Teilhard de Chardin was 46 in 1927, the year he wrote Le Milieu Divin. Teilhard can be hard to warm up to. That was not true of Teilhard personally, according to those who knew him personally, but even Teilhard enthusiasts consider his essays difficult to understand. His language is aristocratic and erudite. You can’t read Teilhard without a dictionary in your lap. His language is also poetic and playful. Teilhard can bend a word the way B. B. King can bend a note. For that, a dictionary is not much help.

But I’ve come to realize it isn’t so much that Teilhard is difficult to understand. It’s that he speaks in a way that can be difficult to hear. It’s like when I was listening to an Aussie one day, and he could tell I wasn’t tracking with him. He then said to me, “You’re listening to my accent. Try listening to me.” Teilhard uses language in a distinctly Teilhardian way, which can take some getting use to. But it helps considerably when you stop listening to his “accent” and you try listening to him.

With The Divine Milieu, it also helps considerably if you can read Latin. In The Divine Milieu, you will encounter a fair amount of Latin. In Teilhard’s day, for Catholics, Latin was the language of Scripture and the language of the Mass. Any Catholic who might read a theological treatise in any language—whether French or English or some other—would expect to encounter, and would also be expected to understand, a fair amount of Latin. That was still so in 1960, when Le Milieu Divin was first translated from French into English. It is true no longer. So, in his 2004 translation, Siôn Cowell has done us all a considerable service in translating not just Teilhard’s French, but also Teilhard’s Latin.

Though, when dealing with Scripture, Cowell doesn’t actually translate Teilhard’s Latin. Rather, he identifies chapter and verse, and then he provides the reading from a contemporary English translation, usually the NRSV. Wonderfully helpful! Even so, something is lost in non-translation. For Teilhard, Scripture was the Latin Vulgate, which he quotes in a delightfully Teilhardian free-form manner—possibly because he is quoting from memory, but also, I suspect, because he is sometimes playfully infusing his quotations with value-added Teilhardian insight.

Siôn Cowell’s presentation is not a thoroughly new translation, but only a slight revision of an earlier translation by Bernard Wall and others. Meanwhile, Cowell helps you get past Teilhard’s Latin, and he provides helpful footnotes that explain historical and religious references that need explaining for most of us. What I like best, in comparison to what I’ve seen of what came before, is that the book design is so inviting. The typeface is crisp and clean with good line spacing. The use of “all caps” for chapter and section titles has been minimized, improving readability. Italic, as an indicator of emphasis added, is employed sparingly. Teilhard was always underscoring words and phrases for emphasis—often several times on a single page. In print, the result is a distracting over-use of italic, which, to his credit, Cowell avoids.

My introduction to Teilhard was The Future of Man, a collection of his shorter essays and speeches on the cosmos, evolution, and human consciousness. I followed the gist of it, but none of those essays was scratching where I was itching. I thought it might be different with The Divine Milieu. That proved to be true—eventually. My first time around, I read the 1968 Harper Touchstone edition. My first time around, I didn’t get it.

A friend directed me to Louis Savary’s The Divine Milieu Explained. Savary helped. But, to me, his treatment of The Divine Milieu seems to lack the gravitas I had sensed even in my unsatisfying first read of Teilhard’s celebrated essay. My breakthrough moment came at the climax of a documentary I watched soon after my failed first attempt to “get” The Divine Milieu. That documentary is The Salt of the Earth: The Photography of Sebastião Salgado. If you know about Teilhard’s military service on the Western Front during the First World War, I would expect that documentary to open for you, as it did for me, The Divine Milieu—to open Teilhard’s essay—to open all that is le milieu divin.

My second time around, I read The Divine Milieu in the 2004 Sussex Academic Press (Siôn Cowell) edition. By then, I had taken the time to translate Teilhard’s Latin—work, as it turned out, that wasn’t strictly necessary with the 2004 edition, but fruitful work nonetheless, because it provided a window to Teilhard’s quirky use of Scripture. I was also about halfway through Teilhard’s The Human Phenomenon, and I was reading his biography by Ursula King, Spirit of Fire. I even produced my own abstract of The Divine Milieu.

After all that, I can say Teilhard really isn’t so hard to understand. He does speak in a way that can be difficult to hear. But it helps considerably when you stop listening to his “accent” and you try listening to him.

Cela est bien, répondit Candide, mais il faut cultivar notre jardin.

[Lesley Arrowsmith · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have to admit that I picked this book up as a result of reading Julian May's Galactic Milieu novels! She mentions Teilhard de Chardin, and I was intrigued. It's a fascinating read - and you can see why the Roman Catholic church were a little bit wary of his ideas! Put together with the Julian May stories, though, it all makes a lot of sense, and I went on to read The Phenomenon of Man and other books by him. Hard going, but very much worth while.
Oh, and he was an archaeologist working in China on fossils, and he lived through terrible things in the First World War, and it all shaped his theological ideas.
(I like my theology mystical and a bit unconventional - that's why I love Mother Julian of Norwich, and Kathleen Norris too).

[Katie R. · Rating 4 out of 5]

My teacher recommended this to me in order to complete an essay for his class.

I really liked it, although I will admit it was not an easy read. I got the basics, but some lines I had to read a few times.

It was an interesting read and I'm glad I gave it a chance.

My religious readings are increasing, and I'm sure God approves :*)

[McMaeve · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although PT de Chardin would disagree with my analysis, I think this is a marriage between paganism and Christianity, in my very lay understanding of this text. Rich with devotion to the divine, in all its presentations. I could certainly read this again, especially if I had a reading buddy who could help me decipher the Christian references that are a bit lost on me...

[Fran]

Wonderful, wonderful

[John]

nonfiction,theology,evolution,Jesuit,science,philosophy

[Natalie Baer · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have copied out several quotes from his book

[Keith PJ Duggan · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the most important books in my life

[Patti · Rating 3 out of 5]

Need to read this again...

[Dona · Rating 4 out of 5]

Probably closer to a 3.75.

[Adam Gossman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful.

[Joseph Gascho]

Tough read...

[Lhb27 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lovely read, a must for the modern day Catholic or those seeking to understand how Christianity can become more modern.

[Kevin · Rating 4 out of 5]

It speaks to the revision of Teilhard that his thought seems hardly revolutionary for those who read John Paul, Benedict, and Francis.