notes on Teilhard de Chardin by Charles Henderson; Science is Faith in Universe & Gaia

PIERRE TEILHARD DE CHARDIN

Toward a Science Charged with Faith

Chapter 5 of God and Science
by Charles P. Henderson




It was at the height of his career in paleontology while he was studying bones and fossils in northern China (in 1927) that Teilhard wrote what he called "a little book on piety" designed to convey both the sincerity and the orthodoxy of his faith to his superiors in Rome. In this book Teilhard speaks of The Divine Milieu and by its very title suggests his theme: the whole material world as the setting for a profound, mystical vision of God. It is in the world itself, as it is seen through the eyes of science, that the workings of God are most apparent. Teilhard's writing is graphic and unrestrained:
All around us, to right and left, in front and behind, above and below, we have only to go a little beyond the frontier of sensible appearances in order to see the divine welling up and showing through. But it is not only close to us, in front of us, that the divine presence has revealed itself. It has sprung up universally, and we find ourselves so surrounded and transfixed by it, that there is no room left to fall down and adore it, even within ourselves.

By means of all created things, without exception, the divine assails us, penetrates us and moulds us. We imagined it as distant and inaccessible, whereas in fact we live steeped in its burning layers. In eo vivimus. As Jacob said, awakening from his dream, the world, this palpable world, which we were wont to treat with the boredom and disrespect with which we habitually regard places with no sacred association for us, is in truth a holy place, and we did not know it. Venite, adoremus.(1)

Needless to say writing like this did not reassure the religious authorities in Rome, for Teilhard affirmed the material world as a source of mystical illumination. Though Teilhard did not directly criticize any specific doctrines of the church in his little book of piety, this work constitutes an assault upon the skeletal supports of traditional theology. Teilhard was just as provocative when he was trying to reassure as when he was trying to stir up debate. Early on, he describes his book in two sentences which were intended to convey the modesty of his position but in reality contained a theological time bomb:

http://www.godweb.org/chardin.htm

AutoPoietics on the 'Net psybernetics autopoiesis

http://beat.doebe.li/bibliothek/p00001.html


http://autopoietic.net/

Welcome to Autopoietic.net

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Journal of Autopoietic Theory

Associated with the Autopoiesis Email list at autopoiesis-dialognet@yahoogroups.com

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Subject Areas of Interest: Autopoiesis, Reflexivity, Emergence; Biology of Cognition; Existential Biology, Sociology and Psychology; Self/(Other)-organization, Self/(Other)-production, Dissipative Ordering Structures, Negative Entropy, Living Systems, Consciousness, Sociality; also apoptosis, allopoiesis, autonomy, closure, observer, cognition, structure, semiotics, cybernetics of all orders, complexity/simplicity, order/chaos/disorder, complex adaptive systems and all subjects listed in ENCYCLOPAEDIA AUTOPOIETICA as well as applications to far from equlibrium thermodynamics, biology of cells and organisms and studies of consciousness, psyche, society, and other related fields. Also the mathematical, scientific and philosophical foundations of systems theory, meta-systems theory or any special systems theories.

Related to the work of Maturana, Humberto R. and Varela, Francisco J. (1946 - 2001) but also related work by others such as Luhmann, Niklas; Rosen, Robert; Beer, Stafford; Bateson, Gregory; Kampis, George; Goertzel, Benjamin; Prigogine, Ilya; Kauffman, Stuart and others.

See Fritjof Capra, Ph.D., 1996 and 1997 The Web of Life, Doubleday, New York, 1996 and 1997

See J Mingers, 1995 Self-Producing Systems: The Implications and Applications of Autopoiesis Plenum Press, New York, pp 246, ISBN 0306447975

See Maturana, Humberto R. and Varela, Francisco J. 1980 Autopoiesis and Cognition: The Realization of the Living, D. Reidel, Dordrecht, Holland; Boston, USA, London, England

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AutoPoietics on the 'Net psybernetics autopoiesis

http://beat.doebe.li/bibliothek/p00001.html


http://autopoietic.net/

Welcome to Autopoietic.net

---

Journal of Autopoietic Theory

Associated with the Autopoiesis Email list at autopoiesis-dialognet@yahoogroups.com

---

Subject Areas of Interest: Autopoiesis, Reflexivity, Emergence; Biology of Cognition; Existential Biology, Sociology and Psychology; Self/(Other)-organization, Self/(Other)-production, Dissipative Ordering Structures, Negative Entropy, Living Systems, Consciousness, Sociality; also apoptosis, allopoiesis, autonomy, closure, observer, cognition, structure, semiotics, cybernetics of all orders, complexity/simplicity, order/chaos/disorder, complex adaptive systems and all subjects listed in ENCYCLOPAEDIA AUTOPOIETICA as well as applications to far from equlibrium thermodynamics, biology of cells and organisms and studies of consciousness, psyche, society, and other related fields. Also the mathematical, scientific and philosophical foundations of systems theory, meta-systems theory or any special systems theories.

Related to the work of Maturana, Humberto R. and Varela, Francisco J. (1946 - 2001) but also related work by others such as Luhmann, Niklas; Rosen, Robert; Beer, Stafford; Bateson, Gregory; Kampis, George; Goertzel, Benjamin; Prigogine, Ilya; Kauffman, Stuart and others.

See Fritjof Capra, Ph.D., 1996 and 1997 The Web of Life, Doubleday, New York, 1996 and 1997

See J Mingers, 1995 Self-Producing Systems: The Implications and Applications of Autopoiesis Plenum Press, New York, pp 246, ISBN 0306447975

See Maturana, Humberto R. and Varela, Francisco J. 1980 Autopoiesis and Cognition: The Realization of the Living, D. Reidel, Dordrecht, Holland; Boston, USA, London, England

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2+2=4 NYtimes gets a clue on Bush Admin Central Lie

NYTimes ED

March 7, 2007

Editorial

A Libby Verdict

central double-bind of this Admin.

He was charged with those crimes, defended by the best lawyers he could get, tried in an open courtroom and convicted of serious felonies. Mr. Libby walked freely out of the court, had his say in public and will be allowed to appeal.

It was another reminder of how precious the American judicial system is, at a time when it is under serious attack from the same administration Mr. Libby served. That administration is systematically denying the right of counsel, the right to evidence and even the right to be tried to scores of prisoners who may have committed no crimes at all.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/07/opinion/07weds1.html

Whole Earth Legacies: Brand, Turner, at Stanford Talk ; 09 Nov. , 00,064 a.L.

really good interview of Turner by RU here>

Fred Turner, author of “From Counterculture to Cyberculture: Stewart Brand, The Whole Earth Network, and the Rise of Digital Utopianism” joins us on the show today to talk about his thoughtful and critical take on the evolution of net ideology.





November 9, 2006
7:00-8:30 PM Panel Discussion
8:30-9:00 PM Public Reception with the Panelists
Cubberley Auditorium (Map)
Stanford University
Poster (PDF)






Stewart Brand, founder of the Whole Earth Catalog and co-chairman of the Long Now Foundation

Kevin Kelly, former executive editor of Wired magazine and author of Out of Control: The Rise of Neo-Biological Civilization and New Rules for the New Economy

Howard Rheingold, author of The Virtual Community: Homesteading on the Electronic Frontier and Smart Mobs: The Next Social Revolution

Fred Turner, moderator and assistant professor of communication, Stanford University, author of From Counterculture to Cyberculture: Stewart Brand, the Whole Earth Catalog, and the Rise of Digital Utopianism

With an introduction by Henry Lowood, Curator for Germanic & History of Science Collections, Stanford University Libraries. The panelists will illuminate the extraordinary impact of the Whole Earth Catalog and the American counterculture on contemporary computing and everyday life. The event celebrates the library's one-of-a-kind collection of Whole Earth Papers.