5 World, Body and Mind

Now, allow me to expound a little bit on Teilhard de Chardin's philosophical system. I know that it may look like a jumbled bunch of nonsense but it's a normal outcome when a man tries to become a bridge between irreconcilable stances.

You just have to look at the Ptolemaic system to understand how much courage and blind faith you need to achieve something of this proportions, Ptolemy truly wanted to save the Aristotelic model of the world and to do that he would go to any lengths even if it meant the use of cursed concepts like epicycles to explain all the contradictions he had to solve.

Our situation isn't that different, the man himself tried to become a bridge between science and theology, reason and faith, facts and actions, basically the Yin and the Yang that still leaves man torn in two parts. He did so both philosophically and in reality, he was both a priest and a man of science and even though he wasn't very successful his attempt still ranks as one of the most important contributions of modern theological thought. In Christianity, the limits of reason are thoroughly highlighted and it's only through the 'leap of faith' that God's will can truly be met and his unity understood. Unlike religion, and I'm using Christianity here as an example because of the subject, science and in general, scientists see the world as a forum of things instead of actions(will) where we can use all of our tools to dissect existence to its most fundamental components.

Intelligence is the trait which allows man to find patterns in the chaos known as World, as we go further and further and find more patterns we can develop better models and approximation of this chaos and turn it into order, in fact, order is but predictable chaos. In the course of history we developed many tools to analyze and deepen into the intimate structure of our world and the results have been astonishing to say the least. It was through the development of technology that we could leave the caves of the Paleolithic and develop our current civilization, becoming the overlords of the planet.

Then, if science is so mighty why do we need to bother with metaphysical nonsense such as theology, and in general philosophy? Aren't de Chardin's efforts useless since science is already perfect? Where is the necessity for a bridge, was the priest only trying to modernize a backward religion for his current times?

Well, if that was true then the modernization which came about with the Second Vatican Council would have been enough to solve any problems but here we are trying to sew back these broken stitches. Even though we may consider his system to be some kind of esoteric teaching, this gives us an advantage as all of esoterism can be in some way connected back to an older tradition of meanings.

In doing my research I couldn't help but notice some glaring similarities between Teilhard's doctrine and the Mayan concept of levels of consciousness and also of Bergson's idea of 'Elain Vital', however, I doubt that he could have been exposed to direct reading of the former's teachings.

My doubt isn't unreasonable since the Jesuit priest seems to overlook the relationship of the body to both his Noosphere and Geosphere ending up like the man in the middle of the cosmic crossfire of sin and bliss.

Even though he stood for evolution he didn't delve too deep in what kind of changes were experienced by Life and the relationship it had with bout the World and Mind in the journey which would eventually lead to us, humans. We could see all of this "Cosmogenesis" in a Hegelian sense as a dialogue of thesis, anthitesis, synthesis which goes as follows.

1st stage. World over Mind. In the beginning there was only matter, after the so-called Ein Sof, the Mind or God had restricted himself to a point so that it could allow creation to exist. Even though it is sealed the Will still manifests as a connection, through space and time allowing for a form of illusory continuity in the discontinuity of the World. As it is now, the World as only a forum of facts is still just Geosphere and is empty of life.

2nd stage. World over Body. First forms of life develop, they are much dominated by instinct and can only react instead of acting. The Mind is still sealed but semiosis has begun in the form of the first primitive life, in the first codes that come into existence the genetic program of beings bring forth the first form of projectuality(In a Heideggerian sense) into existence, Time stops becoming a wall and the eternal present is broken with the appearance of Growth and Decay. However, death is still binding and acts as the most dangerous of the World's discontinuities.

Now there are two different paths available, Bergson clearly laid them out in his writings, the first is that of instinct and the full exploitation of the body which will then become the best tool at your disposal, I agree with the French philosopher in finding that the insects are the peak developers of this path. The other one is more familiar and it's also our way, the path of World domination in which the World itself becomes the greatest tool at our disposal, but there is a catch here.

3rd stage. Mind over Body. The Will gradually unseals itself and more and more action turn from involuntary to voluntary with the initialization of Self-personalization, the Mind takes control over the body and begins acting instead of reacting. Individuals arise and the basis for the development of language begins in this stage where the Mind begins seeing its reflection in the Other, the value of relations begins to be understood as the individual Mind sees the other as valuable tools and language as the ultimate tool to influence them. The problem is the limit of language, it can only influence and not control at this stage.

4th stage. Mind over Mind. Language speaks now, individuals become part of a network of interconnected beings and the Noosphere begins forming under the strengthening of the bonds between the individuals through collective experiences. War is the most common pathway of Self-consolidation as testified by our recorded history(For each year there are as many as three wars fought), religions are founded, nations rise and fall at each tick of the World-Clock and gradually we approach the controversial Omega-point. I would here diverge with the priest, I don't believe this to be the end point of our journey but just another turning point on the relation between Mind and World.

As you can see until now the Body had been the battlefield of the conflict between Mind and World, their dialogue, which is nothing but peaceful with all that bloodshed, has led us to our current condition. We are currently at the greatest turning point, on the verge of the most heavenly of reversals which is also why Teilhard was led to believe it to be the end of the so long journey.

No, sorry to disappoint you, in fact it's the beginning of our true voyage of Self-discovery and by the end of it we will remember religions and psychology as we now remember folk medicine.

There is a reason why the unconscious was discovered a century ago and not during the Enlightenment, the Renaissance or the Classical age, we are currently all witnesses of a great descent inwards into the depths of the Mind, the very essence in the recesses of our own being. What lies beneath the surface of our thoughts, in our past, the heritage of our cultures, our bloodlines, and lineage, in essence, the source. This descent into chaos, or hell as you may prefer, will be followed by the Great Leap Forward and at the moment we are just beginning the acceleration.

5th stage. Mind over World. Now folks, hold your forks and torches because here things are in fact much more familiar to you, the fifth stage is, in fact, more commonly known as Mind over Matter.

Until now, the Mind could only exercise its authority over the world limitedly through the body and Others, it could only Influence never Control.

That's because Control actually requires a much deeper relationship with the Mind, and even though it still requires a medium we all feel much closer to our bodies than we would with a spoon, so much so that some individuals actually end up identifying with their bodies.

There is a clear ontological difference between what you are and what is yours, but in the fifth stage the line between the two becomes more and more blurry. What makes our bodies special is that they actually follow our will directly, you don't need to talk to your hand to have it fill you a cup of water nor do you have to beat it if you spill a cup of milk, because you can actually say it was you who did that even though it was your body who carried out your order.

Then is it correct to say that in your body you are God? Absolutely not, you just have to remember how many functions are still involuntary in your body(just think of any survival needs), you can't stop your heart with a thought right? We may say that the body is our fief in this world, we have been given lordship over it and can exercise our authority over it better than on most of the other objects.

In the fifth stage what happens is just as simple, we basically expand our fiefdom conquering our bodies and thereafter the World beginning the path of Ein Sof reversal.

The World will then turn into our body.