... on evolution: Teilhard de Chardin and the Noosphere.
Teilhard was also convinced that a further and even more profound change had taken place. On the one hand we could see humanity simply swept along in a evolutionary stream into the future over which he had no control. Or, we could see that an evolution conscious of itself could also direct itself. "Not only do we read in our slightest acts the secrets of [evolutions] proceedings; but for an elementary part we hold it in our hands, responsible for its past to its future." (p. 226) Noogenesis moves ever more clearly toward self-direction; it is now something we determine.
Teilhard was a major influence on me when I was in college. I believe in evolution, but I think it is purposeful.
Among other things, the summation of Teilhard's troubles makes a neat reply to Dinesh D'Souza's weirdly irrelevant piece about Galileo in the Philadelphia Inquirer a few weeks ago.
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Detectives Beyond Borders
"Because Murder Is More Fun Away From Home"
http://www.detectivesbeyondborders.blogspot.com/
And, as someone who attended a Jesuit college, I can attest that the ban on Teilhard and others, like him, who were given to creative thought was very real indeed.
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