[Brian Tucker]

Di,

Thanks for your response. I’ve also been taking a MOOC, the Journey of the Universe with Mary Evelyn Tucker and Brian Swimme. If you haven’t yet taken this course, you can do so for free by auditing it. I find the material very uplifting. Am very interested in exploring this integration of Jung and Teilhard. Denise and I are currently reading “Cosmos and Psyche” by Richard Tarnas and finding that material to be very engaging. Listened to the Voros youtube this morning, and will re-watch tonight. Enjoyed it very much — thanks for recommending.

Brian

[Brian Tucker]

Hi All,

Am reading from the book “Pierre Teilhard de Chardin and Carl Jung: Side by Side” edited by Fred Gustafson and came upon this passage which speaks to me about our current world situation:

“It is true that people are losing heart/trust in the work they do to help bring the world into the future. When I have asked people if they believe the human race is hardwired to advance to a higher level of life or if a person’s individuation process is trying at all cost to fulfill itself, even when I have given the qualifying statement that I was aware we might not make it but that the energy force behind Life intended it, there was consistent hesitation and quietness; an uncertainty prevailed. All this is so understandable given the destruction being done to the planet and the peoples of it. To see the big picture, however, that is, to not forget that all of life descends and ascends, that it is bloody with war and birthing and to remember that, if we do not keep trying to bring the world into a new day, it is over today at least for ourselves. Chardin would say, ‘reflection’ is the one gift with which the human race has to save itself, a concept with which Jung would certainly agree. Kathleen Duffy quotes Chardin as saying, ‘…evolution is now busy elsewhere in a richer, more complex domain, constructing spirit, with all our minds and hearts put together.’ This reassures him that not only is the cosmos complexifying, but it also has a ‘psychically convergent structure.’ Teilhard concludes that ‘Matter is the matrix of Spirit.”

We see so many examples of this destruction occurring in our lives or the larger world. In our lives today what ways does evolution appear to be working to forge new connections, to open more creative expressions? In what ways is it potentially becoming frozen in old stories and paradigms that no longer work? Have we considered, as did Chardin, that consciousness is evolving along with the material world? If so, how might daily reflection become a tool to “save ourselves” and our world? Particularly for those whose lives are so immediately entrenched in a daily battle for survival, how can reflection reassure them to try again to bring the world into a new day? What teachings/approaches help to guide us in our encounter with the “psychically convergent structure” of the Cosmos?

Brian

[Brian Tucker]

Di,
An unexpected treasure along this Deep Time Journey has been the writings of Maria Montessori (and the Professional Development Series hosted here on the Network!). A quote from the “Cosmic Education as a Continuum Across All Levels” class with Betsy Coe and Ann Sutton stands out:

“We shall walk together on this path of life, for all things are part of the Universe, and are connected with each other to form one whole unity” — Maria Montessori

For me, one of the reasons Teilhard has been such a powerful guide in the Deep Time Journey is because his imagination encompassed both the realm of the materialists and those who uphold a spiritual interpretation of matter. In his writing on the “Phenomenon of Man” (2nd chapter on ”The Within of Things”), Teilhard references two schools of thought:

“On the one hand the materialists insist on talking about objects as though they only consisted of external actions in transient relationships. On the other hand the upholders of a spiritual interpretation are obstinately determined not to go outside a kind of solitary introspection in which things are only looked upon as being shut in upon themselves in their ‘immanent’ workings. Both fight on different planes and do not meet; each only sees half the problem.”

Like Montessori, Teilhard offers a hopeful vision of wholeness that our world has yet to fully embrace:

“I am convinced that the two points of view require to be brought into union, and that they soon will unite in a kind of phenomenology or generalized physic in which the internal aspect of things as well as the external aspect of the world will be taken into account.”

It could well be that the Aboriginal Australian ‘knowing’ of the Dream is closely linked with the ancient Rishi’s experience as related in the many verses of the Upanishads of this “internal aspect” or the “within of things” pointed at by Teilhard and others. One role that spiritual guidance offers is in helping us honor and value the “interior aspect” of our natural world while integrating a worldview defined by the exterior world of things. Like spiritual guidance, the Deep Time Journey can lead us along the path of integrating these two points of view.

Tonight I enjoyed reading about the recent discovery of circular cave structures at the Bruniquel Caves in France of structures believed to have been created by Neanderthal living in the region more than 175,000 years ago. I wonder at the significance and meaning in the geometry of these structures, which appear to be egg-like and circular.Do geometric symbols and designs help communicate a deeper structure to reality than what our materially oriented ego-consciousness more regularly experiences? Again, this seems consistent with the traditions maintained by aboriginal and vedic cultures.

See the link at:

Bruniquel Neanderthal Circular Cave Structures

Teilhard and others “Geologians” help remind me that this is truly a world filled with deep soul and meaning, despite the paradox of our earthly lives being potentially filled with ecstatic joy alongside great suffering. In either extreme, how are we being called into a greater evolutionary consciousness?

Brian

[Brian Tucker]

Di,

Am excited to start my day by contemplating your post and listening to the arising of new ideas emerge (accompanied by the sound of the blue jays and robins out my bedroom window!) As I pondered your question, this morning I sat with the Aitareya Upanishad – the Microcosm of Man (from the Rig Veda of those following the Sanatam Dharmic path, which is one of the oldest scriptures that I know. In that upanishad (translation by Eknath Eswaran), I was moved by the opening verse (with a masculine interpretation) which goes as follows:

"Before the world was created, the Self
Alone existed; nothing whatever stirred. Then the Self thought: "Let me create the world."
He brought forth all the worlds out of himself:
Ambhas, high above the sky;
Marichi, the sky; Mara, the middle region that is earth;
And Apa, the realm of waters below.

The Self thought: "I have created these worlds. Let me now create guardians for these worlds."
From the waters he drew forth Purusha
And gave him a form. As the Self brooded
Over the form, a mouth opened, as does
An egg, giving forth speech and fire; nostrils
Opened with the power of breathing the air;
Eyes opened, giving rise to sight and sun;
And ears opened to hear the sound in space.
Skin appeared and from it hair; from hair came
Plants and trees. The heart gushed forth; from the heart
Came the mind, and from the mind came the moon.
The navel opened with the downward force,
Apana, which gave rise to death. The sex organ rose with
living water which gave rise to birth.

…thus came these guardians into the mighty Ocean of existence.

Let's consider the two ways of entering this discussion that you laid out in your original post, where as you have written, there is "nothing to say" (paravidya), alongside the perspective that there is "everything to say" (aparavidya) — two ways of knowledge worth pursuing! Looking forward to what emerges! Will also turn to Teilhard and others as guides along this pathway.

Brian

[Brian Tucker]

<p>Carol,</p><p>One connection to consider is the link between World War I and the inevitable deepening and continued development of a global consciousness.  So many individuals and families (including my own) were disrupted during the Great War, and I have often wondered about this very same question on that connection we can make with the Universe Story and Veteran’s Day here in the U.S.  Perhaps this time of chaos provided many seeds, some of which blossomed later into new forms of narratives concerning our Cosmic origins.  For me, the writings of the French Jesuit Paleontologist, Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, provide some insight into one man’s integrative vision of the Cosmos (“an all-embracing unity in the Universe”) alongside the traumas he experienced while serving on the front at the age of 34 (see “The Making of a Mind”  and “Writings in Time of War” by Pierre Teilhard de Chardin).  </p><p><br />From “The Jesuit and the Skull: Teilhard de Chardin, Evolution, and the Search for Peking Man” by Amir D. Aczel:</p><p>While on the front, and in an effort to reconcile the atrocities he observed with his belief in a loving God, Teilhard wrote an essay that attempted to put these horrific experiences in perspective.  He titled it “La Vie Cosmique”, and it contained the elements of his developing philosophy and his mysticism.  Here is an excerpt:</p><p>”What follows springs from an exuberance of life and a yearning to live.  It is written to express an impassioned vision of the earth, and in an attempt to find a solution for the doubts that beset my action — because I love the universe, its energies, its secrets, and its hopes, and because at the same time I am dedicated to God, the Origin, the only Issue and the only Term…All around us, in whatever direction we look, there are both links and currents.  Countless forces of determination hold us in their grip, a vast  heritage from the past weights down upon our present, the thousand and one affinities by which we are influenced pull us away from ourselves and drag us towards an end of which we have no knowledge.<br /><br />As Aczel writes:  The essay (La Vie Cosmique) was rich in images, including the multitudes of the universe; grains of sand, and stars in the heavens; God permeating the ether; the good earth, and people’s communion with it; pain and pleasure and hell; the struggle with the angel; and finally, evolution.</p><p>Your question has prompted me to re-visit these pieces of writing as well. Am interested to hear what other connections members of the Deep Time Journey Network might help us make! </p><p>Thanks, </p><p>Brian Tucker<br />New Jersey</p>

[Brian Tucker]

<p>Yes — I can read this and respond on my I-phone</p>

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