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Hymn of the Universe
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157 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1961
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About the author
Pierre Teilhard de Chardin
394 books500 followersPierre 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
Died in New York City on Easter 1955
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 36 reviews
February 1, 2025
Teleological mysticism is a hard nut to crack.
Just think of the Book of Revelation. It’s pure teleology - the belief that all things work toward an invisible, final end.
But can you imagine projecting ALL of mankind’s scientific theories - in the disciplines of biology and anthropology - onto a similarly teleological grid?
If you did, and you were a believer, you might believe God is leading mankind towards a totalizing culmination of its characteristics, into an ideal form.
And that’s EXACTLY what Pierre Teilhard de Chardin believed. Like some of the greatest SF writers of the fifties and sixties!
This poetic rhapsody of his - with its stunning, universal mysticism of HOPE - needs to be experienced firsthand to be believed:
"Shatter, my God, through the daring of Your revelation the childishly timid outlook that can conceive of nothing greater or more vital in life than the pitiable perfection of our human organism.
Show Yourself as the higher Soul and physical center of Your creation.
Thank you, my God, for having in a thousand different ways led my eyes to discover the immense simplicity of things."
Yes, for Teilhard himself was a simple man.
An extraordinarily GIFTED man, too - through whose highly educated, complex, multifaceted but HUMAN mind, the deep mysteries of the universe were intensely SIMPLIFIED.
As is the intention of the Gospel, surely!
Not to speak of the other great world religions, for, all over the world the Great Teachings tell us to put the utter overwhelming Magnificence of God’s creation FIRST.
Really, guys, we’re getting much too self-obsessed in the 21st century. There IS a Wonderful World all around us - at our doorstep!
Whether most scientists nowadays would accept such radical simplicity is doubtful. We seem to be progressing into an infinitely more and more COMPLICATED universe.
Or is it just our monkey brains that’re making it all seem so complicated?
Trust Mastermind Mankind to muck things up!
And maybe those Buddhists, who say the concepts we have of our Self are in fact just needless and purely mental constructs - made out of our formless thought-emotions - are RIGHT?
Maybe we ARE evolving into a less self-centred species (though looking around you you’d never think it)!
But here was a man who saw in every Physical, Historical, Biological and Anthropological FACT the same teleological Simplification of all Creation to the Perfection of its Creator.
Pretty wild, huh?
And this same humble, gifted saint of a man worked tirelessly - and in the end, vainly and thanklessly - to persuade the rigidly calcified theological/scientific authorities of the mid-twentieth century of the Truth of his Vision.
No, of course he didn’t succeed.
But he stunned the rest of us into dumb amazement at the sheer reckless Majesty of that Vision.
A Vision, which if true, might in the end silence every doubter!
But that... we’ll never know, in THIS life.
Just think of the Book of Revelation. It’s pure teleology - the belief that all things work toward an invisible, final end.
But can you imagine projecting ALL of mankind’s scientific theories - in the disciplines of biology and anthropology - onto a similarly teleological grid?
If you did, and you were a believer, you might believe God is leading mankind towards a totalizing culmination of its characteristics, into an ideal form.
And that’s EXACTLY what Pierre Teilhard de Chardin believed. Like some of the greatest SF writers of the fifties and sixties!
This poetic rhapsody of his - with its stunning, universal mysticism of HOPE - needs to be experienced firsthand to be believed:
"Shatter, my God, through the daring of Your revelation the childishly timid outlook that can conceive of nothing greater or more vital in life than the pitiable perfection of our human organism.
Show Yourself as the higher Soul and physical center of Your creation.
Thank you, my God, for having in a thousand different ways led my eyes to discover the immense simplicity of things."
Yes, for Teilhard himself was a simple man.
An extraordinarily GIFTED man, too - through whose highly educated, complex, multifaceted but HUMAN mind, the deep mysteries of the universe were intensely SIMPLIFIED.
As is the intention of the Gospel, surely!
Not to speak of the other great world religions, for, all over the world the Great Teachings tell us to put the utter overwhelming Magnificence of God’s creation FIRST.
Really, guys, we’re getting much too self-obsessed in the 21st century. There IS a Wonderful World all around us - at our doorstep!
Whether most scientists nowadays would accept such radical simplicity is doubtful. We seem to be progressing into an infinitely more and more COMPLICATED universe.
Or is it just our monkey brains that’re making it all seem so complicated?
Trust Mastermind Mankind to muck things up!
And maybe those Buddhists, who say the concepts we have of our Self are in fact just needless and purely mental constructs - made out of our formless thought-emotions - are RIGHT?
Maybe we ARE evolving into a less self-centred species (though looking around you you’d never think it)!
But here was a man who saw in every Physical, Historical, Biological and Anthropological FACT the same teleological Simplification of all Creation to the Perfection of its Creator.
Pretty wild, huh?
And this same humble, gifted saint of a man worked tirelessly - and in the end, vainly and thanklessly - to persuade the rigidly calcified theological/scientific authorities of the mid-twentieth century of the Truth of his Vision.
No, of course he didn’t succeed.
But he stunned the rest of us into dumb amazement at the sheer reckless Majesty of that Vision.
A Vision, which if true, might in the end silence every doubter!
But that... we’ll never know, in THIS life.
November 3, 2018
This is an ecstatic prayer, written in the immediacy of a cosmic vision, charged with the intense light of insight born in an authentic state of unified, Cosmic consciousness. It sets my heart on fire every time I pick it up. I am rereading it...and will continue to do so for the rest of my life.
Teilhard is a bedrock author for anyone with a mystical hunger, or who longs for an encompassing understanding of the universe, its creative processes and underlying unity. Though Chardin was Catholic, it is universal in its import and how it reaches into the heart and soul.
Teilhard is a bedrock author for anyone with a mystical hunger, or who longs for an encompassing understanding of the universe, its creative processes and underlying unity. Though Chardin was Catholic, it is universal in its import and how it reaches into the heart and soul.
March 4, 2019
Fascinating. I've never read anything like it. Very much intrigued to read more of his work. I know his scientific background is significant. This work stays on the side of poetry.
November 21, 2012
Another of those important books I read years ago. Ideas that shaped me and stayed with me.
August 17, 2008
Religious phenomenology, and I mean classical definition of religion as other worldly – illustrates that he knows god as infinite, not as envisioned by people. There is a lot to grasp in the text and lots of trying to explain an infinite connection to the universe, god, and natural wonders.
April 16, 2017
A rich text that in essence is a rich, thoughtful prayer (confession, praise, thanksgiving) of one steeped in evolution ("fate is bound up with the fate of nature itself"), a high regard for human beings (referring to the "order of supernatural growth to holiness") and their capacity for charity and community (... all the elementary consciousness of the world shall converge and in which they shall be able to love one another: in other words, the rising of God."). Hymn of the Universe is poetic and cannot be read like all theology. Having been wonderfully engaged by "In Pensees", I have put in verse regarding Teilhard de Chardin on formation of the Human Species.
Fold your wings, once spread wide
toward terrestrial peaks—ardent light;
await the decent of the Fire
supposed to take possession of you.
Attract its power to partake,
loosen bonds of affection
on objects cherished for their sake:
true union sought in and through.
Embrace, follow invincible,
natural bent—become one, be chaste;
refine crude materiality, disable
fibers of substance, excessive self-love.
Like a molecule open, pliant:
differentiate, existing freer and eager,
admitting into oneself even the indigent—
accept pain, take a cross along the Way.
Fold your wings, once spread wide
toward terrestrial peaks—ardent light;
await the decent of the Fire
supposed to take possession of you.
Attract its power to partake,
loosen bonds of affection
on objects cherished for their sake:
true union sought in and through.
Embrace, follow invincible,
natural bent—become one, be chaste;
refine crude materiality, disable
fibers of substance, excessive self-love.
Like a molecule open, pliant:
differentiate, existing freer and eager,
admitting into oneself even the indigent—
accept pain, take a cross along the Way.
March 11, 2018
A very thought-provoking book, even though it's incredibly hard to read. You almost need a dictionary next to you to get through it. The first part is a sort of elongated prose poem about how he, as a Catholic priest, doesn't have an altar wherever he is, so he consecrates the world instead of bread, and everything is made holy. There's another section where he talks about some interesting visions he's had, all mostly dealing with the analogy of converging lines--that all lines are drawn to and meet in God. The second half contains brief thoughts about humanity's relationship with God through the world, science, experience, etc.
He walks right on the line of being pantheistic, but is very careful to try to describe his views such as, "God is not IN the tree, but He may be seen through it." That the beauty around us clearly has God's hand on it and reflects the beauty of God. Pretty interesting, just very tough to read.
He walks right on the line of being pantheistic, but is very careful to try to describe his views such as, "God is not IN the tree, but He may be seen through it." That the beauty around us clearly has God's hand on it and reflects the beauty of God. Pretty interesting, just very tough to read.
May 13, 2016
In a word: Breathtaking.
It's been a very long time since I stepped foot in a church by my own volition, but if there were ever a book to capture those few things I miss—smoky sweet frankincense; the eucharistic prayer sung low like a chant; a congregation rumbling to life for a hymn, their hearts beating in tandem; the absolute peace of it all—this is it. Hymn of the Universe is one of the most exquisite works of theology that I have ever read and one that I will be holding close to my heart in the years to come.
It's been a very long time since I stepped foot in a church by my own volition, but if there were ever a book to capture those few things I miss—smoky sweet frankincense; the eucharistic prayer sung low like a chant; a congregation rumbling to life for a hymn, their hearts beating in tandem; the absolute peace of it all—this is it. Hymn of the Universe is one of the most exquisite works of theology that I have ever read and one that I will be holding close to my heart in the years to come.
May 17, 2016
Very profound at times, whereas. at other times obscure and difficult to follow. Well worth reading for the scattered gems within.
May 30, 2023
“The hurricane was within himself.
And now, in the very depths of the being it had invaded, the tempest of life, infinitely gentle, infinitely brutal, was murmuring to the one secret point in the soul which it had not altogether demolished:
'You called me: here I am. Driven by the Spirit far from humanity's caravan routes, you dared to venture into the untouched wilderness; grown weary of abstractions, of attenuations, of the wordiness of social life, you wanted to pit yourself against Reality entire and untamed.
'You had need of me in order to grow; and I was waiting for you in order to be made holy.’”
—
“Is life an open road or a blind alley? This question, barely formulated a few centuries ago, is today explicitly on the lips of mankind as a whole. As a result of the brief, violent moment of crisis in which it became conscious at once of its creative power and of its critical faculties, humanity has quite legitimately become hard to move: no stimulus at the level of mere instinct or blind economic necessity will suffice for long to goad it into moving onwards. Only a reason, and a valid and important reason, for loving life passionately will cause it to advance further. But where, at the experiential level, are we to find, if not a complete justification, at least the beginnings of a justification of life? Only, it would seem, in the consideration of the intrinsic value of the phenomenon of man. Continue to regard man as an accidental outgrowth or sport of nature and you will drive him into a state of disgust or revolt which, if it became general, would mean the definitive stoppage of life on earth.
Recognize, on the other hand, that within the domain of our experience man is at the head of one of the two greatest waves into which, for us, tangible reality is divided, and that therefore he holds in his hands the fortunes of the universe: and immediately you cause him to turn his face towards the grandeur of a new sunrise.
Man has every right to be anxious about his fate so long as he feels himself to be lost and lonely in the midst of the mass of created things. But let him once discover that his fate is bound up with the fate of nature itself, and immediately, joyously, he will begin again his forward march. For it would denote in him not a critical sense but a malady of the spirit if he were doubtful of the value and the hopes of an entire world.”
And now, in the very depths of the being it had invaded, the tempest of life, infinitely gentle, infinitely brutal, was murmuring to the one secret point in the soul which it had not altogether demolished:
'You called me: here I am. Driven by the Spirit far from humanity's caravan routes, you dared to venture into the untouched wilderness; grown weary of abstractions, of attenuations, of the wordiness of social life, you wanted to pit yourself against Reality entire and untamed.
'You had need of me in order to grow; and I was waiting for you in order to be made holy.’”
—
“Is life an open road or a blind alley? This question, barely formulated a few centuries ago, is today explicitly on the lips of mankind as a whole. As a result of the brief, violent moment of crisis in which it became conscious at once of its creative power and of its critical faculties, humanity has quite legitimately become hard to move: no stimulus at the level of mere instinct or blind economic necessity will suffice for long to goad it into moving onwards. Only a reason, and a valid and important reason, for loving life passionately will cause it to advance further. But where, at the experiential level, are we to find, if not a complete justification, at least the beginnings of a justification of life? Only, it would seem, in the consideration of the intrinsic value of the phenomenon of man. Continue to regard man as an accidental outgrowth or sport of nature and you will drive him into a state of disgust or revolt which, if it became general, would mean the definitive stoppage of life on earth.
Recognize, on the other hand, that within the domain of our experience man is at the head of one of the two greatest waves into which, for us, tangible reality is divided, and that therefore he holds in his hands the fortunes of the universe: and immediately you cause him to turn his face towards the grandeur of a new sunrise.
Man has every right to be anxious about his fate so long as he feels himself to be lost and lonely in the midst of the mass of created things. But let him once discover that his fate is bound up with the fate of nature itself, and immediately, joyously, he will begin again his forward march. For it would denote in him not a critical sense but a malady of the spirit if he were doubtful of the value and the hopes of an entire world.”
April 5, 2025
3.5. Bra bok! Läst bara lite kristet tidigare och men det jag har läst har haft en underliggande negativ människosyn / inställning imo. Tänker typ i imitation of christ där ett budskap är att inte lite på sigsjälv och alltid anta att någon annan har rätt. För mig låter sånt som ett undandra sig för livet och allt vad det innebär istället för att med sin möta det direkt.
Det finns också ett kapitel, the spiritual power of matter.
Som jag tyckte var dunder. (Ang att enbart associera det spirituella livet till det icke-fysiska):
”You thought you could do without it because you thought the power of thought has been kindled in you? You hoped that the more thoroughly you rejected the tangible, the closer you would be to spirit: that you would be more divine if you lived in the world of pure thought, or at least more angelic if you fled the corporeal? Well, you were like to have perished of hunger. [….] purity does not lie in separation from, but in a deeper penetration into the universe.”
Boken har en mer optimistisk ton och innehåller många intressanta / vackra idéer.
”Man has every right to be anxious about his fate so long as he feels himself to be lost and lenely in the midst of the mass of created things. But let him once discover that his fate is bound up with the fate of nature itself, and immediately, joyously, he will begin again his forward march.”
Sidenote: min kristna frisör anklagar mig för att leta efter sanning i det som tilltalar mig istället för att vara intellektuellt ärlig. Må vara sant, men jag letar hellre efter sanning inom mig själv och lyssnar efter vilka toner som klingar falskt än att spendera ett liv med attityden att alla vet mer än mig.
Det finns också ett kapitel, the spiritual power of matter.
Som jag tyckte var dunder. (Ang att enbart associera det spirituella livet till det icke-fysiska):
”You thought you could do without it because you thought the power of thought has been kindled in you? You hoped that the more thoroughly you rejected the tangible, the closer you would be to spirit: that you would be more divine if you lived in the world of pure thought, or at least more angelic if you fled the corporeal? Well, you were like to have perished of hunger. [….] purity does not lie in separation from, but in a deeper penetration into the universe.”
Boken har en mer optimistisk ton och innehåller många intressanta / vackra idéer.
”Man has every right to be anxious about his fate so long as he feels himself to be lost and lenely in the midst of the mass of created things. But let him once discover that his fate is bound up with the fate of nature itself, and immediately, joyously, he will begin again his forward march.”
Sidenote: min kristna frisör anklagar mig för att leta efter sanning i det som tilltalar mig istället för att vara intellektuellt ärlig. Må vara sant, men jag letar hellre efter sanning inom mig själv och lyssnar efter vilka toner som klingar falskt än att spendera ett liv med attityden att alla vet mer än mig.
January 29, 2010
This is a tough read and rather technical. Chardin was very well known in the 50's as a priest and scientist (paliontolgist) who dealt with the issues of bible and science and also evolution. He is quoted a lot but it is a book one needs to study rather than just read. But if you want to get a new perspective of the Universe and God this is certainly a book to read
June 26, 2010
This ethereal masterpiece!
Read
August 14, 2011It´s a beautiful book.
November 18, 2018
HYMN OF THE UNIVERSE
When I retired (from activities which warranted a steady in¢ome) I (among other things) decided to READ. More. Easy to do – I had been averaging maybe 2 books a year for a while (took over 2 years to read Pynchon’s Against the Day, e.g.) – so upped the tempo, considerably. I decided to read two different books @ any given time – one “for pleasure” – novels, mostly; AND also read something philosophical/spiritual/cosmic (okay: Hawking’s “Brief History of Time”/”Universe in a Nutshell”) – but this latter category go slow – minimum 2 pages a day, maybe 4 or 5, depending on the Quan (or whatever passes for my personal “vibe” of pace and quasi-reality).
There were (and still ARE) many books in my house which I haven’t read. And “Hymn” had been on the bookshelves quite a while (there is a note inside the front cover: "To Rosco / from Mom /Aug. 1972”), so it was time to tackle this one, too. Apparently I had bogged down on The Phenomenon of Man and, at the time, thought it ‘worthwhile’ but too ponderous to digest – at that time, and we (Mom & I) talked about it. Hence, the gift.
I was somewhat enthralled for about 100 pages (Colophon paperback, 155 pp.), coming almost to tears reading Pensée #26, which has to do with one’s “getting old and decrepit” (my words), with resolution of all-of-it with respect to “the end.” And, within ten pages later I became disillusioned and take issue with the Pére's contention that the evolution (of mankind) he is, basically, discussing) cannot be done by other than Western/Christian religion/thought. Bull-poopy, I thought.
Granted, it’s a heckuva (¿helluva?) precept: de Chardin’s position that man, all of us, the whole planet, has as its destiny to “evolve” into a sort of world-mind (whirled-mined) under the ægis of Jezuss. No other way. Having previously read Evans-Wentz’ Tibetan Book of the Dead and currently engaged in trying to grok A. Huxley’s Perennial Philosophy I beg to differ. The tenet, the aim of identifying one’s-self with the Godhead, is expressed in many other sources than solely “Western”. Krishna admonishes Arjuna to “relinquish all identification with the fruits of one’s actions” – Carlos Casteneda (yeah, a highly-regarded spiritual voice, but …) talks of the Nagual – very similar to Lao Tzu writing of the Tao – if you can attach a description or attribute of/to it – it ain’t so. “It” comprises all things, but is none of those. My head would start to spin (could be the wine, or the culmination of a hard day basically doing nothing else but playing ice-hockey and terrifying my musical companions with my bad music, and the never-ending yard-work) – but perhaps you get it –
Sorry to be just a bit negative, as “Hymn” promulgates a mind-blowing plan and end-result: that mankind should, and will, see the truth of the cosmic premise(s) presented therein, “the future of the thinking earth is organically bound up with the turning of the forces of hate into the forces of charity.” An exalted but exalted we-can-only-hope, especially in regards the situation/circumstances of man on the planet today.
When I retired (from activities which warranted a steady in¢ome) I (among other things) decided to READ. More. Easy to do – I had been averaging maybe 2 books a year for a while (took over 2 years to read Pynchon’s Against the Day, e.g.) – so upped the tempo, considerably. I decided to read two different books @ any given time – one “for pleasure” – novels, mostly; AND also read something philosophical/spiritual/cosmic (okay: Hawking’s “Brief History of Time”/”Universe in a Nutshell”) – but this latter category go slow – minimum 2 pages a day, maybe 4 or 5, depending on the Quan (or whatever passes for my personal “vibe” of pace and quasi-reality).
There were (and still ARE) many books in my house which I haven’t read. And “Hymn” had been on the bookshelves quite a while (there is a note inside the front cover: "To Rosco / from Mom /Aug. 1972”), so it was time to tackle this one, too. Apparently I had bogged down on The Phenomenon of Man and, at the time, thought it ‘worthwhile’ but too ponderous to digest – at that time, and we (Mom & I) talked about it. Hence, the gift.
I was somewhat enthralled for about 100 pages (Colophon paperback, 155 pp.), coming almost to tears reading Pensée #26, which has to do with one’s “getting old and decrepit” (my words), with resolution of all-of-it with respect to “the end.” And, within ten pages later I became disillusioned and take issue with the Pére's contention that the evolution (of mankind) he is, basically, discussing) cannot be done by other than Western/Christian religion/thought. Bull-poopy, I thought.
Granted, it’s a heckuva (¿helluva?) precept: de Chardin’s position that man, all of us, the whole planet, has as its destiny to “evolve” into a sort of world-mind (whirled-mined) under the ægis of Jezuss. No other way. Having previously read Evans-Wentz’ Tibetan Book of the Dead and currently engaged in trying to grok A. Huxley’s Perennial Philosophy I beg to differ. The tenet, the aim of identifying one’s-self with the Godhead, is expressed in many other sources than solely “Western”. Krishna admonishes Arjuna to “relinquish all identification with the fruits of one’s actions” – Carlos Casteneda (yeah, a highly-regarded spiritual voice, but …) talks of the Nagual – very similar to Lao Tzu writing of the Tao – if you can attach a description or attribute of/to it – it ain’t so. “It” comprises all things, but is none of those. My head would start to spin (could be the wine, or the culmination of a hard day basically doing nothing else but playing ice-hockey and terrifying my musical companions with my bad music, and the never-ending yard-work) – but perhaps you get it –
Sorry to be just a bit negative, as “Hymn” promulgates a mind-blowing plan and end-result: that mankind should, and will, see the truth of the cosmic premise(s) presented therein, “the future of the thinking earth is organically bound up with the turning of the forces of hate into the forces of charity.” An exalted but exalted we-can-only-hope, especially in regards the situation/circumstances of man on the planet today.
May 30, 2023
This is a thought-provoking must-read classic even for non-religious readers. De Chardin possessed an uncanny foresight to probe mind-boggling conundrums of the universe, envisioning such notions as the internet, the universe as cosmic awareness (i.e. star stuff aware of itself), evolution as ever increasing complexity towards cosmic awareness (that he called the noosphere), the hive mind, AI taking over, mind uploading, and many other ideas.
The telltale snippets of his insight can be traced in subsequent generations of scientists, science fiction authors, and script writers. Whenever I revisit the pages of Zelazny, Asimov, Lovecraft or Stapleton I see echoes of this unclassifiable thinker. I recently binge-watched Star Trek / The Next Generation and found de Chardin’s intellectual gems dotting the philosophical dimension hovering over the timeless scripts. Even Q (the enigmatic obnoxious nemesis of Captain Picard) wears a 19th century black cassock reminiscent of de Chardin’s photos, in the latest iteration of the Star Trek franchise (Picard), answering the decades-old question of so many fans (who or what the hell is Q?). Seemingly, Q is the embodiment of this cosmic consciousness called the noosphere, the universe being aware of itself, manifesting itself with a human countenance to this roving humans of the future.
Here’s a sample of the philosophical insight that used to pervade science fiction: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vm5ND...
The telltale snippets of his insight can be traced in subsequent generations of scientists, science fiction authors, and script writers. Whenever I revisit the pages of Zelazny, Asimov, Lovecraft or Stapleton I see echoes of this unclassifiable thinker. I recently binge-watched Star Trek / The Next Generation and found de Chardin’s intellectual gems dotting the philosophical dimension hovering over the timeless scripts. Even Q (the enigmatic obnoxious nemesis of Captain Picard) wears a 19th century black cassock reminiscent of de Chardin’s photos, in the latest iteration of the Star Trek franchise (Picard), answering the decades-old question of so many fans (who or what the hell is Q?). Seemingly, Q is the embodiment of this cosmic consciousness called the noosphere, the universe being aware of itself, manifesting itself with a human countenance to this roving humans of the future.
Here’s a sample of the philosophical insight that used to pervade science fiction: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vm5ND...
August 5, 2022
The fact that Teilhard's work wasn't given the platform it deserved while he was alive (thanks to the shortsightedness of the Catholic church) is an absolute tragedy for Western Christianity. No hyperbole!
A brief spot of Eurocentrism creeps into a couple pages that I could've done without, but considering this was written during the early 1900s, I forgive him. He's so far ahead of his time in nearly every other way that it's frankly astounding—this is stuff (e.g. "evolution is holy") that Christians still struggle to accept today. The "Hymn to Matter" section is utterly transcendent, inspired mysticism that upset me as much as it moved me, because the idea that anyone could read this and want to censor it is unconscionable.
A brief spot of Eurocentrism creeps into a couple pages that I could've done without, but considering this was written during the early 1900s, I forgive him. He's so far ahead of his time in nearly every other way that it's frankly astounding—this is stuff (e.g. "evolution is holy") that Christians still struggle to accept today. The "Hymn to Matter" section is utterly transcendent, inspired mysticism that upset me as much as it moved me, because the idea that anyone could read this and want to censor it is unconscionable.
June 26, 2021
Toda una oración en la que la evolución de la vida y del ser humano convergen hacia su centro y su fin divinos. Ciencia y espiritualidad se unen en una alabanza en la que todo y todos trascienden su propia limitación en el Absoluto que los convierte a la vez en fruto y semilla. Aunque pueda considerarse en una primera impresión un ejercicio de optimismo ingenuo por creer en un futuro que hará de síntesis de lo ocurrido y de lo frustrado, no deja el autor de invitarnos a participar de esta peregrinación histórica vaciándonos de nosotros mismos y despojándonos de unos esfuerzos e intentos que solo en Cristo encuentran sentido y plenitud.
March 7, 2019
The idea of expressing things simply is beyond Teilhard de Chardin! Unless I misunderstand him, he believes that ultimately we will be absorbed into Christ and our identity will become part and parcel with His. That makes no sense; I believe our identity is important to Him. Because we are his creation, we logically share His nature, and we will never be happy and at peace until we accept our nature and live in accordance with it.
July 5, 2020
A FrenchJesuit priest who is also a scientist tells of the unity of creation. He arrives, through Christ, at the same conclusions as the ancients from India, that there is a unifying substance in all of creation that is God. I'm not sure if it was the translation or the original words chosen by de Chardin but it is not a simple read. I hope more Christians, and humans will awaken to this truth.
March 14, 2021
This compilation which begins with the beautiful Mass on the World and is followed by 81 "pensees" excerpted from many of his books was an amazing introduction to Teilhard de Chardin. The product of an exceptionally rare Christian mystic mind, both poetic and scientific. To be read carefully, not because it is too dense, but because it is so rich.
September 18, 2021
read this very slowly, in small increments and then discussed each tidbit with a friend. It was dense and powerful. I was overcome by the deep brilliance of chordin's understanding of the universe and its many facets.
not for the faint-hearted
not for the faint-hearted
July 15, 2022
My heart resonated with de Chardin's powerful, poetic imagery, especially in the pieces celebrating a liturgical expression of nature. There were a couple of points of Euro-centrism that haven't aged well, a reminder that even the most inspired of artists can only paint with the pallet on hand.
August 16, 2017
This book is luminous in its beauty. It's also very dense and will require more than one reading to take it all in. It's well worth the effort, however.
March 30, 2019
I enjoy his thought but this book is very fragmentary, inevitably I guess.
November 11, 2019
Prose written by a mystic, who is also a poet, and thoroughly explores his religious experiences re the Trinity. A gem, and for certain traditional readers, particularly Catholic.
May 31, 2021
Inspiring
September 27, 2021
I know this is a book I’ll return to repeatedly for the rest of my life. Me and Pierre and Jesus.....we’re onto something and we’re having a blast!
March 22, 2022
Deep, thought-provoking.
November 15, 2023
Beautiful little work, a bit lofty but some real gems within
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