The Heart of Matter: Balance
Tuesday, July 12th
“The term evolution can be extended beyond its biological meaning and applied to the whole cosmic process. This progressive evolutionary movement, according to Teilhard, is one in which the consistency of the elements and their stability of balance lie in the direction not of matter but of spirit.”
—Ilia Delio, “The Emergent Christ”
“El término evolución podemos extenderlo más allá de su significado biológico y aplicarlo a todo el proceso cósmico. Según Teilhard, este progresivo movimiento evolutivo es tal que la consistencia de sus elementos y la estabilidad de su equilibrio se orientan más hacia lo espiritual que a lo material.”
—Ilia Delio, “The Emergent Christ”
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What is being revealed? What is being moved?
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I was so encouraged as I watched the first images of the Webb Telescope. It was especially affirming to hear the scientists say to the interviewer – this star dust is where you come from! That was on our CTV channel in Canada.
I recently had a stroke that affected my left arm the most and the therapist gave me exercises and therapy putty (similar to silly putty I played with when I was younger) to help regain the feeling in the fingers and hand. As I read this morning’s quote on extending evolution, I had just finished the exercises with the putty, which I enjoy and are helping restore the feeling as well as remove the aches and lighten my spirit. I couldn’t help but rejoice in knowing that God is in everything – the whole cosmic process. The putty makes me smile, does that “matter”, is that “silly?”
Thank God that our stability does not lie in our physical bodies but in the spirit that dwells within us.
THE BIG COOKIE
Design, Time, Intimacy and Silence
Let me stir them
Mix them up in the big cookie bowl
Let me bake with them
Till my heart melts like chocolate bits
Let me stop arranging them
Stop watching the timer
Stop looking into the little clouded widow of the oven
I’ll know when they’re done
They’ll know when I’m done
I scraped the big one off the sheet
Smelled the delicious smell
Thought about the short warm life of it
Holding the cookie up
Like a bakery clad priest
Holding the cookie up with both hands
I ask permission to bite, to unite with it
Intimacy is easy for me with cookies
The Eucharist of chocolate , eggs, sugar and flour
Melts in my mouth
Just a few bites
I return to my pew at the kitchen table
In silence
Sitting still
Knowing the cookie and I are one
All things sweet and delicious are one
In confluence, in mixing, in waking up
In my life’s sacred kitchen
Harry Francis Thompson
San Diego
7-10-2022
The more I reflect on this, the more I am convinced of the maxim that we are spiritual beings on a human journey.
I have no problem with that statement, and actually prefer it, because it implies causality and purpose, cardinal tenets of theology. Teilhard would point to the fossil record for evidence that higher forms of life came after simpler forms. Even Genesis says as much. But that higher forms came OUT of them? H-m-m. Even Teilhard, rigorous scientist that he was, would admit that in introducing causality and purpose (Omega), he has violated the sacred canons of science in doing so.Theology would posit God as first and final cause, alright. But the cornerstone of the scientific method systematically denies that ‘true’ (objective) knowledge can be got at by interpreting phenomena in terms of final causes. This is why, it seems, any viable synthesis between science and religion will come from neither the scientific, academic or traditional religious communities, but from the formidable body of excluded knowledge that falls between their sizable cracks. Formal logic, the scientific method, and religious dogma are secondary to flashes of insight (embedded knowing via images), and are never the source of new knowledge. Other overlooked considerations? How about DOWNWARD causation of the created order, from what is superior (God) to what is inferior (matter)? Or even a push-pull of combined upward and downward forces that work in tandem to create a reconciled tension of opposites in a bipolar world painfully yearning for same. A subject for another time. (Thanks for the generous availability of this space).