“In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks.”
~ John Muir, the great American Naturalist.
Today, after a long hiatus, Anabelle and I went on a hike at the Uvas Canyon county Park with our good friends Edwin and Jijing. And indeed, we recieved more than what we sought during the time we spent in the foothills of the Sante Cruz mountains in Morgan Hill. We followed a brook uphill and were soothed by the gentle murmuring of water coming down the rocky slopes. We were treated by a series of water falls, not of thundering torrents like those of Niagra or Iguazu falls, but by the soothing, murmuring sounds of a gentle brook. The water brings life to all those touched by it, bearing nourishments and nutrients to make everything come to life.
It was an experience that is at once refreshing and deeply spiritual. I felt connected not only to all living things but to everything that exists. It brings to mind another favorite quotation of mine, this time from Francis J. Thompson: “All things by immortal power. Near of far, to each other linked are, that thou canst not stir a flower without troubling of a star.”
Teilhard de Chardin was a great man of science and a man of deep faith. He did not see any conflict between his faith in the Risen Lord and the science that he was doing: he was a respected paleontologist. He contributed to the understanding of evolution at a time when many Christians still found the theory offensive to their faith.
His research on evolution served to deepen his faith. He saw Christ as the apex of evolution, the Omega Point towards which all creation is converging. He called this evolutionary convergence the Christogenesis. He explained that the universe is constantly evolving: from the beginning cosmogenesis (the coming into being of all the stars and planets and matter in the universe – from the Big Bang) to biogenesis (the emergence of life forms from the star dust of cosmogenesis) to noogenesis (the development of consciousness and intelligence among living things) towards Christogenesis.
Through these stages of development, Christ brings us eventually to the fullness of creation unto himself. Everything that is, will eventually go back to the Source.