Friends Meeting at Cambridge
7:00 pm
Dr. Mary Kay Klein and Juliet Carey
This is the second talk on Teilhard de Chardin presented at Friends Meeting at Cambridge. In this session Mary Kay and Juliet will focus on Teilhard’s view of consciousness, and his belief that evolution is not random, but has a direction. They will close with an exercise adapted from the Offertory of Teilhard’s “Mass on the World.”
Pierre Teilhard de Chardin SJ (1 May 1881 – 10 April 1955) was a French idealist philosopher and Jesuit priest who trained as a paleontologist and geologist and took part in the discovery of Peking Man. His posthumously published book, The Phenomenon of Man, set forth a sweeping account of the unfolding of the cosmos and the evolution of matter to humanity, to ultimately a reunion with Christ. In the book, Teilhard abandoned literal interpretations of creation in the Book of Genesis in favor of allegorical and theological interpretations.
Some quotes by Teilhard de Chardin:
There is almost a sensual longing for communion with others who have a large vision. The immense fulfillment of the friendship between those engaged in furthering the evolution of consciousness has a quality impossible to describe.
Someday, after mastering the winds, the waves, the tides and gravity, we shall harness for God the energies of love, and then, for a second time in the history of the world, man will have discovered fire.
Opening lines from the Mass on the World
Since once again, Lord — though this time not in the forests of the Aisne but in the steppes of Asia — I have neither bread, nor wine, nor altar, I will raise myself beyond these symbols, up to the pure majesty of the real itself; I, your priest, will make the whole earth my altar and on it will offer you all the labors and sufferings of the world.
Dr. Mary Kay Klein is a retired professor of philosophy at Bridgewater State College and former director of the RUAH Spirituality Institute, which has merged with Cooperative Metropolitan Ministries (CMM). RUAH aims were “to increase understanding among religious traditions, provide spiritual sustenance to all and create peace one person at a time” (RUAH, 2004). Juliet Carey is a board member of CMM, who holds a MA degree from the California Institute of Integral Studies, a university that strives to embody spirit, intellect, and wisdom in service to individuals, communities, and the earth.
Sponsored by the New Story Group of Friends Meeting at Cambridge, Mary Coelho, contact person at mccoelho@comcast.net