A love letter to Ilia and Peirre Teilhard de Chardin Dear Ilia,
I am so grateful to have found your books, your website, the Omega community and you, the prophet. Of course none of this was accidental. It all started with a car accident on my 21st birthday in 1968. I was driving alone at night, back to my job as a junior housemistress in a rural boarding school in Australia. Only my knee was badly injured in the accident but when I regained consciousness in the ambulance, I was aware of a terrible pain in my chest (bruising from the impact against the steering wheel before seat belts) as I struggled to breathe, it crossed my mind that I might be dying. I remember clearly thinking ‘what did the nuns teach us to do when one is dying?’. I was feeling pretty panicky by now and said the ‘Our Father’ as I was praying I relaxed with great relief because I knew from that moment (since never waived in my whole body conviction), that I actually, after all that teenage angst and doubt , did believe in God and more importantly that he/she believed in me. It was the greatest birthday gift I could have wished for . However it took about 15 years of ‘unfolding’’ to recognise the giftedness of this experience. The freedom of discovering that “faith” is not a noun but a verb of growing and becoming has given me licence to come and go, explore here and there, on and off. From Liberation theology, to the feminist project, sojouning with protestant friends and projects in social justice and ecological activism to Francis’ Laudato Si, the testament in scripture and finally home to the cosmic Christ and Teilhard de Chardin. Recently I get quite giddy, or ‘tipsy’, in awe and wonder at evolutionary creation and sometimes can cry at the privilege of being part of it. When I see an ant, busy about its business, or a weed struggling between the paving stones, I say to them,’even to be one of you would have been a great gig in this universe!, but to be chosen to be human through chance and natural selection, at this time of internet and DNA, to live in this country of security and more than my needs, to be a woman, a mother, grandmother and to have reached this consciousness of ’ unbearable wholeness’ and all that that means takes my breath away, like a car crash! Just one question. I don’t believe in “supernatural” any more. Is that heresy? The more I read about evolutionary biology and ponder on its implications for an evolutionary chistology, the more it seems to me that from the sub atomic to the cosmic scale, natural creativity, interconnectivity, communication networks, diversity, regeneration: have it all in hand. Thus the concept of ’super-nature’ is a tautology. I hope humanity can redeem itself, so that homo sapiens can continue to evolve into communities of healing and peace, but if not, then the infinite impulse will mourn the suffering and loss, but life is’ immortal and love is eternal’ (Bede Jarret) Resurrection goes on in the now, on the cusp of creating the future. Many thanks for your website. People like me need your company and inspiration. Patricia
Patricia DevlinMonasterevin, co.Kildare.Ireland, AK
In the October Newsletter you state: “There is a fundamental energy at the heart of evolution, he said, that has two dimensions: the energy within associated with radial energy or consciousness and the energy without which he associated with tangential energy or love.”
You tie love to tangential energy. While this may be/is the case, I would like to suggest a further consideration “to continue the journey”.
In her essay “Teilhard, the Trinity and Evolution” (Personal Transformation and a New Creation pp.69-88) Cynthia makes a case for transposing Teilhard’s “magnificent intellectual edifice” into the new Trinitarian foundations of a contemporary ternary metaphysics. I take this invitation to include addressing Teilhard’s two dimensional renderings of his “energetics”.
Following an examination of references to “axis” by searching a digital rendering of “The Phenomenon of Man (Harper Perennial), I came to an understanding of an axial pole in the radial tangential field. Serving as both the “third force” connecting radial and tangential energies, and the evolutionary axis of new arising in a new (third) dimension, this “axial energy” struck me as also representing Love in its flowing energetic form moving throughout and along the drive shaft of perichoresis – an entangled dynamic spiral of divine consciousness, incarnational cosmos, and Love.
For me, the ramifications of this throughout the Teilhardian edifice are both extensive and profound. I will withhold further explication pending an initial response to this line of thought. With gratitude, Endel.
Ilia wrote in “The Depth of Love in a Shallow Culture,” the following: “All of this to say, the core crisis of our age is the crisis of love. We no longer know the truth of love or how to love or the reason why love alone can transform our world into a new level of shared life.”
The United States election has stirred up this “core crisis of love” in a powerful and urgent way. Do you have any specific advice for contemplative practitioners seeking to be a presence of love’s depth in this fractured time post-US election? Thank you. Mark Longhurst
Hello Omega Center! I almost feel like saying, Hello Omega Center, this is ground control….. When I typed it in a song from the 60’s or 70’s popped into my head and it had similar words in it. I don’t have a question, just wanted to introduce myself. My name is John Ferro. I grew up with a love of biology ever since I was jolted out of my seat in 8th grade, looking at a drop of pond water under my microscope and seeing a paramecium swim by. It was like, we are not alone! There is a lot more here then I can see. I initially joined the Franciscan Capuchin’s as a postulant. However, in college I changed my calling into being a high school biology teacher. After 8 years I dug a little deeper and decided to go to medical school. I eventually became a neurologist and am currently, at the age of 62, a Neurohospitalist is a hospital in Poughkeepsie, NY. Recently I finished my 2 year tenure as the President of the New York State Neurological Society. This brings me to what is exciting about the Omega Center! As part of the way that I tried to get more of the Neurologists in the State involved in the Society, I came up with the idea of creating an interactive website, sort of what you are attempting here. It didn’t work out as well as I had hoped but it was a good way to begin a discussion. Thank you Sr Delio, and your companions on trying this idea. There is so much to explore (tempted to say, ‘and so little time’ but I don’t think there is such a thing as time. All of eternity exists in this moment….). I look forward to exploring this website and picking your brains (brains and hearts?). Once again, thank you.
John
Dear Sister,
I have a question about Teilhard’s references to Christ and his personal devotion to the Sacred Heart. Can you suggest an author who is writing about Teilhard’s Christology? For example, a theologian studying, in addition to his personal devotion, his concept of the Body of Christ before and after Easter? John Haught writes with twenty first century theology and science in mind. I’m searching for someone focusing on Christology. Thank you.
Matthew
Good evening, I was wondering if there is a way of finding out who else belongs to the Omega Center so that we can begin to communicate with one another. Is the correct forum for this social media, such as Facebook? Or is it a matter of asking questions to the written word or articles offered on this site and hoping someone will respond? I guess I am asking the question, how do we interact with each other, or, how do we become aware of who are the members of The Omega Center so that we can interact?
Thanks,
John Ferro
This is an excellent question John, and one we are seeking to better address. We are currently considering our options for an online forum or other similar communication means. In the meantime, there has been some conversation initiated through posting reflections and comments on a particular posting. Please also feel free to post on our Facebook page, though we are in the stage of building a greater following. We will definitely keep the Omega Center community posted as new avenues to engage become available.
Eileen, on behalf of the Omega Center
I loved the “Nurturing the Inner Self” set of lecture videos. When the sessions come out on DVD from Broadland Media will they be packaged in such a way (perhaps with a discussion guide) that they can be used for a multi-session discussion group?
Hello Steve,
The series of DVD is available through Contemplative Outreach Colorado and can be ordered here: https://www.broadlandsmedia.com/woo/product/cosmology-the-cosmic-christ-and-consciousness-with-ilia-delio/
Including a discussion guide is a wonderful idea. I’m not sure if they have created one, but it would be worthwhile checking with them.
Eileen, on behalf of the Omega Center