We are not human beings having a spiritual experience; we are spiritual beings having a human experience. – Pierre Teilhard de Chardin
Do you believe there is more to us than the physical body? Could our time here on earth be just one stage in the ultimate evolution of Man, an evolution that shall progress until we ultimately attain divinity?
Pierre Teilhard de Chardin was a Jesuit priest and French philosopher of the early 20th Century who also studied geology and paleontology. He is best known for his work
, The Phenomenon of Man, in which he moves away from a literal interpretation of creation as set forth in the bible to more of an allegorical telling of the evolution of the universe and Man’s place in it.
Teilhard sought to blend science with religion to promote the idea that doing good works on earth is part of our evolution towards reuniting with God. Previously, the popular thought was that only through doing purely religious worship could you become closer to God. Teilhard embraced the theory that Man descended from apes, and that human endeavors were part of a continuing evolution towards greater enlightenment and Godliness.
What if we are, in fact, spiritual beings in a human form that is still evolving, heading towards a state of being that will someday transcend the flesh? Just as we are far advanced from our ape ancestry, how far greater may we advance beyond the human flesh-bound stage we are in right now? With the rapid advances in technology, the approaching ability to create computers that “think,” and the prospect that someday we may be able to “download” our thoughts and memories into humanoid robots that never die, is the concept of continuing to evolve beyond human form so far-fetched? Is this part of God’s plan? Or for those who are agnostic or atheist, is this a plausible construct of the Universe?
What would change about how you see your life and your role on earth if you were to learn that it is true – that we humans are merely on a path that travels from animal, through human, to divinity? What if each life is meant to advance the human spirit just that much closer to reunification with our Creator? Are the things you think and do promoting that advancement or hindering it?
Leave a Reply