Who are we?
The Association of the Friends of Pierre Teilhard de Chardin is an independent group of thought and spirituality whose goal is tostudy, to inscribe in the current and to disseminate the thought and writings of Pierre Teilhard de Chardin. It is addressed to anyone in search of meaning for him propose lines of thought and why not answers based on this thought.
Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (1881-1955), a Jesuit religious, great traveler, thinker and man of prayer, was a great scientist known worldwide for his work in human paleontology. He was one of the first to conceive of Evolution as an immense cosmic process of increasing complexity, unfolding from the big bang through matter, life, and then thinking humanity, to converge towards a common consciousness in which he recognized the figure of the Universal Christ of his Christian faith. He dedicated his life to bridging science and religion for the benefit of both.
Throughout his numerous essays and correspondence written between 1914 and 1955, Pierre Teilhard de Chardin brings a vision of a burning actuality for the construction of the Earth today. A great precursor of foresight, he anticipated the appearance of new technologies, planetary communication networks, globalization, and “global ecology. For him, these developments are full of promise, but also full of threats. They require, if we do not want to perish, a new ethic and a greater sense of responsibility, both on the part of national and international institutions, and for each of us. There can be no collective consciousness of planetary solidarity without individual moral consciousness.
After the living layer – the biosphere – which envelops the Earth, the advent of a thinking layer – the noosphere – glimpsed and conceptualized by Teilhard, constitutes an event of first magnitude. This will require the invention of new laws and rules to regulate the complex and diversified systems we are putting in place at the economic, financial, ecological, cultural, etc. levels. The survival of humanity – and probably also of the planet – is at this price. It requires a unification of the noosphere that is not totalitarian, but based on the communion of people freely gathered by brotherhood and love.
To accomplish its mission, the Association of Friends of Pierre Teilhard de Chardin proposes :
– This site
– A quarterly magazine “NOOSPHERE”
– An Infolettre which regularly informs on the current events related to Teilhard de Chardin and proposes a easy access to his works as well as to the many books, paper or multimedia, that continue to be published on his subject. It is sent by email to all members and to anyone who deposits his email address on the site.
– Conferences on Teilhard de Chardin and his thought or on more specific themes that the Association can organize on request. For this purpose contact us.
– Reading groups. Thereare about fifty of them spread over the national territory. They meet several times a year to analyze and comment on texts by the great thinker or about him. They also organize regional conferences, symposiums and debate evenings open to a wide audience and featuring high-level speakers
– Activities throughout the year; conferences, seminars, spiritual retreats.
– From research works
and publications.
– Teilhard Monde, an international network gathering the Associations of the Friends of Teilhard of the whole world in particular in the United States and in China where Teilhard lived at the various periods of his life.