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Chapter 4: Zest for Life: Teilhard’s Cosmological Vision
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c h a p t e r 4 Zest for Life: Teilhard’s Cosmological Vision Mary Evelyn Tucker The multiple and interconnected human and environmental crises we face are of considerable urgency. As the world becomes warmer, as hurricanes increase, as species become extinct, as air and water pollution spreads, and as resource wars heat up, there is a disturbing sense among many environmentalists and ordinary citizens that the clock is ticking toward major disasters ahead. The looming planetary crisis, in its massive scale and increasing complexity , defies easy solutions. Moreover, the heightened frenzy of the global war on terrorism creates blindness toward the widespread terror humans have unleashed on the planet—on its ecosystems on land and in the oceans and on all the species they contain. Blindness is combined with enormous apathy or denial from various quarters regarding the scale of the problems we are facing. Our withering planet requires sustained commitment to protection and restoration, but we in the ‘‘developed’’ world are easily distracted from these tasks by mass consumerism, media entertainment, and political manipulation. The fact that we are 43 44 Mary-Evelyn Tucker living in the midst of a period of mass extinction of species, caused by our plundering of Earth, is almost invisible to the majority of people in the world, who are simply going about the business of feeding their families or, in affluent regions, are acquiring more goods. A major wake-up call from our slumbering is required. A vision for building a vibrant Earth community is needed. Life in all of its variety and beauty calls to us for a response, for the Earth’s ecosystems are being rapidly destroyed in the name of progress and development. And this response requires not simply another managerial or legislative environmental plan for saving forests or fisheries, as important as these are. Rather, a new, integrated understanding and vision of who we are as humans is also essential. This is not just about stewardship of the Earth, but it is also about embracing our embeddedness in nature in radical, fresh, and enlivening ways. The younger generation, in particular, is searching for a means to understand its participatory role in nature and thus contribute to shaping a positive future. Our challenge, then, is to identify the kind of vision which will spark the transformation that will create a multiform planetary civilization. This vision needs to evoke the values of empathy, compassion, and a sacrifice that has the welfare of future generations in mind. It needs especially to provide inspiration for human action—the great work, as Thomas Berry describes it. We are called, for the first time in history, to a new intergenerational consciousness and conscience that extends to the entire Earth community. This is where Teilhard’ s vision of evolution can make a distinctive contribution to the emerging intersection of cosmology and ecology,1 for Teilhard gives us an enlarged evolutionary context from which to understand our present human impact on the planet. As modern cosmology develops, Teilhard helps us to see the universe as an unfolding story; and as a modern ecology emerges Teilhard provides a profound understanding of relationality and interdependence. He evokes a vision of zest for the action needed to address the looming environmental and social [34.239.150.247] Project MUSE (2024-03-29 10:47 GMT) 45 Zest for Life: Teilhard’s Cosmological Vision problems of the 21st century. He points the way beyond doubt, indifference, and despair. He does this with a realistic but hopeful view of the beauty and complexity of the emergence of the universe along with a realization of our intimate connection with and dependence on all life forms. Thus, while Teilhard was not aware of the scale of the environmental crisis we are now facing, his powerful narrative of evolution provides the basis for an integrated ecological sensibility. His understanding of the role of humans within the context of evolution gives a framework for inspiring human action in various ways: 1. Suffering and Loss. Teilhard brings to us a sense of the ability to deal with the enormous suffering of our historical moment, filled as it is with destruction and despair. 2. Cosmic Sense. He gives us a superb sense of the cosmos as a context for our being and our becoming. 3. The Within of Things. The interiority of matter is a basis for communion with the universe and the Earth. 4. Cosmogenesis. He sees evolution as a dynamic...