Tag: reflective thought

The Power in Choice

I will totally understand if this post seems way too much for consumption, which is why I chose a completely unrelated photo of the 2026 Chanel runway show that was, in essence, simply breathtaking and beautiful not because I didn’t think the actual content would draw many, but I felt it important, nonetheless, to create a foundation to accentuate how important “choice” is to the ability to live on a higher plane. It is rooted in the very fabric of evolution itself, God’s amazing blueprint (which in my mind is as ethereal and beautiful as what was shown on the runway) for the culmination of our efforts moving toward the Kingdom of Heaven.

Teilhard taught that once humanity evolved into a being capable of reflective thought, and because of the limitation of our small planet and their close proximity to each other, the result was the establishment of the noosphere: a geological layer of consciousness and information that enveloped the Earth (the without). Humankind succeeded in stretching a single organized membrane of reflective thought, a new binding force (see prior post) And yet, since everything that evolves has the “without” as well as a “within” we must also understand what the “within” of the noosphere looks like. The world’s future now rests in humanities hands toward an unlimited future or its annihilation, a feat in which they must not falter, and there are, according to Teilhard only two ways to go: isolation and uniformity, or a coalescence of all human elements and the coming together of the branches of humankind where we all contribute to the unification of our world. Humanities first reflex, though, as they increased in number in a limited space, often lead them to seek fulfillment in isolationism and uniformity because of some inherent survival instinct that inclined humanity to think that to “increase one’s personal being” they must remove themselves as far as possible from the crowd of “others”. Survival of the fittest may be imbedded into life forms that don’t have the gift of reflective thought, but for humans…well Teilhard puts it this way:

Unique in this respect among all the energies of the universe, consciousness is a dimension to which it is inconceivable, and even contradictory, to ascribe a ceiling or suppose it can double back upon itself. There are innumerable critical points on the way, but a halt or reversion is impossible, and for the simple reason that every increase of internal vision is essentially the germ of a further vision which includes all the others and carries still farther on. Hence this remarkable situation…that our mind, by the very fact of being able to discern infinite horizons ahead, is only able to move by the hope of achieving, through something of itself, a supreme consummation- without which it would rightly feel itself to be stunted, frustrated, and cheated. After the long series of transformations leading to humanity, has the world stopped? Or, if we are still moving, is it not going in a circle? Either nature is closed to our demands for futurity, in which case thought, the fruit of millions of years of effort, is stifled, stillborn in a self-abortive and absurd universe…or else an opening exists-that of the “super-soul” above our souls: but in that case, the way out-if we are to agree to embark upon it-must open out freely onto limitless spiritual spaces in a universe to which we can entrust ourselves without hesitation. First: that there is for us, in the future, under some form of another (at least collectively) not only survival, but a superior form of existence. Secondly: to imagine, discover, and reach this “super life”, we have only to walk in the direction in which the lines passed by evolution take on their maximum coherence. (In other words, where consciousness is at its greatest.) Between nature being closed (pessimism) and the super-soul (optimism), there is no middle way because, by its very nature, progress is all or nothing. We are confronted accordingly, with two directions, and only two: one downwards, and the other upwards, and there is no possibility of finding a halfway house.

I know the above quote is pretty heavy, so let me try and break it up a bit. For humans, while all three rules of evolution still apply: unity, plurality and energy, there is something operating at a different level that has not happened before in the levels of evolution below humans. So while individual humans are identical in that they are “thinking” units, it is important to remember that they are also highly individual, i.e. different parts of a body. And like parts of the body, their individuality means nothing in isolation or uniformity because we are all connected, related to each other, but each performing a different function. Perhaps if humanity evolved in an unlimited space, humans never would have reached the necessary saturated state to burst forth into something new. But because they evolved in a limited space, human elements had to infiltrate more and more into each other, their minds mutually stimulated by close proximity. Each person, then, extends, their influence upon the earth and the earth in effect shrinks steadily. The pressure of proximity combined with the nature of our thinking souls to coalesce causes the radial energy (which is directional) of consciousness to concentrate toward a “super consciousness”, or what we come to understand as the “within” of the noosphere.

An extreme example of the lower polarity that has occurred throughout history is the doctrine that seeks to elevate one group or race to a position of superiority…and we all know how this system turned out. So why did Teilhard believe that isolation is a blind alley to be avoided? He believed this because, like evolution prior to reflective thought, where each molecule behaved in an almost uniform way, to animals who behave in a way to instinctively survive, humanity being capable of reflective thought, was therefore capable of not only planning their own actions, but planning the future as well. Humans cannot blindly react to the kind of animal behaviors such as birth, death and reproductive function that ruled their primitive selves, but instead must assimilate those basic functions and transform them with intelligent meaning and moral value.

All in all, ultimately the choice about “what” we do in the real world, is rooted in “how” we do it in the real world…and that is where, for me anyway, the power of love comes in and what moves us to living on a higher plane. As much as I’ve spoken about what “love” is and how it defines us, instead of the other way around…the choice for how to move ahead will always be rooted in the information that is disseminated to every individual in the noosphere, (the physical envelope of conscious thought) and how to check the veracity of that plethora of information to achieve the true essence of building the super consciousness (the Omega Point) that will move us forward. Because to root a choice in something, while proclaimed to be a truth, but is in reality is something less, will ultimately inhibit the body to move functionally forward, regardless of the desire to do so. All this I will delve into further at a later date…but for Teilhard, Jesus and a host of others, what drives the choices we make must be rooted in accurate and factual information, and the understanding that none of us are separate entities and it is only collectively using all our gifts, that any evolution can happen. The power of that choice is everything.

The Noosphere

This post was particularly mind stretching to write…so I begin with pictures of many of the beautiful places I’ve been to remind and humble me into seeing how perfectly beautiful and majestic this world we occupy is, and to remember the sacred trust given to all of us as its caretakers as we move forward. We humans, by our amazing reflective minds, have great power in determining the direction we take into the future, a road, one in large part I firmly believe must be chosen together. In order to be successful on this journey that began in the spark of life so many millions of years ago, we must abide by the rhythm that propelled it forward from the beginning. The future needs all of us and all our gifts and strengths to appropriate another phrase: “be all that we can be”.

Let me begin with repeating something Teilhard said about how evolution moves forward; when the addition of “one more” that brings an organism into to a supersaturated state, it bursts forth into something new, and so it was with consciousness. Teilhard posited the idea that because humanity, as they evolved in increasing closer proximity to each other and restricted by geometrical limitations of the spherical shape of the earth, its consciousness was like giant molecule closing in upon itself toward its own supersaturated state:

The limited surface of the earth causes a pressure build up as population densities increase, at first gradually and now explosively. Under this pressure, the “human elements” infiltrate more and more into each other, their minds mutually stimulated by proximity. So that each person extends-little by little- the radius of their influence upon the earth…and the earth, in effect “shrinks” steadily. With the increase in each person’s area of activity, humankind-forced to develop in a confined area-has now found itself subjected to an intense pressure. This pressure, combined with the nature of our “thinking souls” to coalesce i.e. to grow together, causes radial energies of consciousness to concentrate toward a sort of “super consciousness”. It represents the “sphere of human thought”. It is conceived of as a new, developing geological layer of consciousness and information enveloping the Earth. This results in humankind succeeding in stretching on single organized membrane of reflective thought, a new binding force-the noospere.

The origin of the word “noospere” comes from the Greek, noos, mind or reason and sphaira, or sphere, it represents the “sphere of human thought”. After humanity became aware of itself and reflective thought evolved humanity forward, and by multiplying bringing it to concentrated proximity, a new, developing geological layer of consciousness and information enveloped the Earth, i.e. an organized membrane of reflective thought. Considering he wrote this in the thirties (after being banned by the church, the book was finally published in the 1950’s), I think his depiction of super-consciousness as an envelope of reflective thought surrounding the globe was a strikingly prescient way of describing what we experience in modern day terminology as the internet. We have the ability to be connected to every person on the globe in a way that is almost instantaneous, where we all have access to a plethora of information literally at our finger tips. The difference between how we evolved to the point of reflective thought thus far, and how we move forward now, is the impact that we as humans will have on determining the means by which we all move forward. It isn’t just divinely directed anymore, humanity has been partnered with the divine architect by being given the gift to think for itself. And according to Jesus and Teilhard, it is of utmost importance to remember, we are all connected, it is an all or nothing proposition. At this point in time, we are facing the sum total of individual particles of reflective thought grouping themselves together and reinforcing each other in the act of a single unanimous reflection…the future of humankind. According to Teilhard and his colleagues, there are two ways this organic super aggregation of souls can go, 1) toward isolationism, to remove oneself from a crowd of “others” by a sense of superiority, (pretty much every totalitarian group in history) which essentially Teilhard says is a blind alley to be avoided, or 2) a mega-synthesis or a super-arrangement to which all the thinking elements of the earth find themselves individually and collectively subjected to become a super-consciousness. This latter view is a a scientific description of the Body of Christ talked about that the apostle Paul talked about.

Teilhard’s theory says plainly that humanity can hope for no evolutionary future except in association with each other. It is already understood that humanity is dependent on getting resources from all over the world to sustain itself. Acknowledging that is a no brainer in concluding that working together, however we decide to do that, is the way to go. Not only that, those who hold greater resources are obligated to help sustain those who are demonstrably lacking. Just like each person possesses a unique blueprint and set of gifts that add to the whole, from the standpoint of the “without” or physical world, so too does each grain of thought add to the “within” of the super-consciousness of our reflective thought. Jesus speaks of this kind of thinking effort like this:

Give and gifts will be given to you; a good measure, packed together, shaken down, and overflowing, will be poured into your lap. For the measure with which you measure will in return be measured out to you.

Do not conform yourselves to this age but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and pleasing and perfect

And Jesus isn’t the only spiritual force that spoke about the power of how we move forward into the future:

The law of karma is a fundamental principle of cause and effect in Indian religions (Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism), stating that every mental or physical action known as a “deed” or “karma” produces corresponding consequences that must be experienced. It is often summarized as, “as you sow, so shall you reap,” meaning good actions yield positive results and bad actions yield negative ones.

Hopefully you aren’t too confused by this post. I felt the need to jump into the idea of the “noosphere” because in many ways it does represent the higher plane, in my mind. And, given the potential dark ways that information and reflective thought can and are being used to perpetuate fear, illusion, lies and deceptions (of which I myself have been a victim of in several instances lately), I think it is important to understand how damaging it can be to our ability to move humanity forward. And while I know and have faith in the power that sourced the big spark that brought us here, choosing love, both in thought and deed, multiplied and sent out en masse will be the key to our survival. But, and its a big one…we need each other, all of us to use the power of love, in our own way and our own expressions to do that.