THE FUTURE

OFMA
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"i.'"

PIERRE TEILHARD DE CHARDIN

Translated from the French
by Norman Denny

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"The whole future of the Earth, as of religion, seems

to me to depend on the awakening of
our faith in the future."
PIERRE TEILHARD DE CHARDIN,
LETTERS TO MME GEORGES-MARIE HAARDT

This book consists of papers dealing with different

aspects of a common theme, written by Pierre
Teilhard de Chardin over a period of thirty years
and here presented in their chronological order.

CONTENTS

TRANSLATOR'S NOTE
Xl

A Note on Progress

ONE

TWO

Social Heredity and Progress

16
The Grand Option

THREE

28
FOUR

Some Reflections on Progress

52
FIVE

The New Spirit

74
SIx

Life and the Planets

90
A Great Event Foreshadowed:
The Planetization of Mankind

SEVEN

117
Some Reflections on the Spiritual
Repercussions of the Atom Bomb

EIGHT

133
NINE

Faith in Peace

143
TEN

The Formation of the Noosphere

149

CONTENTS

ELEVEN

Faith in Man
I79

Some Reflections on the Rights of Man

I88

TWELVE

THIRTEEN

The Human Rebound of Evolution

and Its Consequences
I9 2

FOURTEEN

Turmoil or Genesis?
2IO

The Directions and Conditions of the Future

FIFTEEN

224
SIXTEEN

SEVENTEEN

The Essence of the Democratic Idea

23 6
Does Mankind Move Biologically upon Itself?

EIGHTEEN

243
The Heart of the Problem
259

NINETEEN

On the Probable Existence Ahead of Us

of an "Ultra-Human"

27 0
How May We Conceive and Hope That Human
Unanimization Will Be Realized on Earth?

TWENTY

282
TWENTY-ONE

From the Pre-Human to the Ultra-Human:

the Phases of a Living Planet
29 0

TWENTY-TWO

The End of the Species

299
CONCLUSION

3 08
INDEX

3I 3

TRANSLATOR'S NOTE

exploring new fields of

thought, Pere Teilhard de Chardin was faced by
the problem of the limitations of language. He
solved it, or got round it, in the way philosophers
and scientists have always been obliged to do-by
the use of neologisms and, at times, of elaborate,
allusive formulations of words which make considerable demands on the reader if their full meaning
and implications are to be grasped.
The difficulties confronting his translator need
LIKE EVERY THINKER

not be stressed. Limitations differ from language to

language. There are things calling for laborious exposition in French, which can be said more clearly
and simply in English; and the reverse is equally
true. The problems have to be solved as best they
can, often in an arbitrary way. I must cite one instance, which may otherwise puzzle the reader of
this book. This is the word Reflection, which is also
spelt Reflexion where the context seems to require it.
In Teilhard's philosophy, to which it is vital, the
word represents two distinct things, which, however, are so intimately connected as to be in effect
different aspects of the same thing. Reflection is the
power of conscious thought which distinguishes

XII

TRANSLATOR'S NOTE

Man from all other living creatures (the animal that not only knows
but knows that it knows). But the species Man also differs biologically,
in Teilhard's view, from all other species (or phyla) in that, instead
of spreading out fanwise, breaking into subspecies and falling
eventually into stagnation, it coils inward upon itself and thus generates new (spiritual) energies and a new form of growth-a
process of Riflexion which is part and parcel of the phenomenon of
Riflection. I have varied the spelling according to which aspect appears more important in terms of the immediate argument.
The aim of this translation is twofold. First, and obviously, to
convey Teilhard's meaning as clearly as possible. Second, and no
less importantly, to catch the sound of his voice: to convey something of the nature of the man himself as it emerges from his
writings, his warmth and humanity, his eager, wide-ranging, wonderfully lucid and penetrating mind, and above all, his passionate
desire to impart what he had to say to everyone who will trouble to
listen. Its success in achieving these aims can, at the best, be only
relative. There never has been, nor ever will be, a "total" translation-anyway, of any sentence longer than half a dozen words.
I am most grateful to Mrs. Helen Suggett, who scrutinized my
text with meticulous care, drew attention to many shortcomings
and made many helpful suggestions.

Norman Denny

THE FUTURE
OF MAN

CHAPTER 1
A NOTE ON
PROGRESS
e pur si muove

from the day when one

man, flying in the face of appearance, perceived
that the forces of nature are no more unalterably
fIxed in their orbits than the stars themselves, but
that their serene arrangement around us depicts
the flow of a tremendous tide-the day on which
a fIrst voice rang out, crying to Mankind peacefully
slumbering on the raft of Earth, "We are moving!
We are going forward!" ...
It is a pleasant and dramatic spectacle, that
of Mankind divided to its very depths into two
THE CONFLICT DATES

irrevocably opposed camps-one looking toward

the horizon and proclaiming with all its newfound faith, "We are moving," and the other,
without shifting its position, obstinately maintaining, "Nothing changes. We are not moving at
all. "
These latter, the "immobilists," though they

THE FUTURE OF NAN

lack passion (immobility has never inspired anyone with enthusiasm!)!, have commonsense on their side, habit of thought, inertia,
pessimism and also, to some extent, morality and religion. Nothing,
they argue, appears to have changed since man began to hand
down the memory of the past, not the undulations of the earth, or
the forms of life, or the genius of Man or even his goodness. Thus
far practical experimentation has failed to modify the fundamental
characteristics of even the most humble plant. Human suffering,
vice and war, although they may momentarily abate, recur from
age to age with an increasing virulence. Even the striving after
progress contributes to the sum of evil: to effect change is to undermine the painfully established traditional order whereby the distress of living creatures was reduced to a minimum. What
innovator has not retapped the springs of blood and tears? For the
sake of human tranquillity, in the name of Fact, and in defense of
the sacred Established Order, the immobilists forbid the earth to
move. Nothing changes, they say, or can change. The raft must drift
purposelessly on a shoreless sea.
But the other half of mankind, startled by the lookout's cry,
has left the huddle where the rest of the crew sit with their heads
together telling time-honored tales. Gazing out over the dark sea
they study for themselves the lapping of waters along the hull of
the craft that bears them, breathe the scents borne to them on the
breeze, gaze at the shadows cast from pole to pole by a changeless
eternity. And for these all things, while remaining separately the
same-the ripple of water, the scent of the air, the lights in the
sky-become linked together and acquire a new sense: the fixed
and random Universe is seen to move.
I For the status quo of life as it exists: the "immobility" of the Christian, or of
the Stoic, may arouse fervor because it is a withdrawal, that is to sayan individual anticipation (more or less fictitious) of consummated progress.

A NOTE ON PROGRESS

Noone in the world who has seen this vision can be restrained
from guarding and proclaiming it. To testifY to my faith in it, and to
show reasons, is my purpose here.

in the first place that the world in its present state is

the outcome of movement. Whether we consider the position of
the rocky layers enveloping the Earth, the arrangement of the
forms of life that inhabit it, the variety of civilizations to which it
has given birth, or the structure of languages spoken upon it, we
are forced to the same conclusion: that everything is the sum of the
past and that nothing is comprehensible except through its history.
"Nature" is the equivalent of "becoming," self-creation: this is the
view to which experience irresistibly leads us. What can it mean
except that the Universe must, at least at some stage, have been in
movement; that it has been malleable, acquiring by degrees, not
only in their accidental details but in their very essence, the perfections which now adorn it? There is nothing, not even the human
soul, the highest spiritual manifestation we know of, that does not
come within this universal law. The soul, too, has its clearly defmed
place in the slow ascent of living creatures toward consciousness,
and must therefore in one way or another have grown out of the
general mobility of things. Those who look reality in the face cannot fail to perceive this progressive genesis of the Universe, and
with a clarity which leaves no room for doubt. Whatever the other
side may say, clinging to their imaginary world, the Cosmos did
once move, the whole of it, not only locally but in its very being.
This is undeniable and we shall not discuss it further. But is it still
moving? Here we have the real question, the living, burning question of Evolution.
IT IS CLEAR

TITE FUTURE OF MAN

- - - :::~~~~
-'il"....

IT IS THE

---

fundamental paradox of Nature as we see it now that

its universal plasticity seems suddenly to have hardened. Like an

ocean-wave caught in a snapshot, or a torrent of lava stiffened by
cooling, the mountains and living things of the earth wear the aspect, to those who study them, of a powerful momentum that has
become petrified. Nature seen at a distance appears to be malleable and in motion; but seek to lay hands on it, to deflect by force
even the least of Life's directions, and you will encounter nothing
but absolute rigidity, an unshakably stubborn refusal to depart
from the preordained path.
But let us note that this present rigidity of Nature does not, as
some people believe, in any way lessen the certainty of its past mobility. What we regard as the fixity of present organisms may be
simply a state of very slow movement, or of rest between spells of
movement. It is true that we have not yet succeeded in shaping life
to our requirements in the laboratory; but who has shaped or witnessed the shaping of a geological stratum? The rock which we
seek to compress crumbles because we work too fast or with oversmall fragments. Calcareous matter, if it is to be made malleable,
needs to be embedded in a vast mass, and perhaps its reshaping is
a process of immense slowness. If we have not seen the upward
thrust of mountain ranges it is because their rise was accomplished
either in widely spaced jerks or with so slow a rhythm that since the
coming of Man nothing of the kind has happened, or at least
nothing that has been perceptible to us. Why should not Life, too,
be mobile only in great masses, or through the slow action of time,
or in brief stages? Who can positively affirm that at this moment,
although we perceive nothing, new forms are not taking shape in
the contours of the earth and of Life? ...

A NOTE ON PROGRESS

The plasticity of Nature in the past is an undeniable fact; its

present rigidity is less capable of scientific proof. If we had to
choose between transformism and fixism, that is to say between
two absolutes-everything incestantly in motion, or everything for
ever immovable-we should be bound to choose the first. But
there is a third possible hypothesis, namely that everything was at
one time fluid but is now irrevocab?J fixed. It is this third alternative
that I wish to examine and dismiss.

a definitive halt in terrestrial evolution is,

to my mind, suggested less by the apparently unchanging nature of
present forms than by a certain general aspect of the world coinciding with this appearance of cessation. It is most striking that the
morphological change of living creatures seems to have slowed
down at the precise moment when Thought appeared on earth. If
we relate this coincidence to the fact that the only general line
taken by biological evolution has been in the direction of the
largest brain-broadly speaking, of the highest state of consciousness-we are compelled to wonder whether the true fundamental
THE HYPOTHESIS OF

impulse underlying the growth of animal forces has not been the
"need" to know and to think; and whether, when this overriding
impulse eventually found its outlet in the human species, the effect
was not to produce an abrupt diminution of "vital pressure" in the
other branches of the Tree of Life. This would explain the fact
that "evolving Life," from the end of the Tertiary era, has been
confined to the little group of higher primates. We know of many
forms that have disappeared since the Oligocene, but of no genuinely new species other than the anthropoids. This again may be
explained by the extreme brevity of the Miocene as compared

TITE FUTURE OF HAN

with other geological periods. But does it not lead us to surmise

that the "phyla" possessing higher psychic attributes have absorbed
all the forces at Life's disposal?
If we are to find a definitive answer to the question of the entitative progress of the Universe we must do so by adopting the
least favourable position-that is to say, by envisaging a world
whose evolutionary capacity is concentrated upon and corifined to the human soul. The question of whether the Universe is still developing
then becomes a matter of deciding whether the human spirit is still
in process of evolution. To this I reply unhesitatingly, "Yes, it is."
The nature of Man is in the full flood of entitative change. But to
grasp this it is necessary (a) not to overlook the biological (morphogenic) value of moral action, and (b) to accept the organic nature of interindividual relationships. We shall then see that a vast
evolutionary process is in ceaseless operation around us, but that it
is situated within the sphere of consciousness (and collective consciousness).
----

~\:~:'-"ii''''

---

difference between ourselves, citizens of the twentieth century, and the earliest human beings whose soul is not entirely hidden from us? In what respects may we consider ourselves
their superiors and more advanced than they?
Organically speaking, the faculties of those remote forebears
were probably the equal of our own. By the middle of the last Ice
Age, at the latest, some human groups had attained to the expression of aesthetic powers calling for intelligence and sensibility developed to a point which we have not surpassed. To all appearance
the ultimate perfection of the human element was achieved many
thousands of years ago, which is to say that the individual instru-

WHAT IS THE

A NOTE ON PROGRESS

ment of thought and action may be considered to have been finalized. But there is fortunately another dimension in which variation
is still possible, and in which we continue to evolve.
The great superiority over Primitive Man which we have
acquired and which will be enhanced by our descendants in a
degree perhaps undreamed-of by ourselves, is in the realm of selfknowledge: in our growing capacity to situate ourselves in space and
time, to the point of becoming conscious of our place and responsibility in relation to the Universe.
Surmounting in turn the illusions of terrestrial flatness, immobility and autocentricity, we have taken the unhopeful surface of
the earth and "rolled it like a little ball"; we have set it on a course
among the stars; we have grasped the fact that it is no more than a
grain of cosmic dust; and we have discovered that a process without limit has brought into being the realms of substance and
essence. Our fathers supposed themselves to go back no further
than yesterday, each man containing within himself the ultimate
value of his existence. They held themselves to be confined within
the limits of their years on earth and their corporeal frame. We
have blown asunder this narrow compass and those beliefs. At
once humbled and ennobled by our discoveries, we are gradually
coming to see ourselves as a part of vast and continuing processes;
as though awakening from a dream, we are beginning to realize
that our nobility consists in serving, like intelligent atoms, the work
proceeding in the Universe. We have discovered that there is a
Whole, of which we are the elements. We have found the world in
our own souls.
What does this conquest signifY? Does it merely denote the establishment, in worldly terms, of an idealized system of logical, extrinsic relationships? Is it no more than an intellectual luxury, as is
commonly supposed-the mere satisfaction of curiosity? No. The

TIlE FUTURE OF MAN

consciousness which we are gradually acquiring of our physical relationship with all parts of the Universe represents a genuine enlarging of our separate personalities. It is truly a progressive
realization of the universality of the things surrounding each of us.
And it means that in the domain external to our flesh our real and

whole body is continuing to take shape.

That is in no way a "sentimental" affirmation.
The proof that the growing coextension of our soul and the
world, through the consciousness of our relationship with all things,
is not simply a matter of logic or idealization, but is part of an organic process, the natural outcome of the impulse which caused
the germination of life and the growth of the brain-the proof is
that it expresses itself in a specific evolution of the moral value of our actions (that is to say, by the modification of what is most living within
us).
No doubt it is true that the scope of individual human action,
as commonly envisaged in the abstract theory of moral and meritorious acts, is not greatly enhanced by the growth of human
knowledge. Inasmuch as the willpower of contemporary man is
not in itself more vigorous or unswerving than that of a Plato or
an Augustine, and individual moral perfection is still to be measured by steadfastness in pursuance of the known good (and therefore relative) we cannot claim as individuals to be more moral or
saintly than our fathers.
Yet this must be said, to our own honor and that of those who
have toiled to make us what we are: that between the behavior of
men in the first century A.D. and our own, the difference is as great,
or greater, than that between the behavior of a fifteen-year-old boy
and a man of forty. Why is this so? Because, owing to the progress
of science and of thought, our actions today, whether for good or
ill, proceed from an incomparably higher point of departure than

A NOTE ON PROGRESS

those of the men who paved the way for us toward enlightenment.
When Plato acted it was probably in the belief that his freedom to
act could only affect a small fragment of the world, narrowly circumscribed in space and time; but the man of today acts in the
knowledge that the choice he makes will have its repercussions
through coundess centuries and upon coundess human beings. He
feels in himself the responsibilities and the power of an entire Universe.
Progress has not caused the action of Man (Man himself) to change
in each separate individual; but because of it the action of human nature (Mankind) has acquired, in every thinking man, a fullness that
is wholly new. Moreover, how are we to compare or contrast our
acts with those of Plato or Augustine? All such acts are linked, and
Plato and Augustine are still expressing, through me, the whole extent of their personalities. There is a kind of human action that
gradually matures through a multitude of human acts. The human
monad has long been constituted. What is now proceeding is the
animation (assimilation) of the Universe by that monad; that is to
say; the realization of a consummated human Thought.
There are philosophers who, accepting this progressive animation of the concrete by the power of thought, of Matter by Spirit,
seek to build upon it the hope of a terrestrial liberation, as though
the soul, become mistress of all determinisms and inertias, may
someday be capable of overcoming harsh probability and vanquishing suffering and evil here on earth. Alas, it is a forlorn hope;
for it seems certain that any outward upheaval or internal renovation which might suffice to transform the Universe as it is could
only be a kind of death-death of the individual, death of the
race, death of the Cosmos. A more realistic and more Christian
view shows us Earth evolving toward a state in which Man, having
come into the full possession of his sphere of action, his strength,
his maturity and his unity; will at last have become an adult being;

10

THE FUTURE OF MAN

and having reached this apogee of his responsibility and freedom,

holding in his hands all his future and all his past, will make the
choice between arrogant autonomy and loving excentration.
This will be the final choice: whether a world is to revolt or to
adore. 2 And then, on an act which will summarize the toil of centuries, on this act (finally and for the first time completely human)
justice will set its seal and all things be renewed .
......................

_._._.....-

~~ :~~

"'I'"
now be seen: Progress is not what the popular
mind looks for, finding with exasperation that it never comes.
Progress is not immediate ease, well-being and peace. It is not rest.
It is not even, directly, virtue. Essentially Progress is aforce, and the
most dangerous of forces. It is the Consciousness of all that is and
all that can be. Though it may encounter every kind of prejudice
and resentment, this must be asserted because it is the true: to be
more is in the first place to know more.
Hence the mysterious attraction which, regardless of all setbacks and a priori condemnations, has drawn men irresistibly
toward science as to the source of Life. Stronger than every obstacle and counterargument is the instinct which tells us that, to be
faithful to Life, we must know; we must know more and still more;
we must tirelessly and unceasingly search for Something, we know
not what, which will appear in the end to those who have penetrated to the very heart of reality.
I maintain that it is possible, by following this road, to fmd substantial reasons for belief in Progress.

THE TRUTH CAN

2 My purpose is not to show that a necessary or infallible line of progress exists,

but simply to establish that, for Mankind as a whole, a way of progress is offered
and awaits us, analogous to that which the individual cannot reject without
falling into sin and damnation.

A NOTE ON PROGRESS

11

The world of human thought today presents a very remarkable spectacle, if we choose to take note of it. Joined in an inexplicable unifying movement men who are utterly opposed in
education and in faith fmd themselves brought together, intermingled, in their common passion for a double truth; namely, that
there exists a physical Unity of beings, and that they themselves
are living and active parts of it. It is as though a new and formidable mountain chain had arisen in the landscape of the soul,
causing ancient categories to be reshuffied and uniting higgledypiggledy on every slope the friends and enemies of yesterday: on
one side the inflexible and sterile vision of a Universe composed of
unalterable, juxtaposed parts, and on the other side the ardor, the
faith, the contagion of a living truth emerging from all action and
exercise of will. Here we have a group of men joined simply by the
weight of the past and their resolve to defend it; there a gathering
of neophytes confident of their truth and strong in their mutual
understanding, which they feel to be fmal and complete.
There seem to be only two kinds of mind left; and-it is a disturbing thought-all natural mystical power and all human religious impulse seem to be concentrated on one side. What does this
mean?
There are people who will claim that it is no more than a
mode, a momentary ripple of the spirit-at the most the passing
exaggeration of a force that has always contributed to the balance
of human thinking. But I believe we must look for something more.
This impulse which in our time is so irresistibly attracting all open
minds toward a philosophy that comprises at once a theoretical
system, a rule of action, a religion and a presentiment, heralds and
denotes, in my view, the effective, physical fulfillment of all living
beings.
We have said that progress is designed to enable considered action to proceed from the willpower of mankind, a wholly human

12

T.HE FUTURE OF HAN

exercise of choice. But this natural conclusion of the vital effort, as

we can now see, is not to be regarded as something consummated
separately in the secret heart of each monad. If we are to perceive
and measure the extent of Progress we must look resolutely beyond
the individual viewpoint. It is Mankind as a whole, collective humanity, which is called upon to perform the definitive act whereby
the total force of terrestrial evolution will be released and flourish;
an act in which the full consciousness of each individual man will
be sustained by that of every other man, not only the living but the
dead. And so it follows that the opus humanum laboriously and gradually achieved within us by the growth of knowledge and in the
face of evil, is something quite other than an act of higher morality: it is a living organism. We cannot distinctly view its progress
because the organism encloses us, and to know a thing synthetically one has to be able to see it as a whole. Yet is there any part of
ourselves which does not glow and responsively vibrate with the
measure of our growth?
We need only to look about us at the multitude of disjointed
forces neutralizing each other and losing themselves in the confusion of human society-the huge realities (broad currents of love
or hatred animating people and classes) which represent consciousness in potency but have not yet found a consciousness sufficiently
vast to encompass them all. We need only recall those moments in
time of war when, wrested out of ourselves by the force of a collective passion, we have a sense of rising to a higher level of human existence. All these spiritual reserves, guessed at and faintly
apprehended, what are they but the sure evidence that creation is
still on the move, but that we are not yet capable of expressing all
the natural grandeur of the human mission?
Vistas such as these, I know, do not appear to come within the
Christian perspective; and because of this most of those who point

A NOTE ON PROGRESS

13

to them and welcome them seem, at least by implication, to be

heralding the appearance of a religion destined to supplant all earlier creeds. But how does it all arise-the challenge on the one
hand, and the mistrust on the other-except out of the fact that
neither we nor our adversaries have sufficiently measured the
powers of growth with which Christ endowed his Church?
For my own part I accept the reality of the movement which
tends to segregate, within the bosom of Mankind, a congregation
of the faithful dedicated to the great task, '~dvance in unity!"
Moreover, I believe in its truth; I consider the fact that it contains
in its ranks a great number of sinners, of "the maimed, and the
halt, and the blind," to be evidence of this truth. But this does not
cause me to believe that the eager multitude crying out today for
guidance is in search of any Shepherd other than He who has already brought it bread.
Christ, as we know, fulfills Himself gradually,3 through the
ages in the sum of our individual endeavors. Why should we treat
this fulfillment as though it possessed none but a metaphorical
significance, confming it entirely within the abstract domain of
purely supernatural action? Without the process of biological evolution, which produced the human brain, there would be no sanctified souls; and similarly, without the evolution of collective
thought, through which alone the plenitude of human consciousness can be attained on earth, how can there be a consummated
Christ? In other words, without the constant striving of every human cell to unite with all the others, would the Parousia be physically possible? I doubt it.
That is why I believe that this coming together, from all four
corners of the intellectual world, of a great mass of naturally reli3

In his Mystical Body: c the last paragraph of Cosmic Life, p. 307. (Ed.).

14

THE FUTURE OF MAN

gious spirits, does not portend the building of a new temple on the
ruins of all others but the laying of new foundations to which the
old Church is gradually being moved.
Little by little the idea is coming to light in Christian consciousness that the "phylogenesis" of the whole man, and not
merely the "ontogenesis" of his moral virtues, is hallowed, in the
sense that the charity of the believer may more resemble an impulse of constructive energy and his self-detachment be more in
the nature of a positive effort.
In response to the cry of a world trembling with the desire for
unity, and already equipped, through the workings of material
progress, with the external links of this unity, Christ is already revealing himself, in the depths of men's hearts, as the Shepherd (the
Animator) of the Universe. We may indeed believe that the time is
approaching when many men, old and new believers, having understood that from the depths of Matter to the highest peak of the
Spirit there is only one evolution, will seek the fullness of their
strength and their peace in the assured certainty that the whole of
the world's industrial, aesthetic, scientific and moral endeavor
serves physically to complete the Body of Christ, whose charity animates and re-creates all things.
Fulfilling the profound need for unity which pervades the
world, and crowning it with renewed faith in Christ the Physical
Center of Creation; finding in this need the natural energy required for the renewal of the world's life; thus do I see the New
Jerusalem, descending from Heaven and rising from the Earth.
---

~,~~:
"'Ii"

---

He who speaks these words before the Tribunal of the Elders will
be laughed at and dismissed as a dreamer.

A NOTE ON PROGRESS

15

"Nothing moves," a fIrst Sage will say. "The eye of common

sense sees it and science confIrms it."
"Philosophy shows that nothing can move," says a second.
"Religion forbids it-nothing must move," says a third.
Disregarding this triple verdict the Seer leaves the public place
and returns to the fIrm, deep bosom of Nature. Gazing into the
depths of the immense complex of which he is a part, whose roots
extend far below him to be lost in the obscurity of the past, he
again fortilles his spirit with the contemplation and the feeling of a
universal, stubborn movement depicted in the successive layers of
dead matter and the present spread of the living. Gazing upward,
toward the space held in readiness for new creation, he dedicates
himself body and soul, with faith reaffIrmed, to a Progress which
will bear with it or else sweep away all those who will not hear. His
whole being seized with religious fervor he looks toward a Christ
already risen but still unimaginably great, invoking, in the supreme
homage of faith and adoration, "Deo Ignoto."
HITHERTO UNPUBLISHED. PARIS, AUGUST la, 1920.

CHAPTER 2
SOCIAL HEREDITY
AND PROGRESS
Notes on the Humano-Christian Value
~f Education

1. Education and Life

of Physical Science, one of the most
remarkable characteristics of Life is its "additive"

TO THE EYE

quality. Life propagates itself by ceaselessly adding

to itself what it successively acquires-like a memory, as has often been said. Every living being
passes on to his successor the being he himself inherited, not merely diversified but accentuated in a
given direction, according to the line to which he
belongs. And all the lines, whatever their nature,
seem in varying degrees and each after its own formula to move a greater or lesser distance in the
general direction of greater spontaneity and consciousness. Something passes, something grows,
through the long chain of living creatures. This is
the great fact, or the great law, whose discovery has
transformed our vision of the Universe during
nearly two centuries.

SOCIAL HEREDITY AND PROGRESS

17

At what levels and by what mechanisms does this predetermined additivity of characteristics show itself in the living being?
An essential part of the phenomenon must take place at the
moment of reproduction. The wave of life in its substance and
with its particular characteristics is of necessity communicated to
the child in and through the fertilized cell, the issue of the parents.
Fundamentally, biological evolution can only be an effect of germinal transmission. That is why the science of Life concentrates
more and more upon the study of cellular heredity.
But a difficulty arises. As we have said, it appears to be the case
that every zoological chain observed over a sufficiently long period
can be seen to modify itself in a given direction (shape of limbs or
teeth, relative development of the brain, etc.), so that certain specific characteristics are found to have increased throughout the
part of the chain under observation. Something has undoubtedly
been gained, yet it would seem that none of the elements in the
chain, taken separately, has actively contributed to this gain. Although it was accepted without discussion in the early days of
transformism, the question of the germinal transmission to the
children of characteristics acquired by the parents has become one
of those most hotly disputed among geneticists. No irrefutable evidence of any such transmission has yet been found, and there are
now many biologists who flatly deny that it takes place. But this
amounts to saying that the individual links in a biological chain
passively transmit a germ evolved in themselves, without in any
way affecting it by their own activities: the bodies (the "somata")
grow out of this "germen" which is inexplicably endowed with its
own power of evolutionary development; they are its dependents
but incapable of modifying it. It is a highly improbable hypothesis,
having the grave disadvantage that it deprives the individual of all
responsibility in the development of the race or the particular
branch of which he is a part.

18

THE FUTURE OF HAN

For the purpose of examining the additive mechanism of Life

in its vital, active form I propose to look in a direction which the
theorists of heredity seem to have ignored. No complete light has
yet been thrown on the secret processes taking place in the microscopic recesses of the cell. Let us turn instead to a phenomenon
that we can clearly see because it is on our own scale, and note
what happens in the field of education.
Education. The transmission by example of an improvement, an
action, and its reproduction by imitation. We are curiously inclined
to minimize the significance and the import of this function in the
development of Life, for a variety of reasons. Education is so widespread a phenomenon, so clearly visible, humble and commonplace,
that there seems to be no reason to look for any mystery in it. Moreover, it appears to be so exclusively associated with the human condition that it is hard to attribute to it any universal biological value.
Finally, it is such a fragile and superficial structure, shedding a haphazard light on our lives, maintaining and propagating itself by grace
of circumstances that are in themselves precarious and changeable:
how can we compare it to those deep, underlying determinisms
which impose an ineluctable course upon the advance of Life?
These various arguments or appearances, confusedly perceived and accepted, undoubtedly divert our attention from the
"educational factor," causing us to dismiss it as an "epiphenomenon" unworthy of the attention of the natural scientist and the
physicist. Yet there is not one of them that cannot be revised or reversed to sustain a precisely opposite thesis.
Education is infinitely commonplace .... But what could be
more ordinary than the three dimensions in space, the fall of a
body, the propagation of light, the growth of a plant? What does
the fundamental progress of science consist in, except the discovery of the organic, structural value of what is most general and
everyday in our experience?

SOCIAL HEREDITY AND PROGRESS

19

Education is a specifically human phenomenon .... No doubt,

where it is a question of reasoned education! But we have only to
observe the animal world with minds more open to the ideas of
birth and evolution to perceive, in this as in every case, that the
"human" could not exist if it did not contain, transfigured in terms
of mind, a property common to all animals, of which the beginnings are to be detected as they vanish into the past stretching behind us. The dog, the cat or the bird train their young in countless
ways to hunt, to fly or to build a nest. The monkey does much
more. And how are we to explain the remarkable behavior patterns of the beaver, or of insects, except as the outcome of accumulated and transmitted experiences and discoveries? Such
phenomena become apparent to us only where the creature under
study has attained a sufficient degree of spontaneity, still more if it
lives in a group. But what more is needed to persuade us that, at
least for practical purposes, education is a universal biological
function, coextensive with the totality of the living world?
We may be tempted to add, nevertheless, that education is an
extrinsic mechanism, superposed at one remove on the transmission of life. But Bergson has pointed out the arbitrary nature of the
dividing line drawn by common sense between the zone of "organic" determinisms and that of "spontaneity" in the course of
embryogenesis. When the chick pecks its way out of the egg, is it
the "germen" or the "soma" that guides its beak? The same insidious question, perfectly justified in the case of "ontogenesis," arises
again and no less embarrassingly when it comes to the generative
process itsel At what point does the mother cease to engender her
child? Is it when she first feeds it, after giving it birth? Or is it when,
having weaned it, she teaches it to know and hunt its prey? In fact,
and although it operates successively on two different levels (that of
the purely organic functioning of the mother, and that of her conscious action applied to another consciousness), what takes place is

20

T.HE FUTURE OF MAN

one and the same process pursued externally from one end of the
chain to the other. This leads to that; and this is probably capable
of acting upon that. We have spoken of the biologists who reject
the germinal transmission of acquired characteristics. Have they
considered the case of the countless insects which, dying without
having known their progeny, nevertheless transmit behavior patterns to descendants which they never see? If these patterns, as it
seems we must assume, were discovered by spontaneous experiment at a time when, owing to a different arrangement of the seasons, or of lives or metamorphoses, the parents knew and reared
their young, then this in fact means that the results of education finally entered into the germ itself, endowing it with attributes as
physically predetermined as size or color or any other of the inherited characteristics of the species or breed.
So we reach the following conclusion, which seems to me valid.
Far from being an artificial, accidental, or accessory phenomenon
in its relation to living creatures, education is nothing less than an
essential and natural form of biological additivity. In it we can perhaps catch a glimpse, still in the marginal, conscious state, of individual, germinal heredity in process of formation: as though
organic mutation at this stage took the form of a psychic invention
contrived by the parents and transmitted by them. And also--this
is the least that can be said-we see heredity pass through education beyond the individual to enter into its collective phase and become social.
The first and most evident outcome of this view of the matter
is the singular extent to which it coordinates and unifies such ideas
as we have been able to arrive at on the subject of life in general.
But it has another advantage which I particularly wish to dwell
upon. It sheds a new light on the importance and dignity of everything that affects the education of Mankind.

SOCIAL HEREDITY AND PROGRESS

21

2. Education and Mankind

through Man the highest degree of inventive choice in the individual and socialization in the community.
For this double reason the phenomenon of education as it affects
Man possesses a greater amplitude and clarity than in any other
context and calls for more exhaustive study.
Breathing the atmosphere of human education as we do from
the moment of our birth, we have little inclination or time to consider what it represents, either on its own account or in relation to
ourselves. Yet if we pause to look we can fmd much to make us
marvel. The following experiment is worth making. Let us imagine
ourselves to be divested of everything that we owe to life in human
society. To begin with we must eliminate all the latest modes of
communication (surface, air, radio) devised by science. But we need
to go much further than this. We must cut ourselves off from industry and agriculture; we must forget our history; we must assume
that even language does not exist. In short, we must get as close as
we can to that almost inconceivable state in which our consciousness, divorced from all human association, stands naked in face of
the Universe. What is then left of our essential self? Have we in
our mind's eye merely shed the garments from our body, or a part
of our very soul? . . . Now let us reverse the process, reclothing
ourselves piece by piece with those layers of education which we
imagined we tried to cast aside. But in doing so let us seek, however confusedly, to re-create what we can of their history. What immeasurable toil went into the weaving of each garment, what
endless time, what trial and error, what a countless multitude of
hands! Thinking of this we may be disposed to say, "It is all an accessory and very fragile. A single catastrophe, bringing the whole
of that secular edifice down in ruins, could cause Man to revert to
LIFE HAD ATTAINED

22

T.HE FUTURE, OF HAN

his earliest state, when Thought was first born on earth." Yet how
can we fail to perceive in that patient and continuous amassing of
human acquirements the methods and therefore the very stamp of
Life itself-Life which is irreversible, its inevitability born of the improbable, its consistence of fragility.
Let us rather accept the fact: Mankind, as we find it in its present state and present functioning, is organically inseparable from
that which has been slowly added to it, and which is propagated
through education. This "additive zone," gradually created and
transmitted by collective experience, is for each of us a sort of matrix, as real in its own way as our mother's womb. It is a true racial
memory, upon which our individual memories draw and through
which they complete themselves. Applied to the particular and singular instance of the human species, the idea that education is not
merely a "subphenomenon," but an integral part of biological
heredity, derives unquestionable verification from the very coherence which it brings to the whole landscape, and the relief into
which it throws it.
But we must logically go a step further. The additivity of organic life, as science now tells us, is something quite different from
the superposition of characteristics added to one another like the
layers forming a sedimentary deposit. Life does not merely "snowball"; it behaves more like a tree, which acquires successive rings
according to the particular fashion of its growth, in a directed manner. To accept that education is one of the factors, or better, one of
the forms of the process which we denote by the very generalized
and rather vague term evolution, is therefore to imply that the sum
of knowledge and acquirement retained and transmitted by education from one generation to the next constitutes a natural sequence of which the direction may be observed.
And this is precisely what happens.
It may seem difficult, at first glance, to distinguish any kind of

SOCIAL HEREDITY AND PROGRESS

23

order in the jumble of experiments, organizations and theories

whose incessantly growing mass forms the baggage-train of the
human caravan. Purely quantitative progress, the sceptics tell us.
But if we stand back a little, and look at the phenomenon as a
whole, we can see that all is not confusion. For it then becomes apparent that this accumulation of features, bewildering at close
quarters, does in fact outline a face: the face of Mankind gradually
acquiring the knowledge of its birth, its history, its natural environment, its external powers, and the secrets of its soul.
"That which takes place in all of us when, as we grow up, we
become aware of our family past, our present responsibilities, our
ambitions and our loves, is nothing but the brief recapitulation of
a far vaster and slower process through which the whole human race
must pass in its growth from infancy to maturity." ... We have
heard this said many times; but have we pondered it to the point
of realizing the full intensity and extent of its truth? It denotes the
reality of a growth of Mankind through and above the growth of
individual men .... No doubt it is true, if we judge by the written
word, that we cannot claim to be more intelligent than our fathers.
But it is undeniable that, thanks to their accumulated efforts, we
have a better understanding than they could possess of the dimensions, the demands, potentialities and hopes; above all of the profound unity of the world within and around us. In the passage of
time a state of collective human consciousness has been progressively evolved which is inherited by each succeeding generation of
conscious individuals, and to which each generation adds something. Sustained, certainly, by the individual person, but at the
same time embracing and shaping the successive multitude of individuals, a sort of generalized human personality is visibly in
process of formation upon the earth. It seems that where Man is
concerned the specific function of education is to ensure the continued development of this personality by transmitting it to the

24

T.HE FUTURE OF MAN

endlessly changing mass: in other words, to extend and ensure

in collective mankind a consciousness which may already have
reached its limit in the individual. Its fulfillment, in the case of
man, of this specific function is the final proof of the biological nature and value of education, extending to the things of the spirit.

3. Education and Christianity

are intended for Christian teachers I must
now transpose the ideas I have outlined to the dimensions of the
Christian supernatural. How do these ideas work out, and to what
extent can they be fully developed in this new domain of Creation?
By definition and in essence Christianity is the religion of the
Incarnation: God uniting Himself with the world which He created, to unify it and in some sort incorporate it in Himself. To the
worshipper of Christ this act expresses the history of the universe.
But how does it operate, this gradual conquest and assimilation
of Earth by Heaven? In the first place quantitatively, by the addition to the Mystical Body of an increasing multitude of human
souls, "until the number shall be complete." But also qualitatively,
by the steady growth, within the bosom of the Church, of a certain Christological perspective. Through the living tradition of a
faith and a mystique the Christian organism diffuses or expresses
in itself an ever more awakened sense of Christ present and active
in the fulfillments of the world. We cannot continue to love Christ
without discovering Him more and more. The maturing of a collective consciousness accompanied by numerical expansion: these
are two aspects inseparably linked in the historical unfolding of the
Incarnation.
And so in Christianity we again come upon that mysterious law
of additivity and social heredity which in every field governs the
SINCE THESE LINES

SOCIAL HEREDITY AND PROGRESS

25

processes of Life; while at the same time in this new domain the
fundamental role of education is again manifest, as the human instrument of divine instruction. But a new and fascinating prospect
also emerges. As we have said, human endeavor, viewed in its "natural" aspect, is tending toward some sort of collective personality,
through which the individual will acquire in some degree the consciousness of Mankind as a whole. Viewed on the other hand in its
"supernatural" aspect this endeavor expresses itself and culminates
in a sort of participation in the divine life, whereby each individual
will find, by conscious union with a Supreme Personal Being, the
consummation of his own personality. Is it conceivable that two
cases bearing so much resemblance can be wholly divorced from
one another? Or are these two trends of collective consciousness,
one toward Christ, the other toward Mankind, simply related
phases, on different levels, of the same event?
To postulate the truth of the second alternative-that is to say,
to accept that in terms of the divine purpose the two impulses are
one-is to define in its essentials, and in all its splendor, the attitude
of Christian humanism.
To the Christian humanist-faithful in this to the most sure
theology of the Incarnation-there is neither separation nor discordance, but coherent subordination, between the genesis of
Mankind in the World and the genesis of Christ in Mankind
through His Church. The two processes are inevitably linked in
their structure, the second requiring the first as the matter upon
which it descends in order to superanimate it. This view entirely
respects the progressive, and experientially known, concentration
of human thought in an increasingly acute consciousness of its
unitary destiny. But instead of the vague center of convergence envisaged as the ultimate end of this process of evolution, the
personal and dermed reality of the Word Incarnate, in which
everything acquires consistence, appears and takes its place.

26

TIlE FUTURE OF HAN

Life for Man. Man for Christ. Christ for God.

And to ensure the psychic continuity, at every phase, of this vast development embracing myriads of elements strewn throughout the immensity of time,
there is a single mechanism-education.
All the lines join together, complete themselves and merge.
Everything becomes one whole.
Which brings us to this final summing up, wherein is revealed
the gravity and unity, but also the complexity, of the seemingly
humble task of the Christian educator:
a

It is primarily through education that the hereditary bio-

logical process, which from the beginning has caused the world to
rise to ever higher zones of consciousness, is furthered in a reflective form and in its social dimensions. The educator, as an instrument of Creation, should derive respect and ardor for his efforts
from a profound, communicative sense of the developments already achieved or awaited by Nature. Every lesson he gives should
express love for, and cause to be loved, all that is most irresistible
and definitive in the conquests of Life.

b It is through education, by the progressive spread of common viewpoints and attitudes, that the slow convergence of minds
and hearts is proceeding, without which there seems to be no outlet ahead of us for the impulse of Life. Directly charged with the
task of achieving this unanimity of mankind, the educator,
whether his subject be literature, history, science or philosophy,
must constantly live with it and consciously strive for its realization.
A passionate faith in the purpose and splendor of human aspirations must be the flame that illumines his teaching.

c Finally, it is through the medium of education that there

ensues, directly and indirectly, the gradual incorporation of the

SOCIAL HEREDITY AND PROGRESS

27

World in the Word Incarnate: indirectly, in the degree in which the

heart of a collective Mankind increasingly turned inward upon itself is made ready for this high transformation; directly, to the extent that the tide of Grace historically released by Jesus Christ is
propagated only by being borne on a living tradition. But the
teacher who seeks to be wholly effective in transmitting these two
influences, the humanizing and the Divine, must be as it were overwhelmed by the evidence of their inseparable, structural relation.
To have experienced and understood, in order to teach others to
experience and understand, that all human enrichment is but dross
except inasmuch as it becomes the most precious and incorruptible
of all things by adding itself to an immortal center of love: such is
the supreme knowledge and the ultimate lesson to be imparted by
the Christian educator.
These three linked propositions complete a logical structure
whose perfect harmony proclaims its truth.
In the present day human education is spreading its net over
the earth on an unprecedented scale and by means of unprecedented methods of expression and diffusion. Never have there
been so many libraries, periodicals, schools, universities, laboratories-or pupils! And it is remarkable that in this magnificent
whole, proportionate in scale to the new age which we are entering, there is no institution, other than Christianity, that seems capable of endowing the immense body of things taught with a true
soul. Because he alone has the power to invest human endeavor
and enrichment with positive aspirations and a positive objective,
the Christian teacher alone is in a position to fulfill, both in the
consciousness he employs and the consciousness he transmits, the
total function of the educator.
1938.

ETUDES, APRIL

1945.

CHAPTER S
THE GRAND OPTION

1. On the Threshold of Human Socialization

by the comparative study

of heavenly bodies, has been able to detect the existence and determine the phases of a life-history
of the stars, so the science of biology, by the comparative study of living forms, has been able to
determine the successive stages through which
animal and vegetable groups pass in the course
of their evolution. No natural scientist doubts
any longer that different species appear, grow, age
and die.
In this sense it is evident that Mankind of its
nature behaves like a species, and is therefore subject as a whole, as in the case of the individual, to
a defmite cycle of development. To every thinking
man this poses a problem of obvious importance
for the ordering and orientation of our collective
life. What is the precise point reached at this moment
by the human race in the ineluctable curve of
growth which is described by every zoological
species in the course of its existence? In other

JUST AS ASTRONOMY,

THE GRAND OPTION

29

words, what phase of its "phyletic" development may we consider

Mankind to have attained at the present time, in comparison with
the other branches surrounding us on the tree of life?
This overwhelmingly important question is one to which I
think we can fmd a reply provided we take into account a phenomenon familiar to all biologists, but of which the significance in
terms of "phase" or "stage" has not been sufficiendy recognized or
made use of: I mean that of association or, better still, social organization. No sooner is it constituted by the grouping together of elementary particles, than the living element, whatever its degree of
internal complexity, begins to reproduce itsel But the process does
not end there. When it exists in sufficient numbers the separate element tends to link up with others of its kind so as to form with
them a more or less differentiated organic whole. In this fashion
the higher plants and the metazoa evolved out of isolated cells, the
corals out of fixed or drifting polyps, the termitary out of free neuroptera and the ant hill and the bee colony out of independent hymenoptera. A similar impulse of group formation seems to have
become operative along each zoological branch, but at very different ages of the earth; so far as we are able to judge, the phenomenon has occurred in each case at a predetermined age of the
species under review. In the case of the oldest groups the mechanism of their formation can only be conjectured; but with more recent groupings the stages of the process may still be discerned in
their present natural state. We know of unattached bees and
wasps, and of others forming small and loosely ordered communities; and by way of a varying series of intermediate states we arrive at the bee colony, which is almost as organically centered on
its queen as is the termitary. In short, everything happens as though, in the
course of its phyletic existence, every living form achieved (with more or less
success) what ml9' be called a period, or even a point, of socialization.

30

THE FUTURE OF MAN

This being so, let us look at the human species and see if we
can fit it into the scheme. Because we are a part of it, because the
rhythm of its growth is infinitely slow in comparison with our own,
and because its grandeur overwhelms us, Mankind, in its total evolution, escapes our intuitive grasp. But may we not see reflected in
the life around us things that we cannot see directly in ourselves?
Let us study ourselves in the mirror of other living forms. What do
we see?
Prehistory teaches us that in the beginning Man must have
lived in small, autonomous groups; after which links were established, first between families and then between tribes. These associations became more elaborate as time went on. In the phase of
the "neolithic revolution" they hardened and became fixed on a
territorial basis. For thousands of years this principle remained essentially unchanged; it was the land, despite all social readjustments, which remained the symbol and the safeguard of individual
liberty in its earliest form. But now a further transformation is taking place; it has been going on irresistibly for a century under our
very eyes. In the totalitarian political systems, of which time will
correct the excesses but will also, no doubt, accentuate the underlying tendencies or intuitions, the citizen finds his center of gravity
gradually transferred to, or at least aligned with, that of the national or ethnic group to which he belongs. This is not a return to
primitive and undifferentiated cultural forms, but the emergence
of a defined social system in which a purposeful organization orders the masses and tends to impose a specialized function on each
individual. We can find many ways of accounting in part for this
development, which is so important a characteristic of the modern
world-the automatic complication of economic relations, the
compression within the limits of the earth's surface of a living mass
in process of continual expansion, and a great deal besides. External pressures of this sort undoubtedly playa part in what is hap-

THE GRAND OPTION

31

pening. But taken as a whole and in its essentials the phenomenon

can only be interpreted as a basic transformation, that is to say a
change of major dimensions in the human state, of which comparative biology suggests the cause. The immense social disturbances which today so trouble the world appear to signify that
Mankind in its turn has reached the stage, common to every
species, when it must of biological necessity undergo the coordination of its elements. In our time Mankind seems to be approaching its
critical point of social organization.
But Man is not an insect. Nothing is more pathetic than the total and blind devotion of an ant to its ant hill; and to us nothing
could be more deplorable. The ant toils without respite until it dies
of exhaustion in a state of complete self-detachment whose absolute nature and "faceless" purpose are precisely what we find repugnant. Are we too to sink irresistibly, victims of an inevitable
process of organic determinism, into a state in which our individual personality is wholly destroyed? The thing is inconceivable.
Birth and death and the reproductive function, these are common
to both men and animals. But Man, because he is capable of reflection and of planning his own actions, does not blindly respond
to these laws like an animal: he assimilates and transforms them,
investing them with a meaning and an intelligible moral value.
Our species, let us accept it, is entering its phase of socialization;
we cannot continue to exist without undergoing the transformation which in one way or another will forge our multiplicity into a
whole. But how are we to encounter the ordeal? In what spirit and
what form are we to approach this metamorphosis so that in us it
may be hominized?
This, as I see it, is the problem of values, deeper than any technical question of terrestrial organization, which we must all face today if we are to confront in full awareness our destiny as living
beings, that is to say, our responsibilities toward "evolution." A

32

THE FUTURE OF MAN

whirlpool is beginning to appear ahead of us, in the stream which

carries us along. We can already feel the first eddies and there can
be no doubt that the whirlpool is far stronger than we. But, being
men, we have the power of judgment to aid our navigation. I shall
seek, in this paper, to pass under review the various possible
courses of action open, at this critical moment, to those at the
helm-that is to say, to each of us.
Finally to decide which is the best course to follow, that is the

grand option.

2. The Possible Paths

A PRIORI (BY

"dichotomic" analysis of the various outlets theo-

retically offered to our freedom of action) as well as a posteriori (by

classification of the various human attitudes in fact observable
around us), three alternatives, together forming a logically connected sequence, seem to express and exhaust all the possibilities
open to our assessment and choice as we contemplate the future of
Mankind: a) pessimism or optimism; b) the optimism of withdrawal or the optimism of evolution; c) evolution in terms of the
many or of the unit.
Before we comment upon them, let us look separately at these
alternatives so that we may understand their value and their relation to one another.

a Pessimism or Optimism? "Is the state of Being good or evil?

That is to say, is it better to Be than not to Be?" Despite its abstract,
metaphysical form, this is essentially a practical question representing the fundamental dilemma upon which every man is compelled to pronounce, implicitly or explicitly, by the very fact of
having been born. Without having willed it, without knowing why,

TIlE GRAND OPTION

33

we find ourselves engaged in a world which seems to be laboriously

raising itself to a state of ever greater organic complexity. This universal stream on which we are borne expresses in material terms,
within the field of our experience, the preference of Nature for
Being over non-Being, for life over non-life-Being and Life
manifesting and evaluating themselves through the growth of consciousness. But can this instinctive choice on the part of Nature
withstand the critical activity of Thought? This question could remain at the back of our minds so long as the human task did not
appear to extend beyond the need of assuring as agreeable or tolerable an existence as possible for each of the individual elements
of Mankind. But it comes to the forefront, it thrusts itself urgently
upon us, directly Life shows signs, as it does today, of requiring us,
by very virtue of its movement toward a state of higher Being, to
sacrifice our individuality. There can be no doubt that the burden
of continuing the World weighs more and more heavily on the
shoulders of Mankind. How immense it has already become, this
ever-growing task of enabling the world to live and progress! We
are like the ant that slaves itself to death that its fellow slaves may
live! Is not each of us therefore a dupe, a Sisyphus? For centuries
a whole order of men served another, privileged order without asking whether this state of inequality was really beyond remedy; until in the end they rebelled. Is there not reason for Man, become
aware of the direction in which Life is taking him, to rebel at last;
to go on strike against a blind course of evolution which may not,
in any event, betoken any real progress? "Time, space, becoming,
Me, images of the Void. Nothing is born of anything else, and
nothing is necessary to the existence of any other thing," so wrote
a contemporary philosopher (A. Consentino). It is inevitable, as the
collective effort required of men costs more and more, that the
dilemma, already present to clear-sighted minds, should eventually
disclose itself to the mass. Is the Universe utterly pointless, or are

34

THE FUTURE OF MAN

we to accept that it has a meaning, a future, a purpose? On this

fundamental question Mankind is already virtually divided into the
two camps of those who deny that there is any significance or value
in the state of Being, and therefore no Progress; and those, on the
other hand, who believe in the possibility and the rewards of a
higher state of consciousness.
For the first only one attitude is possible: a refusal to go further;
desertion which is equivalent to turning back. For these no further
problem arises, since they are lodged in incoherence and disintegration. We may leave them there. But those in the other camp are
confronted by the call of duty and the problems of a further advance. Let us follow them toward the logical end of their position.

b Optimism qf Withdrawal or Optimism qf Evolution. To have decided in favor of the value of Being, to have accepted that the world
has a meaning and is taking us somewhere, does not necessarily imply that we must follow its apparent course further, or afortiori to the
end. Walking through a town we often have to make a sharp turn to
right or left in order to reach our destination. Centuries ago the
wise men of India were struck by the enslaving and inescapable
character of the environment in which human activities are conducted. The greater our efforts to know and possess and organize
the world, they observed, the more do we strengthen the material
trammels that imprison us and increase the universal multiplicity
from which we must free ourselves if we are to attain the blessed
uniry. They concluded, therefore, that there was no conceivable way
of approach to the state of higher Being except by breaking the
bonds that confine us. We must persuade ourselves of the nonexistence of all surrounding phenomena, destroy the Grand Illusion by
asceticism or by mysticism, create night and silence within ourselves; then, at the opposite extreme of appearance, we shall penetrate to what can only be defined as a total negation-the ineffable

THE GRAND OPTION

35

Reality. Such is the thinking of Oriental wisdom; and there is still

an appreciable number of Christians who think on similar lines, although far less radically (since their God comprises all the determinisms in which Nirvana is lacking). Seeing that a state of total
socialization awaits the human species, they ask, can we fail to recognize the Eastern concept of Karma in this monstrous form?
What we call civilization is weaving its web around us with a terrifying rapidity. Let us cut the threads while there is yet time. Pursuing all the paths of detachment and contemplation, not from
disdain but from excessive esteem for the state of Being, let us break
away from the evolutionary determinism, break the spell, withdraw.
Thus at the outset there is a cleavage in the "optimist" branch
of Mankind. On the one hand there are those who see our true
progress only in terms of a break, as speedy as possible, with the
world: as though the spirit could not exist, or at least could not
henceforth fulfIll itself, except in separation from matter. And there
are those on the other side, the believers in some ultimate value in
the tangible evolution of things. For these latter (the true optimists),
the tasks and difficulties of the present day by no means signify
that we have come to an impasse in our evolution. Their faith in
the Universe is stronger than any temptation to withdraw. The
worst of courses, in their view, would be to retreat from the
whirlpool, or alter course in order to avoid it. The way out (since
this certainly exists!) can only be further ahead-forward beyond
the rapids. It is in intelligent alliance with the rising tides of matter that we shall draw nearer to the Spirit.
Withdrawal, or evolution proceeding ever further? This is the
second choice that human thought encounters in its search for a
solution to the problem of action.
At this new point of bifurcation two attitudes are defmed-two
"mentalities" disclose themselves and separate. We may leave the
believers in withdrawal to go their way along a road which vanishes

36

THE FUTURE OF MAN

from our sight. Let us follow the others, those who are faithful to
Earth, in their effort to steer the human vessel onward through the
tempests of the future. This second group may at first sight appear
to be homogeneous; but in fact it is not yet wholly one in mind or
spirit. A final cleavage is necessary to separate absolutely, in a pure
state, the conflicting spiritual tendencies which are confusedly intermingled in the present world, at the heart of human freedom.

c Plurality or Unity? As we have shown, the subdivision of what

one may call "the human spiritual categories" begins logically with
faith in the state of Being, and proceeds to faith in the further
progress of the material world around us-that is to say, in the most
fundamental terms,faith in the spiritual value of matter. But psychologically this dichotomic process, whereby at each point of choice
something like a new spiritual species breaks away, is influenced
throughout by a final orientation which qualifies or obscurely dictates each of the earlier choices: "In what direction and in what
form are we to look for this new state of being which we expect to
be born of our future development? Is the Universe, of its nature,
scattering itself in sparks; or on the contrary is it tending to concentrate in a single center of light?" Plurality or Unity? Two possibilities determining two basic attitudes, more radical than any
difference of race, nationality, or even formal religion; and between
them runs the true line of the spiritual division of the Earth. Pluralism or (using the word in its purely etymological sense) monism?
This is the ultimate choice, by way of which Mankind must finally
be divided, knowing its own mind.
In the view of the "pluralist" the world is moving in the direction of dispersal and therefore of the growing autonomy of its separate elements. For each individual the business, the duty and the
interest of life consist in achieving, in opposition to others, his own ut-

THE GRAND OPTION

37

most uniqueness and personal freedom; so that perfection, beatitude, supreme greatness belong not to the whole but to the least
part. By this "dispersive" view the socialization of the human mass
becomes a retrograde step and a state of monstrous servitude-unless we can discern in it the birth of a new "shoot" destined eventually to bring forth stronger individualities than our own. Only with
this reservation, and within these limits, is the phenomenon to be
tolerated. Collectivization in itself, no matter what form it may
take, can only be a provisional state and one of relative unimportance. Evolution culminates, by the progressive isolation of its
fibers, in each separate individual and even in each moment of the
individual's life. Essentially, as the "pluralist" sees it, the Universe
spreads like a fan: it is divergent in structure.
But to the "monist" the precise opposite is the case: nothing exists or finally matters except the Whole. For the elements of the
world to become absorbed within themselves by separation from
others, by isolation, is a fundamental error. The individual, if he is
to fulfill and preserve himself, must strive to break down every kind
of barrier that prevents separate beings from uniting. His is the exaltation, not of egoistical autonomy but of communion with all
others! Seen in this light the modern totalitarian regimes, whatever
their initial defects, are neither heresies nor biological regressions:
they are in line with the essential trend of "cosmic" movement. Pluralism, far from being the ultimate end of evolution, is merely a first
outspreading whose gradual shrinkage displays the true curve of
Nature's proceedings. Essentially the Universe is narrowing to a
center, like the successive layers of a cone: it is convergent in structure.
So the question can finally be posed: fulfillment of the world
by divergence, or fulfillment of the same world by convergence? It
seems that the final answer must lie in one or other of these two di-

38

THE FUTURE OF MAN

rections, in the sense that anything else that has to be decided can
only be of lesser importance. Our analysis of the different courses
open to Man on the threshold of the socialization of his species
comes to an end at this last fork in the road. We have encountered
three successive pairs of alternatives offering four possibilities: to
cease to act, by some form of suicide; to withdraw through a mystique of separation; to fulfill ourselves individually by egoistically
segregating ourselves from the mass; or to plunge resolutely into
the stream of the whole in order to become part of it.
Faced by this apparent indeterminacy of Life in ourselves,
what are we to do? Shall we try to ignore the problem and continue to live on impulse and haphazard, without deciding anything? This we cannot do. The beasts of the field may trust blindly
to instinct, without thereby diminishing or betraying themselves,
because they have not yet seen. But for us, because our eyes have
been opened, even though we seek hurriedly to close them, the
question will continue to burn in the darkest corner of our
thought. We cannot recapture the animal security of instinct. Because, in becoming men, we have acquired the power of looking to
the future and assessing the value of things, we cannot do nothing,
since our very refusal to decide is a decision in itself.
We cannot stand still. Four separate roads lie open to us, one
back and three forward.
Which are we to choose?

3. The Choice of the Road

a In search oj a criterion. The classification we have established
is more than a flight of fancy. The four roads are not a fiction.
They exist in reality and all of us know people embarked upon one
or other of them. There are both pessimists and optimists around

TH.E GRAND OPTION

39

us; and among the latter there are "buddhists," "pluralists" and
"monists."
Confronted by this diversity and division of human attitudes in
face of a world to be abandoned or pursued, we are apt to shrug
our shoulders and say, "It's all a matter of temperament." This
amounts to saying that, in every sphere, faith or the lack of faith
means no more and is no more controllable than a tendency of the
spirit toward sadness or joy, music or geometry. A comfortable explanation, since it renders discussion unnecessary; but an inadequate one, since it purports to setde, by invoking the subjective side
of our nature, a problem that is essentially objective, namely that of
the structure peculiar to the world in which we fmd ourselves. For
let us face it: to each of the four choices we have oudined there must
necessarily correspond a Universe of an especial kind-disorderly
or ordered, exhausted or still young, divergent or convergent. And
of these four kinds of Universe onry one can exist at a time--onry one is
true. We are no more free to follow our impulses blindly in the ordering of our lives than is the captain of a ship heading for a prescribed harbor. Accordingly we need some criterion of values to
enable us to make our choice. But immersed in the Universe as we
are, we have no means of getting outside it, even momentarily, to
see if it is going anywhere, and if so where. We have no periscope;
we are navigating in the depths. Is there nothing within the world to
enable us to judge whether we inside it are moving in the right direction, that is to say, in the same direction as it is moving itself?
Yes, there is a clear indication, and it is the one of which we have
already spoken: the growth, within and around us, of a greater consciouness. More than a century ago the physicists observed that, in
the world as we know it, the fraction of unusable energy (entropy) is
constandy increasing; and they found in this a mathematical expression of the irreversibility of the cosmos. This absolute of physics has
thus far not only resisted all attempts at "relativization," but, if I am

40

T.HE FUTURE OF HAN

not mistaken, it tends to fmd its counterpart in a current moving in

the opposite sense, positive and constructive, which is revealed by
the study of the earth's biological past: the ascent of the Universe
toward zones of increasing improbability and personality. Entropy
and life; backward and forward: two complementary expressions of
the arrow of time. For the purposes of human action, entropy (a
mass-effect rather than a law of the unit) is without meaning. Life,
on the other hand, if it is understood to be the growing interiorization of cosmic matter, offers to our freedom of choice a precise line
of direction. Confronted by the phenomenon of "socialization" in
which Mankind is irresistibly involved, do we seek to know how to
act that we may better conform to the secret processes of the world
of which we are a part? Then of the alternatives that are offered we
must choose the one which seems best able to develop and preserve
in us the highest degree of consciousness. If we turn out to have
been wrong in this, then the Universe has no less gone astray.

b Reduction of the alternatives. To have accepted, on the strength

of historical evidence, that the world reveals through its past its
progress toward the Spirit, is to recognize equally that we need no
longer choose between being and non-being. Indeed, how can we
choose when we are already enrolled? The choice was made long
before we were born; or more exactly, it was of the choice itself that
we were born, inasmuch as the choice is implied in the progress of
the Universe, that from the first has followed a preordained course.
An underlying doubt as to the primacy of consciousness over unconsciousness might at a pinch be conceivable in a mind emerging
suddenly from nothingness; but it seems contradictory in an
evolved being whose origins attest to this primacy. In their extreme
form pessimism and agnosticism are condemned by the very fact of
our existence. Therefore we need not hesitate in rejecting them.
This disposes of the first alternative.

THE GRAND OPTION

41

The second alternative seems to pose a more delicate problem.

"Withdrawal-or evolution proceeding ever further?" In which direction does a higher state of consciousness await us? Here, at first
sight, the answer is less clear. There is nothing contradictory in itself in the idea of human ecstasy sundered from material things.
Indeed, as we shall see, this fits in very well with the final demands
of a world of evolutionary structure. But with one proviso: that the
world in question shall have reached a stage of development so advanced that its "soul" can be detached without losing any of its
completeness, as something wholly formed. But have we any reason to suppose that human consciousness todo;y has achieved so
high a degree of richness and perfection that it can derive nothing
more from the sap of the earth? Again we may turn to history for
an answer. Let us suppose, for example, that the strivings and the
progress of civilization had come to an end at the time of Buddha,
or in the first centuries of the Christian era. Can we believe that
nothing essential, of vision and action and love, would have been
lost to the Spirit of Earth? Clearly we cannot. And this simple observation alone suffices to guide our decision. So long as a fruit
continues to grow and ripen we refrain from picking it. In the same
way, so long as the world around us continues, even in suffering
and disorder, to yield a harvest of problems, ideas and new forces,
it is a sign that we must continue to press forward in the conquest
of matter. Any immediate withdrawal from a world of which the
burden grows heavier every day is denied to us, because it would
certainly be premature. So much for the second alternative.
And so, since we are bound to press on, we fmd ourselves faced
by the third alternative. What course are we to adopt in order that
our personal efforts may most effectively contribute to the terrestrial consciousness which we must strive to heighten and extend? Is
it to be a jealously guarded fostering of our own individuality,
achieved in increasing isolation; or in the association and giving of

42

THE FUTURE OF HAN

ourselves to the collective whole of Mankind? Are we to reject or

accept human socialization, elect for a divergent or a convergent
world? Where is the truth? Which is the right way?
It appears to me that at this last fork in the road the modern
problem of Action displays itself in its most essential and acute
form. If there is any characteristic clearly observable in the
progress of Nature toward higher consciousness, it is that this is
achieved by increasing differentiation, which in itself causes ever
stronger individualities to emerge. But it would seem that individualization leads to opposition and separation. In logic, therefore,
we are led to suppose that every man must fight to break away
from any influence that threatens to dominate and restrict him.
And does not this separatist tendency exactly correspond to one of
the deepest instincts of our being? But what is the voice that speaks
to us in the exaltation of separateness and self-enclosure? Is it a
challenge or a seduction?
It is undeniable that, viewed in a certain light, a Universe of
divergent or pluralistic structure seems to be capable of giving rise
to localized paroxysms of consciousness. The man who thinks to
gamble the whole world for the sake of his own existence, and
to gamble his own existence for the sake of the moment, is bound
to live every minute with extraordinary intensity. But if we look at
it we can see that this brilliance, besides being pitifully limited in
scope, is radically destructive of the spirit in which it springs to
light. For one thing, though it may enable the individual to achieve
the heights of momentary ecstasy, it robs him in return of the ineffable joys of union and conscious loss of self in that which is
greater than self: the element burns up all its future in a flying
spark. And again, since the impulse must logically spread from one
to another through all the elements, it becomes a process of general
volatilization infecting Mankind as a whole. To adopt the hypothesis

TH.E GRAND OPTION

43

of afinal divergence of Life is, in fact, to introduce biologically into

the thinking part of the world an immediate principle of disintegration and death. It is to reestablish, at the very antipodes of Consciousness (become no more than a fleeting reality!), the primacy
and preponderant stability of Matter. It is to deny, even more
gravely than by an ill-timed act of withdrawal, the historic impulses of Life.
So there is no way out, if we wish to safeguard the preeminence of the spirit, except by taking the one road that remains to
us, which leads to the preservation and further advance of consciousness-the road of unification. A convergent world, whatever
sacrifice of freedom it may seem to demand of us, is the only one
which can preserve the dignity and the aspirations of the living being. Therefore it must be true. If we are to avoid total anarchy, the
source and the sign of universal death, we can do no other than
plunge resolutely forward, even though something in us perish,
into the melting pot of socialization.
Though something in us perish?
But where is it written that he who loses his soul shall save it?

4. The Properties of Union

this point that we must rid ourselves of a prejudice which
is deeply embedded in our thought, namely the habit of mind
which causes us to contrast unity with plurality, the element with
the whole and the individual with the collective, as though these
were diametrically opposed ideas. We constantly argue as though
in each case the terms varied inversely, a gain on the one side being ipso facto the other side's loss; and this in turn leads to the widespread idea that a1!Y destiny on "monist" lines would exact the
IT IS AT

44

TITE FUTURE OF MAN

sacrifice and bring about the destruction of all personal values in

the Universe.
The origin of this prejudice, which is largely imaginary, can no
doubt be traced to the disagreeable sense of loss and constraint
which the individual experiences when he finds himself involved in
a group or lost in a crowd. It is certainly the case that any agglomeration tends to stifle and neutralize the elements which compose it;
but why should we look for a model of collectivity in what is no more
than an aggregate, a "heap"? Alongside these massive inorganic
groupings in which the elements intermingle and drown, or more
exactly at the opposite pole to them, Nature shows herself to be full
of associations brought about and organically ordered by a precisely
opposite law. In the case of associations of this kind (the only true
and natural associations) the coming together of the separate elements does nothing to eliminate their differences. On the contrary, it
exalts them. In every practical sphere true union (that is to say, synthesis)
does not confound; it differentiates. This is what it is essential for us to
understand at the moment of encountering the Grand Option.
Evidence of the fact that union differentiates is to be seen all
around us-in the bodies of all higher forms of life, in which the
cells become almost infmitely complicated according to the variety
of tasks they have to perform; in animal associations, where the individual "polymerises" itself, one might say, according to the function it is called upon to fulfill; in human societies, where the growth
of specialization becomes ever more intense; and in the field of personal relationships, where friends and lovers can only discover all
that is in their minds and hearts by communicating them to one another. We may note, certainly, that in these various forms of collective life (except the last) differentiation, the fruit of union, goes
hand-in-hand with mechanization, the element becoming a cog in
the machine; and that this is especially what happens in the case of
the termitary and the hive, of which the shadow looms so dis-

THE GRAND OPTION

45

turbingly over the collective future of Mankind. But we must take

care not to bring phenomena of a different order into our argument
without making the necessary adjustments. In the termitary and the
hive (as in the case of the cells of our own body) the union and therefore the specialization of the elements takes place in the field of
materialfonctions-nutrition, reproduction, defense, etc.-which accounts for the transformation of the individual into a standardized
part. But let us imagine another kind of association within which a
different possibility of mutual fulfillment is offered to the individuals
composing it, this time a psychic grouping corresponding to what
might be called afonction qf personalization. Operating in such a field,
the tendency of union to bring about differentiation, far from giving
birth to a mere mechanism, must have the effect of increasing the
variety of choice and the wealth of spontaneity. Anarchic autonomy
tends to disappear, but it does so in order to achieve its consummation in the harmonized flowering of individual values.
And this is precisely what happens in the case of Mankind. By
virtue of the emergence of Thought a special and novel environment has been evolved among human individuals within which
they acquire the faculty of associating together, and reacting upon
one another, no longer primarily for the preservation and continuance of the species but for the creation of a common consciousness. In such an environment the differentiation born of union
may act upon that which is most unique and incommunicable in
the individual, namely his personality. Thus socialization, whose
hour seems to have sounded for Mankind, does not by any means
signifY the ending of the Era of the Individual upon earth, but far
more its beginning. All that matters at this crucial moment is that
the massing together of individualities should not take the form of
a functional and enforced mechanization of human energies (the
totalitarian principle), but of a "conspiration" informed with love.
Love has always been carefully eliminated from realist and posi-

46

TITE FUTURE OF HAN

tivist concepts of the world; but sooner or later we shall have to acknowledge that it is the fundamental impulse of Life, or, if you prefer, the one natural medium in which the rising course of evolution
can proceed. With love omitted there is truly nothing ahead of us
except the forbidding prospect of standardization and enslavement-the doom of ants and termites. It is through love and
within love that we must look for the deepening of our deepest self,
in the life-giving coming together of humankind. Love is the free
and imaginative outpouring of the spirit over all unexplored paths.
It links those who love in bonds that unite but do not confound,
causing them to discover in their mutual contact an exaltation capable, incomparably more than any arrogance of solitude, of
arousing in the heart of their being all that they possess of uniqueness and creative power.
We may have supposed when a moment ago we were bidding
farewell to a Universe of divergence and plurality, that some part
of our individual riches must be absorbed by our immersion in
Life as a whole. Now we see that it is precisely through this apparent sacrifice that we may hope to attain the high peak of personality which we thought we must renounce.
Nor is this all.
Union differentiates, as I have said; the first result being that it
endows a convergent Universe with the power to extend the individual fibers that compose it without their being lost in the whole.
But this mechanism, in such a Universe, begets another property. If
by the fundamental mechanism of union the elements of consciousness, drawing together, enhance what is most incommunicable in themselves, it means that the principle of unification causing
them to converge is in some sort a separate reality, distinct from
themselves; not a "center of resultance" born of their converging,
but a "center of dominance" effecting the synthesis of innumerable
centers culminating in itself Without this the latter would never

THE GRAND OPTION

47

come together at all. In other words, in a converging Universe each

element achieves completeness, not directly in a separate consummation, but by incorporation in a higher pole of consciousness in
which alone it can enter into contact with all others. By a sort of inward turn toward the Other its growth culminates in an act of giving and in excentration. What does this mean except that at this
final stage there reappears the mystical "annihilation" advocated
by those whom we called earlier (in discussing the second alternative) the partisans of Withdrawal. Everything now becomes clear.
What the apostles of ecstasy foresaw was true. But they wished to
escape in an arbitrary and, as we have said, premature fashion.
They were right in their desire to be absorbed in the Other; but
they did not see that this mystical night or death could only be the
end and apotheosis of a process of growth. Can water boil under
ordinary conditions before it has reached a temperature of 100 degrees? Before passing into the Beyond, the World and its elements
must attain what may be called their "point of annihilation." And
it is precisely to this critical point that we must ultimately be
brought by the effort consciously to further, within and around ourselves, the movement of universal convergence!
From which, to sum up, the following situation arises.
To elect in the depths of our being for the possibility and hope
of an indefinitely increasing unification of the Universe, is not
merely the only course we can pursue which conforms to the evolutionary past of the world; it is the course that embraces, in its
essence, every other constructive act in which we might lookfor an alternative.
Not only does this road offer a positive outlet for the diminished or
specialized form of consciousness-a victory dearly paid for by
Life-but consciousness as a whole must follow it, with all the accumulation of riches which, at each turning point, we had thought
to abandon. Which amounts to saying that the world is well made!
In other words, the choice which Life requires of our considered

48

T.HE FUTURE OF NAN

action is a great deal less complex than at first seemed to be the

case; for it is reduced to a simple choice between the first and last
stages of the successive alternatives which we have been able to define: the rejection of Being, which returns us to dust, or the acceptance of Being, which leads us, by way of socialization, to faith
in a Supreme Unity-opposite directions along a single road.
But if, as history suggests, there is really a quality of the inevitable in the forward march of the Universe-if, in truth, the
world cannot turn back-then it must mean that individual acts
are bound to follow, in the mqjority andfreely, the sole direction capable of satisfying all their aspirations toward every imaginable form
of higher consciousness. Having been initially the fundamental
choice of the individual, the Grand Option, that which decides in
favor of a convergent Universe, is destined sooner or later to become the common choice of the mass of Mankind. Thus a particular
and generalized state of consciousness is presaged for our species

in the future: a "conspiration" in terms of perspective and intention.

Which brings us in conclusion to the consideration of an especial phenomenon arising directly out of this approaching unanimity-the more or less early establishment on earth of a new
atmosphere, or better, a new environment of action.

5. The True Environment of Human Action

philosophy, in their study of the development of thought through the ages, prefer to dwell upon the birth
and evolution of ideas, theses, formally constructed systems. But
arguable schemes of this sort do not constitute the whole, or perhaps even the most important part, of the life of the spirit. A geometrical system is made up of points, lines and diagrams, but in

THE HISTORIANS OF

THE GRAND OPTION

49

the deeper sense it depends on the type of space (number of dimensions, curvature) in which the geometer operates. According to
the nature of this space properties change or are generalized, and
certain transformations and movements become possible. Space in
itself is something that overflows any formula; yet it is in terms of
this inexpressible that a whole expressible world is interpreted and
developed. But what is true and clearly apparent in the abstract
field of geometry may also be found, and should be examined with
no less care, in the general systematization of phenomena which
we call philosophy. To philosophize is to put in order the lines of
reality around us. What first emerges from any philosophy is a coherent whole of harmonized relationships. But this whole, if we
look closely, is always conceived in terms of a Universe intuitively
endowed with certain fixed properties which are not a thing in
themselves but a general condition of knowledge. If these properties
should change, the whole philosophy, without necessarily breaking
down, must adapt itself and readjust the relation between its parts;
like a design on a sheet of paper which undergoes modification
when the paper is curved. Indeed the past history of human intelligence is full of "mutations" of this kind, more or less abrupt, indicating, in addition to the shift of human ideas, an evolution of
the "space" in which the ideas took shape-which is clearly very
much more suggestive and profound.
Let me cite a single instance, the most recent, of this sort of
transformation.
Until the sixteenth century men in general thought of space
and time as though they were limited compartments in which objects were juxtaposed and interchangeable. They believed that a
geometrical envelope could be traced round the totality of the stars.
They talked, thinking they understood, of a first and last moment
discernible in the past and the future. They argued as though every
element could be arbitrarily moved, without changing the world, to

50

T.HE FUTURE OF HAN

any point along the axis of time. The human mind believed itself to
be perfectly at home in this universe, within which it tranquilly
wove its patterns of metaphysics. And then one day, influenced by
a variety of internal and external causes, this attitude began to
change. Spatially our awareness of the world was extended to embrace the Infinitesimal and the Immense. Later, in temporal terms,
there came the unveiling, behind us and ahead, of the abysses of
Past and Future. Finally, to complete the structure we became
aware of the fact that, within this indefinite extent of space-time,
the position of each element was so intimately bound up with the
genesis of the whole that it was impossible to alter it at random
without rendering it "incoherent," or without having to readjust
the distribution and history of the whole around it. To accommodate this expansion of our thought the restricted field of static juxtaposition was replaced by a field of evolutionary organization
which was limitless in all directions (except forward, in the direction
of its pole of convergence). It became necessary to transpose our
physics, biology and ethics, even our religion, into this new sphere,
and this we are in process of doing. We can no more return to that
sphere which we recently left than a three-dimensional object can
enter a two-dimensional plane. The general and also the irreversible
modification of perceptions, ideas, problems: these are two indications that the spirit has acquired an added dimension.
Let us now turn to the psychological effects of this Grand Option in virtue of which, as we have said, Mankind must elect to
adopt a general perspective and habit of mind appropriate to its
participation in a Universe of convergent consciousness. What
may we expect to be the inner consequences of the change? Hitherto Man as a whole has lived practically speaking without attempting any far-going analysis of the conditions proper to and
ensuing from his activities. He has lived from hand to mouth in the

TH.E GRAND OPTION

51

pursuit of more or less immediate and limited aims, more by instinct than by reason. But now the atmosphere around him becomes sustaining, consistent and warm. As he awakens to a sense
of "universal unification" a wave of new life penetrates to the fiber
and marrow of the least of his undertakings, the least of his desires. Everything glows, expands, is impregnated with an essential
savor of the Absolute. Even more, everything is animated with a
flow of Presence and of Love-the spirit which, emanating from
the supreme pole of personalization, fosters and nourishes the mutual affinity of individualities in process of convergence. Will it be
possible for us, having savored this climate, to turn back and tolerate any other? A general and irreversible readjustment of the values of
existence: again two indications (this time not in terms of vision
but in the field of action) showing our accession, beyond all ideologies and systems, to a different and higher sphere, a new spiritual dimension.
It truly seems that for Man this is the greatness of the present
moment. Further ideological clashes and moral dissensions lie in
wait for us as we go forward; and also further unions and further
triumphs. But the succeeding acts of the drama must take place on
another level; they must occur in a new world into which, at this
moment, we are being born: a world in which each thinking unit
upon earth will only act (if he agrees to act) in the consciousness,
become natural and instinctive to all, of furthering a work of total
personalization.
When it has passed beyond what we called at the beginning its
"critical point of socialization" the mass of Mankind, let this be
my conclusion, will penetrate for the first time into the environment which is biologically requisite for the wholeness of its task.
PARIS, MARCH

3, 1939.

CAHIERS DU MONDE NOUVEAU,

1945.

CHAPTER 4
SOME REFLECTIONS
ON PROGRESS
PART I. THE fUTURE Of .MAN SEEN
BY A PALEONTOLOGIST

Introduction
than a century ago, Man
first discovered the abyss of time that lies behind
him, and therefore the abyss that lies ahead,
his first feeling was a tremendous hope, a sense
of wonderment at the progress our fathers had
made.
But now the wind seems to have changed. Following many setbacks a wave of troubled scepticism (adorned with the name of "realism") is
sweeping through the world. Whether from immobilist reaction, sick pessimism or simply pose, it has
become "good form" to deride or mistrust anything that looks like faith in the future.
"Have we ever moved? Are we still moving?
And if so, are we going forward or back or simply
in a circle?"
This is an attitude of doubt that will prove faWHEN LITTLE MORE

SO.ME REFLECTIONS ON PROGRESS

53

tal if we do not take care, because in destroying the love of life it

also destroys the life-force of Mankind.
I wish to show in this paper that, however bitter our disillusionment with human goodness in recent years, there are stronger
scientific reasons than ever before for believing that we do really
progress and that we can advance much further still, provided we
are clear about the direction in which progress lies and are resolved
to take the right road.

1. Preliminary Ohservations: The Slow Movements

follows we must first thoroughly assimilate the idea that there are movements in the Universe so slow that
we cannot directly detect them. The idea of slow movement is in
itself very simple and commonplace-we have all looked at the
hour-hand of a watch. But it took us a long time to realize that the
more stable and immobile a given object in Nature may appear to
be, the greater is the likelihood that it represents a profound and
majestic process of movement. We know now that the vast system
of stars in our own sky is composed of a single nebula, the Milky
Way, in course of granulation and deployment; and that this nebula, in association with millions of other spiral units, forms a single, immense supersystem which is also in process of expansion
and organization. We know that the continents tremble and that
the mountains continue to rise beneath our feet ... and so on.
It can be said that Science today progresses only by peeling
away, one after another, all the coverings of apparent stability in
the world; disclosing beneath the immobility of the infmitely small,
movement of extra rapidity, and beneath the immobility of the
Immense, movement of extra slowness.
TO UNDERSTAND WHAT

54

T.HE FUTURE OF MAN

We are concerned here with the second of these effects, which

may be expressed as follows: everything in the Universe moves; but
the larger a thing is, the slower is its movement.

2. The Case of Life

THIS BEING POSITED

let us leave the nebulae and the moun-

tains and turn to Life itself, of which Mankind is a fragment.

Life, by our timescale, is a phenomenon of prodigious ageover 300 million years. Moreover it is composed of myriads of
separate elements and it covers the earth. In terms of space-time
Life comes in the category of immensely large things. It is part of
the Immense, and if it moves at all it moves like the Immense.
Our object is to determine whether Life and Mankind move.
We can only find out by observing them (like the hour-hand of our
watch) over a very great length qf time. Here it is that we see the part
played by paleontology, as well as the secret vice of our critics.

3. The Role of Paleontology

that paleontology is a science of pure speculation or inquisitiveness, and the paleontologist the most unreal and
useless of researchers; a man dedicated to retrospection, plunged

IT MIGHT SEEM

living into the past, where he spends his days collecting the debris
of all kinds of dead things. That is certainly what many laymen
think, and it may well be the view humbly taken by many paleontologists of themselves.
But in this the instinct that prompts our work sees more clearly
than reason. The reconstruction of "that which was" may rationally appear to be merely a fantasy for idle minds; but in fact the

SOME REFLECTIONS ON PROGRESS

55

meticulous work accomplished in the past hundred years by the

collectors of fossils, the results which they have patiently recorded
in innumerable papers and in barbarous language, perfectly incomprehensible to non-initiates, the paraphernalia of systematized
knowledge and the clutter on the museum shelves, all this has
made a contribution of the utmost importance to the world's
thinking. It has added to the sum of human knowledge an item of
extraordinary interest-a segment of the past extending over stmle 300
million years.
Do we fully realize its value?
We are trying, let me repeat, for vital reasons to determine
whether the world, Mankind, is the seat of any kind of progress. Let
us put aside all metaphysical speculation, all sentimental impressions
and arguments. We are dealing with a question of fact and we must
look at the facts. If we confine ourselves to short periods of time on
which progress makes no mark our argument will drag on and get
nowhere. But if we contemplate a depth of time such as this one that
we have been able to reconstruct in the laboratory, any movement of
Life, if such exists, must of necessity show itsel
Instead of arguing fruitlessly within the overbrief space of a
few generations, let us look at the broad vista which science offers
us. What do we see?

4. The Growth of Consciousness

and technical reasons which I
need not examine here, the reading or decipherment of the tract of
time disclosed by paleontology is still not free of difficulty. Indeed it
continues to be a matter of vehement dispute. The interpretation
which I am about to put forward must therefore not be regarded as
"accepted." Nevertheless it seems to me so self-evident that I have
FOR VARIOUS PSYCHOLOGICAL

56

T.HE FUTURE OF HAN

no hesitation in offering it as the correct interpretation and the one

destined sooner or later to win general scientific agreement.
It may be stated thus: when observed through a sufficient
depth of time (millions of years) Life can be seen to move. Not
only does it move but it advances in a definite direction. And not
only does it advance, but in observing its progress we can discern
the process or practical mechanism whereby it does so.
These are three propositions which may be briefly developed
as follows.

Lift moves. This calls for no demonstration. Everyone in

these days knows how greatly all living forms have changed if we
compare two moments in the earth's history sufficiently separated
in time. In any period of ten million years Life practically grows a
new skin.
a

b In a definite direction. This is the crucial point which has to be

clearly understood. While accepting the undeniable fact of the
general evolution of Life in the course of time, many biologists still
maintain that these changes take place without following any defined course, in any direction and at random. This contention, disastrous to any idea of progress, is refuted, in my view, by the
tremendous fact of the continuing "cerebralization" of living creatures. Research shows that from the lowest to the highest level of
the organic world there is a persistent and clearly defined thrust of
animal forms toward species with more sensitive and elaborate
nervous systems. A growing "innervation" and "cephalization" of
organisms: the working of this law is visible in every living group
known to us, the smallest no less than the largest. We can follow it
in insects as in vertebrates; and among the vertebrates we can follow it from class to class, from order to order, and from family to

SO.ME REFLECTIONS ON PROGRESS

57

family. There is an amphibian phase of the brain, a reptilian

phase, a mammalian phase. In mammals we see the brain grow as
time passes and become more complex among the ungulates, the
carnivores and above all the primates. So much so that one could
draw a steadily rising Curve of Life taking Time as one coordinate
and, as the other, the quantity (and quality) of nervous tissue existing on earth at each geological stage.
What else can this mean except that, as shown by the development of nervous systems, there is a continual heightening, a rising
tide of consciousness which visibly manifests itself on our planet in
the course of the ages?
c We come to the third point. What is the underlYing process
whose existence we can perceive in this continual heightening of
consciousness, as revealed by the organic evolution of the nervous
system and the brain? Let us look more closely in the light of the
latest data supplied by the combined ingenuity of an army of research workers. As we are beginning to realize, there are probably
tens of thousands of atoms grouped in a single virus molecule.
There are certainly tens of thousands of molecules grouped in a
single cell. There are millions of brains in a single ant hill. ...
What does this atomism signify except that Cosmic Matter, governed at its lower end (as we already know) by forces of dispersal
which slowly cause it to dissolve into atoms, now shows itself to be
subjected, at the other end, to an extraordinary power of enforced
coalescence, of which the outcome is the emergence, pari passu, of
an ever-increasing amount of spiritual energy in matter that is ever
more powerfully synthesized? Let me note that there is nothing
metaphysical in this. I am not seeking to defme either Spirit or Matter. I am simply saying, without leaving the physical field, that the
greatest discovery made in this century is probably the realization

58

T.HE FUTURE OF MAN

that the passage of Time may best be measured by the gradual

gathering of Matter in superposed groups, of which the arrangement, ever richer and more centralized, radiates outward from an
ever more luminous fringe of liberty and interiority. The phenomenon of growing consciousness on earth, in short, is directly due to
the increasingly advanced organization of more and more complicated elements, successively created by the working of chemistry
and of Life. At the present time I can see no more satisfactory solution of the enigma presented to us by the physical progress of the
Universe.

5. The Place of Man in the Forefront of Life

IN WHAT I

have said thus far I have been looking at Life in gen-

eral, in its entirety. We come now to the particular case which interests us most-the problem of Man.
The existence of an ascendant movement in the Universe has
been revealed to us by the study of paleontology. Where is Man to
be situated in this line of progress?
The answer is clear. If, as I maintain, the movement of the cosmos toward the highest degree of consciousness is not an optical illusion, but represents the essence of biological evolution, then, in
the curve traced by Life, Man is unquestionably situated at the
topmost point; and it is he, by his emergence and existence, who
finally proves the reality and defines the direction of the trajectory-"the dot on the i" ....
Indeed, within the field accessible to our experience, does not
the birth of Thought stand out as a critical point through which all
the striving of previous ages passes and is consummated-the critical point traversed by consciousness, when, by force of concentration, it ends by reflecting upon itself?

SO.ME REFLECTIONS ON PROGRESS

59

Prior to Galileo, science thought of Man as the mathematical

and moral center of a World composed of spheres turning statically upon themselves. But in terms of our modern neoanthropocentricity, Man, both diminished and enlarged, becomes the
head (terrestrial) of a Universe that is in the process of psychic
transformation-Man, the last-formed, most complex and most
conscious of "molecules." From which it follows that, borne on the
tide of millions of years of psychogenesis, we have the right to consider ourselves the fruit of a progression-the children of progress.
The world did at least progress to the point where the fIrstborn
of our race appeared. Here we have a fIxed and solid point on
which to base our philosophy of life.
Let us now take a further step.
We may agree that zoological evolution culminated in Man.
But having reached this peak did it come to a stop? Life continued
to move until Thought entered the world, this we may admit. But
has it advanced since then? Can it make any further progress?

6. The Movement of Mankind upon Itself

may make it seem to our
eyes, Mankind is still very young. We can trace its existence for not
much more than a hundred thousand years, a period so short that
it has left no mark on the majority of the animal forms that preceded us on the earth and which still surround us. It may seem impossible, and it is certainly a very delicate matter, to measure any
movement of Life in so slender a fragment of the past. Nevertheless, owing to the exceptionally rapid development which is a characteristic of the human wave, a direct assessment of the advance
of our own group in terms of consciousness is possible to the practiced eye, even within this limited tract of time.
ANCIENT THOUGH PREHISTORY

60

T.HF., FUTURE, OF MAN

a It seems in the fIrst place that, anatomically, a gradual evolution of the brain can be discerned during the earliest phases of
our phylogenesis. Pithecanthropus and Sinanthropus possessed intelligence, but there are solid grounds for supposing that they were
not cerebrally as well developed as ourselves.

b We may accept that the human brain reached the limit of

its development at the stage which anthropologists call Homo sapiens; or at least, if it has continued to develop since then, that the
change cannot be detected by our present methods of observation.
But although, since the Age of the Reindeer (that is to say, within
a period of twenty or thirty thousand years) no progress is perceptible in either the physical or the mental faculties of Individual
Man, the fact of organopsychic development seems to be clearly
manifest in Collective Man: and this, whatever we may think of it,
represents as true an advance as the acquisition of an added convolution by the brain.
Let me here repeat the two fundamental equations or equivalents which we have established:
Progress = growth if consciousness.
Growth if Consciousness = iffect if organization.
Taken together these mean that, in order to discover or verify the
existence of biological progress within a given system, we have
only to observe, for the period of time and the fIeld we are considering, how far the state of organization varies within that system.
This being posited we may compare the world of the cave
dweller with the world of today. Setting all theory aside there can
be no question but that, within this period of thirty thousand years,
Mankind has advanced almost unbelievably in its state of concentration.

SOME REFLECTIONS ON PROGRESS

61

Economic concentration, manifest in the unification of the

earth's energies.
Intellectual concentration, manifest in the unification of our
knowledge in a coherent system (science).
Social concentration, manifest in the unification of the human
mass as a thinking whole.
To those who have not studied its implications, this slow and
irresistible flow of our history in the direction of more and more
unified groupings has no particular meaning; they relegate it to the
trivial category of surface and incidental phenomena, no more.
But to the enlightened eye this human development, succeeding all
the twists and turns of prehuman consciousness, assumes a dazzling significance. For the two curves are a prolongation one of the other.
Tremendous events such as those through which we are now passing are seen to take shape, and with a brilliant clarity. This tremendous war which so affiicts us, this remolding, this universal longing
for a new order, what are they but the shock, the tremor and the
crisis, beyond which we may glimpse a more synthetic organization
of the human world? And this new order, the thought of which is
in all our minds, what form can it take other than a higher degree
of self-awareness on the part of a Mankind become at once more
complex and more centered upon itself?
No, truly: Life in emerging into Thought did not come to a
stop. Not only has it moved and progressed from the protozoa to
Man, but since the coming of Man it has continued to advance
along its most essential path. We can feel it at this moment quivering beneath our feet! The ship that bears us is still making headway.
And it is here that the ultimate and decisive question arises, finally the only question that interests us. Thus far Life, and Man
himself, has progressed. So be it. But what of the future? We are
still moving, but can we continue much longer to advance?

62

THE FUTURE OF HAN

Have we not reached a dead end? Can we talk seriously of a

future for Mankind?

7. The Future of Mankind

claim to be a prophet. Moreover I know, as a scientist, how dangerous it is to extend a curve beyond the facts, that is
to say, to extrapolate. Nevertheless I believe that, basing the argument upon our general knowledge of the world's history over a
period of 300 million years, we can advance the following two
propositions without losing ourselves in a fog of speculation:

I MAKE NO

a Firstly, Mankind still shows itself to possess a reserve, a formidable potential of concentration, i.e., of progress. We have only
to think of the immensity of the forces, ideas and human beings
that have still to be born or discovered or applied or synthesized.... "Energetically" as well as biologically the human group
is still young, still fresh. If we are to judge by what history teaches
us about other living groups, it still has, organically speaking, some
millions of years in which to live and develop.
b Everything leads us to believe that it really does dispose of

this vast reservoir of time, which is necessary for the normal

achievement of its evolution. The earth is far from having completed its sidereal evolution. We may envisage all kinds of mischance (disaster or disease) which might in theory put an end to our
evolutionary progress: but the fact remains that for 300 million
years Life has paradoxically flourished in the Improbable. Does not
this suggest that its advance may be sustained by some sort qf complicity on the part qf the blind"Jorces qf the Universe-that is to say, that it is
inexorable?

SO.ME REFLECTIONS ON PROGRESS

63

The more we ponder these matters the more must we realize

that, scientifically speaking, the real difficulty presented by Man is
not the problem of whether he is a center of constant progress: it
is far more the question of how long this progress can continue, at
the speed at which it is going, without Life blowing up upon itself
or causing the earth on which it was born to explode. Our modern
world was created in less than ten thousand years, and in the past
two hundred years it has changed more than in all the preceding
millennia. Have we ever thought of what our planet may be like,
psychologically, in a million years' time? It is finally the Utopians,
not the "realists," who make scientific sense. They at least, though
their flights of fancy may cause us to smile, have a feeling for the
true dimensions of the phenomenon of Man.

8. The Advance
ideas, let us see what action they require of us. If progress is to continue, it will not do so of its own
HAVING CLARIFIED OUR

accord. Evolution, by the very mechanism of its syntheses, charges itself with
an ever-growing measure of freedom.
If indeed an almost limitless field of action lies open to us in
the future, what shall our moral dispositions be, as we contemplate
this march ahead?
I can think of two, which may be summarized in six words: a
great hope held in common.
First, the hope. This must spring to life spontaneously in
every generous spirit faced by the task that awaits us; and it is also
the essential impulse, without which nothing can be done. A passionate longing to grow, to be, is what we need. There can be no
place for the poor in spirit, the sceptics, the pessimists, the sad of
a

64

T.HE FUTURE OF HAN

heart, the weary and the immobilists. Life is ceaseless discovery.

Life is movement.

b A hope held in common. Here again the history of Life is

decisive. Not all directions are good for our advance: one alone
leads upward, that which through increasing organization leads to
greater synthesis and unity. Here we part company with the wholehearted individualists, the egoists who seek to grow by excluding or
diminishing their fellows, individually, nationally or racially. Life
moves toward unification. Our hope can only be realized if it finds
its expression in greater cohesion and greater human solidarity.
This double point is finally established by the verdict of the
Past.

9. The Crossroads
is a grave uncertainty to be resolved. The future, I have said, depends on the courage and resourcefulness
which men display in overcoming the forces of isolationism, even
of repulsion, which seem to drive them apart rather than draw
them together. How is the drawing together to be accomplished?
How shall we so contrive matters that the human mass merges in
a single whole, instead of ceaselessly scattering in dust?
A priori, there seem to be two methods, two possible roads.

BUT HERE THERE

The first is a process of tightening up in response to external pressures. We are in any case inescapably subject to this
through the negative action of terrestrial causes. The human mass,
because on the confined surface of this planet it is in a state of cona

SOME REFLECTIONS ON PROGRESS

65

tinuous additive growth, in numbers and interconnections, must

automatically become more and more tightly concentrated upon
itsel To this formidable process of natural compression there may
well be added the artificial constraint imposed by a stronger human group upon a weaker; we have only to look about us at the
present time to see how this idea is seeking, indeed rushing toward,
its realization.

b But there is another way. This is that, prompted by somefovoring irifluence, the elements of Mankind should succeed in making effective a profound force of mutual attraction, deeper and more
powerful than the surface-repulsion which causes them to diverge.
Forced upon one another by the dimensions and mechanics of the
earth, men will purposefully bring to life a common soul in this
vast body.
Unification by external or by internal force? Compulsion or
Unanimity?
I spoke earlier of the present war. Does it not precisely express
the tension and interior dislocation of Mankind shaken to its roots
as it stands at the crossroads, faced by the need to decide upon its
future?

10. The Choice

life at this critical point in the evolution of Mankind, what ought we to do? We hold Earth's future
in our hands. What shall we decide?
In my view the road to be followed is clearly revealed by the
teaching of all the past.
GLORIOUSLY SITUATED BY

66

THE FUTURE OF MAN

We can progress only by uniting: this, as we have seen, is the law

of Life. But unification through coercion leads only to a superficial
pseudo-unity. It may establish a mechanism, but it does not achieve
any fundamental synthesis; and in consequence it engenders no
growth of consciousness. It materializes, in short, instead of spiritualizing. Only unification through unanimity is biologically valid.
This alone can work the miracle of causing heightened personality
to emerge from the forces of collectivity. It alone represents a genuine extension of the psychogenesis that gave us birth.
Therefore it is inwardly that we must come together, and in entire freedom.
But this brings us to the last question of all. To create this unanimity we need the bond, as I said, the cement of a favoring influence. Where shall we look for it; how shall we conceive of this
principle of togetherness, this soul of the Earth?
Is it to be in the development of a common vision, that is to say,
the establishment of a universally accepted body of knowledge, in
which all intelligences will join in knowing the same facts interpreted in the same way?
Or will it rather be in common action, in the determination of
an Objective universally recognized as being so desirable that all
activity will naturally converge toward it under the impulse of a
common fear and a common ambition?
These two kinds of unanimity are undoubtedly real, and will,
I believe, have their place in our future progress. But they need to
be complemented by something else if they are not to remain
precarious, insufficient and incomplete. A common body of
knowledge brings together nothing but the geometrical point of intelligences. A common aspiration, no matter how ardent, can only
touch individuals indirectly and in an impersonal way that is depersonalizing in itself.

SO.ME REFLECTIONS ON PROGRESS

67

It is not a tete-it-tete or a corps-it-corps that we need; it is a heartto-heart.

This being so, the more I consider the fundamental question
of the future of the earth, the more it appears to me that the generative principle of its unification is finally to be sought, not in the
sole contemplation of a single Truth or in the sole desire for a single Thing, but in the common attraction exercised by a single Being. For on the one hand, if the synthesis of the Spirit is to be
brought about in its entirety (and this is the only possible definition of progress) it can only be done, in the last resort, through
the meeting, center to center, of human units, such as can only be realized in a universal, mutual love. And on the other hand there is
but one possible way in which human elements, innumerably diverse by nature, can love one another: it is by knowing themselves
all to be centered upon a single "supercenter" common to all, to
which they can only attain, each at the extreme of himself,
through their unity.
"Love one another, recognizing in the heart of each of you the
same God who is being born." Those words, first spoken two thousand years ago, now begin to reveal themselves as the essential
structural law of what we call progress and evolution. They enter
the scientific field of cosmic energy and its necessary laws.
Indeed, the more I strive, in love and wonder, to measure the
huge movements of past Life in the light of palaeontology, the
more I am convinced that this majestic process, which nothing can
arrest, can achieve its consummation only in becoming Christianized.!

I Unpublished. Peking, February 22, 194I. Lecture delivered at the French Embassy, on the third of March of the same year.

68

T.HE FUTURE OF MAN

PART II. ON THE POSSIBLE BASES OF

.A UNIVERSAL HUMAN CREED

the New York meetings, if I understand it

aright, is not merely to seek a superficial reconciliation between the
diverse forms of Faith which divide the human spirit and make it
at odds with itself, but to find what they have fundamentally in
common. We seek a new spirit for a new order.

THE PURPOSE OF

I beg to be allowed to offer a brief contribution and personal

testimony, the fruit of thirty years spent in close and sincere contact with scientific and religious circles in Europe, America and the
Far East.

1. The Precise Point of Divergence.

God or the World?

me clear above all else, setting aside the countless
minor divergences, and ignoring the dull, inert mass of those who
believe in nothing at all, that the spiritual conflict affiicting
Mankind today arises out of the division of minds and hearts into
the two profoundly separated categories of:
IT SEEMS TO

a Those whose hopes are directed toward a spiritual state or

an absolute finality situated beyond and outside this world; b Those
who hope for the perfection of the tangible Universe within itself
The first of these groups, by far the older, is preeminently represented in these days by the Christians, protagonists of a transcendent and personal God.
The second group, comprising those who for a variety of reasons have dedicated their lives to the service of a Universe which
they conceive as eventually culminating in some form of imper-

SOME REFLECTIONS ON PROGRESS

69

sonal and immanent Reality, is of very recent origin. Throughout

human history this conflict between the "servants of Heaven" and
the "servants of earth" has gone on; but only since the birth of the
idea of Evolution (in some sort divinizing the Universe) have the
devotees of earth bestirred themselves and made of their worship
a true form of religion, charged with limidess hope, striving and
renunciation.
Are we to disdain the world and put it behind us, or live in it
in order to master and perfect it? Mankind is rent asunder at this
moment by these two concepts or rival mysticisms; and in consequence its vital power of adoration is disastrously weakened.
Such in my view is the nature of the crisis, more profound than
any economic, political or social struggle, through which we are
passing.

2. A Principle of Convergence:

The Concept of Noogenesis

provided both are positive, must apriori be capable of growth by merging together. Faith in God and faith in the
World: these two springs of energy, each the source of a magnificent spiritual impulse, must certainly be capable of effectively uniting in such a way as to produce a resulting upward movement. But
in practical terms where are we to look for the principle and the
generative medium which will bring about this most desirable evolutionary step?
I believe that the principle and the medium are to be found in
the idea, duly "realized," that there is in progress, within us and
around us, a continual heightening of consciousness in the Universe.
For a century and a half the science of physics, preoccupied
ANY TWO FORCES,

70

THE FUTURE OF HAN

with analytical researches, was dominated by the idea of the dissipation of energy and the disintegration of matter. Being now
called upon by biology to consider the effects of synthesis, it is beginning to perceive that, parallel with the phenomenon of corpuscular disintegration, the Universe historically displays a second
process as generalized and fundamental as the first: I mean that of
the gradual concentration of its physicochemical elements in nuclei of increasing complexity, each succeeding stage of material
concentration and differentiation being accompanied by a more
advanced form of spontaneity and spiritual energy.
The outflowing flood of Entropy equalled and offset by the rising tide of a Noogenesis! ...
The greater and more revolutionary an idea, the more does it
encounter resistance at its inception. Despite the number and importance of the facts that it explains, the theory of Noogenesis is
still far from having established itself as a stronghold in the scientific field. However, let us assume that, as all the observable evidence suggests, it will succeed before long in gaining in one form
or another the place it deserves at the head of the structural laws
of our Universe. Plainly the first result will be precisely to bring
about the rapprochement and automatic convergence of the two opposed forms of worship into which, as I said, the religious impulse
of Mankind is at present divided.
Once he has been brought to accept the reality of a Noogenesis, the believer in this World will find himself compelled to allow
increasing room, in his vision of the future, for the values of personalization and transcendency. Of Personalization, because a
Universe in process of psychic concentration is identical with a Universe that is acquiring a personality. And a transcendency because
the ultimate stage of "cosmic" personalization, if it is to be supremely consistent and unifying, cannot be conceived otherwise

SOME REFLECTIONS ON PROGRESS

71

than as having emerged by its summit from the elements it superpersonalizes as it unites them to itself.
On the other hand, the believer in Heaven, accepting this
same reality of a cosmic genesis of the Spirit, must perceive that
the mystical evolution of which he dreams presupposes and consecrates all the tangible realities and all the arduous conditions of
human progress. If it is to be superspiritualized in God, must not
Mankind first be born and grow in coriformity with the entire system of
what we call "evolution"? Whence, for the Christian in particular,
there follows a radical incorporation of terrestrial values in the
most fundamental concepts of his Faith, those of Divine Omnipotence, detachment and charity. First, Divine Omnipotence: God
creates and shapes us through the process of evolution: how can
we suppose, or fear, that He will arbitrarily interfere with the very
means whereby He fulfills His purpose? Then, detachment: God
awaits us when the evolutionary process is complete: to rise above
the World, therefore, does not mean to despise or reject it, but to
pass through it and sublime it. Finally, charity: the love of God expresses and crowns the basic affmity which, from the beginnings of
Time and Space, has drawn together and concentrated the spiritualizable elements of the Universe. To love God and our neighbor is therefore not merely an act of worship and compassion
superimposed on our other individual preoccupations. For the
Christian, if he be truly Christian, it is Life itself, Life in the integrity of its aspirations, its struggles and its conquests, that he
must embrace in a spirit of togetherness and personalizing unification with all things.
The sense of the earth opening and exploding upward into
God; and the sense of God taking root and finding nourishment
downward into Earth. A personal, transcendent God and an evolving Universe no longer forming two hostile centers of attraction,

72

T.HE FUTURE OF HAN

but entering into hierarchic conjunction to raise the human mass

on a single tide. Such is the sublime transformation which we may
with justice foresee, and which in fact is beginning to have its effect
upon a growing number of minds, freethinkers as well as believers:
the idea of a spiritual evolution of the Universe. The very transformation we have been seeking!

3. A New Soul for a New World:

Faith Renewed in the Progress of Mankind
it is at once apparent that, to unify the
living forces of humanity, at present so painfully at odds, the direct
and effective method is simply to sound the call-to-arms and form
a solid block of all those, whether of the right or the left, who believe that the principal business of present-day Mankind is to
achieve a breakthrough straight ahead by forcing its way over the
threshold of some higher level of consciousness. Whether Christian or non-Christian, the people inspired by this particular conviction constitute a homogeneous category. Though they may be
situated at the two extreme wings of Mankind on the march, they
can advance unequivocally side by side because their attitudes, far
from being mutually exclusive, are virtually an extension one of
the other and ask only to be completed. What more do they need
that they may know and love one another? The union sacree, the
Common Front of all those who believe that the World is still advancing: what is this but the active minority, the solid core around
which the unanimity of tomorrow must harden?
Despite the wave of skepticism which seems to have swept
away the hopes (too ingenuous, no doubt, and too materialistic) on
which the nineteenth century lived, faith in the future is not dead

FROM THIS STANDPOINT

SO.ME REFLECTIONS ON PROGRESS

73

in our hearts. Indeed, it is this faith, deepened and purified, which

must save us. Not only does the idea of a possible raising of our
consciousness to a state of superconsciousness show itself daily, in
the light of scientific experience, to be better founded and psychologically more necessary for preserving in Man his will to act; but
furthermore this idea, carried to its logical extreme, appears to be
the only one capable of paving the way for the great event we look
for-the manifestation of a unified impulse of worship in which
will be joined and mutually exalted both a passionate desire to conquer the World and a passionate longing to be united with God:
the vital act, specifically new, corresponding to a new age in the
history of Earth.
I am convinced that finally it is upon the idea of progress, and
faith in progress, that Mankind, today so divided, must rely and
can reshape itself.
REMARKS ON A NEW YORK CONGRESS OF SCIENCE AND RELIGION.
UNPUBLISHED. PEKING, MARCH 30, 1941.

CHAPTER 5
THE NEW SPIRIT

Introduction
I have sought in a long
series of essays, I not to philosophize in the Absolute,

DURING RECENT YEARS

but as a naturalist or physicist to discover a general

significance in the events in which we are materially
involved. A great many internal and external portents (political and social upheaval, moral and religious unease) have caused us all to feel, more or less
confusedly, that something tremendous is at present
taking place in the world. But what is it?
What I wish to offer here is the outcome of my
own thinking, expressed in a simple and clarified
form so that everyone may be able to understand
it without ambiguity, and may criticize and (this is
my great hope) correct and amplify it.
The present state of the world seems to me to
be substantially determined and explained by the
influence of two progressive changes affecting human consciousness at the deepest level.

I Le Milieu Divin, L'Esprit de la Terre, Commentje crois, L'Energie

humaine, L'Univers personnel, The Phenomenon if Man, etc.

THE NEW SPIRIT

75

The first change, already far advanced, is taking place in the

field of our vision of the world. It amounts to the acquirement by
the human mind of a new faculty, the perception of Time; or more
precisely the perception of what I would call "the conic curvature
of Time."
The second change, related to the first but less advanced, directly affects our Action. It arises out of the gradual adjustment of
human values in terms of this reappraisal of Time.
1. The Cone of Time.
2. The "conic" transposition of Action.
I deal with these in separate sections.

1. THE CONE OF TIME

1. The Organic Depth of Time and of the Spirit

spiritual events which are so convulsing

the age we live in we need to be constantly looking back (I shall repeat this) to their common origin-the discovery of Time.
At first sight the concept of Time appears so complete in its
simplicity that one wonders how it can possibly be modified or improved upon. Is it not one of the solid facts on which our consciousness is based? Yet we have only to glance over the past two
centuries to see that within these few generations our temporal
view of the world has come to differ greatly from that of our ancestors.
This does not mean that men had to wait till the nineteenth
century before seeing how events, grouped in long series, were abTO UNDERSTAND THE

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T.HE FUTURE OF HAN

sorbed into the past. They talked of Time long before our day, and
even measured it, so far as their instruments permitted, as we do
now. But Time remained for them a homogeneous quantity, capable of being divided into parts. The course of centuries lying
ahead and behind us could be conceived of in theory as abruptly
stopping or beginning at a given moment, the real and total duration of the Universe being supposed not to exceed a few thousand
years. On the other hand, it appeared that within those few millennia any object could be arbitrarily displaced and removed to another point without undergoing any change in its environment or
in itsel Socrates could have been born in the place of Descartes,
and vice versa. Temporally (no less than spatially) human beings
were regarded as interchangeable.
This, broadly, is what was accepted by the greatest minds up to
and including Pascal.
But since then, under the influence, unconcerted but convergent, of the natural, historical and physical sciences, an entirely
new concept has almost imperceptibly shaped itself in our minds.
We have in the fIrst place realized that every constituent element of the world (whether a being or a phenomenon) has of necessity emerged from that which preceded it-so much so that it is
as physically impossible for us to conceive of a thing in Time without "something before it" as it would be to imagine the same thing
in Space without "something beside it." In this sense every particle
of reality, instead of constituting an approximate point in itself, extends from the previous fragment to the next in an indivisible
thread running back into infInity.
Secondly we have found that the threads or chains of elements
thus formed are not homogeneous over their extent, but that each
represents a naturally ordered series in which the links can no
more be exchanged than can the successive states of infancy, adolescence, maturity and senility in our own lives.

THE NEW SPIRIT

77

Finally, we have gradually come to understand that no elemental thread in the Universe is wholly independent in its growth
of its neighboring threads. Each forms part of a sheaf; and the
sheaf in turn represents a higher order of thread in a still larger
sheaf-and so on indefinitely. So that, Time acting on Space and
incorporating it within itself, the two together constitute a single
progression in which Space represents a momentary section of the
flow which is endowed with depth and coherence by Time.
This is the organic whole of which today we fmd ourselves to
be a part, without being able to escape from it. On the one hand,
following an interlinked system of lines of indefinite length, the
Stuff of the Universe spreads and radiates outwardly from ourselves, without limit, spatially frbm the Immense to the Infinitesimal and temporally from the abyss of the past to the abyss of the
future. On the other hand, in this endless and indivisible network,
everything has a particular position defined by the development (free or predetermined) of the entire system in movement.
Whereas for the last two centuries our study of science, history and
philosophy has appeared to be a matter of speculation, imagination and hypothesis, we can now see that in fact, in countless subtle ways, the concept of Evolution has been weaving its web
around us. We believed that we did not change; but now, like infants whose eyes are opening to the light, we are becoming aware
of a world in which neo-Time, organizing and conferring a dynamic upon Space, is endowing the totality of our knowledge and
beliefs with a new structure and a new direction.
Before studying the implications of this, we must look more
closely at the nature and properties of the new environment into
which we are being born.

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T.HE FUTURE, OF MAN

2. The Convergence of Organic Time and

the Upward Growth of the Spirit

WITHIN THE LIMITS

I have outlined, our new awareness of

Time may now be regarded as an accomplished fact. Excepting a

few ultraconservative groups, it would not occur to any presentday thinker or scientist-it would be psychologically inadmissible
and impossible-to pursue a line of thought which ignores the
concept of a world in evolution.
But if the Space-Time continuum is now generally accepted as
the only framework within which our thought can continue to
progress, it becomes the more necessary that we should agree upon
the nature and general direction of the flow on which we are
borne. Is it a closed vortex, an indefinite spiral, a spreading explosion? ... What is it that has us in its grip? Moreover, immersed in
its movement as we are, do we possess any point of perspective
from which we may see in what direction the cosmic stream is
bearing us?
The majority of people personally known to me still regard the
direction and purpose of Evolution as a riddle that is scientifically
unanswerable.
But it is here, in my view, that the importance becomes manifest of an intuitive notion which, timidly evolved less than fifty
years ago by a small group of human minds, is now beginning to
pervade twentieth-century thought as rapidly as did the idea of
evolution in the nineteenth century. The discovery of the great
phenomena buried in the past opened our fathers' eyes to the
vague, generalized perception of a process of evolution of Life on
earth. To gain a clearer idea of the precise nature of this vast biological movement, is it not enough for us simply to open our eyes
(are we not already beginning to do so?) to the extraordinary and
present greatness of the phenomenon of Man?

THE NEW SPIRIT

79

I believe this to be the case, and I wish to show why.

It seemed, following the revolutionary ideas of fIrst Galileo
and then Lamarck and Darwin, that for the "lord of creation"
little was left of his past grandeur. The demolishing of the geocentric theory, leading two centuries later to the end of anthropocentrism, left Man to think of himself as fInally submerged and
flattened by the "temporal" flow which his intelligence had discovered. But now he seems to be again emerging in the forefront of
Nature. Evolution, so they said at the end of the last century, has
simply swallowed Man up, since we have proved that it extends to
Man. But observing the progress of science during recent years we
can see that what is happening suggests precisely the opposite. Far
from being swallowed up by Evolution, Man is now engaged in
transforming our earlier idea of Evolution in terms of himself, and
thereafter plotting its new outline.
Let me explain.
The three characteristics which make the human individual a
truly unique object in the eyes of Science, once we have made up
our minds to regard Man not merely as a chance arrival but as an
integral element of the physical world, are as follows:

a an extreme physicochemical complexity (particularly apparent in the brain) which permits us to consider him the most
highly synthesized form of matter known to us in the Universe;
arising out of this, an extreme degree of organization
which makes him the most perfectly and deeply centered of all cosmic particles within the fIeld of our experience;
b

c fInally, and correlative with the above, the high degree of

psychic development (reflection, thought) which places him head
and shoulders above all other conscious beings known to us.

80

THE FUTURE OF HAN

To these may be added a fourth particularity which is also of

great significance: that of being the latest product of Evolution.
It is difficult to consider these four attributes, relating them to
Space-Time, without becoming aware of a prospect which, however we may seek to describe it, comes essentially to this:
Science has lately been very much preoccupied with the
changing properties of Matter as we follow it in either of the two
spatial directions-toward the Infinitesimal or toward the Immense. Yet progress in either direction does not bring us a step
nearer to the explanation of Life. Why should we not make room
in our physics for the organic axis of Time? Following this axis in
the downward direction of entropy we find that matter becomes
diffused and energy is neutralized. This is something that we have
long known. But why should we not take into specific account the
cosmic movement operating in the reverse sense, toward the
higher forms of synthesis, which is so strikingly apparent? Beneath
our eyes, extending from the electron to Man by way of the proteins, viruses, bacteria, protozoa and metazoa, a long chain of
composites is forming and unfolding, eventually attaining an astronomical degree of complexity and arrangement, and centered
pari passu upon itself while at the same time it animates itself Why
should we not simply define Life as the specific property of Matter, the Stuff of the Universe, carried by evolution into the zone of
highest complexity? And why not define Time itself as precisely
the rise of the Universe into those high latitudes where complexity, concentration, centration and consciousness grow and increase,
simultaneously and correlatively?
A cosmogenesis embracing and expanding the laws of our individual ontogenesis on a universal scale, in the form of Noogenesis: a world that is being born instead of a world that is: that is what
the phenomenon of Man suggests, indeed compels us to accept, if

THE NEW SPIRIT

81

we are to find a place for Man in this process of evolution in which

we are obliged to make room for him.
We still hesitate, as I have said, over the form which we may
conveniently attribute to Space-Time. But the fact is that we have
no more time for quibbling. If it is to be adjusted to Man, the high
point and effective spearhead of evolution; if it is to contain and
propagate the Noogenesis through which the march of events expresses itself with an increasing clarity, Space-Time must be given
whatever form is most appropriate. Caught within its curve the layers of Matter (considered as separate elements no less than as a
whole) tighten and converge in Thought, by synthesis. Therefore it
is as a cone, in the form of a cone, that it can best be depicted.
And it is within this cone, newly shaped in our consciousness,
in terms of it and in accordance with its requirements, that we
must look to see how the transposition of all human values is irresistibly proceeding.

II. THE "CONIC" TRA.NSPOSITION OF A.CTION

1. Toward a New Humanism

Space-Time is convergent in its nature IS

equally to admit that Thought on earth has not achieved the ultimate point of its evolution.
Indeed, if in virtue of its especial curvature the Universe, following the line of its principal axis, is really moving toward a state
of maximal synthesis; and if furthermore, as practical observation
shows, its human particles, taken as a whole, still possess a formidable potential of synthesis: then our present situation cannot be
anything but "energetically" unstable. We cannot stay where we
TO ACCEPT THAT

82

T.HE FUTURE OF MAN

are at present, either physically or psychically; but looking far

ahead we may descry an ultimate state in which, organically associated with one another (more closely than the cells of a single brain)
we shall form in our entirety a single system, ultracomplex and, in
consequence, ultracentered .... We thought that we had reached
the limit of ourselves. Now we see Mankind extending within the
cone of Time beyond the individual; it coils in collectively upon itself above our heads, in the direction of some sort of higher
Mankind.
Let us enumerate and assess the changes of outlook and attitude that are inescapable for any person who has become aware of
this prospect. I maintain that for such as he the Universe emerges
from the shadows. It shows its true face, acquires its true value,
glows with a new warmth and finally is illumined from within.
Let us look rapidly, one by one, at these phases of the transformation.

a Firstly, the Universe emerges from the shadows. That is to

say, it clarifies itself to the eye of reason, and precisely in those regions where it threatened to plunge most deeply into darkness. On
the one hand the overwhelming vastness of the Cosmos need no
longer appall us, since the indefinite layers of Time and Space, far
from being the lifeless desert in which we seemed to be lost, show
themselves to be the bosom which gathers together the separate
fragments of a huge Consciousness in process of growth. On the
other hand Evil, in all its forms-injustice, inequality, suffering,
death itself-ceases theoretically to be outrageous from the moment when, Evolution becoming a Genesis, the immense travail of the
world displays itself as the inevitable reverse side-or better, the
condition-or better still, the price-of an immense triumph. And
in its turn Earth, that microscopic planet on which we are crushed
together, is seen to be no longer the meaningless prison in which

THE NEW SPIRIT

83

we thought we must suffocate: for if its limits were less narrow and
impenetrable could it be the matrix in which our unity is being
forged?
b Secondly, the Universe shows its true face: that is to say, it

traces its outline for our liberated gaze. In its present state Morality offers a painful spectacle of confusion. Apart from a few elementary laws of individual justice, empirically established and
blindly followed, who can say what is good and what is evil? Can
we even maintain that Good and Evil exist while the evolutionary
course on which we are embarked has no clear direction? Is striving really a better thing than enjoyment, disinterest better than
self-interest, kindness better than compulsion? Lacking a lookout
point in the Universe, the most sharply opposed doctrines on these
vital matters can be plausibly defended. Meanwhile human energy,
being without orientation, is lamentably dissipated upon earth. But
this disorder comes logically to an end, all the agitation is polarized, directly the spiritual reality of Mankind is revealed, above
and ahead of each human being, at the apex of the Cone of Time.
The best way of reaching this objective has still to be found. But is
it not in itself a consolation and a source of strength to know that
Life has an objective; and that the objective is a summit; and that
this summit, toward which all our striving must be directed, can
only be attained by our drawing together, all of us, more and more
closely and in every sense-individually, socially, nationally and
racially?

c Thirdly, the Universe acquires its true value: that is to say, it

grows, even to the least of its elements, limitlessly in our esteem. For
the man who sees nothing at the end of the world, nothing higher
than himself, daily life can only be filled with pettiness and boredom.
So much fruitless effort, so many wasted moments! But to those who

84

THE FUTURE OF HAN

see the synthesis of the Spirit continuing on earth beyond their own
brief existence, every act and event is charged with interest and
promise. Indeed, it does not matter what we do each day, or what we
undergo, provided we keep a steady hand on the tiller-for are we
not steering toward the fulfillment of the World? In the New Time
there is no longer any distinction between those things that we classified on other levels as physical or moral, natural or artificial, organic or collective, biological or juridical. All things are seen to be
supremely physical, supremely natural, supremely organic and
supremely vital-according to how far they contribute to the construction and closing of the time-space cone above us.
d Fourthly, the world glows with a new warmth: that is to say, it
opens wholly to the power of Love. To love is to discover and complete one's self in someone other than oneself, an act impossible of
general realization on earth so long as each man can see in his
neighbor no more than a closed fragment following its own course
through the world. It is precisely this state of isolation that will end if
we begin to discover in each other not merely the elements of one
and the same thing, but of a single Spirit in search of itsel Then the
medium will be established in which a basic affinity may be born
and grow, springing from one seed of thought to the next, canalizing
in a single direction the swarm of individual trajectories. In the old
Time and Space a universal attraction of souls was inconceivable.
The existence of such a power becomes possible, even inevitable, in
the curvature of a world capable of noogenesis.

e Fifthly, and lastly, the Universe is illumined from within:

that is to say, it shows itself to be capable of fulfilling the highest of
our mystical aspirations. By virtue of the convergence of the cosmic lines, as I have said, we must surmise the existence of a higher

THE NEW SPIRIT

85

center of consciousness ahead of us, at the apogee of Evolution.

But if we seek to determine the position and analyze the properties of this Supreme Center it soon becomes clear that we must
look far beyond and far above any mere aggregation of perfected
Mankind. If it is to be capable of joining together in itself the prolonged fibers of the world, the apex of the cone within which we
move can be conceived only as something that is ultraconscious,
ultrapersonalized, ultrapresent. It must reach and act upon us, not
only indirectly, through the universal network of physical synthesis, but also, and even more, directly, from center to center (that is
to say, from consciousness to consciousness) by touching the most
sensitive point in ourselves.
Thus it is that our humanity, renewed in its love of living and
spurred on in its aspirations by the discovery that there is a peak to
the arrow-course of Time, comes logically to perfect itself in an attitude of self-abandonment and adoration.

2. Toward a Christian Renewal

yesterday Christianity represented the highest
point attained by the consciousness of Mankind in its striving to
humanize itsel But does it still hold this position, or at the best can
it continue to hold it for long? Many people think not; and to account for this slackening impulse in the highest and most complete
of human mystical beliefs they argue that the evangelical flowering
is ill-adapted to the critical and materialist climate of the modern
world. They hold that the time of Christianity is past, and that
some other shoot must grow in the field of religion to take its place.
But if, as I maintain, the event that characterizes our epoch is
AS RECENTLY AS

86

THE FUTURE OF HAN

a growing awareness of the convergent nature of Space-Time,

then nothing can be more ill-founded than this pessimism. Transferred within the cone of Time, and there transmuted, the Christian system is neither disorganized nor deformed. On the contrary,
sustained by the new environment, it more than ever develops its
main lines, acquiring an added coherence and clarity.
This is what, in conclusion, I wish to show.
What is finally the most revolutionary and fruitful aspect of
our present age is the relationship it has brought to light between
Matter and Spirit: spirit being no longer independent of matter, or
in opposition to it, 2 but laboriously emerging from it under the attraction of God by way of synthesis and centration.
But what is the effect, for Christian faith and mysticism, of this
redefinition of the Spirit? It is simply to confer absolute reality and
absolute urgency upon the double dogma on which the whole of
Christianity rests, and by which it is summed up: the physical primacy of Christ and the moral primacy of Charity.
Let us see.

a The Primary if Christ. In the narrow, partitioned and static

Cosmos wherein our fathers believed themselves to dwell, Christ
was "lived" and loved by His followers, as He is today, as the Being on whom all things depend and in whom the Universe finds
its "consistence." But this Christological function was not easily
defended on rational grounds, at least if the attempt was made to
interpret it in a full, organic sense. Accordingly Christian thinking
did not especially seek to incorporate it in any precise cosmic order. At that time the Kingship of Christ could be readily expressed in terms of juridical ascendancy; or else it was sufficient
2 Provided, of course, that we do not understand "matter" in a "reduplicative"
and restricted sense to mean that portion of the Universe which "redescends,"
escaping the rising stream of Noogenesis.

THE NEW SPIRIT

87

that He should prevail in the nonexperimental, extracosmic

sphere of the supernatural. Theology, in short, did not seem to realize that every kind of Universe might not be "compossible" with
the idea of an Incarnation. But with the concept of Space-Time,
as we have defmed it, there comes into effect a harmonious and
fruitful conjunction between the two spheres of rational experience and of faith. In a Universe of "Conical" structure Christ has
a place (the apex!) ready for Him to fill, when His Spirit can radiate through all the centuries and all beings; and because of the
genetic links running through all the levels of Time and Space between the elements of a convergent world, the Christ-influence,
far from being restricted to the mysterious zones of "grace,"
spreads and penetrates throughout the entire mass of Nature in
movement. In such a world Christ cannot sanctify the Spirit without (as the Greek Fathers intuitively perceived) uplifting and saving the totality of Matter. Christ becomes truly universal to the
full extent of Christian needs, and in conformity with the deepest
aspirations of our age the Cross becomes the Symbol, the Way,
the very Act of progress.

b The Primacy qf Charity. What the modern mind fmds disconcerting in Christian charity is its negative or at least static aspect,
and also the "detached" quality of this great virtue. "Love one another ... " Hitherto the gospel precept has seemed simply to mean,
"Do not harm one another," or, "Seek with all possible care and
devotion to diminish injustice, heal wounds and soften enmities in
the world around you." Hitherto, also, the "supernatural" gift of
ourselves which we were required to make to God and to our
neighbor appeared to be something opposed to and destructive of
the bonds of feeling attaching us to the things of this world.
But if Charity is transplanted into the cone of Time nothing
remains of these apparent limitations and restrictions. Within a

88

T.HE FUTURE OF MAN

Universe of convergent structure the only possible way in which an

element can draw closer to its neighboring elements is by tightening
the cone-that is to say, by causing the whole layer of the world of
which it is a part to move toward the apex. In such an order of
things no man can love his neighbor without drawing nearer to
God-and, of course, reciprocally (but this we knew already). But
it is also impossible (this is newer to us) to love either God or our
neighbor without assisting the progress, in its physical entirety, of
the terrestrial synthesis of the spirit: since it is precisely the
progress of this synthesis which enables us to draw closer together
among ourselves, while at the same time it raises us toward God.
Because we love, and in order that we may love even more, we find
ourselves happily and especially compelled to participate in all the
endeavors, all the anxieties, all the aspirations and also all the affections of the earth-in so Jar as these embody a principle qf ascension
and synthesis.
Christian detachment subsists wholly in this wider attitude
of mind: but instead of "leaving behind" it leads on; instead of
cutting oft, it raises. It is no longer a breakaway but a way
through; no longer a withdrawal but an act of emerging. Without
ceasing to be itself, Charity spreads like an ascending force, like a
common essence at the heart of all forms of human activity,
whose diversity is finally synthesized in the rich totality of a single operation. Like Christ Himself, and in His image, it is universalized, it acquires a dynamic and is humanized by the fact of
doing so.
To sum up, in order to match the new curve of Time Christianity is led to discover the values of this world below the level qf
God, while Humanism finds room for a God above the level of this
world. Inverse and complementary movements: or rather, the two

THE NEW SPIRIT

89

faces of a single event which perhaps marks the beginning of a

new era for Mankind.
---~'l~--
'ij'\"

is something more than a

speculation of my own. Throughout the world at this moment,
without distinction of country, class, calling or creed, men are appearing who have begun to reason, to act and to pray in terms of
the limitless and organic dimensions of Space-Time. To the outside observer such men may still seem isolated. But they are aware
of one another among themselves, they recognize each other
whenever their paths cross. They know that tomorrow, rejecting
old concepts, divisions and forms, the whole world will see what
they see and think as they do.
THIS DOUBLE TRANSFORMATION

PEKING, FEBRUARY

13, 1942.

PSYCHE, NOVEMBER

1946.

CHAPTER 6
LIFE AND THE
PLANETS
What 15 Happening at ThL( Moment on Earth?

DURING THE FIVE

years that the Earth has trem-

bled beneath our feet, its vast human masses splitting and reforming, we have begun to be conscious
of the fact that we are in the grip of forces many
millions of times transcending our individual liberties. For even the most positivist and realist
among us the evidence is growing that the present
crisis far exceeds the economic and political factors
which seemed to provoke it, and within the framework of which we may have hoped that it would
remain confined. This conflict is no merely localized and temporary affair, a matter of periodical
readjustment between nations. The events we are
witnessing and undergoing are unquestionably
bound up with the general evolution of terrestrial
life; they are of planetary dimensions. It is therefore
on the planetary scale that they must be assessed,
and it is in these terms that I ask you to consider
them, so that we may better understand, better en-

LIFE AND THE PLANETS

91

dure, and, I will add, better love these things greater than ourselves
which are taking place around us and sweeping us along in their
course.
What does the world-adventure upon which we are embarked
look like, when we seek to interpret it both objectively and hopefully
in the light of the widest, soundest and most modern concepts of astronomy, geology and biology? That is what I propose to discuss
here: not from the viewpoint of Sirius, as the saying is-that is to say,
with the lofty detachment of an observer seeing things from so far off
that they fail to touch him-but with the anxious intensity of a son of
Earth who draws back in order to be able to see more deeply into the
matter and spirit of a movement upon which his happiness depends.
This lecture is divided into three parts:

One. The place of living planets in the Universe. Smallness and vastness.
Two. The place of Man on the planet Earth-at the head.
Three. The place of our generation-our own place-in
the evolution of Mankind. Assessment.
And finally a summing-up: the end of planetary life. Death or
escape?
Let us begin.

1. LIVING PLANETS IN THE UNIVERSE

1. From the Point of View of the Immense: The Apparent

Insignificance of the Earth
now know of astronomy the planets would seem
at first sight to be a perfectly insignificant and negligible element in

FROM WHAT WE

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T.HE FUTURE OF HAN

the universe as a whole. How does the sidereal universe look to the
eyes of modern science? No doubt you have gazed up at the sky on
a fine winter's night and, like innumerable human beings before
you, had an impression of a serene and tranquil firmament twinkling with a profusion of small, friendly lights, all apparently at the
same distance from yoursel But telescopic and spectroscopic observation, and increasingly exact calculations, are transforming
this comfortable spectacle into a vision that is very much more unsettling, one which in all probability will profoundly affect our
moral outlook and religious beliefs when it has passed from the
minds of a few initiates into the mass-consciousness of Mankind as
a whole: immensities of distance and size, huge extremes of temperature, torrents of energy. ...
That we may better understand what the earth means, we
must try to penetrate, step by step, within this "infinity."
First, the stars.
The stars constitute the natural sidereal unit. It is toward them
therefore, the analysis of their structure and the study of their
distribution, that the researches of astrophysics are principally
directed. The process of research is one based entirely on the
analysis of light, calling for miracles of patience, ability and acumen; but it is astonishingly fruitful, since it enables exact measurements to be made of the mass, energy, diameter, distance and
movement of objects vast in themselves but ultramicroscopic to us
because of their remoteness.
The first thing to note is that, in certain aspects, the stars seem
to vary a great deal among themselves. Certain of them, the "red
giants," are of colossal dimensions, their diameter exceeding 450
times that of the Sun (if the Sun were as large as they it would extend beyond Earth, Jupiter and Saturn as far as Uranus!) Others,
the "white dwarfs," are smaller than the earth; and still others, the
most numerous category, closely resemble the Sun both in their di-

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menslOns and their yellow color. We find similar contrasts of

brilliance and temperature. One star may be the equivalent of
300,000 suns in luminosity, whereas another may amount to only
a fifty-thousandth part of it (as great a difference, the astronomer
Sir James Jeans observed, as there is between a lighthouse and a
glowworm). These, of course, are extreme cases. In the matter of
surface temperature, if the Sun and the majority of stars are round
about 6,000 Centigrade (three times the temperature of an electric arc) there are some of II,OOOo (Sirius) and even of 23,000; and
on the other hand there are some as low as 3,500 (the red giants).
But beneath this great diversity, which is due principally to the
varying ages of the stars, there is concealed a sort of deep identity.
Whether giants, medium-sized or dwarfs, the stars are curiously
similar in mass (from one to ten times the mass of the sun), which
proves, incidentally, that they must vary prodigiously in their mean
density-I.4 in the case of the Sun, but 50,000 and even 300,000
in the case of the dwarf stars (a fragment the size of a pinch of
snuff, brought from one of these to Earth, would weigh a ton!)
So we have approximate identity of mass, and therefore calibration. If we now consider the number of the stars (15,000 X 106
visible to the optical telescope alone) you will understand how it is
possible to say, cosmically speaking, that we are enveloped in a sort
of monstrous gas formed of molecules as heavy as the Sun moving
at distances from each other so great that they have to be reckoned
in light-years (bearing in mind that light travels at a speed of
186,000 miles per second, and that we are only eight light-minutes
distant from the Sun)-a gas made oj stars!
A gas of stars. The very conjunction of the two words is startling. But the shock is even greater when we learn that these myriads
of suns scattered in the void are no more than the grains forming a
supergrain of infmitely greater magnitude, and that this in its turn is
no more than one unit amid a myriad of similar units! Imagination

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THE FUTURE OF HAN

is confounded .... Yet this is what we learn, beyond any possibility

of doubt, from the Milky Way and the other galaxies.
You will all have gazed in curiosity at the Milky Way, that long
whitish ribbon which, extending from east to west over the two
hemispheres, girdles our firmament. Astronomers have long felt
that this mysterious, luminous train must constitute one of the most
important structural features of the Universe. They sought, therefore, to decipher it, and they have succeeded in doing so. This is the
conclusion, dumbfounding but certain, at which they have arrived.
The Milky Way, they tell us, is not at all, as one might suppose, a
sort of cloud of diffused matter drifting like a mist among the stars.
Instead, it denotes the boundary, it marks the equatorial contour, of
a prodigious lenticular accumulation of cosmic matter nursing, in
its spiral arms, the solar system, all our constellations, all our visible
stars, and further millions besides (perhaps 100,000 X 10 6 altogether); these latter being so remote from us that their total effect is
to convey no more than a vague, milky impression to our eyes. It
has been possible to calculate the dimensions of this extraordinary
celestial formation and the speed with which it rotates upon itself.
According to Jeans its diameter is about 200,000 light-years and it
takes 3 million years to complete a single revolution, at a peripheral
speed of several hundred miles per second. Compared with this
stupendous disc,Jeans remarks, the Earth's orbit is no bigger than
a pin's head compared with the surface of the American continent.
But the Milky Way, our Milky Way, is not the only one of its
kind in the Universe. Here and there small milky patches are to be
discerned in the sky, which the telescope shows to be spiral clouds
containing sparks of brilliance. These, as we now know, are infinitely farther away from us than the stars. They do not belong to
our own, immediate world-or, as one might put it, to the sidereal
vessel which bears us. They are other islands, other fragments of
the Universe, other Milky Ways sailing in convoy with our own

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through space (or even diverging from it at fantastic speeds). Several

millions of these galaxies have already been counted (each, we must
remember, composed of millions upon millions of stars), separated
from one another by an average distance of 2 million light-years,
and all of approximately the same size! A gas of galaxies on top of
a gas of stars .... This is the truly overwhelming spectacle, far beyond our power to picture it, in which our present vision of the
Universe culminates when we look in the direction of the Immense.
But must we not assume, following the logic of this principle of
recurrence, that even beyond this there are supergalaxies, each
formed of a group of spiral nebulae? We cannot be sure, but it
seems improbable. The Universe is not composed, as Pascal
thought, of pieces enclosed one in another, repeating themselves
indefinitely and identically from bottom to top, from the infinitesimal to the immense. At a certain level the cosmic structure stops
dead, and we pass on to "something else." Beyond the galaxies
there is nothing, according to Einsteinian physics, unless it be the
spherical frame of Space-Time within which all things move in a
circle, without ever coming to an end or being able to leave it....
Let us put aside this still unresolved problem of the upper limits of
the world, and since we do not yet know what may be beyond or
around the galaxies, let us at least consider what unites them-that
is to say, try to describe the genesis of their swarm. It is along this
path, as you will see, that we shall eventually encounter the planets
in search of which we started out.
At the very beginning, so the astronomers tell us-that is to say,
billions of years ago-there was in place of the present world a diffused atmosphere, billions of times less dense than air, spreading in
all directions over billions of miles. This "primordial chaos," as
Jeans calls it, must have seemed homogeneous; but inasmuch as it
was subject to the force of gravity it was excessively unstable. A
slight unevenness of distribution occurring by chance at any given

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point (a contingency that was bound to arise) was all that was
needed to cause the entire edifice to break up into parts which,
sundering themselves from their neighbors, coiled in more and
more tightly upon themselves in enormous clots-their vastness,
by the law of celestial mechanics, being directly proportionate to
the lightness of the matter of which they were originally composed. This was the first stage of the birth of the galaxies. The
same disruptive process then operated within the separate galaxies,
engendering smaller clots, since cosmic matter had become heavier. Thus the stars appeared.
Are we then to suppose that a third stage occurred in which the
stars, in their turn, gave birth to planets through the condensation
of their substance? This was the famous theory of Laplace; but a
more thorough analysis of the problem has shown that it could not
have happened in this way. Astronomers are today agreed that the
distribution and movement of the heavenly bodies composing the
solar system can only be explained by the hypothesis of a purely
fortuitous occurrence-for example, the near contact of two stars.
This is to say that Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn,
Uranus or little Pluto, the farthest of all, would not exist had not
another sun, by an extraordinary chance, passed so near to our sun
as almost to touch it (within three diameters!) wresting from it, by
force of attraction, a long, cigar-shaped filament which in the
course of time broke up into a string of separate globes. I
And this brings us to the heart of the problem we set out to
solve, namely: "What is the place, the significance and the importance of our planets in the Universe?"
Because of their very small dimensions (even Jupiter is a dwarf
I There is a tendency nowadays to abandon "catastrophic" theories in favor of
"evolutionary" theories (a return to the Kant-Laplace nebula under a new
form, cf. Weizsacher's theory). [Ed.].

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compared with the Sun), the extreme weakness of the energy they
radiate, and the short time they have been in existence (the galaxies were billions of years old when the solar system was born); even
more important, because of their mode of existence, the planets
look not merely like poor relations but like strangers and intruders
in the sidereal system. Created by chance, they have no place in the
normal and orthodox evolution of astral matter; with the exasperating result that we know nothing for certain about the existence
or frequency of occurrence of planets outside the solar system. In
Laplace's thesis almost every star should have its girdle of planets.
In present-day theory perhaps one star in 100,000 Ueans's estimate: Eddington puts the figure at millions) possesses them. And if
to this we add the fact that, in the case of any given planet, it calls
for a further extremely rare accident to produce the conditions
which would endow it with life, we can see what a fantastically small
figure, quantitatively speaking, our Earth cuts in the Universe.
I said just now, in seeking to describe the magnitude of the human events which are overtaking us, that they were of "planetary"
importance. But is not "planetary" almost synonymous with "infinitesimal"? Let me recall from memory the hard words of Jeans
(he wrote more hopeful ones later, you will be relieved to learn):
"What does life amount to? We have tumbled, as though
through error, into a universe which by all the evidence was not intended for us. We cling to a fragment of a grain of sand until such
time as the chill of death shall return us to primal matter. We strut
for a tiny moment upon a tiny stage, well knowing that all our aspirations are doomed to ultimate failure and that everything we
have achieved will perish with our race, leaving the Universe as
though we had never existed.... The Universe is indifferent and
even hostile to every kind of life."
But let us boldly state it: this bleak vista is not only so discour-

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aging as to make action impossible; it is so much at variance, physically, with the existence and exercise of our intelligence (which, after all, is the one force in the world capable of dominating the
world) that it cannot be the last word of Science. Following the
physicists and astronomers we have thus far been contemplating
the Universe in terms of the Immense-immensity of space, time,
energy and number. But is it not possible that we have been looking through the wrong end of the telescope, or seeing things in the
wrong light? Suppose, instead, we survey the same landscapewithout, of course, attempting in any way to alter its arrangement-in its biochemical aspect, that of Complexity.

2. In Terms of Complexity; or the Planets

as Vital Centers of the Universe

the "complexity" of a thing, if you allow, as the
quality the thing possesses of being composed-

WE WILL DEFINE

a of a larger number of elements, which are

b more tightly organized among themselves.
In this sense an atom is more complex than an electron, a molecule more complex than an atom, and a living cell more complex
than the highest chemical nuclei of which it is composed, the difference depending (on this I insist) not only on the number and diversity of the elements included in each case, but at least as much
on the number and correlative variety of the links formed between
these elements. It is not, therefore, a matter of simple multiplicity
but of organized multiplicity; not simple complication but centered
complication.
This idea of complexity (more exactly, centrocomplexity) is eas-

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ily grasped. In a universe where science ends by analyzing everything and taking everything apart, it simply expresses a particular
characteristic applicable to every kind of body, like its mass, volume
or any other dimension. But what do we gain by using this characteristic, rather than another, for the purpose of classifying the objects around us?
I will cite two advantages, although it means somewhat anticipating the latter parts of this lecture.
First, in the multitude of things comprising the world, an examination of their degree of complexity enables us to distinguish
and separate those which may be called "true natural units," the
ones that really matter, from the accidental pseudo-units, which are
unimportant. The atom, the molecule, the cell and the living being
are true units because they are both formed and centered, whereas
a drop of water, a heap of sand, the Earth, the Sun, the stars in general, whatever the multiplicity or elaborateness of their structure,
seem to possess no organization, no "centricity." However imposing their extent they are false units, aggregates arranged more or
less in order of density.
Secondly, the coefficient of complexity further enables us to establish, among the natural units which it has helped us to "iden-

tify" and isolate, a system of classification that is no less natural

and universal. Let us try to depict this classification in schematic
form, as it might be drawn on a blackboard.
At the very bottom of the board we have the ninty-two simple
chemical elements (from hydrogen to uranium) formed by groups
of atomic nuclei together with their electrons.
Above these come the molecules composed of groups of
atoms. These molecules, in the case of the carbon compounds,
may become enormous. In the albuminoids (or proteins) there may
be thousands of associated atoms: the molecular weight of hemoglobin is 68,000.

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Above these again come the mysterious viruses, strange bodies

producing a variety of maladies in animals and plants, concerning
which we do not yet know if they are monstrous chemical molecules or living infrabacteria. Their molecular weight runs into millions.
Higher still we come to the lowest cells. I do not know if any attempt has yet been made to ascertain the atomic content of these (it
must amount to billions) but they are undoubtedly groups of proteins.
And finally we reach the world of higher living forms, each
composed of groups of cells. To take a very simple instance, that of
the plant duckweed; its content is estimated to be 4 x 1020 atoms.
For the present we will disregard an even higher category
which may conceivably have its place at the head of the list-that
formed by the grouping, not merely of cells, but of metazoa synthetically associated in such a manner as to comprise, when taken
together, a single, living superorganism. We shall come back to this.
This scheme of classification, based essentially on the intimate
structure of beings, is undeniably natural in principle. But it can
also be seen to possess a double and extreme significance.
It is significant, in the first place, because for the scientist it
bridges the long-standing, troublesome and seemingly irreducible
gap between biology and physics. The wide distinction, which for
philosophical reasons it has been thought necessary to draw between
life and matter, ceases to be valid as a law qf recurrence comes to light,
in the phenomenal field, experientially linking these two orders of
phenomena. Beyond the millionth atom everything happens as
though the material particles quickened and were vitalized; the Universe organizes itself in a single, grand progression, somewhat untidy
no doubt, but on the whole clear in its orientation, ascending from
the most rudimentary atom to the highest form of living things.
Secondly it is significant because, arranged according to our

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scale of complexity, the elements succeed one another in the historical order of their birth. The place in the scale occupied by each particle situates the element chronologically in the genesis of the
Universe, that is to say, in Time. It dates it.
Thus the rising scale conforms both to the ascending movement toward higher consciousness and to the unfolding of evolutionary time. Does not this suggest that, by using the degree of
complexity as a guide, we may advance very much more surely
than by following any other lead as we seek to penetrate to the
truth of the world and to assess, in terms of absolute values, the
relative importance, the place, of all things?
With this in mind let us look again at the vast sidereal units
(galaxies and suns) and this time try to assess their importance not
in terms of their immensity or even complexity (since, as I have
said, nebulae and stars are no more than aggregates) but in terms
of the complexity of the elements which compose them.
We now see a very different picture; a complete reversal of values and perspective.
Let us look first at what is largest, the galaxies. In their least
condensed parts (that is to say, in what they still contain of the vestiges of primordial chaos), the matter composing them is extremely
tenuous; probably hydrogen, the most primitive substance known
to us in the field of distinguishable matter. One nucleus and one
electron: the simplest combination imaginable.
Now come down a stage in the scale of the immensities and
look at the stars. Here the chemism is more elaborate. Whether in
the red giants, the medium yellows or the white dwarfs, we may
surmise the presence in the center of heavy and extremely unstable elements possessing a greater atomic weight than uranium (unless these are simply "ordinary matter" reduced to a physical state
of extraordinary compression). At the same time, in the lighter
surface-zone enveloping these depths the spectroscope can discern

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T.HE FUTURE, OF MAN

the entire range of our simple elements. In the stars, therefore, if

we compare them with the original galaxies, the degree of complexity rises rapidly; but, and this is of major importance, it cannot
go beyond a certain stage; that is to say (if we except a number of
simple groups perceptible in the incandescent atmosphere of certain stars) it cannot reach the level of the composite bodies, i.e., the
large molecules. The fact is that even on the periphery of these
prodigious centers of energy the temperature is far too great for
any higher combination to possess stability. The stars are essentially laboratories in which Nature, starting with primordial hydrogen, manufactures atoms. For the operation to go beyond this point
we have to imagine two astonishing things:
First, that by a sort of "skimming" process a portion of the
stellar substance separates from the rest, deriving entirely from the
surface-zone of lighter atoms which are not constantly threatened
with radioactive disintegration. The larger molecules can only be
constructed of elements possessing almost unlimited stability.
Secondly, that this light and stable "cream" of any given star,
having escaped beyond the reach of the tempest of energy blazing
at the heart of the parent-body, may yet remain sufficiently close
to it to derive a moderate benefit from its radiations: for the large
molecules need energy for their synthesis.
But are not these two providential occurrences (the selection of
a suitable "dough" and its treatment in a suitable "oven") precisely
what that mysterious body, our father-star, effected in a single operation when, passing close to our Sun, it detached from its surface
and scattered over a wide distance the ribbon of matter that became the planets?
You will now see where my argument is tending, or more exactly, where the guide which we have elected to follow, the scale of
complexity, is irresistibly leading us. Despite their vastness and
splendor the stars cannot carry the evolution of matter much be-

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yond the atomic series: it is only on the very humble planets, on

them alone, that the mysterious ascent of the world into the sphere
of high complexity has a chance to take place. However inconsiderable they may be in the history of sidereal bodies, however accidental their coming into existence, the planets are fmally nothing
less than the key-points of the Universe. It is through them that the
axis of Life now passes; it is upon them that the energies of an Evolution principally concerned with the building of large molecules is
now concentrated.
We may well be dismayed by the rarity and improbability of
heavenly bodies such as our own. But does not everyday experience
teach us that in every order of Nature, and at every level, nothing
succeeds except at the cost of prodigious waste and fantastic hazards? A monstrously fragile conjunction of chances normally dictates the birth of the most precious and essential beings. We can
only bow before this universal law whereby, so strangely to our
minds, the play of large numbers is mingled and confounded with
a fmal purpose. Without being overawed by the Improbable, let us
now concentrate our attention on the planet we call Earth. Enveloped in the blue mist of oxygen which its life breathes, it floats at
exacdy the right distance from the sun to enable the higher
chemisms to take place on its surface. We do well to look at it with
emotion. Tiny and isolated though it is, it bears clinging to its flanks
the destiny and future of the Universe.

II. MA.N ON THE PLANET EARTH:

THE MOST COMPLEX OF MOLECULES

HAVING ESTABLISHED, ON the basis of complexity, the astral

preeminence of the planets in the sidereal system, and particularly
that of the Earth, our obvious next step is to seek to determine, in

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T.HE FUTURE OF HAN

cosmic terms, the significance and value on Earth of what we very

improperly call "the human species."
If the essential function and dignity of the Earth consist in its
being one of the rare laboratories where, in time and space, the
synthesis of ever larger molecules is proceeding; and if, as our table
of complexity shows, living organisms, far from originating in
germs fallen upon Earth from the celestial spaces, are simply the
highest composites to spring from planetary geochemism, 2 then
the discovery of Man's absolute place in the Universe becomes
simply a matter of deciding what position we who constitute
Mankind occupy in the evolving range of super molecules.
Here, however, a difficulty arises.
Where relatively simple molecular units are concerned their order of complexity may be roughly expressed by the number of
atoms they contain, their "corpuscular number" as one might call
it. But when this corpuscular number exceeds a million (from the
virus on) and still more when we come to the higher forms of life
(there are something like a hundred billion cells in an average mammal, and hundreds of millions of atoms to each cell!) it becomes
impossible to estimate the number of atoms, which would be so vast
as to be almost meaningless even if it could be calculated. At this
level of organization, in fact, the actual number of atoms contained
in complex units is of minor importance compared with the number and quality of the links established between the atoms .
....... ~~~ ..

. .0""

2 I need hardly point out that for the purpose of this lecture, which does not
seek to go outside the field of scientific observation, only the succession and interdependence of phenomena are taken into account: that is to say, an experimental law qf recurrence, not an ontological analysis of causes.

LIFE AND THE PLANETS

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we to go about classifying the higher living units

so that the position of Man in terms of complexity may be determined? What method shall we adopt?
We can do it very simply by introducing what is called a
change of variable. The more complex a being is, so our Scale of
Complexity tells us, the more is it centered upon itself and therefore the more conscious does it become. In other words, the higher
the degree of complexity in a living creature, the higher its consciousness; and vice versa. The two properties vary in parallel and
simultaneously. If we depict them in diagrammatic form, they are
equivalent and interchangeable. So it comes to this, that when we
have reached the point where complexity can no longer be reckoned in number of atoms we can nevertheless continue to measure
it (and accurately) by noting the increase of consciousness in the
living creature-in practical terms, the development of its nervous
system. This is the solution of our problem.
Accordingly, if we use the factor of psychic growth (or, which
comes to the same thing, progress of cerebralization) as a scale
whereby we may measure the growth of complexity through the
maze of invertebrates, arthropods and vertebrates, the position
and significance of the human type in nature at once becomes apparent. For of all the numberless types of living units that have appeared in the course of the last 300 million years, Man, judged by
his power of reflection (itself bound up with the ultracomplexity of
a brain composed of many millions of cells) not only comes indisputably first, but occupies a place of his own at the head of all the
other "very great complexes" evolved on Earth. And this incidentally explains why he tends increasingly to break away from the rest
of terrestrial life, to detach himself in such a manner as to form
(we shall return to this) a separate planetary envelope.
What does this mean except that, having been led by the idea
HOW THEN ARE

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THE FUTURE OF MAN

of complexity to consider the Earth one of the vital points of the

Universe, we find ourselves compelled, following the same principle, to recognize in Man the most advanced, and therefore the
most valuable, of all the planetary elements? If it is the Earth
which bears the fortunes of the world, then it is Man, in his extreme centro-complexity, who bears the fortunes of the Earth.
But if that is our situation, what is our destiny?

Ill. THE PRESENT STATE OF MANKIND:

THE PHASE OF PLANETIZATION

book treating scientifically, philosophically or sociologically of the future of the Earth (whether by a Bergson or a

TO OPEN ANY

Jeans) is to be struck at once by a presupposition common to most of

their authors, certain biologists excepted. Explicitly or by inference
they talk as though Man today had reached a final and supreme
state of humanity beyond which he cannot advance; or, in the language of this lecture, that, Matter having attained in Homo sapiens
its maximum of centro-complexity on Earth, the process of supermoleculization on the planet has for good and all come to a stop.
Nothing could be more depressing, but also, fortunately, more
arbitrary and even scientifically false, than this doctrine of immobility. No proof exists that Man has come to the end of his potentialities, that he has reached his highest point. On the contrary,
everything suggests that at the present time we are entering a peculiarly critical phase of superhumanization. This is what I hope to
persuade you of by drawing your attention to an altogether extraordinary and highly suggestive condition of the world around us, one
which we all see and are subject to, but without paying any attention
to it, or at least without understanding it: I mean the increasingly
rapid growth in the human world of the forces of collectivization.

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107

The phenomenon calls for no detailed description. It takes the

form of the all-encompassing ascent of the masses; the constant
tightening of economic bonds; the spread of financial and intellectual associations; the totalization of political regimes; the closer
physical contact of individuals as well as of nations; the increasing
impossibility of being or acting or thinking alone-in short, the rise,
in every form, of the Other around us. We are all constantly aware
of these tentacles of a social condition that is rapidly evolving to
the point of becoming monstrous. You feel them as I do, and probably you also resent them. If I were to ask your views you would
doubtless reply that, menaced by this unleashing of blind forces,
there is nothing we can do but evade them to the best of our ability, or else submit, since we are the victims of a sort of natural catastrophe against which we are powerless and in which there is no
meaning to be discerned.
But is it true that there is nothing to understand? Let us look
more closely, once again by the light of our principle of complexity.
The first thing to give us pause, as we survey the progress of
human collectivization, is what I would call the inexorable nature
of a phenomenon which arises directly and automatically out of
the conjunction of two factors, both of a structural kind: first, the
confined surface of the globe, and secondly, the incessant multiplication, within this restricted space, of human units endowed by
ever-improving means of communication with a rapidly increasing
scope for action; to which may be added the fact that their
advanced psychic development makes them preeminently capable
of influencing and interpenetrating one another. Under the
combined effect of these two natural pressures a sort of massconcretion of Mankind upon itself comes of necessity into operation.
But, the second noteworthy point, the phenomenon of concretion, or cementing, turns out to be no sudden or unpredictable

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T.HE FUTURE OF HAN

event. Looking at the picture as a whole we see that Life, from its
lowest level, has never been able to effect its syntheses except
through the progressively closer association of its elements, whether
in the oceans or on land. Upon an imaginary earth of constandy increasing extent, living organisms, being only loosely associated,
might well remain at the monocellular stage (if indeed they got so
far); and certainly Man, if free to live in a scattered state, would
never have reached even the neolithic stage and social development.
The totalization in progress in the modern world is in fact nothing
but the natural climax and paroxysm of a process of grouping
which is fundamental to the elaboration of organized matter. Matter does not vitalize or supervitalize itself except by compression.
I do not think it is possible to reflect upon this twofold inrooting, both structural and evolutionary, which characterizes the
social events affecting us, without being at first led to the surmise,
and finally overwhelmed by the evidence, that the collectivization
of the human race, at present accelerated, is nothing other than a
higher form adopted by the process of moleculization on the surface of our planet. The first phase was the formation of proteins
up to the stage of the cell. In the second phase individual cellular
complexes were formed, up to and including Man. We are now at
the beginning of a third phase, the formation of an organicosocial
supercomplex, which, as may easily be demonstrated, can onlY occur
in the case of riflective, personalized elements. First the vitalization of
matter, associated with the grouping of molecules; then the hominization of Life, associated with a supergrouping of cells; and finally the planet:ization of Mankind, associated with a closed grouping
of people: Mankind, born on this planet and spread over its entire
surface, coming gradually to form around its earthly matrix a single, major organic unity, enclosed upon itself; a single, hypercomplex, hypercentered, hyperconscious arch-molecule, coextensive

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with the heavenly body on which it was born. Is not this what is
happening at the present time-the closing of this spherical, thinking circuit?
This idea of the planetary totalization of human consciousness (with its unavoidable corollary, that wherever there are
life-bearing planets in the Universe, they too will become encompassed, like the Earth, with some form of planetized spirit) may at
first sight seem fantastic: but does it not exactly correspond to the
facts, and does it not logically extend the cosmic curve of moleculization? It may seem absurd, but in its very fantasy does it not
heighten our vision of Life to the level of other and universally accepted fantasies, those of atomic physics and astronomy? However
mad it may seem, the fact remains that great modern biologists,
such asJulian Huxley and]. B. S. Haldane, are beginning to talk
of Mankind, and to predict its future, as though they were dealing
(all things being equal) with a brain of brains.
So why not?
Clearly this is a matter in which I cannot compel your assent.
But I can assure you, of my own experience, that the acceptance
of this organic and realistic view of the social phenomenon is both
eminently satisfying to our reason and fortifying to our will.
Satisfying to the intelligence above all. For if it be true that at this
moment Mankind is embarking upon what I have called its "phase
of planetization," then everything is clarified, everything in our
field of vision acquires a new sharpness of outline.
The tightening network of economic and psychic bonds in
which we live and from which we suffer, the growing compulsion
to act, to produce, to think collectively which so disquiets us-what
do they become, seen in this way, except the first portents of the
superorganism which, woven of the threads of individual men, is
preparing (theory and fact are at one on this point) not to mecha-

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THE FUTURE OF MAN

nize and submerge us, but to raise us, by way of increasing complexity, to a higher awareness of our own personality?
The increasing degree, intangible, and too little noted, in which
present-day thought and activity are influenced by the passion for
discovery; the progressive replacement of the workshop by the laboratory, of production by research, of the desire for well-being by
the desire for more-being-what do these things betoken if not the
growth in our souls of a great impulse toward superevolution?
The profound cleavage in every kind of social group (families,
countries, professions, creeds) which during the past century has
become manifest in the form of two increasingly distinct and irreconcilable human types, those who believe in progress and those
who do not-what does this portend except the separation and
birth of a new stratum in the biosphere?
Finally, the present war; a war which for the first time in history is as widespread as the earth itself; a conflict in which human
masses as great as continents clash together; a catastrophe in which
we seem to be swept off our feet as individuals-what aspect can
it wear to our awakened eyes except that of a crisis of birth, almost
disproportionately small in relation to the vastness of what it is destined to bring forth?
Enlightenment, therefore, for our intelligence. And, let it be
added, sustenance and necessary reassurance for our power qf will. Through
the centuries life has become an increasingly heavy burden for Man
the Species, just as it does for Man the Individual as the years pass.
The modern world, with its prodigious growth of complexity, weighs
incomparably more heavily upon the shoulders of our generation
than did the ancient world upon the shoulders of our forebears. Have
you never felt that this added load needs to be compensated for by an
added passion, a new sense of purpose? To my mind, this is what is
"providentially" arising to sustain our courage-the hope, the belief
that some immense fulfillment lies ahead of us.

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111

If Mankind were destined to achieve its apotheosis, if Evolution

were to reach its highest point, in our small, separate lives, then indeed the enormous travail of terrestrial organization into which we
are born would be no more than a tragic irrelevance. We should all
be dupes. We should do better in that case to stop, or at least to call
a halt, destroy the machines, close the laboratories, and seek whatever way of escape we can fmd in pure pleasure or pure nirvana.
But if on the contrary Man sees a new door opening above
him, a new stage for his development; if each of us can believe that
he is working so that the Universe may be raised, in him and
through him, to a higher level-then a new spring of energy will
well forth in the heart of Earth's workers. The whole great human
organism, overcoming a momentary hesitation, will draw its breath
and press on with strength renewed.
Indeed, the idea, the hope of the planetization of life is very
much more than a mere matter of biological speculation. It is more
of a necessity for our age than the discovery, which we so ardently
pursue, of new sources of energy. It is this idea which can and must
bring us the spiritual fire without which all material fires, so laboriously lighted, will presently die down on the surface of the thinking
earth: the fire inspiring us with the joy of action and the love of life.
All this, you may say to me, sounds splendid: but is there not
another side to the picture? You tell us that this new phase of human evolution will bring about an extension and deepening of
terrestrial consciousness. But do not the facts contradict your argument? What is actually happening in the world today? Can we
really detect any heightening of human consciousness even in the
most highly collectivized nations? Does it not appear, on the contrary, that social totalization leads directly to spiritual retrogression
and greater materialism?
My answer is that I do not think we are yet in a position to
judge recent totalitarian experiments fairly: that is to say, to decide

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"rIlE FUTURE, OF MAN

whether, all things considered, they have produced a greater degree of enslavement or a higher level of spiritual energy. It is too
early to say. But I believe this can be said, that in so far as these first
attempts may seem to be tending dangerously toward the subhuman state of the ant hill or the termitary, it is not the principle of
totalization that is at fault but the clumsy and incomplete way in
which it has been applied.
We have to take into account what is required by the law of
complexity if Mankind is to achieve spiritual growth through collectivization. The first essential is that the human units involved in
the process shall draw closer together, not merely under the pressure of external forces, or solely by the performance of material
acts, but directly, center to center, through internal attraction. Not
through coercion, or enslavement to a common task, but through

unanimity in a common spirit. The construction of molecules ensues

through atomic affinity. Similarly, on a higher level, it is through
sympathy, and this alone, that the human elements in a personalized
universe may hope to rise to the level of a higher synthesis.
It is a matter of common experience that within restricted
groups (the pair, the team) unity, far from diminishing the individual, enhances, enriches and liberates him in terms of himself True
union, the union of heart and spirit, does not enslave, nor does it
neutralize the individuals which it brings together. It superpersonalizes them. Let us try to picture the phenomenon on a terrestrial
scale. Imagine men awakening at last, under the influence of the
ever-tightening planetary embrace, to a sense of universal solidarity based on their profound community, evolutionary in its nature
and purpose. The nightmares of brutalization and mechanization
which are conjured up to terrify us and prevent our advance are at
once dispelled. It is not harshness or hatred but a new kind of love,
not yet experienced by man, which we must learn to look for as it
is borne to us on the rising tide of planetization.

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113

Reflecting, even briefly, on the state of affairs which might

evoke this universal love in the human heart, a love so often vainly
dreamed of, but which now leaves the fields of Utopia to reveal itself as both possible and necessary, we are brought to the following
conclusion: that for men upon earth, all the earth, to learn to love
one another, it is not enough that they should know themselves to
be members of one and the same thing; in "planetizing" themselves
they must acquire the consciousness, without losing themselves, of
becoming one and the same person. For (and this is writ large in the
Gospel) there is no total love that does not proceed from, and exist
within, that which is personal.
And what does this mean except, fmally, that the planetization
of Mankind, if it is to come properly into effect, presupposes, in
addition to the enclosing Earth, and to the organization and condensation of human thought, yet another factor? I mean the rise
on our inward horizon of a cosmic spiritual center, a supreme pole
of consciousness, upon which all the separate consciousnesses of
the world may converge and within which they may love one another: the rise of a God.
It is here that reason may discern, conforming to and in harmony with the law of complexity,3 an acceptable way of envisaging "the end of the world."

IV. THE END OF PLANETARY LIFE:

MATURITY AND WITHDRAWAL

the world-for us, that is to say, the end of

Earth.... Have you ever thought seriously, in human terms, about
that somber and certain eventuality?
THE END OF

Which here culminates, we may note, in a sort of proof of the existence of

God: "proof by complexity."

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T.HE FUTURE OF HAN

Life at the beginning seemed modest in its requirements. A few

hours in the sun were all it seemed to ask and all it needed to justify
itself in its own eyes. But this was only a semblance, belied at the
earliest stages of vitalization by the tenacity with which the most
humble cells reproduce themselves and multiply. This tenacity continues through all the enormous effusion of the animal kingdom,
and bursts into the light of day with the appearance, in thinking
Man, of the formidable power of prevision. It cannot but grow still
more imperious with every forward stride of human consciousness.
I have spoken of the impulse to act, without which there can be no
action. But in practice it is not enough, if the impulse is to be sustained in face of the ever-growing onslaughts of the taedium vitae, for
it to be offered nothing more than an immediate objective, even
though this be as great as the planetization of Mankind. We must
strive for ever more greatness; but we cannot do so if we are faced
by the prospect of an eventual decline, a disaster at the end. With
the germ of consciousness hatched upon its surface, the Earth, our
perishable earth threatened by the final, absolute zero, has brought
into the Universe a demand, henceforth irrepressible, not only that
all things shall not die, but that what is best in the world, that which
has become most complex, most highly centered, shall be saved. It
is through human consciousness, genetically linked to a heavenly
body whose days are ultimately numbered, that Evolution proclaims its challenge: either it must be irreversible, or it need not go on
at all! Man the individual consoles himself for his passing with the
thought of the offspring or the works which he leaves behind. But
what will presently be left of Mankind?
Thus every attempt to situate Man and the Earth in the framework of the Universe comes inevitably upon the heavy problem of
death, not of the individual but on the planetary scale-a death
which, if we seriously contemplate it, must instantly paralyze all
the vital forces of the Earth.

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115

In an attempt to dispel this shadow Jeans calculated that the

Earth has many millions of years of habitability ahead of it, so
that Man is still only on the threshold of his existence. He bade us
warm our hearts, in this fresh dawn, with the alrrwst limitless
prospects of the glorious day that is only beginning. But a few
pages previously he had talked of Mankind sadly growing old and
disillusioned on a chilling globe, faced by inevitable extinction.
Does not that fIrst thought destroy the second?
Others seek to reassure us with the notion of an escape
through space. We may perhaps move to Venus-perhaps even
further afIeld. But apart from the fact that Venus is probably not
habitable (is there water?) and that, if journeying between celestial
bodies were practicable, it is hard to see why we ourselves have not
already been invaded, this does no more than postpone the end.
We cannot resolve this contradiction, between the congenital
mortality of the planets and the demand for irreversibility developed by planetized life on their surface, by covering it up or deferring it: we have fmally to banish the specter of Death from our
horizon.
And this we are enabled to do by the idea (a corollary, as we
have seen, of the mechanism of planetization) that ahead of, or
rather in the heart of, a universe prolonged along its axis of complexity, there exists a divine center of convergence. That nothing
may be prejudged, and in order to stress its synthesizing and personalizing function, let us call it the point Omega. Let us suppose that
from this universal center, this Omega point, there constantly emanate radiations hitherto only perceptible to those persons whom
we call "mystics." Let us further imagine that, as the sensibility or
response to mysticism of the human race increases with planetization, the awareness of Omega becomes so widespread as to warm
the earth psychically while physically it is growing cold. Is it not
conceivable that Mankind, at the end of its totalization, its folding-

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THE FUTURE OF MAN

in upon itself, may reach a critical level of maturity where, leaving

Earth and stars to lapse slowly back into the dwindling mass of primordial energy, it will detach itself from this planet and join the
one true, irreversible essence of things, the Omega point? A phenomenon perhaps outwardly akin to death: but in reality a simple
metamorphosis and arrival at the supreme synthesis. An escape
from the planet, not in space or outwardly, but spiritually and inwardly, such as the hypercentration of cosmic matter upon itself
allows.
This hypothesis of a fmal maturing and ecstasy of Mankind,
the logical conclusion of the theory of complexity, may seem even
more farfetched than the idea (of which it is the extension) of the
planetization of Life. Yet it holds its ground and grows stronger
upon reflection. It is in harmony with the growing importance
which leading thinkers of all denominations are beginning to attach to the phenomenon of mysticism. In any event, of all the theories which we may evolve concerning the end of the Earth, it is
the only one which affords a coherent prospect wherein, in the remote future, the deepest and most powerful currents of human
consciousness may converge and culminate: intelligence and action, learning and religion.
LECTURE DELIVERED AT THE FRENCH EMBASSY IN PEKING,
MARCH 10, 1945. ETUDES, MAY 1946.

CHAPTER 7
A GREAT EVENT
FORESHADOWED: THE
PLANETIZATION OF MANKIND

Argument
ALL THE surface changes of
present-day history, the reality and paramount importance of a single basic event is becoming daily
more manifest: namely, the rise of the masses, with
its natural corollary, the socialization of Mankind.
The supreme interest and significance of this
process lies in the fact that, scientifically analyzed,
it may be seen to be irresistible in two ways: in the
planetary sense, because it is associated with the
closed shape of the earth, the mechanics of generation and the psychic properties of human matter;
and in the cosmic sense because it is the expression and prolongation of the primordial process
whereby, at the uttermost extreme from the disintegrating atom, psychic force is born into the Universe and continuously grows, fostered by the ever
more complicated grouping of matter. Projected
forward, this law of recurrence makes it possible
for us to envisage a future state of the Earth in
UNDERLYING

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'rIlE FUTURE OF HAN

which human consciousness, reaching the climax of its evolution,

will have attained a maximum of complexity, and, as a result, of
concentration by total "reflexion" (or planetkation) of itself upon itself
Although our individualistic instincts may rebel against this
drive toward the collective, they do so in vain and wrongly. In vain,
because no power in the world can enable us to escape from what
is in itself the power of the world. And wrongly because the real
nature of this impulse that is sweeping us toward a state of superorganization is such as to make us more completely personalized
and human.
The very fact of our becoming aware of this profound ordering of things will enable human collectivization to pass beyond the

enforced phase, where it now is, into the free phase: that in which
(men having at last understood that they are inseparably joined elements of a converging Whole, and having learnt in consequence
to love the preordained forces that unite them) a natural union of
affinity and sympathy will supersede the forces of compulsion.

Preamble
IT HAS BECOME

very difficult, in the world's present state of up-

heaval and distraction, to form any idea of the significance of what

is going on except by rising above the individual level. So many opposing forces (ideas, passions, institutions, peoples) meet and clash
around us that to the thinking person it may well appear that the
human ship is rudderless in the storm. Are we going ahead or
astern, or are we simply hove-to? No means of telling while we remain at sea level: the waves hide the horizon.
I can see only one way of escape from this state of uncertainty
which threatens to paralyze all positive action: we must rise above

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119

the storm, the chaos of surface detail, and from a higher vantagepoint look for the outline of some great and significant phenomenon. To rise up so as to see clearly is what I have tried to do, and
it has led me to accept, however improbable they may appear, the
reality and the consequences of the major cosmic process which,
for want of a better name, I have called "human planetization."
Despite appearances and a certain overlapping due to the vastness of the subject (as we draw near to the Whole, physics, metaphysics and religion strangely converge) I am prepared to maintain
that what I have to say does not anywhere go beyond the field of
scientific observation. What this essay claims to offer is not philosophical speculation but an extension of our biological perspective-no more, and no less.

1. An Irresistible Physical Process:

The Collectivization of Mankind

if we set out to examine the state of things
on the morrow of the most fearful convulsion that has ever shaken
the living strata of the Earth, that we should fmd the soil mined
and fissured to its depths. So great a shock must surely have exposed all the points of weakness, unloosed all the forces of disWE MIGHT SUPPOSE,

persal and divergence and left Mankind shattered within itself

This is what we might expect to find.
But instead of this state of universal ruin, and if we disregard
the psychological haze of fatigue and resentment which, as I shall
show, is only a passing phase, what do we actually see?
Geographically, since 1939 a vast expanse of the earth, the region of the Pacific, hitherto on the fringe of civilization, has for
practical purposes entered irrevocably into the orbit of industrialized nations. Mechanized masses of men have invaded the south-

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THE FUTURE OF HAN

ern seas, and up-to-date airfields have been permanently installed

on what were until yesterday the poetically lost islands of PolyneSIa.

Ethnically, during the same space of time, there has been a

vast and pitiless confusion of peoples, whole armies being removed
from one hemisphere to the other, and tens of thousands of
refugees being scattered across the world like seed borne on the
wind. Brutal and harsh though the circumstances have been, who
can fail to perceive the inevitable consequences of this new stirring
of the human dough?
And finally, during the same period, economically and psychically the entire mass of Mankind, under the inexorable pressure of
events and owing to the prodigious growth and speeding up of the
means of communication, has found itself seized in the mould of
a communal existence-large sections tightly encased in countless
international organizations, the most ambitious the world has ever
known; and the whole anxiously involved in the same passionate
upheavals, the same problems, the same daily news .... Can anyone seriously suppose that we shall be able to rid ourselves of
habits such as these?
No; during these six years, despite the unleashing of so much
hatred, the human block has not disintegrated. On the contrary, in
its most rigid organic depths it has further increased its viselike grip
upon us all. First 1914-1918, then 1939-1945-two successive turns
of the screw. Every new war, embarked upon by the nations for the
purpose of detaching themselves from one another, merely results
in their being bound and mingled together in a more inextricable
knot. The more we seek to thrust each other away, the more do we
interpenetrate.
Indeed, how could it be otherwise?
Confined within the geometrically restricted surface of the
globe, which is steadily reduced as their own radius of activity in-

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121

creases, the human particles do not merely multiply in numbers

every day at an increasing rate, but through contact with one another automatically develop around themselves an ever denser tangle of economic and social relationships. Moreover, being each
exposed at the core of their being to the coundess spiritual influences emanating from the thought, the will and the passions of all
their fellow creatures they find themselves constandy subjected in
spirit to an enforced rule of resonance. It must surely be clear that,
under the pressure of these relendess factors-relendess because
they are a part of the deepest and most generalized conditions of
the planetary structure-there is only one way in which the tide
can flow: the way of ever-increasing unification. In speculating on
the earthly destiny of Man we are accustomed to say that in the ultimate future nothing is certain, except that a day must come when
our planet will be uninhabitable. But for those who are not afraid
to look ahead, another thing awaits us that is no less certain. As the
Earth grows older, so does its living skin contract, and ever more
rapidly. The last day of Man will coincide for Mankind with the
maximum of its tightening and in-folding upon itsel
I know that to see determinisms everywhere in history may be
to oversimplify and is certainly dangerous. Every so often authoritative voices are raised protesting that there is no fateful significance in the rise of the masses, or the planned economy or the
growth of democracy. Where details and modalities are concerned, these defenders of individual liberty are often right. But
they go astray, or will do so, if in their proper spirit of opposition
to everything that is passive and blind in the world they seek to
close their eyes, and ours, to the overriding superdeterminism
which irresistibly impels Mankind to converge upon itsel
Whether we like it or not, from the beginning of our history
and through all the interconnected forces of Matter and Spirit, the
process of our collectivization has ceaselessly continued, slowly or

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TI:II. FUTURE. OF HAN

in jerks, gaining ground each day. That is the fact of the matter. It
is as impossible for Mankind not to unite upon itself as it is for
the human intelligence not to go on indefinitely deepening its
thought! ... Instead of seeking, against all the evidence, to deny or
disparage the reality of this grand phenomenon, we do better to
accept it frankly. Let us look it in the face and see whether, using it
as an unassailable foundation, we cannot erect upon it a hopeful
edifice of joy and liberation.

2. The One Possihle Interpretation:

A Superorganization of the Matter Around Us

significance of the world forces of collectivization, and what it is that they so imperiously demand of us,
we need to look down from a great height and contemplate, in
their widest, most general aspect, the organic relationships linking
consciousness and complexity within the Universe.
It would seem that Man, observing it with curiosity, has always
been aware of the law of compensation whereby, in every circumstance of nature, the most highly spiritualized souls are associated
with the most corruptible and intricate bodies. But it has remained
for modern biology and biochemistry to disclose this contrast,
which lay observation could do no more than perceive, in all its
persistence and sharpness. We marvel, in the light of recent developments of microscopic and chemical analysis, at the formidable
edifice of atoms and varied mechanisms which are found to exist
in living creatures, the more living they are. How has it happened that,
faced by this constant balance between physical plurality and psychic unity, we have been so slow to grasp the possibility of a physical link of causality connecting them? Hints of the existence of
such a link are today beginning to crop up everywhere in scientific

TO UNDERSTAND THE

A GREAT EVENT FORESH.ADOWED

123

works. Let me venture, in a schematic and personal way, to interpret this line of inquiry which, explicidy or by implication, is gradually attracting the notice of philosophers and scientists.
Before doing anything else we must dismiss from our picture of
the world the factitious barrier which, to ordinary perception, separates the so-called inanimate particles (atoms, molecules, etc.)
from living particles or bodies. That is to say, we must assume, on
the strength of their common behavior (multiplicity in similarity)
that all, in their varied degrees of complexity and magnitude, are
manifestations of a single, fundamental, granular structural principle of the Universe-simply larger or smaller particles.
And having done this let us postulate in principle that consciousness (like such phenomena as the variation of mass according to speed, or radiation in relation to temperature) is a universal
property common to all the particles constituting the Universe, but
varying in proportion to the complexity of any particular molecule: which amounts to saying that the degree of psychism, the
"within," of the different elements composing the world will be
small or great, according to the place of the element in the astronomically extended scale of complexities at present known to us.
The effect of this double modification is to transform our perception of things. Hitherto, in the eyes of a Science too much accustomed to constructing the world on one spatial axis extending in
a line from the infinitely small to the infinitely great, the larger molecules of organic chemistry, and still more the living cellular composites, have existed without any defined position, like wandering
stars, in the general scheme of cosmic elements. Now however, simply by the introduction of another dimension, a new order and
definition become apparent. Traversing the rising axis from the infinitesimal to the immense another branch appears, rising through
Time from the infinitely simple to the supremely complicated. It is
on this branch that the consciousness-phenomenon has its place

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T.HE FUTURE OF MAN

and eventually shows itsel There is fIrst a long, obscure stretch

which seems dead but is in fact "imperceptibly alive." Then, at the
stage of particles reaching a million atoms in their complexity
(viruses), we come to the fIrst flush heralding the dawn of Life.
Later, after the cell, there is a defmite radiation growing richer and
more intense with the formation and gradual concentration of
nervous systems. And fmally, at the extreme end of the known spectrum, comes the thinking incandescence of the human brain.
By this reordering of things, not only does Life, despite its extreme rarity and localization in Space, show itself, in symmetry
with atomic disintegration, to be a fundamental universal current
(the current); not only does Man, with his billions of interacting nervous cells, fInd a natural, cosmically enrooted place in this generalized physical scheme; but something begins to take shape ahead
of Man. Once again we fInd ourselves confronted by the forces of
collectivization.
Owing to an inhibition, inherent in our mentality, which prevents us from looking squarely at collectivity, "common sense" has
long refused to accept any but superfIcial analogies between the
"moral or artifIcial" sphere of human institutions and the "physical" sphere of organized Nature. Indeed, it is only very recendy,
and as yet timidly, that sociology has ventured to set up the fIrst
bridges between biology and itself. But once we have accepted the
general Law of Recurrence linking the growth of consciousness to
the advance of complexity within a process of universal evolution,
nothing can arrest the logical sequence in which two worlds which
we were accustomed to regard as being completely separate are
seen to approach and complement each other. We see Nature combining molecules and cells in the living body to construct separate
individuals, and the same Nature, stubbornly pursuing the same
course but on a higher level, combining individuals in social or-

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125

ganisms to obtain a higher order of psychic results. The processes

of chemistry and biology are continued without a break in the social sphere. This accounts for the tendency, which has been insufficiently noted, of every living phylum (insect and vertebrate) to
group itself toward its latter end in socialized communities. Above
all, in the case of Man (the only living species in which the variety,
quality and intensity of individual relationships enables the phenomenon to achieve its full extent) it explains the rapid psychic rise
accompanying socialization, which takes the following forms:

a the appearance of a collective memory in which a common

inheritance of Mankind is amassed in the form of accumulated
experience and passed on through education;

b the development, through the increasingly rapid transmission of thought, of what is in effect a generalized nervous system,
emanating from certain defined centers and covering the entire
surface of the globe;
c the emergence, through the interaction and ever-increasing
concentration of individual viewpoints, of a faculty of common vision penetrating beyond the continuous and static world of popular conception into a fantastic but still manageable world of
atomized energy.
All around us, tangibly and materially, the thinking envelope of
the Earth-the Noosphere-is adding to its internal fibers and
tightening its network; and at the same time its internal temperature is rising, and with this its psychic potential. These two associated portents allow of no misunderstanding. What is really going
on, under cover and in the form of human collectivization, is the

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T.HE FUTURE OF MAN

superorganization of Matter upon itself, which as it continues to

advance produces its habitual, specific effect, the further liberation
of consciousness. It is all one and the same process. And, by very
reason of the elements involved, the process cannot achieve stability until, over the entire globe, the human quantum has not merely
closed the circle upon itself (as it is doing at this moment, in a
penultimate phase) but has become organically totalized.
So what finally lies ahead of us is a planetary arrangement
of human mass and energy, coinciding with a maximal radiation
of thought-at once the external and internal "planetization" of
Mankind. That is what we are inexorably heading for, in the tightening embrace of the social determinisms. The Earth could more
easily evade the pressures which cause it to contract upon itself, the
stars more readily escape from the spatial curve which holds them
on their headlong courses, than we men can resist the cosmic
forces of a converging universe!
And why should we seek to resist these unifying forces which
are essentially benevolent? Is it because we are afraid that in the
process of supercreation they will render us less human?
The basic characteristic of Man, the root of all his perfections,
is his gift of consciousness in the second degree. Man not only knows;
he knows that he knows. He reflects. But this power of reflection,
when restricted to the individual, is only partial and rudimentary.
As Nietzsche has rightly observed, although he put the wrong construction on it, the individual, faced by himself alone, cannot know
himself exhaustively. It is only when opposed to other men that he
can discover his own depth and wholeness. However personal and
incommunicable it may be at its root and origin, Reflection can
only be developed in communion with others. It is essentially a social phenomenon. What can this mean except that its eventual
completion and wholeness must exactly coincide (in full accord

A GREAT EVENT FORESHADOWED

127

with the Law of Complexity) with what we have called the planetization of Mankind?
Some hundreds of thousands of years ago Consciousness
achieved the stage of its own centration, and thus the power of
thought, in a brain that had reached the limit of nervous complication: this was the first stage in the hominization of Life on earth.
In due course, after the passage of further thousands or even
millions of years, it can, and it must, supercenter itself in the
bosom of a Mankind totallY riflexive upon itself.
Instead of vainly opposing or meekly submitting to the creative forces of the planet which bears us, should we not rather let
our lives be illumined and broadened in the growing light of this
second stage of hominization?

3. The Only Permissible Inward Reaction:

The Spirit of Evolution
A REMARKABLE CHANGE

overtakes the process of zoological

evolution at the level of Man. Until that point was reached every
animal, feebly separated from its fellows, existed largely for the
purpose of preserving and developing its own species, so that for
the individual life was primarily a matter of propagation. But from
the time of Man a sort of internal granulation seems to attack the
Tree of Life, causing it to disintegrate at the top. With the dawning of Reflection each conscious unit isolates itself and, one would
say, tends increasingly to live only for itself, as though, by the fact
of hominization, the phylum were broken up into individuals; and
as though, in the hominized individual, the phyletic sense were submerged until it finally vanishes.
It is to this alarming course of psychic decomposition, and at the

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T.HE FUTURE OF MAN

very moment when it seems to be reaching its crisis, that the prospect
of a human planetary fulfillment brings the appropriate remedy. If,
as we have shown, the social phenomenon is not merely a blind determinism but the portent, the inception of a second phase of human
Riflexion (this time not merely individual but collective), then it must
mean that the phylum is reconstituting itself above our heads in a
new form, a new ramification, no longer of divergence but of convergence; and consequendy it is the Spirit qf Evolution which, suppressing the spirit of egoism, is of its own right springing to new life
in our hearts, and in such a way as to counteract those elements in the
forces of collectivization which are poisonous to Life.
That the construction of superorganisms is a hazardous operation (like all Life's major transformations) is something of which we
find ample evidence in the study of animal colonies, or, where Man
is concerned, the spectacle afforded by recent totalitarian experiments. We are alarmed by all forms of communized existence, and
not without reason, because they seem automatically to entail the
loss or mutilation of our individual personality. But may it not be
that our fear of a process of mechanization seemingly fatal to our
activities arises simply from the fact that we have left the most important element out of our reckoning? In the foregoing paragraphs
I have deliberately, for the sake of objectivity, looked only at the external or enforced aspect of human planetization. Thus far we have
taken no account of the internal reactions to be expected of planetized matter. But what happens if we consider the "planetizing"
process as applied not merely to a passive substratum but to a human mass inspired with the Spirit of Evolution? What we then see
is a flood of sympathetic forces, spreading from the heart of the system, which transforms the whole nature of the phenomenon: sympathy in the first place (an act of quasi-adoration) on the part of all
the elements gathered together for the general impulse that carries
them along; and also the sympathy (this time fraternal) of each sep-

A GREAT EVENT FORESHADOWED

129

arate element for all that is most unique and incommunicable in

each of the coelements with which it converges in the unity, not
only of a single act of vision but of a single living subject. But to say
"love" is to say "liberty." There need be no fear of enslavement or
atrophy in a world so richly charged with charity!
Therefore, provided it be accompanied by a revival of the phyletic sense,
the collectivization of the Earth shows itself to be the true instrument, not merely of cerebral superhominization but of complete
humanization. By interiorizing itself under the influence of the
Spirit of Evolution, planetization (as the theory of complexity would
lead us to expect) can physically have but one effect: it can only personalize us more and more, and eventually (as can be demonstrated
by following to their conclusion all the successive stages of its twofold
demand for wholeness and irreversibility) "divinize" us through access to some Supreme Center of universal convergence.
But the question arises, will this universal Spirit of Evolution
(the necessary antidote and natural reaction to the growth of complexity in a world that has reached the stage of Reflexion) come
when it is needed? Will it flower in time to ensure that, arrived at
the point of superhumanity, we avoid dehumanizing ourselves?
Theory may predict its imminent appearance: but have we in fact
specific reasons for believing that it will truly awaken at the expected moment in the hearts of our fellow men?

4. Deeper Than Our Present Discords:

Mankind in the Reshaping
of its biological, economic and mental
determinisms the human earth, emerging from war, may be seen
to be more tightly fastened upon itself than ever before, in its other
and freer aspects it may give a first impression of growing disorder.

ALTHOUGH IN TERMS

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THE FUTURE OF HAN

As I said at the beginning, a thick fog of confusion and dissension

is at present drifting over the world. Indeed one might say that men
have never more vehemently rebuffed and detested one another
than they do now, when everything drives them closer together. Is
this state of moral chaos really to be reconciled with the idea and
the hope that we are advancing toward unanimi(y through the closer
contact of our bodies and minds?
Let us look at things more closely to see whether, even in those
troubled regions of the heart, there may not be gleams of light
heralding the planetization of Mankind.
Traced in broad outline the "psychic" map of the world would
show on its surface a mosaic of vertically separated compartments
(ethnical, political, religious) whereas in depth a loosening surface,
symbolizing class-antagonism, would separate the human mass
into two thicknesses over its entire planetary extent. Such is the
tangled skein which the war has inevitably thrown into relief.
Along these ancient or recent lines of division, the tightening up of
the world could not fail to introduce play into the structure of the
Noosphere and cause it to burst open. But what effect has it had in
younger and more elastic zones?
A new substance has recently appeared in the heart of the
thinking "magma"-a new element, not yet catalogued but of
supreme importance: We might call it Homo progressivus, that is to
say, the man to whom the terrestrial future matters more than the
present. A new type of man indeed, when we consider that, less
than two hundred years ago, the notion of an organic evolution of
the World in Time had acquired neither form nor substance in the
human mind. When we come to look for them, men of this sort are
easily recognizable. They are scientists, thinkers, airmen and so
on-all those possessed by the demon (or the angel) of Research.
Let us try to plot their statistical distribution on our imaginary
map. The diagram turns out to have some remarkable features.

A GREAT EVENT FORESHADOWED

131

In the first place, points denoting this new human type will be
found to be scattered more or less all over the thinking face of the
globe. Although more numerous among the white peoples, and as
one goes lower down the social scale, they will appear, at least occasionally, in every compartment into which the human race is divided. Their emergence is clearly related to some phenomenon of
a noospheric kind.
Secondly, some apparent attraction draws these scattered elements together and causes them to unite among themselves. You
have only to take two men, in any gathering, endowed with this
mysterious sense of the future. They will gravitate instinctively
toward one another in the crowd; they will recognize one another.
But the third characteristic, the most noteworthy of all, is that
this meeting and grouping together is not confmed to individuals
belonging to the same category or having the same origins, that is
to say, belonging to the same compartment within the Noosphere.
No racial, social or religious barrier seems to be effective against
this force of attraction. I myself have experienced this a hundred
times, and anyone who chooses can do the same. Regardless of the
country, creed or social status of the person I approach, provided
the same flame of expectation burns in us both, there is a profound,
definitive and total contact instandy established between us. It matters nothing that differences of education or training cause us to express our hopes in different ways. We feel that we are of the same
kind, and we fmd that our very differences are a common armor, as
though there were a dimension of life in which all striving makes
for nearness, not only within a corporate body but heart to heart.
I believe that these various characteristics can be accounted for
in only one way. We have to accept that, accelerated by the successive intellectual and social upheavals that have shaken the world
during the past century and a half, a radical process of differentiation and segregation is taking place within the human mass. And it

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THE FUTURE OF MAN

is following precisely the course we would expect: the spontaneous

individualization and separation of that which moves and rises
from that which remains immobile; the irresistible multiplication
and aggregation, over the whole extent of the globe, of elements
activated by a (hominized) reawakening of the phyletic sense; the
gradual formation and emergence, at variance with most former
categories, of a new noospheric zone in which human collectivization, hitherto enforced, is at last entering its sympathetic phase under
the influence of the newly manifest Spirit of Evolution.
It would seem, then, that the grand phenomenon which we are
now witnessing represents a new and possibly final division of Mankind, based no longer on wealth but on belief in progress.
The old Marxist conflict between producers and exploiters becomes out-dated-at the best a misplaced approximation. What finally divides the men of today into two camps is not class but an
attitude of mind-the spirit of movement. On the one hand there
are those who simply wish to make the world a comfortable
dwelling place; on the other hand, those who can only conceive of
it as a machine for progress-or better, an organism that is progressing. On the one hand the "bourgeois spirit" in its essence, and
on the other the true "toilers of the Earth," those of whom we may
safely predict that, without violence or hatred, simply by biological
predominance, they will tomorrow constitute the human race. On
the one hand the castoffs; on the other, the agents and elements of
planetization.
PEKING, DECEMBER

25, 1945.

CAHIERS DU MONDE NOUVEAU,

AUGUST-SEPTEMBER

1946.

CHAPTER 8
SOME REFLECTIONS ON THE
SPIRITUAL REPERCUSSIONS OF
THE ATOM BOMB

ONE EARLY DAWN in the "bad lands" of Arizona,

something over a year ago, a dazzling flash of light,
strangely brilliant in quality, illumined the most distant peaks, eclipsing the fIrst rays of the rising sun.
There followed a prodigious burst of sound....
The thing had happened. For the fIrst time on earth
an atomic fIre had burned for the space of a second,
industriously kindled by the science of Man.
But having thus realized his dream of creating
a new thunderclap, Man, stunned by his success,
looked inward and sought by the glare of the lightning his own hand had loosed to understand its effect upon himsel His body was safe; but what had
happened to his soul?
I shall not seek to discuss or defend the essential morality of this act of releasing atomic energy.
There were those, on the morrow of the Arizona
experiment, who had the temerity to assert that the
physicists, having brought their researches to a successful conclusion, should have suppressed and de-

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T.HE FUTURE OF HAN

stroyed the dangerous fruits of their invention. As though it were

not every man's duty to pursue the creative forces of knowledge
and action to their uttermost end! As though, in any event, there
exists any force on earth capable of restraining human thought
from following any course upon which it has embarked!
Neither shall I here attempt to examine the economic and political problems created by the intrusion of nuclear energy upon
human affairs. How is the use of this terrifying power to be organized and controlled? This is for the worldly technicians to answer. It is sufficient for me to recall the general condition which is
necessary for the solution of the problem: it must be posed on an
international scale. As the American journal, The New Yorker, observed with remarkable penetration on August 18, 1945: "Political
plans for the new world, as shaped by statesmen, are not fantastic
enough. The only conceivable way to catch up with atomic energy
is with political energy directed to a universal structure."
The aim of these reflections-more narrowly concerned with
our separate souls, but for that reason perhaps going deeper-is
simply to examine, in the case of the atomic bomb, the effects of
the invention upon the inventor, arising out of the fact of the invention. Each of our actions, and the more so the more novel the
action, has its deep-seated repercussions upon our subsequent inner orientation. To fly, to beget, to kill for the first time-these, as
we know, suffice to transform a life. By the liberation of atomic energy on a massive scale, and for the first time, man has not only
changed the face of the earth; he has by the very act set in motion
at the heart of his being a long chain of reactions which, in the brief
flash of an explosion of matter, has made of him, virtually at least,
a new being hitherto unknown to himself.
Let me try, in a first approximation, to distinguish the main
links in this chain.

SOME REFLECTIONS ON THE SPIRITUAL

135

a At that crucial instant when the explosion was about to

happen (or not happen) the first artificers of the atom bomb were
crouched on the soil of the desert. When they got to their feet after it was over, it was Mankind who stood up with them, instilled
with a new sense of power. Certainly the power was of a kind
which Man had many times felt emanating from himself, in great
pulsations, during the course of his history. He had felt it, for example, in the darkness of the palaeolithic age when for the first
time he ventured to put fire to his own use, or accidentally discovered how to produce it; in neolithic times when he found that by
cultivating thin ears of grass he could turn them into rice and millet and corn; and much later, at the dawn of our industrial era,
when he found that he could tame and harness not only wild steeds
but the tireless energies of steam and electricity. Each of these new
conquests signified extensively and intensively, for Man and for the
earth, a total rearrangement of life, a change of epoch; but when
all is said they did not bring about any essential change of plane in
the depths of human consciousness. For in all these cases (even the
most beneficial, that of electricity), what did the discovery lead to
except the control and utilization of forces already at liberty in the
surrounding world? They called for ingenuity and adaptiveness
rather than any act of creation; they were no more, in each case,
than a new sail hoisted to catch a new wind. But the discovery and
liberation of atomic power bears quite another aspect and in consequence has had a very different effect upon Man's soul. Here it
is no longer a question of laying hands upon existing forces freely
available for his use. This time a door has been decidedly forced
open, giving access to a new and supposedly inviolable compartment of the universe. Hitherto Man was using matter to serve his
needs. Now he has succeeded in seizing and manipulating the
sources commanding the very origins of matter-springs so deep

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T.HE FUTURE OF HAN

that he can release for his own purposes what seemed to be the exclusive property of the sidereal powers, and so powerful that he
must think twice before committing some act which might destroy
the earth. In the glow of this triumph how can he feel otherwise
than exalted as he has never been since his birth; the more so since
the prodigious event is not the mere accidental product of a futureless chance but the long-prepared outcome of intelligently
concerted action?
b Therefore, a new sense of power: but even more, the sense

of a power capable of development to an indifinite extent. What

gripped the throats of those bold experimenters in Arizona, in that
minute before the explosion, must surely have been far less the
thought of the destruction it might lead to than of the critical test
which the pyramid of calculation and hypothesis culminating in
this solemn moment was about to undergo. The quicker ending of
the war, the vast sums of money spent-what did such things matter when the very worth of science itself was on trial? That vast
and subtle edifice of equations, experiments, interwoven calculations put together little by little in the laboratories, would it survive
the test of this culminating experiment which would make of it,
in everyday terms, something tangible, efficacious, unanswerable?
Was it a dream or reality? This was the moment of truth. In a few
instants they would know....
And the flame truly sprang upward at the place and time prescribed, energy did indeed burst forth from what, to ordinary perception, was inert, noninflammable matter. Man at that moment
found himself endowed not merely with his existing strength but
with a method which would enable him to master all the forces surrounding him. For one thing he had acquired absolute and final
confidence in the instrument of mathematical analysis which for
the past century he had been forging. Not only could matter be ex-

SOME REFLECTIONS ON THE SPIRITUAL

137

pressed in terms of mathematics, it could be subjugated by mathematics. Perhaps even more important, he had discovered, in
the unconsidered unanimity of the act which circumstances had
forced upon him, another secret pointing the way to his omnipotence. For the first time in history, through the nonfortuitous conjunction of a world crisis and an unprecedented advance in means
of communication, a planned scientific experiment employing
units of a hundred or a thousand men had been successfully completed. And very swiftly. In three years a technical achievement
had been realized which might not have been accomplished in a
century of isolated efforts. Thus the greatest of Man's scientific triumphs happens also to be the one in which the largest number of
brains were enabled to join together in a single organism, at the
same time more complex and more centered, for the purpose of
research. Was this simply coincidence? Did it not rather show that
in this as in other fields nothing in the universe can resist the
converging energies of a sufficient number of minds sufficiendy
grouped and organized?
Thus considered, the fact of the release of nuclear energy,
overwhelming and intoxicating though it was, began to seem less
tremendous. Was it not simply the first act, even a mere prelude, in
a series of fantastic events which, having afforded us access to the
heart of the atom, would lead us on to overthrow, one by one, the
many other strongholds which science is already besieging? The vitalization of matter by the creation of supermolecules. The remodeling of the human organism by means of hormones. Control
of heredity and sex by the manipulation of genes and chromosomes. The readjustment and internal liberation of our souls by
direct action upon springs gradually brought to light by psychoanalysis. The arousing and harnessing of the unfathomable intellectual and effective powers still latent in the human mass .... Is
not every kind of effect produced by a suitable arrangement of

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TITE FUTURE OF MAN

matter? And have we not reason to hope that in the end we shall
be able to arrange every kind of matter, following the results we
have obtained in the nuclear field?
c It is thus, step by step, that Man, pursuing the flight of his
growing aspirations, taught by a first success to be conscious of his
power, finds himself impelled to look beyond any purely mechanical improvement of the earth's surface and increase of his external riches, and to dwell upon the growth and biological peifection if
himself. A vast accumulation of historical research and imaginative
reconstruction already existed to teach him this. For millions of
years a tide of knowledge has risen ceaselessly about him through
the stuff of the cosmos; and that in him which he calls his "I" is
nothing other than this tide atomically turning inward upon itself
This he knew already; but without knowing to what extent he
could render effective aid to the flood of life pouring through
him. But now, after that famous sunrise in Arizona, he can no
longer doubt. He not only can but, of organic necessity, he must
for the future assist in his own genesis. The first phase was the
creation of mind through the obscure, instinctive play of vital
forces. The second phase is the rebounding and acceleration of
the upward movement through the reflexive play of mind itself,
the only principle in the world capable of combining and using
for the purpose of Life, and on the planetary scale, the still-dispersed
or slumbering energies of matter and of thought. It is broadly in
these terms that we are obliged henceforth to envisage the grand
scheme of things of which, by the fact of our existence, we find
ourselves a part.
So that today there exists in each of us a man whose mind has
been opened to the meaning, the responsibility and the aspirations
of his cosmic function in the universe; a man, that is to say, who

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139

whether he likes it or not has been transformed into another man,

in his very depths.
d The great enemy of the modern world, "Public Enemy No.
I," is boredom. So long as Life did not think, and above all did not
have time to think-that is to say, while it was still developing and
absorbed with the immediate struggle to maintain itself and advance-during all that time it was untroubled by questions as to
the value and interest of action. Only when a margin of leisure for
reflection came to intervene between the task and its execution did
the workman experience the first pangs of taedium vitae. But in these
days the margin is immeasurably greater, so that it fills our horizon. Thanks to the mechanical devices which we increasingly
charge with the burden not only of production but also of calculation, the quantity of unused human energy is growing at a disturbing rate both within us and around us; and this phenomenon
will reach its climax in the near future, when nuclear forces have
been harnessed to useful work. I repeat: despite all appearances,
Mankind is bored. Perhaps this is the underlying cause of all our
troubles. We no longer know what to do with ourselves. Hence in
social terms the disorderly turmoil of individuals pursuing conflicting and egoistical aims; and, on the national scale, the chaos of
armed conflict in which, for want of a better object, the excess of
accumulated energy is destructively released ... "Idleness, mother
of all vices."
But these lowering storm clouds are what the Sense of Evolution, arising in human consciousness, is destined to disperse. Whatever may be the future economic repercussions of the atom bomb,
whether over- or underestimated, the fact remains that in laying
hands on the very core of matter we have disclosed to human existence a supreme purpose: the purpose of pursuing ever further,

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THE FUTURE OF MAN

to the very end, the forces of Life. In exploding the atom we took
our first bite at the fruit of the great discovery, and this was enough
for a taste to enter our mouths that can never be washed away: the
taste for supercreativeness. It was also enough to ensure that the
nightmare of bloody combat must vanish in the light of some form
of growing unanimity. We are told that, drunk with its own power,
mankind is rushing to self-destruction, that it will be consumed in
the fire it has so rashly lit. To me it seems that thanks to the atom
bomb it is war, not mankind, that is destined to be eliminated, and
for two reasons. The first, which we all know and long for, is that
the very excess of destructive power placed in our hands must render all armed conflict impossible. But what is even more important, although we have thought less about it, is that war will be
eliminated at its source in our hearts because, compared with the
vast field for conquest which science has disclosed to us, its triumphs will soon appear trivial and outmoded. Now that a true objective is offered us, one that we can only attain by striving with all
our power in a concerted effort, our future action can only be convergent, drawing us together in an atmosphere of sympathy. I repeat, sympathy, because to be ardently intent upon a common
object is inevitably the beginning of love. In affording us a biological, "phyletic" outlet directed upward, the shock which threatened
to destroy us will have the effect of giving us a sense of direction
and a dynamic force and finally (within certain limits) of making
us of one mind. The atomic age is not the age of destruction but
of union in research. For all their military trappings, the recent explosions at Bikini herald the birth into the world of a Mankind
both inwardly and outwardly pacified. They proclaim the coming
of the Spirit of the Earth.

e We are at the precise point where, if we are to restore complete equilibrium to the state of psychic disarray which the atomic

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141

shock has induced in us, we must sooner or later (sooner?) decide

upon our attitude to a fundamental choice; the point where our
conflicts may begin again, and fiercely, but by other means and on
a different plane.
I spoke of the Spirit of the Earth. What are we to understand
by that ambiguous phrase?
Is it the Promethean or Faustian spirit: the spirit of autonomy
and solitude; Man with his own strength and for his own sake opposing a blind and hostile Universe; the rise of consciousness concluding in an act of possession?
Is it the Christian spirit, on the contrary: the spirit of service
and of giving; Man struggling like Jacob to conquer and attain a
supreme center of consciousness which calls to him; the evolution
of the earth ending in an act of union?
Spirit of force or spirit of love? Where shall we place true
heroism, where look for true greatness, where recognize objective
truth?
It would take too long, and it is outside the scope of this paper,
to discuss the comparative worth of two opposed forms of adoration, the first of which may well have attracted poets, but only the
second of which, I think, presents itself to the reflective mind as
capable of conferring upon a universe in motion its full spiritual
coherence, its full consistence in its passage through death, and finally its whole message for our hearts. I
What does matter here, on the other hand, is to note that
Mankind cannot go much further along the road upon which it has
embarked through its latest conquests without having to settle (or
be divided intellectually on) the question of which summit it must
seek to attain.
[ Witnesses of that experiment in Arizona found, in the anguish of the last instants, that in the depths of their hearts they were praying. (Official Report: appendices.)

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T.HE FUTURE, OF MAN

In short, the final effect of the light cast by the atomic fire into
the spiritual depths of the earth is to illumine within them the
overriding question of the ultimate end of Evolution-that is to
say, the problem of God.
ETUDES, SEPTEMBER

1946.

CHAPTER 9
FAITH IN PEACE

politician and still less a prophet. Like

the rest of us I am anxiously following the proceedings at the Peace Conference, this poignant
spectacle of the two halves of Mankind wrangling
incessantly over points of detail but making no
fundamental contact because they approach everything from different angles. How will it all turn
out? I do not knOw.
But I am, if I may be allowed the term, a "geobiologist," and I have looked hard and long at the
face of Mother Earth. For this reason I feel and I
am convinced of one thing: that nothing is more
dangerous for the future of the world, nothing
moreover less warranted in Nature, than the affected resignation and false realism with which in
these days a great number of people, hunching
their shoulders and drawing in their heads, predict
(and in so doing tend to provoke) a further catastrophe in the near future. More than all the remnants of hatred lingering between nations, this
terror of inevitable war, which sees no cure for
warfare except in even greater terror, is responsible
I AM NO

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T.HE FUTURE OF HAN

for poisoning the air we breathe. That is why, humbly and devoutly
echoing a divine utterance, I feel the need to cry to those around
me, "What do ye fear, 0 men of little faith?" Do you not see that
the peace which you no longer dare to hope for (when you do not
actually scorn it as a myth) is possible and indeed certain, provided
you will grasp what the word "peace" means and what it requires of
you? Let me beg you to rise for a moment above the dust and smoke
obscuring the horizon and gaze with me at the course of the world.

IN THE FIRST

place I maintain that peace-I mean, some form of

universal and stable peace-is possible in human terms. Why should

it not be? Of course we can easily pile up arguments and evidence
to refute this hopeful view. Historically, there have always been wars,
and they have grown more harsh: therefore there will continue to be
war till the end of time. Morally, man is evil, and becoming more so
as he grows more civilized: what grounds have we for hoping that he
will improve? And scientifically, since what characterizes the development of the animal species from its beginning is the struggle for
life, how can we expect, mere humans that we are, to escape from
this essential biological condition without which there can be neither growth nor progress? I am well aware of the many reasons for
skepticism, which as a geobiologist I have pondered as much as anyone. But I must say frankly that none of them impresses me, because
to my mind all are neutralized and finally annulled by a fact of
higher importance to which, I do not know why, sociologists seem to
pay no attention. I mean the particular and unique structure of the
zoological group to which we belong. Until the coming of Man the
branches or shoots composing the different living species tended inexorably to diverge and spread ever more widely apart as they de-

FAITH IN PEACE

145

veloped. With Man, on the other hand, owing to the grand psychological phenomenon of Reflection, the branches of his species folIowan entirely different course. Instead of separating and detaching
themselves from one another they turn inward and presently intertwine, so that by degrees, races, peoples, nations merging together,
they come to form a sort of uniconscious superorganism. To eyes
that can see, this is what is now happening. And having noted this
profound change in the evolutionary process at the human level,
how can we fail to see that it changes the whole nature of the problem, so that, in seeking to forecast the development of human society in this matter of war and peace, we cannot simply project the
history of the animal world into the future, or even that of the fIrst
hundred or two hundred millennia of our own species? Biologically
speaking, what has hitherto driven living creatures to mutual destruction has clearly been the necessity which impelled them to supplant one another in order to survive. But why should their survival
depend upon their supplanting one another, except for the reason
that they existed independently of one another? Ultimately and fundamentally it is the divergence of the living branches, operating
from the highest level down to the family and the individuals composing the family, which has always been the cause of human
conflict. But suppose, on the contrary (this is the entirely new development in the case of the human race) that the outspreading and
unfolding of forms gradually gives way to a process of in-folding.
Then the previous economy of Nature undergoes a radical change:
for converging branches do not survive by eliminating each other;
they have to unite. Everything that formerly made for war now
makes for peace, and the zoological laws of conservation and survival must wear an opposite sign if they are to be applied to Man.
The whole phenomenon has been reversed. This may well account
for the terrible upheavals we have undergone; not an irresistible increase in the tide of war, but simply a clash of currents: the old dis-

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THE FUTURE OF MAN

ruptive surface forces driving against a merging in the depths which

is already taking place. Why not, after all?

to escape the conclusion, looking at things in this way,

that despite all appearances to the contrary Mankind is not only capable of living in peace but by its very structure cannotfoil eventually to
achieve peace. Here, of course, we encounter the formidable element of
human freedom of action, of which it is endlessly repeated that its
unpredictable interference with the established proceedings of Nature threatens constantly to disrupt and frustrate them. But we need
to be clear about this. No doubt it is true that up to a point we are free
as individuals to resist the trends and demands of Life. But does this
mean (it is a very different matter) that we can escape collectively
from the fundamental set of the tide? I do not think so. When I consider the inexorable nature of the universal impulse which for more
than six hundred million years has ceaselessly promoted the global
rise of consciousness on the earth's surface, driving on through an
endlessly multiplying network of opposing hazards; when I reflect
upon the irresistible forces (geographical, ethnic, economic and psychic) whose combined effect is to thrust the human mass ever more
tightly in upon itself; when finally, on the occasion of some great act
of human collaboration or devotion, I perceive as though in a lightning flash the prodigious, still-slumbering affinity which draws the
"thinking molecules" of the world together-wherever I look I am
forced to the same conclusion: that the earth is more likely to stop
turning than is Mankind, as a whole, likely to stop organizing and
unifYing itself For if this interior movement were to stop, it is the
Universe itself, embodied in Man, that would fail to curve inward
and achieve totalization. And nothing, as it seems, can prevent the
IT IS HARD

FAITH IN PEACE

147

universe from succeeding-nothing, not even our human liberties,

whose essential tendency to union may fail in detail but cannot (without "cosmic" contradiction) err "statistically." According to whether
one looks at it from the point of view of the isolated unit or in terms
of all units taken together, the human synthesis, that is to say, Peace,
shows us two complementary faces (like so many other things in this
world): fIrst a steep slope, only to be climbed by constant effort in the
face of many setbacks; and ultimately the point of balance to which
the whole system must inevitably come.

3
PEACE THEREFORE IS certain: it is only a matter of time. Inevitably, with an inevitability which is nothing but the supreme expression of liberty, we are moving laboriously and self-critically
toward it. But what exactly do we mean by this-what kind oj peace?
Only a peace, it is perfectly clear, which will allow, express and correspond to what I have called the vital in-folding of Mankind upon
itself. A sustained state of growing convergence and concentration,
a great organized endeavor: if it is not that kind of peace, then
what I have been saying is worthless and we are back with our uncertainties. This means that all hope of bourgeois tranquillity, all
dreams of "millenary" felicity in which we may be tempted to indulge, must be washed out, eliminated from our horizon. A perfectly ordered society with everyone living in effortless ease within
a fIxed framework, a world in a state of tranquil repose, all this has
nothing to do with our advancing Universe, apart from the fact
that it would rapidly induce a state of deadly tedium. Although, as
I believe, concord must of necessity eventually prevail on earth, it
can by our premises only take the form of some sort of tense cohesion pervaded and inspired with the same energies, now become

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THE FUTURE OF HAN

harmonious, which were previously wasted in bloodshed: unanimity in search and conquest, sustained among us by the universal resolve to raise ourselves upward, all straining shoulder to shoulder,
toward even greater heights of consciousness and freedom. In
short, true peace, the only kind that is biologically possible, betokens neither the ending nor the reverse of warfare, but war in a
naturally sublimated form. It reflects and corresponds to the normal state of Mankind become at last alive to the possibilities and
demands of its evolution.
And here a last question arises, bringing us to the heart of the
problem. Why is it, fmally, that men at this very moment are still
so painfully incapable of agreeing among themselves; why does the
threat of war still appear so menacing? Is it not because they have
still not purged themselves sufficiendy of the demon of immobilism? Is not the underlying antagonism which separates them at the
conference tables quite simply the eternal conflict between motion
and inertia, the cleavage between one part of the world that moves
and another that does not seek to advance? Let us not forget that
faith in peace is not possible, not justifiable, except in a world dominated by faith in the future,jaith in Man and the progress of Man.
By this token, so long as we are not all of one mind, and with a sufficient degree of ardor, it will be useless for us to seek to draw together and unite. We shall only fail.
That is why, when I look for reassurance as to our future, I do
not turn to official utterances, or "pacifist" manifestations, or conscientious objectors. I turn instinctively toward the ever more numerous institutions and associations of men where in the search for
knowledge a new spirit is silently taking shape around us-the soul
of Mankind resolved at all costs to achieve, in its total integrity, the
uttermost fulfillment of its powers and its destiny.
CAHIERS DU MONDE NOUVEAU, JANUARY

1947.

CHAPTER 10
THE FORMATION OF
THE NOOSPHERE i
A Plausible Biological Interpretation

of Human

History

an irresistible process
(since and through the work of Auguste Comte,
Cournot, Durkheim, Levy-Bruhl and many others)
the organic is tending to supersede the juridical approach in the concepts and formulations of sociolGRADUALLY,

BUT

BY

I Note in the Revue des Questions Scientijiques where this essay

originally appeared: "To avoid misunderstanding it may be
well to point out that the general synthesis oudined in these
pages makes no claim to replace or to exclude the theological account of human destiny. The description of the Noosphere and its attendant biology, as here propounded, is no
more opposed to the Divine Transcendence, to Grace, to
the Incarnation or to the ultimate Parousia, than is the science of palaeontology to the Creation, or of embryology to
the First Cause. The reverse is true. To those prepared to
follow the author in his thinking it will be apparent that biology merges into theology, and that the Word made Flesh
is to be regarded, not as a postulate of science-which
would be in the nature of things absurd-but as something,
a mysterious Alpha and Omega, taking its place within the
whole plan of the universe, both human and divine." Pierre
Charles, SJ.

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TIlE FUTURE OF HAN

ogists. A sense of collectivity, arising in our minds out of the evolutionary sense, has imposed a framework of entirely new dimensions upon all our thinking; so that Mankind has come to present
itself to our gaze less and less as a haphazard and extrinsic association of individuals, and increasingly as a biological entity
wherein, in some sort, the proceedings and the necessities of the
universe in movement are furthered and achieve their culmination.
We feel that the relation between Society and Social Organism is
no longer a matter of symbolism but must be treated in realistic
terms. But the question then arises as to how, in this shifting of values, this passage from the juridical to the organic, we may correctly
apply the analogy. How are we to escape from metaphor without
falling into the trap of establishing absurd and oversimplified parallels which would make of the human species no more than a kind
of composite, living animal? This is the difficulty which modern
sociology encounters.
It is with the idea and in the hope of advancing toward a solution of the problem that I here venture, basing my argument on
the widest possible zoological and biological grounds, to put forward a coherent view of the "thinking Earth" in which I believe
we may find undistorted but yet embodying the corrections required by a change of order, the whole process of Life and of vitalization.
To the natural scientist Mankind offers a profoundly enigmatic
object of study. Anatomically, as Linnaeus perceived, Man differs
so little from the other higher primates that, in strict terms of the
criteria normally applied in zoological classification, his group represents no more than a very small offshoot, certainly far less than
an Order, within the framework of the category as a whole. But in
"biospherical" terms, if I may be allowed the word, man's place on
earth is not only predominant but to a certain extent exclusive
among living creatures. The small family of hominids, the last

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151

shoot to emerge from the main stem of Evolution, has of itself

achieved a degree of expansion equal to, or even greater than, that
of the greatest vertebrate layers (reptile or mammal) that ever inhabited the earth. Moreover, at the rate it is going, we can already
foresee the day when it will have abolished or domesticated all
other forms of animal and even plant life.
What does this mean?
I believe that the paradox will disappear and the contradictions be reconciled (with the immediate prospect of a vast field of
progress for the new sociology) if we adopt the following premises:

a We must first give their place in the mechanism of biological evolution to the special forces released by the psychic phenomenon of hominization;
b Secondly we must enlarge our approach to encompass the
formation, taking place before our eyes and arising out of this factor of hominization, of a particular biological entity such as has
never before existed on earth-the growth, outside and above the
biosphere, 2 of an added planetary layer, an envelope of thinking
substance, to which, for the sake of convenience and symmetry, I
have given the name of the N oosphere. s
Let us pursue the matter by successively examining (without at
any time leaving the plane of scientific thought):
1. The birth (or, what amounts to the same thing, the zoo-

logical structure);
2. The anatomy;
2 This term, invented by Suess, is sometimes interpreted (Vernadsky) in the
sense of the "terrestrial zone containing life." I use it here to mean the actual
layer of vitalized substance enveloping the earth.
S From noos, mind: the terrestrial sphere of thinking substance.

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T.HE FUTURE OF MAN

3. The physiology;
4. Finally, the principal phases of growth of the Noosphere.

1. Birth and Zoological Structure of the Noosphere

I HAVE REFERRED to the almost contradictory aspect which the
section "homo" in the order of primates assumes in the eyes of
natural scientists: that of a single family suddenly emerging, at the
end of the Tertiary era, to achieve the dimensions of a zoological
layer in itself.
If we are to appreciate this strange phenomenon we must look
back over the normal development of living forms before the coming of man. It can be characterized in two words: from its first beginnings it never ceased to be "phyletic" and "dispersive." Phyletic
in the first place: every species (or group of species) formed a sort
of shoot (or phylum) which was obliged to evolve "orthogenetically,,4 along certain prescribed lines (reduction or adaptation of

limbs, complication of teeth, increased specialization as carnivores

or herbivores, runners, burrowers, swimmers, flyers, etc.); and secondly dispersive, since the different phyla separated at certain
points of proliferation, certain "knots" which we may suppose to
be periods of particularly active mutation. 5 Until the coming of
man the pattern of the Tree of Life was always that of a fan, a
spread of morphological radiations diverging more and more,

The word "orthogenesis" is here used in its widest sense: "A definite orientation offsetting the effect of chance in the play of heredity."
5 Dr. A. Blanc has recently given the name of "lysis" to this phenomenon of the
releasing of morphological forces.

THE FORMATION OF THE NOOSPHERE

153

each radiation culminating in a new "knot" and breaking into a

fan of its own.
But at the human level a radical change, seemingly due to the
spiritual phenomenon of Reflection, overtook this law of development. It is generally accepted that what distinguishes man psychologically from other living creatures is the power acquired by his
consciousness of turning in upon itsel The animal knows, it has
been said; but only man, among animals, knows that he knows.
This faculty has given birth to a host of new attributes in menfreedom of choice, foresight, the ability to plan and to construct,
and many others. So much is clear to everyone. But what has perhaps not been sufficiendy noted is that, still by virtue of this power
of Reflection, living hominized elements become capable (indeed
are under an irresistible compulsion) of drawing close to one another, of communicating, fmally of uniting. The centers of consciousness, acquiring autonomy as they emerge into the sphere of
reflection, tend to escape from their own phylum, which granulates
into a line of individuals. Instead they pass tangentially into a field
of attraction which forces one toward another, fiber to fiber, phylum to phylum: with the result that the entire system of zoological
radiations which in the ordinary course would have culminated in
a knot and a fanning out of new divergent lines, now tends to fold
in upon itself. In time, with the reflexion of the individual upon
himself, there comes an inflexion, then a clustering together of the
living shoots, soon to be followed (because of the biological advantage which the group gains by its greater cohesion) by the
spread of the living complex thus constituted over the whole surface of the globe. The critical point of reflexion for the biological
unit becomes the critical point of "inflexion" for the phyla, which
in turn becomes the point of "circumflexion" (if I may use the
word) for the whole sheaf of inward-folding phyla. Or, if you pre-

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THE FUTURE OF HAN

fer, the reflective coiling of the individual upon himself leads to the
coiling of the phyla upon each other, which in turn leads to the
coiling of the whole system about the closed convexity of the celestial body which carries us. Or we may talk in yet other terms of
psychic centration, phyletic intertwining and planetary envelopment: three genetically associated occurrences which, taken together, give birth to the Noosphere.
Viewed in this aspect, entirely borne out by experience, the
collective human organism which the economists so hazily envisage emerges decisively from the mists of speculation to take its
place and assume the brilliance of a clearly defined star of the first
magnitude in the zoological sky. Until this point was reached Nature, in her generalized effort of "complexification," to which I
shall return later, had failed for lack of suitable material to achieve
any grouping of individuals outside the family structure (the termitary, the ant hill, the hive). With man, thanks to the extraordinary agglutinative property of thought, she has at last been able to
achieve, throughout an entire living group, a total synthesis of
which the process is still clearly apparent, if we trouble to look, in
the "scaled" structure of the modern human world. Anthropologists, sociologists and historians have long noted, without being
very well able to account for it, the enveloping and concretionary nature of the innumerable ethnic and cultural layers whose
growth, expansion and rhythmic overlapping endow humanity
with its present aspect of extreme variety in unity. This "bulbary"
appearance becomes instandy and luminously clear if, as suggested
above, we regard the human group, in zoological terms, as simply
a normal sheaf of phyla in which, owing to the emergence of a
powerful field of attraction, the fundamental divergent tendency of
the evolutionary radiations is overcome by a stronger force inducing them to converge. In present-day mankind, within (as I call it)
the Noosphere, we are for the first time able to contemplate, at the

THE FORMATION OF THE NOOSPHERE

155

very top of the evolutionary tree, the result that can be produced
by a synthesis not merely of individuals but of entire zoological
shoots.
Thus we find ourselves in the presence, in actual possession, of
the superorganism we have been seeking, of whose existence we
were intuitively aware. The collective mankind which the sociologists needed for the furtherance of their speculations and formulations now appears scientifically defmed, manifesting itself in its
proper time and place, like an object entirely new and yet awaited
in the sky of life. It remains for us to observe the world by the light
it sheds, which throws into astonishing relief the great ensemble of
everyday phenomena with which we have always lived, without
perceiving their reality, their immediacy or their vastness.

2. Anatomy of the Noosphere

IT MAY BE said, speaking in very general terms, that in asserting
the zoological nature of the Noosphere we confirm the sociologists' view of human institutions as organic. Once the exceptional,
but fundamentally biological, nature of the collective human complex is accepted, nothing prevents us (provided we take into account the modifications which have occurred in the dimensions in
which we are working) from treating as authentic organs the diverse social organisms which have gradually evolved in the course
of the history of the human race. Directly Mankind, from the nature of its origin, presents itself to our experience as a true superbody, the internal connections of this body, by reason of
homogeneity, can only be treated and understood as superorgans
and supermembers. Thus, for example (due allowance being made
for the change of scale and environment), it becomes legitimate to
talk in the sphere of economics of the existence and development

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THE FUTURE OF HAN

of a circulatory or a nutritional system applicable to Mankind as a

whole.
That we must proceed slowly and critically in this attempt to
construct an "anatomy" of society is evident. Used without discernment and a profound knowledge of biology, the procedure is
in danger of lapsing into puerile and sterile subtleties. But progressively pursued, and proceeding from certain major fields of
knowledge, the method shows itself to be both fruitful and illuminating. This is what I shall seek to demonstrate in the three spheres
of culture, machinery and research, by successively "dissecting"
first the hereditary, then the mechanical and finally the cerebral
apparatus of the Noosphere.

a The apparatus oj heredity. One of the paradoxes attaching to

the human species, a cause of some bitterness among biologists, is
that every man comes into the world as defenseless, and as incapable of fmding his way single-handed in our civilization, as the
newborn Sinanthropus a hundred thousand years ago. As Jean
Rostand6 has remarked, during the many centuries man has
striven to improve himself the fruits of his labors have brought
about no organic change in him, they have not affected his chromosomes. So much so, the author goes on to imply, that all the advances on which we so pride ourselves remain biologically
precarious, superficial or even exterior to ourselves. There is much
that might be said about this; but let us pass over the question of
whether we have not undergone some modification, even in our
chromosomes, since the era of the pre-Hominids or even that of
ero-Magnon man. Let us concede provisionally that we have developed no hereditary trait in that period rendering us more
innately capable of perception and movement in the new dimen6

Pensees d'un biologiste, pp. 32-5.

TIlE FORMl\TION OF THE NOOSPHERE

157

sions of society, space and time. How does this affect our appreciation and evaluation of human progress? I shall show that the answer is splendid and highly encouraging-provided we do not lose
sight of the organic reality of the Noosphere.
"Separate the newborn child from human society," you may
say, "and you will see how weak he is!" But surely it is clear that
this act of isolation is precisely what must not be done, and indeed
cannot be done. From the moment when, as I have said, the phyletic
strands began to reach toward one another, weaving the first outlines of the Noosphere, a new matrix, coextensive with the whole
human group, was formed about the newly born human child-a
matrix out of which he cannot be wrenched without incurring mutilation in the most physical core of his biological being. Traditions
of every kind, hoarded and manifested in gesture and language, in
schools, libraries, museums, bodies of law and religion, philosophy
and science-everything that accumulates, arranges itself, recurs
and adds to itself, becoming the collective memory of the human
race-all this we may see as no more than an outer garment, an
epiphenomenon precariously superimposed upon all the other edifices of Nature (the only truly organic ones, as it may appear): but
it is precisely this optical illusion which we have to overcome if our
realism is to reach to the heart of the matter. It is undoubtedly true
that before Man hereditary characteristics were transmitted principally through the reproductive cells. But after the coming of
Man another kind of heredity shows itself and becomes predominant; one which was indeed foreshadowed and essayed long before
Man, among the highest forms of insects and vertebrates? This is
the heredity of example and education. In Man, as though by a
A small cynocephalus (baboon), born in captivity, will commit all kinds of
blunders when set free (heredity of education). But in similar conditions a
young otter, being put in the water, will at once know how to behave (chromosomic heredity). Cf. Eugene N. Marais, The Soul qf the V1Ihite Ant.

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THE FUTURE OF MAN

stroke of genius on the part of Life, and in accord with the grand
phenomenon of phyletic coiling, heredity, hitherto primarily chromosomic (that is to say, carried by the genes) becomes primarily
"Noospheric"-transmitted, that is to say, by the surrounding environment. In this new form, and having lost nothing of its physical reality (indeed, as much superior to its fIrst state as the
Noosphere is superior to the simple, isolated phylum) it acquires,
by becoming exterior to the individual, an incomparable substance
and capacity. For let me put this question: what system of chromosomes would be as capable as our immense educational system
of indefInitely storing and infallibly preserving the huge array of
truths and systematized technical knowledge which, steadily accumulating, represents the patrimony of mankind?
Exteriorization, enrichment: we must not lose sight of these
two words. We shall come upon them again, quite unchanged,
when we turn to consider the machine.

b The mechanical apparatus. The fact was noted long ago: 8 what
has enabled man zoologically to emerge and triumph upon earth,
is that he has avoided the anatomical mechanization of his body.
In all other animals we fmd a tendency, irresistible and clearly apparent, for the living creature to convert into tools, its own limbs,
its teeth and even its face. We see paws turned into pincers, paws
equipped with hooves for running, burrowing paws and muzzles,
winged paws, beaks, tusks and so on-innumerable adaptations
giving birth to as many phyla, and each ending in a blind alley of
specialization. On this dangerous slope leading to organic imprisonment Man alone has pulled up in time. Having arrived at the
tetrapod stage he contrived to stay there without further reducing
8

e.g., Edouard Le Roy, Les Origines Humaines et Ie Probteme de ['Intelligence.

'I'll E. FORMf\TION OF THE NOOSPHERE

159

the versatility of his limbs. Possessing hands as well as intelligence,

and being able, in consequence, to devise artificial instruments and
multiply them indefinitely without becoming somatically involved,
he has succeeded, while increasing and boundlessly extending his
mechanical efficiency, in preserving intact his freedom of choice
and power of reason.
The significance and biological function of the tool at last separated from the limb has, as I was saying, long been recognized; and
it has long been realized that the tool separated from Man develops
a kind of autonomous vitality.9 We have passive machines giving
birth to the active machine, which in turn is followed by the automatic machine. Those are the main classifications; but within each
classification what an immense proliferation there is of branches
and offshoots, each endowed with a sort of evolutionary potential,
irresistible both logically and biologically! We have only to think of
the automobile or the airplane.
All this has been noted and often said. But what has not yet
been sufficiently taken into account, although it explains everything, is the extent to which this process of mechanization is a
collective affair, and the way in which it finally creates, on the periphery of the human race, an organism that is collective in its nature and amplitude.
Let us consider this.
With and since the coming of Man, as we have seen, a new law
of Nature has come into force-that of convergence. The convergence of the phyla both ensues from, and of itself leads to, the
coming together of individuals within the peculiarly "attaching" atmosphere created by the phenomenon of Reflexion. And out of this

e.g., Jacques Lafitte, Riflexions sur fa Science de la lvlachine. La Nouvelle ]ournee, no.

2I, I932.

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THE FUTURE OF MAN

convergence, as I have said, there arises a very real social inheritance,

produced by the synthetic recording of human experience. But if we
look for it we may observe precisely the same phenomenon in the
case of the machine. Every new tool conceived in the course of history, although it may have been invented in the fIrst place by an individual, has rapidly become the instrument of all men; and not
merely by being passed from hand to hand, spreading from one man
to his neighbor, but by being adopted corporatively by all men together. What started as an individual creation has been immediately
and automatically transformed into a global, quasi-autonomous
possession of the entire mass of men. We see this from prehistoric
times, and we see it with a vivid clarity in the present era of industrial
explosion. Consider the locomotive, the dynamo, the airplane, the
cinema, the radio-anything. Can there be any doubt that these innumerable appliances are born and grow, successively and in unison,
from roots established in an existing mechanical world-state? For a
long time past there have been neither isolated inventors nor machines. To an increasing extent every machine comes into being as a
function of every other machine; and, again to an increasing extent,
all the machines on earth, taken together, tend to form a single, vast,
organized mechanism. Necessarily following the inflexive tendency
of the zoological phyla, the mechanical phyla in their turn curve inward in the case of man, thus accelerating and multiplying their own
growth and forming a single gigantic network girdling the earth.
And the basis, the inventive core of this vast apparatus, what is it if
not the thinking center of the Noosphere?
When Homo Jaber came into being the fIrst rudimentary tool
was born as an appendage of the human body. Today the tool has
been transformed into a mechanized envelope (coherent within itself and immensely varied) appertaining to all mankind. From being somatic it has become "noospheric." And just as the individual
at the outset was enabled by the tool to preserve and develop his

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161

first, elemental psychic potentialities, so today the Noosphere, disgorging the machine from its innermost organic recesses, is capable of, and in process of, developing a brain of its own.

c The cerebral apparatus. Between the human brain, with its milliards of interconnected nerve cells, and the apparatus of social
thought, with its millions of individuals thinking collectively, there
is an evident kinship which biologists of the stature of Julian Huxley have not hesitated to examine and expand on criticallines. 10
On the one hand we have a single brain, formed of nervous nuclei, and on the other a Brain of brains. It is true that between
these two organic complexes a major difference exists. Whereas in
the case of the individual brain thought emerges from a system of
non thinking nervous fibers, in the case of the collective brain each
separate unit is in itself an autonomous center of reflection. If the
comparison is to be a just one we must, at every point of resemblance, take this difference into account. But when all allowance is
made the fact remains that the analogies between the two systems
are so numerous, and so compelling, that reason forbids us to regard the parallel as either purely superficial or a mere matter of
chance. Let us take a rapid glance at the structure and functioning
of what might be termed the "cerebroid" organ of the Noosphere.
First the structure: and here I must turn back to the machine.
I have said that, thanks to the machine, Man has contrived both
severally and collectively to prevent the best of himself from being
absorbed in purely physiological and functional uses, as has happened to other animals. But in addition to its protective note, how
can we fail to see the machine as playing a constructive part in the
creation of a truly collective consciousness? It is not merely a matter of the machine which liberates, relieving both individual and
10

Lecture delivered in New York and published in the Scientific Alonthry, 1940.

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THE FUTURE OF MAN

collective thought of the trammels which hinder its progress, but

also of the machine which creates, helping to assemble, and to
concentrate in the form of an ever more deeply penetrating organism, all the reflective elements upon earth.
I am thinking, of course, in the fIrst place of the extraordinary
network of radio and television communications which, perhaps
anticipating the direct syntonization of brains through the mysterious power of telepathy, already link us all in a sort of "etherized"
universal consciousness.
But I am also thinking of the insidious growth of those astonishing electronic computers which, pulsating with signals at the
rate of hundreds of thousands a second, not only relieve our brains
of tedious and exhausting work but, because they enhance the essential (and too little noted) factor of "speed of thought," are also
paving the way for a revolution in the sphere of research. And
there are other forms of technical equipment, such as the electronic microscope whereby our sensory vision, the principal source
of our ideas, has been enabled to leap the optical gap between the
cell and the direct observation of large molecules.
There is a school of philosophy which smiles disdainfully at
these and kindred forms of progress. "Commercial machines," we
hear them say, "machines for people in a hurry, designed to gain
time and money." One is tempted to call them blind, since they fail
to perceive that all these material instruments, ineluctably linked in
their birth and development, are fInally nothing less than the manifestation of a particular kind of super-Brain, capable of attaining
mastery over some supersphere in the universe and in the realm of
thought. "Everything for the individual!"-such was the reaffrrmation of my brilliant friend, Gaylord Simpson,!1 in a recent outburst

11

George Gaylord Simpson, "The Role of the Individual in Evolution," JourI, 1941.

nalof the Washington Academy of Sciences, vol. 31, no.

TIlE FORMATION OF THE NOOSPIIERE

163

of antitotalitarian fervor. But let us grasp this point clearly. No

doubt it is true, scientifically speaking, that no distinct center of superhuman consciousness has yet appeared on earth (at least in the

living world) for which it may be claimed or predicted that one day
it will exercise a centralizing function, in relation to associated human thought, similar to the role of the individual "I" in relation to
the cells of the brain. But that is far from saying that, influenced by
the links which unite them, our grouped minds working together
are not capable of achieving results which no one member of the
group could achieve alone, and from which every individual within
the collective process benefits "integrally," although still not in the
total sense.
Vile have only to consider any of the new concepts and intuitions which, particularly during the past century, have become or
are in process of becoming the indestructible keystones and fabric
of our thought-the idea of the atom, for example, or of organic
Time or Evolution. It is surely obvious that no man on earth could
alone have evolved them; no one man, thinking by himself, can encompass, master or exhaust them; yet every man on earth shares,
in himself, in the universal heightening of consciousness promoted
by the existence in our minds of these new concepts of matter and
new dimensions of cosmic reality. It is not a question of simple
repetitive "summation" but of synthesis. Not, it is true (at least not
yet, here below) synthesis pushed to the point where it calls into being some new kind of autonomous supercenter in the depths of
the synthesized, but a synthesis which at least suffices to erect, as
though it were a vault above our heads, a sphere of mutually reinforced consciousness, the seat, support and instrument of supervision and superideas. No doubt everything proceeds from the
individual and in the first instance depends on the individual; but
it is on a higher level than the individual that everything achieves
its fulfillment.

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THE FUTURE OF MAN

We have touched upon the apparatus of heredity, machinery

and mind. It would be rash and often absurd to attempt to pursue
further, and in detail, the comparison between the organism of the
individual and that of the Noosphere. But the fact that the general
line of analogy is valid and fruitful seems to me to be defmitely
proved by the very remarkable fact that these three systems, taken
in conjunction, not only form a complementary and coherent
whole, consistent within itself, but, which is even more easy of
demonstration, that this whole is capable of breaking into motion
and of working-that itfonctions, in a word.

3. The Physiology of the Noosphere

ONE OF THE most impressive effects of the power of collective vision which is conferred upon us by the formation of a common
brain is the perception of "great slow movements," so vast and
slow that they are only observable over immense stretches of time.
The currents that give birth to sidereal systems; the folds and upthrusts that form mountains and continents; the ebb and flow
within the biosphere-in each case what we had supposed to be
the extreme of immobility and stability is discovered to be a state
of fundamental and irresistible movement.
So it is with the N oosphere.
I have already attempted a sort of anatomy of the major organs of the Noosphere. It remains for me to show that these separate parts, planetary in their dimensions, are not designed to
remain in a state of rest. The formidable wheels turn, and in their
combined action hidden forces are engendered which circulate
throughout the gigantic system. What goes on around us in the human mass is not merely a flurry of disordered movement, as in a
gas; something is purposefully stirring, as in a living being.

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165

Let us try to gain some understanding of this vast internal

process of which we are all a part and to which we all contribute,
almost withou t knowing it.
At the heart of the entire movement, like the mainspring of a
clock, there reappears, in identifiable form, what we have termed
the inflexion of human stems upon themselves. It was of this mysteriously compelled in-folding, as I have said, that the human race
was born. I will now add that it is through the continued operation
of the same movement that the race persists and functions. Indeed,
we have only to open our eyes to be as it were spellbound by the
dazzling vision, the spectacle of human shoots caught in the combined play of irresistible forces which slowly but surely continue to
close and coil about us. Despite the havoc of war, the population
on the limited surface of this planet which bears us is increasing in
almost geometrical progression; while at the same time the scope
of each human molecule, in terms of movement, information and
influence, is becoming rapidly coextensive with the whole surface
of the globe. A state of tightening compression, in short; but even
more, thanks to the biological intermingling developed to its uttermost extent by the appearance of Reflection, a state of organized
compenetration, in which each element is linked with every other.
No one can deny that a network (a world network) of economic
and psychic affiliations is being woven at ever-increasing speed
which envelops and constantly penetrates more deeply within each
of us. With every day that passes it becomes a little more impossible for us to act or think otherwise than collectively.
What is the significance of this multiform embrace, both external and internal, against which we struggle in vain? Can it mean
that, caught in the ramifications of a sightless mechanism, we are
destined to perish by stifling each other? No; for as the coil grows
tighter and the tension rises the forces of supercompression in the
vast generator find an effective outlet.

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THE FUTURE OF MAN

We begin to catch sight of it in the study of an all too familiar

phenomenon, disquieting in appearance, but in fact highly revealing and reassuring-the phenomenon oj unemployment. Owing to the
extraordinarily rapid development of the machine a rapidly increasing number of workers, running into tens of millions, are out
of work. The experts gaze in dismay at this economic apparatus,
their own creation, which instead of absorbing all the units of human energy with which they furnish it rejects an increasing number, as though the machine they devised were working to defeat
their purpose. Economists are horrified by the growing number of
idle hands. Why do they not look a litde more to biology for
guidance and enlightenment? In its progress through a million
centuries, mounting from the depths of the unconscious to consciousness, when has Life proceeded otherwise than by releasing
psychic forces through the medium of the mechanisms it has devised? We have only to consider the evolution of the nervous system in the animal series, proceeding by chronological stages over a
great period of time. Or let the theorists consider themselves. How
are they capable of reasoning at all if not because within them
their visceral system has been taught to function automatically,
while around them society is so well organized that they have both
the strength and the leisure to calculate and reflect? What is true
for each individual man is precisely what is happening at this moment on the higher level of mankind. Like a heavenly body that
heats as it contracts, such, and in a twofold respect, is the Noosphere: fIrst in intensity, the degree in which its tension and psychic
temperature are heightened by the coming together and mutual
stimulation of thinking centers throughout its extent; and also
quantitatively through the growing number of people able to use
their brains because they are freed from the need to labor with
their hands. So that to attempt to suppress unemployment by in-

TIlE FORl'1ATION OF THE NOOSPIIERE

167

corp orating the unemployed in the machine would be against the

purpose of Nature and a biological absurdity. The Noosphere can
function only by releasing more and more spiritual energy with an
ever higher potential.
To all this you may remark as follows: "Very well; let us agree
that the combined effect of phyletic intertwining and mechanical
progress causes life to boil over. But in that case, and surely it is the
root of the matter, how are we to canalize and use the rising tide
of liberated consciousness, that is still so crude and unformed?"
My answer is: "By transforming it." And at this point, having invited you to reflect upon the phenomenon of unemployment, I will
draw your attention to another and no less universal phenomenon,
equally characteristic of the present age-the phenomenon if research.
Understanding, discovery, invention ... From the first awakening of his reflective consciousness, Man has been possessed by
the demon of discovery; but until a very recent epoch this profound need remained latent, diffused and unorganized in the human mass. In every past generation true seekers, those by vocation
or profession, are to be found; but in the past they were no more
than a handful of individuals, generally isolated, and of a type
that was virtually abnormal-the "inquisitive." Today, without our
having noticed it, the situation is entirely changed. In fields embracing every aspect of physical matter, life and thought, the
research-workers are to be numbered in hundreds of thousands,
and they no longer work in isolation but in teams endowed with
penetrative powers that it seems nothing can withstand. In this respect too, the movement is becoming generalized and is accelerating to the point where we must be blind not to see in it an essential
trend in human affairs. Research, which until yesterday was a luxury pursuit, is in process of becoming a major, indeed the principal, function of humanity. As to the significance of this great event,

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THE FUTURE OF MAN

I for my part can see only one way to account for it. It is that the
enormous surplus of free energy released by the in-folding of the
Noosphere is destined by a natural evolutionary process to flow
into the construction and functioning of what I have called its
"Brain." As in the case of all the organisms preceding it, but on an
immense scale, humanity is in process of "cerebralizing" itsel
And our proper biological course, in making use of what we call
our leisure, is to devote it to a new kind of work on a higher plane:
that is to say, to a general and concerted effort of vision. The Noosphere, in short, is a stupendous thinking machine.
It is in this sense alone, as I believe, that the horizon appears
and we can gain a clear view of the human world surrounding us.
In harmony with the cosmic impulse which leads to the constant
disintegration of atoms and the attendant release of energy, Life
(though probably localized on a few rare planets) compels us increasingly to view it as an underlying current in the flow of which
matter tends to order itself upon itself with the emergence of consciousness. On the one hand we have physical radiation bound
up with disintegration; and on the other hand psychic radiation
bound up with an ordered aggregation of the stuff of the universe.
In the eyes of nineteenth-century science the interiorization of the
world, leading to the phenomenon of Reflection, might still pass
for an accident and an anomaly. We now see it to be a clearly defmed process coextensive with the whole of reality. Complexification due to the growth of consciousness, or consciousness the
outcome of complexity: experimentally the two terms are inseparable. Like a pair of related quantities they vary simultaneously.
And surely it is within this generalized cosmic process that the
Noosphere, a particular and extreme case, has its natural place and
takes its shape. The maximum of complication, represented by
phyletic in-folding, and in consequence the maximum of consciousness emerging from the system of individual brains, coordi-

TIlE FORp1/\TION OF THE, NOOSP.HERE

169

nated and mutually supporting. And this is exactly what was to be

expected.
But it is assuredly a remarkable coincidence that in justifying
the organic interpretation of the Phenomenon of Man, as we have
sought to do, we should also be paving the way for a reasonable
forecast as to our future destiny, and the fate which is reserved for
us at the end of Time.

4. The Phases and Future of the Noosphere

WE HAVE FOUND

it possible to express the social totalization

which we are undergoing in terms of a clearly identifiable biological process: proceeding from this we may surely look into the future and predict the course of the trajectory we are describing.
Once we have accepted that the formation of a collective human
organism, a Noosphere, conforms to the general law of recurrence
which leads to the heightening of Consciousness in the universe as
a function of complexity, a vast prospect opens before us. To what
regions and through what phases may we suppose that the extension of the rising curve of hominization will carry us?
Immediately confronting us (indeed, already in progress) we
have what may be called a "phase of planetization."
It can truly be said, no doubt, that the human group succeeded
long ago in covering the face of the earth, and that over a long period its state of zoological ubiquity has tended to be transformed
into an organized aggregate; but it must be clear that the transformation is only now reaching its point of full maturity. Let us glance
over the main stages of this long history of aggregation. First, in
the depths of the past, we find a thin scattering of hunting groups
spread here and there throughout the Ancient World. At a later
stage, some fifteen thousand years ago, we see a second scattering,

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THE FUTURE OF MAN

very much more dense and clearly defined: that of agricultural

groups installed in fertile valleys---centers of social life where man,
arrived at a state of stability, achieved the expansive powers which
were to enable him to invade the New World. Then, only seven or
eight thousand years ago, there came the first civilizations, each
covering a large part of a continent. These were succeeded by the
real empires. And so on ... patches of humanity growing steadily
larger, overlapping, often absorbing one another, thereafter to
break apart and again reform in still larger patches. As we view this
process, the spreading, thickening and irresistible coalescence, can
we fail to perceive its eventual outcome? The last blank spaces have
vanished from the map of mankind. There is contact everywhere,
and how close it has become! Today, embedded in the economic
and psychic network which I have described, two great human
blocks alone remain confronting one another. Is it not inevitable
that in one way or another these two will eventually coalesce? Preceded by a tremor, a wave of "shared impulse" extending to the
very depths of the social and ethnic masses in their need and claim
to participate, without distinction of class or color, in the onward
march of human affairs, the final act is already visibly preparing.
Although the form is not yet discernible, mankind tomorrow will
awaken to a "panorganized" world.
But, and we must make no mistake about this, there will be an
essential difference, a difference of order, between the unitary state
toward which we are moving and everything we have hitherto
known. The greatest empires in history have never covered more
than fragments of the earth. What will be the specifically new
manifestations which we have to look for in the transition to totali!y? Until now we have never seen mind manifest itself on this
planet except in separated groups and in the static state. What
sort of current will be generated, what unknown territory will be
opened up, when the circuit is suddenly completed?

TIlE FORMATION OF THE, NOOSPHERE

171

I believe that what is now being shaped in the bosom of planetized humanity is essentially a rebounding of evolution upon itsel
We all know about the real or imaginary projectiles whose impetus
is renewed by the firing of a series of staged rockets. Some such
procedure, it seems to me, is what Life is preparing at this moment,
to accomplish the supreme, ultimate leap. The first stage was the
elaboration of lower organisms, up to and including Man, by
the use and irrational combination of elementary sources of energy received or released by the planet. The second stage is the
superevolution of Man, individually and collectively, by the use of
refined forms of energy scientifically harnessed and applied in the
bosom of the N oosphere, thanks to the coordinated efforts of all
men working reflectively and unanimously upon themselves. Who
can say whither, coiled back upon our own organism, our combined knowledge of the atom, of hormones, of the cell and the
laws of heredity will take us? Who can say what forces may be released, what radiations, what new arrangements never hitherto attempted by Nature, what formidable powers we may henceforth be
able to use, for the first time in the history of the world? This is Life
setting out upon a second adventure from the springboard it established when it created humankind.
But all this is no more than the outward face of the phenomenon. In becoming planetized humanity is acquiring new physical
powers which will enable it to superorganize matter. And, even
more important, is it not possible that by the direct converging of
its members it will be able, as though by resonance, to release psychic powers whose existence is still unsuspected? I have already
spoken of the recent emergence of certain new faculties in our
minds, the sense of genetic duration and the sense of collectivity.
Inevitably, as a natural consequence, this awakening must enhance
in us, from all sides, a generalized sense of the organic, through
which the entire complex of interhuman and intercosmic relations

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THE FUTURE OF MAN

will become charged with an immediacy, an intimacy and a realism such as has long been dreamed of and apprehended by certain
spirits particularly endowed with the "sense of the universal," but
which has never yet been collectively applied. And it is in the depths
and by grace of this new inward sphere, the attribute of planetized
Life, that an event seems possible which has hitherto been incapable of realization: I mean the pervasion of the human mass by
the power of sympathy. It may in part be passive sympathy, a communication of mind and spirit that will make the phenomenon of
telepathy, still sporadic and haphazard, both general and normal.
But above all it will be a state of active sympathy in which each
separate human element, breaking out of its insulated state under
the impulse of the high tensions generated in the Noosphere, will
emerge into a field of prodigious affinities, which we may already
conjecture in theory. For if the power of attraction between simple
atoms is so great, what may we not expect if similar bonds are contracted between human molecules? Humanity, as I have said, is
building its composite brain beneath our eyes. May it not be that
tomorrow, through the logical and biological deepening of the
movement drawing it together, it will fmd its heart, without which
the ultimate wholeness of its powers of unification can never be
fully achieved? To put it in other words, must not the constructive
developments now taking place within the Noosphere in the realm
of sight and reason necessarily also penetrate to the sphere of feeling? The idea may seem fantastic when one looks at our present
world, still dominated by the forces of hatred and repulsion. But is
not this simply because we refuse to heed the admonitions of science, which is daily proving to us, in every field, that seemingly impossible changes become easy and even inevitable directly there is
a change in the order of the dimensions?
To me two things, at least, now seem certain. The first is that,
following the state of collective organization we have already

TIlE FORl'1i\TION OF TIU, NOOSPHERE

173

achieved, the process of planetization can only advance ever further

in the direction of growing unanimity. And the second is that this
growth of unanimity, being of its nature convergent, cannot continue indefinitely without reaching the natural limit of its course.
Every cone has an apex. In the case of this human aggregation how
shall we seek, not to imagine but to define the supreme point of coalescence? In terms of the strictly phenomenal viewpoint which I
have adopted throughout this paper, it seems to me that the following may be said:
What at the very beginning made the first man, was, as we
know, the heightening of the individual consciousness to the point
where it acquired the power of Reflection. And the measure of human progress during the centuries which followed is, as I have
sought to show, the increase of this reflective power through the interaction, or conjugated thought, of conscious minds working
upon one another. Well, what will finally crown and limit collective
humanity at the ultimate stage of its evolution, is and must be, by
reason of continuity and homogeneity, the establishment of a sort
of focal point at the heart of the reflective apparatus as a whole.
If we concede this the whole of human history appears as a
progress between two critical points: from the lowest point of elementary consciousness to the ultimate, noospherical point of Reflection. In biological terms, humanity will have completed itself
and fully achieved its internal equilibrium only when it is psychically centered upon itself (which may yet take several million
years).
In a final effort of thought let us remove ourselves to that ultimate summit where in the remote future, but seenfrom the present, the
tide which bears us reaches its culmination. Is there anything further to be discerned beyond that last peak etched against the horizon?-Yes and no.
In the first place no, because at that mysterious pole crowning

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THE FUTURE OF MAN

our ascent the compass that has guided us runs amok. It was by the
law of "consciousness and complexity" that we set our course: a
consciousness becoming ever more centered, emerging from the
heart of an increasingly vast system of more numerous and better
organized elements. But now we are faced by an entirely new situation: for the fIrst time we have no multiple material under our
hands. Unless, as seems infmitely improbable, we are destined by
contact with other thinking planets, across the abysses of space and
time, some day to become integrated within an organized complex
composed of a number of Noospheres, humanity, having reached
maturity, will remain alone, face to face with itsel And at the same
time our law of recurrence, based on the play of interrelated syntheses, will have ceased to operate.
So in one sense it all seems to be over; as though, having
reached its fInal point of Noospheric Reflexion, the cosmic impulse
toward consciousness has become exhausted, condemned to sink
back into the state of disintegration implacably imposed on it by
the laws of stellar physics. But in another sense nothing will be
ended: for at this point, and at the height of its powers, individual
consciousness acquires the formidable property something else
comes into operation, a primary attribute of Reflection concerning
which we have hitherto said nothing-the will to survive. In reflecting
upon itself the individual consciousness acquires the formidable
property of foreseeing the future, that is to say, death. And at the
same time it knows that it is psychologically impossible for it to continue to work in pursuance of the purposes of Life unless something, the best of the work, is preserved from total destruction. In
this resides the whole problem of action. We have not yet taken suffIcient account of the fact that this demand for the Absolute, not always easily discernible in the isolated human unit, is one of the
impulses which grow and are intensifIed in the Noosphere. Applied

TIlE FOR.HATION OF 'flU:, NOOSPIIERE

175

to the individual the idea of total extinction may not at first sight
appall us; but extended to humanity as a whole it revolts and sickens us. The fact is that the more Humanity becomes aware of its
duration, its number and its potentialities-and also of the enormous burden it must bear in order to survive-the more does it realize that if all this labor is to end in nothing, then we have been
cheated and can only rebel. In a planetized Humanity the insistence

upon irreversibility becomes a specific requisite of action; and it can

only grow and continue to grow as Life reveals itself as being ever
more rich, an ever heavier load. So that, paradoxically, it is at that
ultimate point of centration which renders it cosmically unique,
that is to say apparently incapable of any further synthesis, that the
Noosphere will have become charged to the fullest extent with psychic energies to impel it forward in yet another advance ....
And what can this mean except that, like those planetary orbits
which seem to traverse our solar system without remaining within it,
the curve of consciousness, pursuing its course of growing complexity, will break through the material framework of Time and Space to
escape somewhere toward an ultracenter of unification and consistence, where there will finally be assembled, and in detail, everything that is irreplaceable and incommunicable in the world.
And it is here, an inevitable intrusion in terms of biology, and
in its proper place in terms of science, that we come to the problem of God.

Conclusion: The Rise of Freedom

LET US TURN

to cast an eye over the road that we have followed.

At the beginning we seemed to see around us nothing but a

disconnected and disordered humanity: the crowd, the mass, in

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THE FUTURE OF MAN

which, it may be, we saw only brutality and ugliness. I have tried,
fortified by the most generally accepted and solid conclusions of
science, to take the reader above this scene of turmoil; and as we
have risen higher so has the prospect acquired a more ordered
shape. Like the petals of a gigantic lotus at the end of the day, we
have seen human petals of planetary dimensions slowly closing in
upon themselves. And at the heart of this huge calyx, beneath the
pressure of its in-folding, a center of power has been revealed
where spiritual energy, gradually released by a vast totalitarian
mechanism, then concentrated by heredity within a sort of superbrain, has litde by litde been transformed into a common vision
growing ever more intense. In this spectacle of tranquillity and intensity, where the anomalies of detail, so disconcerting on our individual scale, vanish to give place to a vast, serene and irresistible
movement from the heart, everything is contained and everything
harmonized in accord with the rest of the universe. Life and consciousness are no longer chance anomalies in Nature; rather we
fmd in biology a complement to the physics of matter. On the one
hand, I repeat, the stuff of the world dispersing through the radiation of its elemental energy; and on the other hand the same stuff
reconverging through the radiation of thought. The fantastic at either end: but surely the one is necessary to balance the other? Thus
harmony is achieved in the ultimate perspective, and, furthermore,
a program for the future: for if this view is accepted we see a splendid goal before us, and a clear line of progress. Coherence and fecundity, the two criteria of truth.
Is this all illusion, or is it reality?
It is for the reader to decide. But to those who hesitate, or who
refuse to commit themselves, I would say: "Have you anything else,
anything better to suggest that will account scientifically for the
phenomenon of man considered as a whole, in the light of his past
development and present progress?"

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177

You may reply to me that this is all very well, but is there not
something lacking, an essential element, in this system which I
claim to be so coherent? Within that grandiose machine-in-motion
which I visualize, what becomes of that pearl beyond price, our
personal being? What remains of our freedom of choice and action?
But do you not see that from the standpoint I have adopted it
appears everywhere-and is everywhere heightened?
I know very well that by a kind of innate obsession we cannot
rid ourselves of the idea that we become most masters of ourselves
by being as isolated as possible. But is not this the reverse of the
truth? We must not forget that in each of us, by our very nature,
everything is in an elemental state, including our freedom of action. We can only achieve a wider degree of freedom by joining
and associating with others in an appropriate way. This is, to be
sure, a dangerous operation, since, whether it be a case of disorderly intermingling, or of some simple form of coordination, like
the meshing of gear-wheels, our activities tend to cancel one another out or to become mechanical-we find this only too often in
practice. Yet it is also salutary, since the approach of spirit to spirit

in a common vision or a shared passion undoubtedly enriches all;

in the case of a team, for example, or of two lovers. Achieved with
sympathy, union does not restrict but exalts the possibilities of our
being. We see this everywhere and every day on a limited scale.
Why should it not be worth correspondingly more on a vast and
all-embracing scale, if the law applies to the very structure of
things? It is simply a question of tension within the field that polarizes and attracts. In the case of a blind aggregation, of some
form of purely mechanical arrangement, the effect of large numbers is to materialize our activities. That is true: but where it is a
matter of unanimity realized from within the effect is to personalize them, and, I will add, to make them unerring. A single freedom,

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THE FUTURE OF MAN

taken in isolation, is weak and uncertain and may easily lose itself
in mere groping. But a totality of freedom, freely operating, will always end by fmding its road. And this incidentally is why throughout this paper, without seeking to minimize the uncertainties
inherent in Man's freedom of choice in relation to the world, I
have been able implicidy to maintain that we are moving both
freely and ineluctably in the direction of concentration by way of
planetization. One might put it that determinism appears at either
end of the process of cosmic evolution, but in antithetically opposed forms: at the lower end it is forced along the line of the most
probable for lack qffreedom; at the upper end it is an ascent into the
improbable through the triumph qf freedom.
We may be reassured. The vast industrial and social system by
which we are enveloped does not threaten to crush us, neither does
it seek to rob us of our soul. The energy emanating from it is free
not only in the sense that it represents forces that can be used: it is
moreover free because, in the whole no less than in the least of its
elements, it arises in a state that is ever more spiritualized. A
thinker such as Cournotl2 might still be able to suppose that the socialized group degrades itself biologically in terms of the individuals which comprise it. Only by reaching to the heart of the
Noosphere (we see it more clearly today) can we hope, and indeed
be sure, of fmding, all of us together and each of us separately, the
fullness of our humanity.
REVUE DES QUESTIONS SCIENTIFIQUES (LOUVAIN),
JANUARY

1947,

PP.

7-35

12 Cournot, Considerations sur ID, Marcke des idees et des Evenements dans les Temps rrwdernes. (Reedition Mentre. Vol. II, p. 178).

CHAPTER 11
FAITH IN MAN

1. Definition and Novelty

BY "FAITH IN

Man" we mean here the more or

less active and fervent conviction that Mankind as

an organic and organized whole possesses a future:
a future consisting not merely of successive years
but of higher states to be achieved by struggle. Not
merely survival, let us be clear, but some form of
higher life or superlife.
Considered in its deepest origins this human
trend toward a state of higher being is as old and
universal as the world itself As far back as we can
trace it, and even in its humblest manifestations,
the advance of Life, however spurred on by the
sheer, hard necessity of continuing to exist, has always been inspired by an expectation of something
greater. Are not Nature's countless experiments all
variants of a single act of faith, an obstinate feeling of the way toward an outlet leading forward
and ever higher? Above all, at that critical point
where instinct turned reflexively to thought, and
awareness of the future became an accomplished
fact on earth, must not Man, in whom this radical

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180

change occurred, even in his most primitive state have experienced

the vital urge to grasp all things and transcend himself?
Mythology and folklore (we shall come back to this) are, in fact,
fIlled with symbols and fables expressing the deeply rooted resolve
of Earth to fmd its way to Heaven; from which it follows that we
may in a perfectly legitimate sense accept the fact that a generalized, implicit faith of Man in Man is older than all civilization, and
that it is this, fmally, which constitutes the basic impulse informing
all our past history.
But is there not another and even truer sense in which we must
affIrm that this faith, in the explicit, collective form of our defmition, represents a specific new attitude in the world and therefore
calls for our particular attention?
I believe that this is so, on the following grounds.
A major problem posed by the fact, of which we are henceforth
assured, that the Universe is in a state of psychic evolution, is the
question of how far its evolutionary course is likely to affect our future power of thought. Whatever the eventual answer may be, two
things are undeniable: fIrst, that at certain moments in the past, human consciousness-however unchanging in its essential framework-has risen to the perception of new dimensions and values;
and secondly that the age in which we are living is precisely such a
moment of awakening and transformation. In the course of a few
generations, almost without our realizing it, our view of the world
has been profoundly altered. Under the combined influence of Science and History, and of social developments, the twofold sense of
duration and collectivity has pervaded and reordered the entire
fIeld of our experience; with the twofold result that the future, hitherto a vague succession of monotonous years awaiting an unimportant number of scattered individual lives, is now seen to be a
period of positive becoming and maturing-but one in which we
can advance and shape ourselves only in solidarity.

FAITH IN HAN

181

Thus we have the simultaneous growth in our minds of two essentially modern concepts, those of collectivity and of an organic
future: a double development precisely engendering the deeprooted change of heart that was required to bring about the direct
transformation of a childlike and instinctive faith in Man into its
rational, adult state of constructive, militant faith in Mankind!
A spiritual crisis was inevitable: it has not been slow in coming.
But let us look with open minds at the new world being born
around us amid the convulsions of war. Disregarding the superficial
chaos which prevents us from seeing clearly, probing beneath the unspeakable disorders that so dismay us, let us try to take the pulse and
temperature of Earth. If we have any power to diagnose we are
bound to recognize that the so-called ills which so affiict us are above
all growing pains. v\That looks like no more than a hunger for material well-being is in reality a hunger for higher being: it is the spirit of
Mankind suddenly alive with the sense of all that remains to be done
if it is to achieve the fulfillment of its powers and possibilities.

2. Power and Ambiguity

IT WOULD BE

criminal or insane to attempt to resist the great ex-

plosion of the inner forces of the Earth that is now beginning. Like
the collectivization which accompanies it, this upsurge of human
faith which we are witnessing is a life-bearing phenomenon, and
therefore irresistible. But that does not mean that we should let ourselves be borne passively and indiscriminately on the tide. The
more youthful and forceful the energy, the more misguided and
dangerous may be its ebullience. We see this all too clearly in the
present-day world.
We sincerely believe that in itself, and in its only legitimate and
enduring form, faith in Man does not exclude but must on the con-

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THE FUTURE OF MAN

trary include the worship of Another-One who is higher than

Man. To grow in stature and strength so as to be able to give more
of oneself and clasp in a tighter embrace (as in the Bible story of
Jacob wresding with the Angel; and as happens on an everyday
level in every passionate union), this is the true and noble manner
of interpreting and canalizing the impulse which urges us upward.
But, as the facts prove only too well, this fIrst way of believing
in Man goes hand in hand with another way, more elementary, immediate and simple, and therefore more alluring. Correcdy interpreted, I repeat, faith in Man can and indeed must cast us at the
feet and into the arms of One who is greater than ourselves. But, it
can be argued, why after all should we not conceive this One who
is greater than ourselves as being in fact identical with ourselves?
Given the power he possesses, why should Man look for a God outside himself? Man, self-sufficient! and wholly autonomous, sole
master and disposer of his destiny and the world's-is not this an
even nobler concept?
Here we have the modern version of the heroic temptation of
all time, that of the Titans, of Prometheus, of Babel and of Faust;
that of Christ on the mountain; a temptation as old as Earth itself;
as old as the fIrst reflective awakening of Life to the awareness of
its powers. But it is a temptation which is only now entering its critical phase, now that Man has raised himself to the point of being
able to measure both the immensity of the Time that lies before
him and the almost limidess powers made available to him by his
concerted efforts to seize hold of the material springs of the world.
Is the dilemma insoluble or (as we would rather believe) only a
temporary one, destined to vanish like so many others when we
have reached a higher level of spiritual evolution? We may be in
two minds about this.
1

Teilhard uses the English word.

FATTII TN .tvIAN

183

The fact remains that at the present time a fundamental inner

impulse, newly born in our hearts, is tending to find a dual, and divergent, expression in two apparently incompatible spiritual forms;
on the one hand, the spirit (let us call it "Christian") of sacrifice and
of union centered in the expectation of a Vision in the future; and
on the other hand the Promethean or Faustian spirit of self-worship
based on the material organization of the earth. The ambiguity is
there. And because (always by virtue of a rhythm which may be reversed tomorrow) it is the material and tangible aspect which at this
moment of world history seems to hold the initiative in the advance
of Life, the struggle is proceeding in a way which suggests that the
Promethean faith is the only valid one, or at least the more active.
VVe see no other in the service of the world, or we run the risk of seeing no other. Hence the tendency (which is also as old as the world)
of the defenders of the Spirit to regard as diabolical, and to reject as
being among the most formidable manifestations of pride, the irrepressible desire for growth and conquest, the unshakeable sense of
power and progress, which at present fills the human breast.
But we must not leap to conclusions. Since by definition ambiguity is not perversity but only the danger of perversion, which
after all is not the same thing, let us seek to place ourselves psychologically at a level below the point where the dilemma seems to be
resolving itself in two irreconcilable forms. In other words, let us try
to understand what faith in Man signifies in its undifferentiated
state (pre-Promethean or pre-Christian); what it looks for and what
it offers us.

3. The Uniting Force

as it becomes increasingly aware of
its unity-not only past unity in the blood, but future unity in
PRESENT-DAY MANKIND,

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THE FUTURE OF MAN

progress-is experiencing a vital need to close in upon itsel A tendency toward unification is everywhere manifest, and especially in
the different branches of religion. We are looking for something
that will draw us together, below or above the level of that which
divides. It may be said, in the aftermath of the war, that this need
is spontaneously and unanimously arising on every hand. But
where are we to discover the mysterious principle of rapprochement?
Are we to look downward or upward-to our common interest or
our common faith?
We must by no means underestimate the force of common interest in a matter of this sort. The visible success of communal undertakings in which the material well-being of the individual
becomes essentially dependent on the functioning of the association
as a whole; more still, on the world scale, the example of the last war,
in which a common danger for a time welded together large sections
of the world-all this decidedly proves that physical necessity, when
it happens to coincide, is a synthesizing factor between human particles. But this kind of synthesis, we must note, remains fragile in two
respects: frrsdy, because the coincidence which brought it about is in
the nature of things temporary and accidental; secondly, and above
all, because elements brought together under the compulsion of necessity or fear cohere only outwardly and on the surface. When the
wave of fear or common interest has passed, the union dissolves
without having given birth to a soul. Not through external pressure
but only from an inward impulse can the unity of Mankind endure
and grow.
And this, it seems, is where the major, "providential" role reserved by the future for what we have called "faith in Man" displays itself. A profound common aspiration arising out of the very
shape of the modern world-is not this specifically what is most to
be desired, what we most need to offset the growing forces of dissolution and dispersal at work among us?

FAITH IN NAN

185

But here we must be on our guard.

Recently, and in particular through the sympathetic pen of
Aldous Huxley, an effort has been made to formulate and crystallize, in a series of abstract propositions, the basis of a common philosophy on which all men of goodwill can agree in order that the
world may continue to progress. We believe this to be helpful, and
moreover we are persuaded that gradually, in religious thought as
in the sciences, a core of universal truth will form and slowly grow,
to be accepted by everyone. Can there be any true spiritual evolution without it? But shall we not be misled by this formulation of a
common view of the world, infinitely precious in itself, if we consider it simply in terms of its application and result, without looking for the principle and fecundating act of a genuine union? Any
abstract scheme tends of its nature to resolve in an arbitrary fashion, and perhaps prematurely for the whole, the ambiguity of the
future. There is the risk that it will restrict the movement to a given
direction, whereas it is out of the movement as such that the desired effect of unification must come.
But at the youthful stage in which we are at present considering it, Faith in Man proceeds and operates in a quite different
fashion.

It is true that at the outset it presupposes a certain fundamental concept of the place of Man in Nature. But as it rises above this
rationalized common platform it becomes charged with a thousand differing potentialities, elastic and even fluid-indivisible, one
might say, by the expressions of hostility to which Thought, in its
gropings, may temporarily subject it. Indivisible and even triumphant: for despite all seeming divisions (this is what matters)
it continues unassailably to draw together and even to reconcile
everything that it pervades. Take the two extremes confronting us
at this moment, the Marxist and the Christian, each a convinced
believer in his own particular doctrine, but each, we must suppose,

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THE FUTURE OF MAN

fundamentally inspired with an equal faith in Man. Is it not incontestable, a matter of everyday experience, that each of these, to
the extent that he believes (and sees the other believe) in the future
of the world, feels a basic human sympathy for the other-not for
any sentimental reason, but arising out of the obscure recognition
that both are going the same way, and that despite all ideological
differences they will eventually, in some manner, come together on
the same summit? No doubt each in his own fashion, following his
separate path, believes that he has once and for all solved the riddle of the world's future. But the divergence between them is in reality neither complete nor final, unless we suppose that by some
inconceivable and even contradictory feat of exclusion (contradictory because nothing would remain of his faith) the Marxist, for
example, were to eliminate from his materialistic doctrine every
upward surge toward the spirit. Followed to their conclusion the
two paths must certainly end by coming together: for in the nature
of things everything that is faith must rise, and everything that rises
must converge.
In short we may say that faith in Man, by the combined effect
of its universality and its elemental quality, shows itself upon examination to be the general atmosphere in which the higher, more
elaborated forms of faith which we all hold in one way or another
may best (indeed can onry) grow and come together. It is not aformula, it is the environment of union.
No one can doubt that we are all more or less affected by this
elementary, primordial faith. Should we otherwise truly belong to
our time? And if, through the very force of our spiritual aspirations, we have been inclined to mistrust it, even to feel that we are
immune from it, we must look more closely into our own hearts. I
have said that the soul has only one summit. But it has also only
one foundation. Let us look well and we shall find that our Faith in

FAITH IN M.AN

187

God, detached as it may be, sublimates in us a rising tide of human aspirations. It is to this original sap that we must return if we
wish to communicate with the brothers with whom we seek to be
united.
ADDRESS TO THE WORLD CONGRESS OF FAITHS
(FRENCH SECTION), MARCH

8, 1947.

CHAPTER 12
SOME REFLECTIONS ON
THE RIGHTS OF MAN

Ri~~

in 178g, the
Man were primarily an expression of the individual will to autonomy-"Everythingfor the Individual within Society"-implying that the human race
was designed to unfold and culminate in a multiplicity of units achieving, each in itself, their maximum development. This seems to have been the
ruling preoccupation and vision of the eighteenthcentury humanitarians.
Since then, however, owing to the increasing
importance of the various forms of collectivity in
human society, the nature of the problem has profoundly changed. We can no longer doubt this. For
innumerable convergent reasons (the rapid increase of ethnic, economic, political and cultural
links) the human individual fmds himself defmitively involved in an irresistible process tending
toward a system of organopsychic solidarity on
earth. Whether we wish it or not, Mankind is becoming collectivized, totalized under the influence
of psychic and spiritual forces on a planetary scale.
Out of this has arisen, in the heart of every man,

AS FIRST PROCLAIMED,

SOHE REFLECTIONS ON THE, RIGHTS OF MAN

189

the present-day conflict between the individual, ever more conscious of his individual worth, and social affiliations which become
ever more demanding.
But the conflict, if we think of it, is only one of appearance. Biologically, as we know, the human unit is not self-sufficing. In other
words it is not in isolation (as we might have supposed) but only in appropriate association with his fellows that the individual can hope to
attain to the fullness of his personality, his energies, his power of action
and his consciousness, more especially since we do not become completely "reflective" (that is to say, "men") except by being reflected in
each other. Collectivization and individualization (in the sense of
personality, not of social autonomy) are thus not opposed principles.
The problem is so to order matters as to ensure that human totalization is brought about, not by the pressure of external forces, but
through the internal workings of harmonization and sympathy.
It at once becomes clear, when we adopt this altered standpoint, that the purpose of a new Declaration of the Rights of Man
cannot be, as formerly, to ensure the highest possible degree of independence for the individual in society, but to define the conditions under which the inevitable totalization of Mankind may be
effected, not only without impairing but so as to enhance, I will not
say the autonomy of each of us but (a quite different thing) the incommunicable singularity of being which each of us possesses.
We must no longer seek to organize the world in favor of, and
in terms of, the isolated individual; we must try to combine all
things for the perfection ("personalization") of the individual by
his well-ordered integration with the unified group in which
Mankind must eventually culminate, both organically and spiritually. That is the problem.
Thus transposed into the framework of an operation with two
variables (the progressive, interdependent adjustment of the two
processes of collectivization and personalization) the question of

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THE FUTURE OF MAN

the Rights of Man admits of no simple or general answer. But we

can at least say that any proposed solution must satisfy the following conditions:

a The individual in a human society in process of collective

organization has not the right to remain inactive, that is to say, not
to seek to develop himself to his fullest extent: because upon his individual perfection depends the perfection of all his fellows.
b Society, embracing the individuals which comprise it, must
in its own interest be so constituted that it tends to create the most
favorable environment for the full development (physical and spiritual) of what is special to each of them. A commonplace indeed:
but one where it is impossible to lay down rules for particular cases,
since they vary according to the level of education and the progressive value of the diverse elements to be organized.

c Whatever measures may be adopted to this end, there is one

major principle which must be affirmed and always upheld: in no
circumstances, and for no reason, must the forces of collectivity
compel the individual to deform or falsify himself (by accepting as
true what he sees to be false, for example, which is to lie to himself). Every limitation imposed on the autonomy of the element by
the power of the group must, if it is to be justified, operate only in
conformity with the free internal structure of the element. Otherwise a fundamental disharmony will arise in the very heart of the
collective human organism.
Three principles therefore:
The absolute duty of the individual to develop his own personality.

SOHE REFLECTIONS ON THE, RIGHTS OF MAN

191

The relative right of the individual to be placed in circumstances as favorable as possible to his personal development.
The absolute right of the individual, within the social organism, not to be deformed by external coercion but inwardly superorganized by persuasion, that is to say, in conformity with his
personal endowments and aspirations.
Three principles to be explicidy affirmed and guaranteed in
any new Charter of Humanity.
PARIS, MARCH 22,

1947.

UNESCO

1949,

PP.

88-9.

CHAPTER IS
THE HUMAN REBOUND
OF EVOLUTION AND ITS
CONSEQUENCES

1. Introduction: The Rehounding of Evolution

I argued in this journal that, observed in a certain aspect (the truly scientific aspect, in my view), the human social phenomenon
affords evidence that the evolution of Life on
earth, far from having come to a stop, is on the
contrary now entering a new phase. I
I maintained that, contrary to the commonly
expressed or tacitly accepted view, the era of active
evolution did not end with the appearance of the
human zoological type: for by virtue of his acquirement of the gift of individual reflection Man
displays the extraordinary quality of being able to
totalize himself collectively upon himself, thus extending on a planetary scale the fundamental vital
process which causes matter, under certain conditions, to organize itself in elements which are ever
more complex physically, and psychologically ever

A YEAR AGO

Cf. chapter

10,

The Formation of the Noosphere. Revue des

Qyestions Scientijiques,January 1947.

T.HE IHJHAN REBOUND OF EVOLUTION

193

more centered. Thus (provided always that we accept the organic

nature of the social phenomenon) we see being woven around us,
beyond any unity hitherto acknowledged or even foreseen by biology, the network and consciousness of a Noosphere. 2
Following upon this I argued that biological evolution is not
only being extended beneath our gaze through the development of
the human social group, but that it gives the impression of rebounding upon itself And indeed although in the prehuman stages
of evolution the gradual growth of consciousness in animals (see
Section 2, later) does not appear to have had any appreciable effect
on the course or speed of their zoological evolution, from the time
of Man the evolutionary mechanism undergoes a radical change.
For Man, by the act of "noospherically" concentrating himself
upon himself, not only becomes reflectively aware of the ontological current on which he is borne, but also gains control of certain
of the springs of energy which dictate this advance: above all, collective springs, in so far as he consciously realizes the value, biological efficiency and creative nature of social organization; but
also individual springs in as much as, through the collective work
of science, he feels himself to be on the verge of acquiring the
power of physicochemical control of the operations of heredity
and morphogenesis in the depths of his own being. So we may say
that since by a sort of chain-reaction consciousness, itself born of
complexity, finds itself in a position to bring about "artificially" a
further increase of complexity in its material dwelling (thus en2 It should be noted here that by its very nature as a centered, "reflective" collectivity, the Noosphere, while occupying the same spatial dimensions as the
Biosphere, differs from it profoundly in its structure and quality of vital completion. Whereas the Biosphere in its essence is complexity linked but divergent
and diffused, the Noosphere combines in itself the properties of a planetary
zone (or sphere) and those of a sort of higher individuality endowed with
something in the nature of a superconsciousness.

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THE FUTURE OF MAN

gendering or liberating a further growth of reflective consciousness, and so on ...) the terrestrial evolution of Life, following its
main axis of hominization, is not only completely altering the scale
of its creations but is also entering an "explosive" phase of an entirely new kind.
To me this appears the most satisfactory interpretation of the
present state of Life on the surface of the earth; despite a regrettable recrudescence of racialism and nationalism which, impressive though it may be, and disastrous in its effect upon our private
postwar lives, seems to have no scientific importance in the overall
process: for the reason that any human tendency to fragmentation,
regardless of its extent and origin, is clearly of an order of magnitude
inferior to the planetary forces (geographic, demographic, economic and psychic) whose constantly and naturally growing pressure must sooner or later compel us willy-nilly to unite in some
form of human whole organized on the basis of human solidarity.3
I shall not here attempt the perilous and fruitless task of prognosticating the stages, or the probable duration, or the terminal
modalities of this inevitable unification of the human species. I will
only recall that, by virtue of its convergent nature, hominization is
scarcely conceivable (seen from the point at which we fmd ourselves)
except as terminating, whatever road it follows, in a point of collective
rytexion where Mankind, having achieved within and around itself,
technically and intellectually, the greatest possible coherence, will
fmd itself raised to a higher critical point-one of instability, tension, interpenetration and metamorphosis-coinciding, it would
seem, with what for us are the phenomenal limits of the world.
But I wish, on the other hand, to insist upon certain consequences, of an immediately practical kind, ensuing from what I
See later, under "Conclusion," remarks on "the critical lines of attraction" between human particles.

THE HUHAN REBOUND OF EVOLUTION

195

have called the "reflective rebound" of evolution upon itself; consequences which all converge in a single generalized phenomenon-namely, a certain irresistible functional incorporation of the
psychic within the physicochemical which occurs in the process of
evolution from the time of the coming of Man.
Let me explain.

2. Emergence of Purposive Thinking

FROM THE EARLY

beginnings of biological evolutionary theory, in

the nineteenth century, two trends of thought have prevailed in scientific circles, developing side by side without mingling to anyappreciable extent. No one doubts any longer that the world of living
forms is the outcome of increasingly complex associations between
the material particles of which the universe is composed. 4 But how
are we to envisage the generative mechanism of this "complexification"? It is very certain that matter on Earth is involved in a process
which causes it to arrange itself, starting with relatively simple elements, in ever larger and more complex units. But how are we to account for the origin and growth of this process of arrangement?
Does it proceed from within, being conceived and developed further
by psychic forces analogous to our human power of invention? Or
does it simply come from outside, through the automatic selection of
the more stable (or progressive) groupings among the immense
number of combinations fortuitously and incessantly produced in
Nature? It is curious to note how since the time of Lamarck and
Darwin these two theories, while deepening in their respective ways,
have become more sharply opposed. And with varying fortunes.
4

cf. Les Etudes, May 1946--here pages 103ff.

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THE FUTURE OF MAN

Neo-Darwinism at present holds the ascendancy in the eyes of biologists, partly owing to a clearer and more statistically substantiated
definition of "the fittest," but principally because of the immense
part, now recognized by modern genetics, played by the "action of
large numbers" in the formation of species.
It is to this conflict of opinion-so apparently unyielding that
one is inclined to wonder if it has not escaped from the realm of
fact to become a simple clash of metaphysical or temperamental
preferences-that the hypothesis of a human rebounding of Evolution does, I believe, if Science will accept it, bring a solution and
a satisfactory issue. And in the following manner.
That Man displays powers of invention in the creative use of
his reflective faculties, that is to say, acts in accordance with an inner sense of purpose, is so apparent that no one has ever thought
of denying it. But this fact remained suspended in a void, and
without precise significance, while Man and his activities appeared to be isolated and as it were unattached in the bosom of
Nature. The whole situation changes if, for reasons solidly bound
up with the general structure of the Universe, we regard the
process of hominization, with all its accoutrement of social and
"artificial" arrangements, as a prolongation and organic continuance of the grand cosmic phenomenon of the vitalization of matter. It then appears that if the neo-Darwinians are right (as they
possibly and indeed probably are) in claiming that in the prehuman zones of Life there is nothing but the play of chance
arrangement or selection to be detected in the advance of the organized world, from the time of Man, on the contrary, it is the
neo-Lamarckians who have the better of the argument, since at
this level the forces of internal arrangement begin to be clearly
manifest in the process of evolution. Which amounts to saying
that biological purposiveness (as with so many other physical pa-

THE HUNAN REBOUND OF EVOLUTION

197

rameters of the universe) is not everywhere apparent in the living

world, but that it only shows itself above a certain level-its appearance coinciding, not with any particular stage between the
Immense and the Infinitesimal but (as in the case of Life itself)
with the attainment of a certain value in the "axis of complexities." Below this critical point everything happens (perhaps?) as
though the rise of Life were automatic. But above it the forces of
free choice and inner direction come to light, and from this moment it is they that tend to take charge.
The point I wish to make is this. In the present state of hominization, as we see it in progress today, the statistical influence of
chance and the part played by natural selection certainly continue
to be enormous. Compared with this immense passive field (the
Darwinian) it may seem that the (Lamarckian) ground gained by
our inventive efforts amounts to very little. But let us make no mistake about it. However minute the bud may be, however small the
seed, it is precisely here that the power of renewal and rebounding
of the living world is concentrated. Born under the appearance
and the sign of Chance, it is only through reflective purposiveness,
slowly acquired, that Life can henceforth hope to raise itself yet
higher, by autoevolution, in the twofold direction of greater complexity and fuller consciousness. Indeed, from now on all the hopes
and future of the Universe are dependent on the propitious and
stubborn working of this scarcely born power of internal "selfarrangement. "5
And this means, if we are not to regard the world as having become suddenly meaningless and contradictory, that we are entitled
to attribute the value of experimental and physical reality to everything, within us and around us, which shows itself to be a necessary
5

Teilhard uses the English word.

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THE FUTURE OF MAN

condition for the preservation and heightening in Man of his powers of invention and purposive thinking.

3. The Control and Preservation of Purposive Thinking

period of untroubled proprietorship every new
source of energy, as we know by experience, gives rise to two related problems, that of the limitations to be imposed on it and
that of its preservation. The new force must not be allowed to get
out of hand or to exhaust itself. The same applies (although we
have thought less about it) to the source of energy abruptly released by Nature through Man which I have called the "force of
purposive thinking." In its early forms human inventive power, as
we still see in children, may be likened to a game. In those fIrst
manifestations of the power of reflective arrangement, everything
appears simple, harmless and even benefIcent, giving no hint of a
moment to come when we can no longer go on playing. But as the
phenomenon spreads and develops within a Mankind in process
of becoming adult, what once looked like a game is suddenly
found to be deadly earnest. On the one hand the "sorcerer's apprentice" by dint of fumbling has laid hands on forces of such
power that he begins to be afraid of causing some disaster in Nature. And on the other, fInding that by his discoveries he has acquired certain keys to the mastery of the world, he begins to
realize that if he is to be equal to the situation he is bound, in his
role of "quasi-demiurge," to establish principles and a faith regarding the future and the value of the task that is henceforth imposed upon him.
Two roads, as I shall seek to show, by which certain energies
and certain radiations, moral and mystical in their nature, in-

AFTER A SHORT

T.HE HUHAN REBOUND OF EVOLUTION

199

evitably make their appearance at the heart of the biological flux

of evolution.

a The Moral Ordering qf Invention. By "invention" I mean to designate, in the widest sense of the word, everything in human
activity which in one way or another contributes to the organicosocial construction of the Noosphere and the development within
it of new powers for the arrangement of matter. From the "materialist" point of view the progress of invention in this sense will be
entirely governed by the pressure of external necessities, primarily
economic. But it has become plain (in particular since the last war)
that however urgent may be the planetary pressures driving us to
unite, they cannot operate effectively in the long run except under
certain psychic conditions, some of which arise out of the human
neomystique to be discussed in the next paragraph, but the rest of
which merely recall and reexpress, with a precise biological foundation, the broad lines of the empirical and traditional Ethics
which has been evolved in some ten millennia of civilization. It is
enough for me to cite the twofold respect for things and for personality in the individual. Clearly whatever we may seek to build
will crumble and turn to dust if the workmen are without conscience and professional integrity. 6 And it is even more abundantly
clear that the greater our power of manipulating inert and living
matter, the greater proportionately must be our anxiety not to falsify or outrage any part of the reflective consciousness that surrounds us. Within a short space of time, owing to the acceleration
6 In this connection it is interesting to note the extent to which the lie (a relatively minor evil in more restricted groups) is fast becoming an inhibiting major vice in large social organisms, so that one might say that (like hatred-and
the taedium uitae) it tends to constitute a major obstacle to the formation of a
Noosphere.

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THE FUTURE OF MAN

of social and scientific developments, this twofold necessity has become so clearly urgent that to refer to it is to utter a commonplace.
In recent years voices of alarm have been raised periodically in
many quarters pointing to the fast-growing gulf between technical
and moral progress in the world today. The perils of the situation
are plain to everyone. But do we not underestimate and misunderstand its deep significance?
Many people, I am convinced, still regard the higher morality
which they look for and advocate as no more than a sort of compensation or external counterbalance, to be applied to the human machine from outside in order to adroidy offset the overflow of Matter
within it. But to me the phenomenon seems to display much more
intrinsic and fundamental harmony and much closer affiliations.
The ethical principles which hitherto we have regarded as an appendage, superimposed more or less by our own free will upon the
laws of biology, are now showing themselves-not metaphorically
but literally-to be a condition of survival for the human race. In
other words Evolution in rebounding reflectively upon itself, acquires
moralitY for the purpose of its further advance. In yet other terms, and
whatever anyone may say, above a certain level, technical progress
necessarily and functionally adds moral progress to itsel All this is
surely proof that the two events are interdependent. In fact, the pursuit of human knowledge cannot be carried in concrete terms beyond a certain stage without this power of reflective arrangement
becoming automatically charged with internal obligations which
curb and direct it; while at the same time, as we shall see, it engenders around itself an entirely new atmosphere of spiritual needs.

b The Spiritual Nourishment ofHuman Endeavor. It is surprising to

note, among the increasingly numerous theorists who, under the
pressure of events, are beginning to speculate on the future of the

T.HE HUHAN REBOUND OF EVOLUTION

201

phenomenon of man, a sort of tacit agreement whereby vital energy is treated as though it were a constant, both in quality and
quantity, like solar radiation or the force of gravity. This postulate
of invariability seems at first sight to be admissible in the "Darwinian" zones of Life, where the instinct of self-preservation predominates (this seeming by its nature to be more or less constant
among organized beings), but it certainly loses all value in the
"Lamarckian" or human zone, where biological evolution, from
being passive, becomes active in the pursuit of its purpose. As we
know very well in ourselves, and as every leader of men has discovered, human creative energy, according to the degree of temperature generated within it (on a scale, that is to say, between
enthusiasm and revulsion) can in a matter of instants jump "from
plus to minus infinity."

If, therefore, we accept the idea of a reflective rebounding of

evolution, it is not enough to reckon the future of the world in terms
of reserves of mechanical energy and food supplies, or the probable
longevity of the earth. As I have said elsewhere/ the evolutionary
vigor of Mankind can wither away although it be surrounded by
mountains of coal, oceans of petroleum and limitless stocks of
wheat; it can do so as surely as in a desert of ice, if Man should lose
his impulse, or worse, develop a distaste for ever-increased growth
"in complexity and consciousness." With all respect to the materialist school, which still refuses to examine human biology, it is undeniable that in Man the external drive of Life tends to be transformed
and turn inward to become an ardor for Life. Try to get productive
work out of a workman, an engineer or a scientist who is "pissed
off"! So in the first place, if Evolution is to continue, it is this impetus which must be maintained in the heart of Man and encouraged

L'Energie Humaine, '937.

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THE FUTURE OF MAN

to grow at all costs. Failing that upward current, almost nothing will
move; whereas with it, everything will happen almost of its own accord in the higher zones, those that are truly progressive, of invention and discovery. But how are we to tap this deep, primordial well?
If the problem of sustaining this human impetus does not trouble the theorists I have referred to, it is, I suppose, because they assume that cases of revulsion will be as exceptional in the future as
they have been in the past-that a sufficient degree of physical
health or euphoria will maintain vital pressure at a positive level,
moderate but adequate, within the human mass. But is not this to
beg the whole question? Not only have powers of reflection and invention been added to Life through hominization, but so has the
formidable endowment of criticism. However exuberant our vitality, however rich and sanguine our temperament, it is already becoming impossible, and must inevitably become more so, for us to
give ourselves wholly to any creative undertaking if we cannot justify it in rational terms. That is why if Man at this moment finds
himself faced with the burden not merely of submitting to the evolutionary process but of consciously furthering it, we may be sure
that he will seek, and rightly, to avoid the responsibility and pangs
which this entails if the objective does not seem to be worth the iffort.
Which amounts to saying that the Universe, of psychic or psychological necessity (here they come to the same thing) must possess
properties fulfilling the functional needs of reflective action. Otherwise apathy and even disgust will pervade the human mass, neutralizing or reversing every vigorous impulse at the heart of Life.
What and how many are these basic properties, these sine qua
non conditions, which we are bound to postulate and presume to be
incorporated in the structure of the surrounding world if Evolution, henceforth hominized, is to continue?
In our present state (or more exactly, stage) of psychic aware-

T.HE IHJHt\N REBOUND OF EVOLUTION

203

ness it seems to me that they can be brought down to two, very

closely related.
The first, as I have argued at length in my chapter on the N 00sphere, is that in one way or another Consciousness, the flowering
of Complexity, must survive the ultimate dissolution from which
nothing can save the corporeal and planetary stem which bears it.
From the moment when Evolution begins to think itself it can no
longer live with or further itself except by knowing itself to be irre-

versible--that is to say, immortal. For what point can there be in living with eyes fixed constantly and laboriously upon the future, if
this future, even though it take the form of a Noosphere, must finally become a zero? Better surely to give up and die at once. In
terms of this Absolute it is sacrifice, not egotism, that becomes odious and absurd. Irreversibility, then, is the first condition.
The second condition, no more than an amplification of the
first, is that the irreversibility, thus revealed and accepted, must apply not to anyone part, but to all that is deepest, most precious and
most incommunicable in our consciousness. So that the process of
vitalization in which we are engaged may be defined at its upper
limit (whether we envisage the system as a whole or the destiny of
each separate element within it) in terms of "ultrapersonalization."
The necessity of this must be stressed, since the degree of personalization (or "centration," which comes to the same thing) of a cosmic element being finally the sole parameter by which we can
measure its absolute biological value, a world presumed to be heading toward the Impersonal (the word being interpreted in its
normal sense of "infrapersonal") becomes both unthinkable and
unliveable.
An irreversible rise toward the personal: unless it satisfies one or
other of these two conjoined attributes, the Universe (psychoanalytically dosed, if I may put it that way) can only become stifling

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THE FUTURE OF MAN

for all reflective activity, that is to say, radically unsuited to any rebound of Evolution. But we are agreed that such a rebound is
preparing and indeed has already begun. So we must conclude,
unless we favor the idea of a world destined to miscarry through a
fault in its construction, that evolutionary irreversibility and personalization (despite their implied anticipation of the future) are
realities not of a metapl!Ysical but of a physical order, in the sense
that, like the dimensions of Time and Space, they represent general conditions to which the totality of our proceedings must conform.
Failing these conditions, as I have said, everything at the level
of Man will cease to move. On the other hand it seems to me that,
provided they are fulfilled, nothing can seriously interfere with our
natural taste, our impulse, that is to say, toward invention and research. The world will have become habitable for Thought. But is
it enough for the world as we are now picturing it to be simply liveable, capable, all things considered, of fostering some degree of
taste for life? Must it not rather be wholly delectable, if it is to be
wholly consistent with itself?
Strange though it may seem, we are here confronted, if we
seek to define our Universe in relation to other imaginable kinds
of universe, with the necessity and importance of determining
what may be called its "coefficient of activation," that is to say,
the degree in which it possesses the quality of stimulating the centers of reflective activity contained within it. Theoretically, in
virtue of what I have said, a whole series of activations (provided
they are positive) is conceivable, each in itself sufficing to create a
liveable world. But in practice-does not some sixth sense warn
us of this?--one value alone is admissible in the experienced reality of action, one alone can truly satisfy us: namely, the greatest of

T.HE HUHAN REBOUND OF EVOLUTION

205

all, in relation to what we are. I do not propose to embark upon

any analysis or defense of the very particular kind of optimism
which does not for a moment claim that we are living in the best
of all possible worlds, but only (a quite different matter!) the most
"activating." Let me simply observe that here perhaps we have a
basis for prognosticating, in the broadest outline, the religious evolution of the world of tomorrow. From the strictly "noodynamic"8
viewpoint which I had adopted, it may be said that the historic rivalry of mysticisms and creeds, each striving to conquer the earth,
represents nothing but a prolonged groping of the human soul in
search of a conception of the world in which it will feel itself to
be more sensitized, more free and active. This surely means that
the faith which finally triumphs must be the one which shows itself to be more capable than any other of inspiring Man to action. And it is here, irrespective of all philosophical or theological
considerations, that Christianity decisively takes the lead with its
extraordinary power of immortalizing and personalizing in
Christ, to the extent of making it lovable, the time-space totality
of Evolution.

4. Conclusion: Something New under the Sun

IN SHORT, AS

I said at the beginning, the terrestrial evolution of

Life, if it is really to continue as hominization extended to the scale

of the Noosphere, cannot rebound in a new spring forward without acquiring a morality, and, to the extent that it needs a "faith,"
8 "Noodynamic": the dynamic of spiritual energy, dynamic of the Spirit. I have
ventured to use this neologism because it is clear, expressive and convenient;
also because it affirms the necessity for incorporating human psychism,
Thought, in a true "physics" of the World.

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THE FUTURE OF MAN

without becoming "mysticized." Which amounts to saying that the

complexification of Matter, at the point it has now reached in the
human social organism, is physically incapable of advancing further if the Mind does not playa part, not only with its capacity for
technical organization, but with its purposive and affective powers
of arrangement and inner tension. Which again amounts to saying
in another way that from the time of Man (above all, modern
Man) the factor consciousness, which for a long time perhaps represented no more than a secondary and accessory effect in Nature, a
simple superstructure of the factor complexity, is finally becoming
individualized in the form of an autonomous spiritual principle.
For its reflective and inventive forward spring it is in some sort necessary that Life, duplicating its evolutionary motive center, should
henceforth be sustained by two centers of action, separate and conjoined, one of consciousness and the other of complexity. And
herein, if I am right, we may fmd a bridge of an experimental kind
flung across a gap which has hitherto been held to be scientifically
unbridgeable. In hominized evolution the Physical and the Psychic, the Without and the Within, Matter and Consciousness, are
all found to be functionally linked in one tangible process. Setting
aside all metaphysics, the two terms in each of these pairs are articulated in a quasi-measurable fashion one with the other; with the
twofold result not only of at last affording us a unified concept of
the Universe, but also of breaking down the two barriers behind
which Man was coming to believe himself to be for ever imprisoned-the magic circle of phenomenalism and the infernal circle
of egocentrism.
Gone, first of all, the magic circle of phenomenalism, which,
we have been assured, must inexorably restrict our gaze to a
limited horizon beyond which lies not merely the unknown but
the absolutely unknowable. How much has been said even

THE HUHAN REBOUND OF EVOLUTION

207

recently9 about our powerlessness to penetrate in this sense beyond

the primitive vision shared by the earliest human minds; that is to
say, the impossibility of our advancing a step toward the direct or
indirect perception of all that is hidden behind the veil of tangible
experience! But it is just this supposedly impenetrable envelope of
pure "phenomenon" which the rebounding thrust of human evolution pierces, at least at one point, since by its nature it is irreversible. This does not mean that we can see what lies beyond and
behind that transphenomenal zone of which we now have an
inkling, any more than, having discerned the shape of the earth,
we can foresee the landscape lying below the horizon. But at least
we know that something exists beyond the circle which restricts
our view, something into which we shall eventually emerge. It is
enough to ensure that we no longer feel imprisoned.
Gone, too, (at least virtually and in aspiration), is the infernal
circle of egocentrism, meaning the isolation, in some sort ontological, which prohibits our escape from self to share the point of
view even of those we love best: as though the Universe were composed of as many fragmentary universes, repelling each other, as the
sum total of the centers of consciousness which it embraces. '\Tho
can measure the long chain of harmful, closely interlinked effects
which this elemental separatism automatically creates and fosters,
by an effect of mass and resonance, within the process of totalization now taking place in Mankind? The iron laws binding eco"It is perhaps inevitable that, having reached the limit beyond which the sure
basis of experience fails us, the human spirit, in its impotence, can do no more
than revolve in the magic circle of traditional interpretations." (Betti, Director
of the Chemical Institute of Bologna.) "When it comes to those questions on
the border-line of the unknowable, all the accumulated knowledge of twentyfive centuries has done no more than feed the argument, vvithout advancing us
a single step toward the solution." (Tannery, Pour La Science Hellene; quoted by
J. Benda in La Tradition de l'Existentialisme.)
9

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THE FUTURE OF MAN

nomic factors, the irrepressible recurrence of nationalisms, the apparent inevitability of war, the insoluble Hegelian conflicts "of
master and slave"; what are these supposedly unalterable necessities of the human condition, except, fmally, the diverse expression
and outcome of exteriority and a mutual antagonism between the
individual seeds of thought which we are? ... Here again let us
throw back our heads and breathe freely! For if it be true that the
tide of evolutionary totalization sweeping us along requires, for its
viability, not only that we must progress toward some form of irreversible unity, but also that this progress must be in the personal
sphere, is not this a positive reason for believing that sooner or later
something must happen in the world whereby certain basic conditions of the human phenomenon will undergo modification? If
our "person" is not to be lost in the vast plurality of Mankind
within which it is gradually, and of inescapable physical necessity,
becoming integrated; if totalization is to set us free instead of simply mechanizing us; then we must look for and allow for a change
of regime. We must assume that under the rapidly mounting pressures forcing them upon one another the human molecules will ultimately succeed in fmding their way through the critical barrier of
mutual repulsion to enter the inner zone of attractive.1O
From that point on we shall be entering a new world of relationships where the hitherto impossible may become simple, being
enacted in other dimensions and another environment.
If such a vista still seems to us fantastic, it is simply that we lack
imagination. But scientific reason is there to sustain and guide us.
Some hundreds of thousands of years ago, upon the first emergence of reflective consciousness, the Universe was surely and
beyond question transformed in the very laws of its internal devel10 This is an old idea which I advanced nearly twenty years ago in an unpublished essay entided The Spirit of the Earth. (Now printed in L'Energie Humaine, pp.
25-57)

TIlE IH.JHAN REBOUND OF EVOLUTION

209

opment. \Vhy, then, should we suppose that nothing entirely new

will appear under the sun of tomorrow, when the rebounding of
Evolution is in full flood?
To sum up.
If social totalization and scientific technology are regarded as
they should be, as constituting a direct prolongation, in a human
context, of the grand process of the vitalization of Matter, it follows
that, from the corning of Man, biological evolution not only rebounds (on a new scale and with new resources) but that it rebounds
reflectively upon itself. The Darwinian era of survival by Natural Selection (the vital thrust) is thus succeeded by a Lamarckian era of
Super-Life brought about by calculated invention (the vital impulse).
In Man evolution is interiorized and made purposeful; and at the
same time, in the degree in which the strivings of human inventiveness need to be controlled in their operation and sustained in their
energies, it imposes upon itself a moral order and "mysticizes" itsel

. In abstracto or in individuo, technical achievement and moral virtue, science and faith (faith in the future) may seem to be things that are not
only separate but even opposed to one another. But in the concrete reality qf Total Evolution, and beyond a certain degree of Complexity and
Consciousness, each of necessity requires the other, because Matter,
once hominized, can positively not continue the superarrangement
of itself upon itself except in a specific psychic atmosphere.
Thus a precise functional interlocking of physical and spiritual
energy may be discerned. And thus is revealed the necessity for the
Universe to present itself to our experience as an irreversible
medium of personalization, if the human rebounding of Evolution is not to be stifled at birth.
SEPTEMBER,

1947.

REVUE DES QUESTIONS SCIENTIFIQUES, APRIL 20,

1948.

SAINT-GERMAIN-EN-LAYE,

23

CHAPTER 14
TURMOIL OR
GENESIS?
The Position of Man in Nature and the
SignIficance of Human Socialization
Is there in the Universe a Main Axis of Evolution?
(An attempt to see clearly)

Introduction
any longer doubt that the Universe,
conceived in experimental or phenomenal terms,
is a vast temporo-spatial system, corpuscular in nature, from which we cannot sensorially escape
(even in thought) either backward or forward or by
circumventing it. Viewed in this light everything in
the world appears and exists as a function of the
whole. This is the broadest, deepest and most
unassailable meaning of the idea of Evolution.
But it raises a question. How are we to envisage the operation of such a system, which by its
nature is both organic and atomic? Is its movement
one of disorderly or controlled impulses? Is the
world amorphous in structure, or does it on the
NO ONE CAN

TURl'10IL OR GENESIS

211

contrary show signs of containing within itself a favored axis of

evolution?
Following the principle that the greater coherence is an infallible sign of the greater truth, I propose to demonstrate that such an
axis does in fact exist, and that it may be defined in terms of the
following three (or even four) successive propositions or approximations, each of which clarifies and substantiates the one preceding it on a single line of experience and thought:
a

Life is not an accident in the Material Universe, but the

essence of the phenomenon.

b Reflection (that is to say, Man) is not an incident in the biological world, but a higher form of Life.
c In the human world the social phenomenon is not a superficial arrangement, but denotes an essential advance of Reflection.
To which may be added, from the Christian point of view:
d The Christian phylum is not an accessory or divergent
shoot in the human social organism, but constitutes the axis itself
of socialization.
Let us look in turn at the separate links in this chain of propositions, each of which, as we shall see, represents a test whereby we
may better know and measure, in the scale of spiritual values, the
worth and position of others.

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THE FUTURE OF MAN

Proposition I. Life Is Not an Epiphenomenon in the Material Universe,

but the Central Phenomenon of Evolution

PLACED AND OBSERVED

within the general framework of Matter

as it is now revealed to science, Life may seem to be of tragically litde

importance in the Universe. In spatial terms we know for certain of
its existence only on an infinitesimally small body in the solar system.

In terms of Time its whole planetary duration is no more than a flash

in the huge course of sidereal development. And structurally its extreme fragility seems to relegate it to the humblest and lowest place
among all the substances engendered during the physicochemical
evolution of cosmic matter. We can hardly wonder, in the circumstances, that agnostics such as Sir James Jeans and Marcel Boll, and
even convinced believers like Guardini, have uttered expressions of
amazement (tinged with heroic pessimism or triumphant detachment) at the apparent insignificance of the phenomenon of Life in
terms of the cosmos-a litde mold on a grain of dust ...
Small wonder, I repeat: but it is no less astonishing that minds so
outstanding should not have perceived the possibility and the advantages of adopting a precisely opposite viewpoint. Life seems to
occupy so small a place in Space-Time, that it cannot reasonably be
regarded as anything other than incidental and accidental. That is
the difficulty. But why should we not reverse the position and say:
"The fact that Life is so rarely encountered in the sidereal immensity
is precisely because, representing a higher form of cosmic evolution,
it can only come into existence in privileged circumstances of time
and place." We shall see the full force of this argument (based on the
premise that Life, everywhere and for ever struggling to assert itself,
is liable to appear at any point in the Universe when the conditions
are favorable) only when we come to the end of this paper: when,
that is to say, we have perceived the full coherence and fruitfulness of
the mental and moral attitudes to which it gives access. But it is im-

TURHOIL OR GENE,SIS

213

portant to insist at the outset on the fundamental point that (despite

all contrary appearances and prejudices) the best way of scientifically explaining the World is to make up our minds to regard animate beings, not as a fortuitous by-product but as the characteristic
and specific higher aim of the universal phenomenon of Evolution,
Let us strip Life of all its anatomical and physiological superstructure, bringing it down to the essentials of its physicochemical
nature, Reduced to its basic mechanism it shows itself to be a
straightforward process of increasing complication whereby Matter contrives to arrange itself in particles of ever greater volume,
ever more highly organized. But do we not find that at the same
time its seeming weaknesses, its fragility and appearance of extreme localization in time-space, tend to vanish? For underlying
these supposedly "exceptional" cellular arrangements we have first
the far vaster world of molecules, and underlying this again the immense and decidedly cosmic world of atoms; two worlds displaying, the first by its interatomic arrangements and the second by its
nuclear groupings, (each in its own way and through different procedures) precisely the same tendency to "fall" into increasingly organized states of complexity. I Thus considered, the era of the
Organic (living) which may have appeared so exceptional in N ature becomes no more than a further instance, at a particularly
I We may seek to distinguish the phases or pulsations of the cosmic rise into
complexity (that is to say, into the Improbable) as follows:
a The pre atomic phase: formation of nuclei and electrons;
b The atomic phase: grouping of nuclei in atoms (fixed and limited number of free "compartments");
c The molecular phase: grouping of atoms in finite or indefinite chains;
d The cellular phase: grouping of molecules in centered clusters.
In all these cases, up to but excluding Man, the arrangement seems to
have been brought about mainly by the working of chance and of grouping;
but in phases a to c the majority of the groups (except in the case of very large
molecules) represent knots of stability, whereas in phase d the arrangements that
survive represent privileged centers of activity.

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THE FUTURE OF MAN

high level, of the operation of the same law that governs the whole
of the Inorganic. So fmally we fmd the Universe from top to bottom brought within a single, immense coiling movement2 successively generating nuclei, atoms, molecules, cells and metazoa-the
special properties of Life being due solely to the extreme (virtually
infinite) degree of complexity attained at its level.
Thus the World falls into order, it organizes itself, around Life,
which is no longer to be regarded as an anomaly but accepted as
pointing the direction of its advance (evidence in itself that the axis
was well chosen!). And what is more up to a point its progress becomes measurable: for, as observation shows, it is the nature of Matter, when raised corpuscularly to a very high degree of complexity,
to become centered and interiorized-that is to say, to endow itself
with Consciousness. This means that the degree of consciousness
attained by living creatures (from the moment, naturally, when it
becomes discernible) may be used as a parameter to estimate the
direction and speed of Evolution (that is to say, of the Cosmic
Coiling) in terms of absolute values.
Let us adopt this method and see where it leads us.

Proposition II. Human Reflection Is Not an Epiphenomenon of the

Organic World, but the Central Phenomenon of Vitali<.ation
IF, AS WE have agreed, Life is the spearhead of Evolution, does
Life in its turn afford us a pointer to the direction of its advance?

It may be as well here to distinguish between the two types of "coiling" or

"in-folding" in the evolutionary process.
a The Coiling of Mass, which subdivides Matter without organizing it
(e.g., the stellar masses);
b The Coiling of Complexity, which organizes elementary masses in ever
more elaborate structures.
2

TURHOIL OR GENESIS

215

This again is an idea that the latest scientific research does not
seem to favor at first glance. Just as Life itself seems to fade into intangibility and insignificance within the sidereal immensities
known to astronomy, so does the happy simplicity which seemed to
indicate a gradual and steady rise of consciousness from the lower
animals to Man lose distinctness in the extraordinary diversity and
profusion of living forms now known to biology. Formerly "instinct" could be treated as a sort of homogeneous quantity varying
(something like temperature) on a scale running from zero to the
point of Reflection representing human thought. Now we have to
accustom ourselves to seeing things differently. It is not along a single line that Consciousness has emerged and is increasing on earth,
but along an immense fan of nervures, each nervure representing
a particular kind of sensory perception and knowledge. There are
as many wavelengths of consciousness as there are living forms. 3
How can we venture to assert that in this spectrum or spreading
sheaf of psychisms, any single line can exist? Hence the reluctance
of many biologists to fix upon a scale of values for use within the
animal kingdom. Is Man really more than a protozoan? It has been
possible for the question to be seriously asked and left unanswered.
But if there were really no answer we should be obliged to conclude that, although the course of Evolution was "directed" up to
the emergence of Life, beyond that point all that goes on is a scatAll Mass-Coilings certainly do not result in Coilings of Complexity; but on
the other hand all Coilings of Complexity seem to originate or be conditional
upon a Mass-Coiling-for example, Life, which could only be achieved on the
physical foundation of a planet.
3 i.e., in seeking to grasp the interior world and associative faculties of an animal it is not enough to try to diminish or decenter our own picture of the
world: we have to modify our angle of vision and our way of seeing. Failing this
we fall into the anthropomorphic illusions which cause us to be amazed at the
phenomena of mirnetism, or by mechanical arrangements which we ourselves
could only carry out with the full aid of science, whereas the insect or the bat
seems to have acquired the skill directly.

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THE FUTURE OF MAN

tering in every direction. We are left with no trail to follow unless

we decide, for sufficient reasons, to attribute a unique and privileged value to riflective consciousness.
It has become the rather unconsidered fashion, since Bergson,
to decry intelligence as compared with other forms or aspects of
cognition. To the extent that this is simply a reaction against a
static and abstract rationalism, it is wholly salutary; but it becomes
pernicious if it goes so far as to cause us to overlook what is truly
exceptional and essential in the phenomenon of Thought-the
power of Consciousness to center so perfecdy upon itself as to be
able to situate itself (itself and the Universe at the same time) in the
explicit framework of a present, a past and afoture--that is to say,
in a Space-Time continuum. The more we reflect upon the revolutionary consequences ensuing from this transformation of the
laws hitherto governing the world-the growth of powers of foresight and invention, prompting and guiding a "planned" rebound of
Evolution!-the more must we be persuaded that to regard Intelligence as an anomaly and even a disease of Consciousness is as
absurd and sterile as to regard Life as a mold on the earth's surface; and the more do we fmd ourselves drawn toward another interpretation of the facts, which may be expressed as follows: It is
perfecdy possible that in the general spectrum of Life the line ending in Man was originally no more than one psychic radiation
among coundess others. But it happened, for some reason of hazard, position or structure, that this sole ray (this is an experiential
fact) among the millions contrived to pass the critical barrier separating the Unreflective from the Reflective-that is to say, to enter
the sphere of intelligence, foresight and freedom of action. Because it did so (and although in a sense, I must repeat, this ray was
only one attempt among many) the whole essential stream of terrestrial biological evolution is now flowing through the breach
which has been made. The cosmic tide may at one time have

TURHOIL OR GENE,SIS

217

seemed to be immobilized, lost in the vast reservoir of living forms;

but through the ages the level of consciousness was steadily rising
behind the barrier, until fmally, by means of the human brain (the
most "centro-complex" organism yet achieved to our knowledge in
the universe) there has occurred, at a first ending of time, the
breaking of the dykes, followed by what is now in progress, the
flooding of Thought over the entire surface of the biosphere.
Thus regarded, everything in the history of the world takes
shape, and what is better, everything goes on.

Propositioll III. Socialization Is Not all Epiphenomenon in the

Sphere of Reflectiu Life but the Essential Phenomenon of Hominization

few readers will quarrel with my reasoning in favor of Propositions I and II. Where that part of the argument is concerned, the way through the jungle of facts has been cleared by a
century of research and discussion. We may assert today that there
is almost complete unanimity among scientists regarding the central
position of Life in the Universe, and of Man in Life. It is beyond this
point-beyond Man in his anatomical and spiritual individualitythat the path vanishes in the undergrowth and the dispute begins.
VVe have now entered the battle: let us see what the position is.
What hinders and even prevents us from advancing beyond
this point is our evident inability to conceive of anything more organically complex or psychically centered than the human type
emerging in Nature as it now is. Hence the instinctive tendency, so
widespread even among men of science, to regard the tide of Life
on earth as having for practical purposes ceased to flow. According
to this view, Life, having reached the reflective stage, must not only
disperse in diverging ethnocultural units, but must finally culminate (and one might say, evaporate) in separate individualities, each
I BELIEVE THAT

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THE FUTURE OF MAN

within the enclosed sphere of its sensibilities and knowledge representing an independent, absolute summit of the Universe.
That is one way of looking at it. But before we acquiesce in a
solution which to me seems nothing but the implied admission of
a dead end, we need to be quite sure that the forces of vitalization
really do possess no oudet upon earth, above the level of the human individual. We are told that the way ahead is completely
closed. But have those who believe this given any thought to the
forces of socialization?
From habit, and from ignorance, we are inclined to consider the
human social phenomenon as no less commonplace and uninteresting than the human phenomenon of reflection. What, we ask in effect, can be more sadly natural than that the human particles, since,
unluckily for them, they gather in crowds and masses, should feel the
need to organize themselves so as to make existence tolerable? What
is this but a process of necessary adjustment, with no mystery about
it? That is the view taken by many people as they gaze with melancholy disquiet at the turbulent swell of humanity; and by it the whole
edifice of human relationships and social structures is reduced to the
level of a regulated epiphenomenon, having no value or substance
of its own, and therefore no future in its own right.
But here, and for the third time, why should we not adopt a position diametrically opposed to the one which is most familiar and,
at fIrst sight, most simple? Why not assume instead that, if it is by
reason of the cosmic structure, and not by chance, that man is
born "legion," by the same token it is not through chance, but
through the prolonged effect of "cosmic coiling," that the human
layer is weaving and folding in upon itself in the way we see it to
be doing? On this basis the fundamental evolutionary process of
the Universe does not stop at the elemental level of the human
brain and human reflection. On the contrary, at this stage the

TUR.HOIL OR. GENE,SIS

219

"complexity-consciousness" mechanism gains an added impulse,

acquiring a new dimension through new procedures. It is no longer
simply a matter of cells organized by the hazards of natural selection, but of completed zoological units inventively building themselves into organisms on a planetary scale. Adopting this organic
view of the social phenomenon, we find that not only does the
structure of our terrestrial society become meaningful both in a
general sense (the gradual rise of tension or psychic temperature
under technico-social pressure) and in detail (the "anatomy" and
"physiology" of the Noosphere) but the whole process takes on a

convergent aspect: the phenomenon of man, seen in its entirety, appears to flow toward a critical point of maturation, (and perhaps
even of psychic withdrawal)4 corresponding to the concentration
of collective Reflection at a single center embracing all the individual units of reflection upon Earth.
Further than this we cannot see and our argument must
cease-except, as I have now to show, in the case of the Christian,
who, drawing upon an added source of knowledge, may advance
yet another step.

Proposition IV. The Church Is ){either an Epi- Nor a

Paraphenomenon in the Grouth of the Human Social Organism,
but Constitlltes the Very Axis (or Nucleus) about Which It Forms

TO THOSE ACCUSTOMED

to see m the phenomenon religion

nothing more than a purely conventional association of minds in

the sphere of the "imaginary," this fourth and final theorem will

Necessitated, it would seem, by the requirement of irreversibility developed

on the way by the coiling of the Cosmos upon itself.

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THE FUTURE OF MAN

seem astonishing and may even come under suspicion as "illuminism." Yet it arises direcdy out of the juxtaposition of two concepts of the World: the one which practical considerations have
just led us to adopt, and the one which every Christian is bound to
accept if he is to remain orthodox. As we know, the belief that the
human individual cannot perfect himself or fully exist except
through the organic unification of all men in God is essential and
fundamental to Christian doctrine.s To this mystical superorganism, joined in Grace and charity, we have now added a mysterious
equivalent organism from the domain of biology: the "Noospheric" human unity gradually achieved by the totalizing and
centering effect of Reflection. How can these two superentities, the
one "supernatural," the other natural, fail to come together and
harmonize in Christian thought; the critical point of maturation
envisaged by science being simply the physical condition and experimental aspect of the critical point of the Parousia postulated
and awaited in the name of Revelation? Clearly for the conjunction to be effected it is necessary (as is already happening) for it to
gain possession of many devout minds. But we must be clear that
this change in our vision goes far beyond any purely intellectual
and abstract merging of two complementary pictures, one rational, the other religious, of "the end of the world."
For one thing, by this conjunction Christian cosmology,
harmonized and effectively articulated at its peak with Human
cosmology, shows itself to be fundamentally and in real values
homogeneous with the latter. Thus dogma is no mere flowering of
From the Christian point of view (which in this coincides with the biological
viewpoint logically carried to its extreme) the "gathering together" of the Spirit
gradually accomplished in the course of the "coiling" of the Universe, occurs
in two tempos and by two stages-a by slow "evaporation" (individual deaths);
and simultaneously b by incorporation in the collective human organism ("the
mystical body") whose maturation will only be complete at the end of Time,
through the Parousia.

TURIvTOIL OR GENESIS

221

the imagination but something authentically born of history; and

it is in literal not metaphorical terms that the Christian believer
can illumine and further the genesis of the Universe around him
in the form of a Christogenesis.
Moreover, by very virtue of the interlocking of the two "geneses" the ascending force of Christianity is directly geared to the
propulsive mechanism of human superevolution. To the Christian,
for whom the whole process of hominization is merely a paving of
the way for the ultimate Parousia, it is above all Christ who invests
Himself with the whole reality of the Universe; but at the same
time it is the Universe which is illumined with all the warmth and
immortality of Christ. So that finally (the point cannot be too
strongly stressed) a new impulse becomes possible and is now beginning to take shape in human consciousness. Born of the psychic
combination of two kinds of faith-in the transcendent action
of a personal God and the innate perfectibility of a World in
progress-it is an impulse, (or better, a spirit of love) that is truly
evolutionary. We can indeed say of it that it is the only kind of spiritual energy capable of causing the formidable human machine, in
which, from what we can see, all the future and all the hopes of
Evolution must henceforth be concentrated, to function at full
power, without danger from egotism or from mechanization, and
to the full extent of its potentialities.

Conclusion
WHAT I SET

out to show, and hope to have shown, is that, viewed

from a certain angle, the internal stir of the Cosmos no longer appears disorderly: it takes a given direction following a major axis of
movement at the completion of which the phenomenon of man
becomes detached as the most advanced form of the largest and

222

THE FUTURE OF MAN

most characteristic of cosmic processes, that of in-folding. This

axis, as we have suggested, may conveniendy be determined by
means of three successive propositions, so closely linked that we
cannot accept anyone without being committed to those which
precede it, nor, conversely reject anyone without being barred
from those that follow it.
This coherence (which is not closed, like the coherence of a
system, but open like that of a method of, or key to, progressive research)-is so marked that we would have to have extremely grave
positive reasons for refusing to face it; and for my part I can see
none that is adequate. But it is nevertheless true that, above all if
they are taken separately, none of the propositions I have formulated is rigidly deductive or, therefore, conclusive: each is more in
the nature of an intuition, that is to say, a kind of choice. So it is
possible to part company from the sequence at each stage: but only,
it should be noted, if in doing so we accept the alternative choice.
But this, to the logical mind, threatens to have dangerous repercussions in the field of action.

As an instance let us take the particularly crucial and meaningful Third Proposition-or option.
Do we accept the idea, strongly supported by fact, that the individual man cannot achieve his wholeness (that is to say, reflect
and personalize himself completely upon himself) except in solidarity with all other men, present, past and future? If we do, the
awareness aroused in us of being each a responsible element in a
rebounding course of Evolution must, at the same time as it gives
rise to a desire and reason for action, inspire us with a fundamental sense of obligation and a precise system of moral tendencies. In
matters of love or money or liberty, of politics, economics or society, we not only fmd our main line of conduct and criteria of
choice structurally laid down for us ("ever higher in convergence")

TURNOIL OR GENESIS

223

but furthermore, our instinct for research and creation ("to consummate the Universe in ourselves") discovers endless justification
and sustenance. Viewed in this way, everything makes sense, everything glows with life; and the flow of human sap rises to the very
heart of the Christian faith.
But if, on the other hand, we refuse to regard human socialization as anything more than a chance arrangement, a modus

vivendi lacking all power of internal growth, then (excepting, at the

most, a few elementary rules safeguarding the living-space of the
individual) we find the whole structure of politico-economicosocial relations reduced to an arbitrary system of conventional and
temporary expedients. Everything in the human world becomes
artificial in the worst sense of the word; everything is divested of
importance, urgency and interest; Christianity itself becomes no
more than a sort of alien proliferation, without analogy or roots in
the Phenomenon of Man.
Faced by so wide a divergence of attitudes, can we fail to see
that the attempt made in these pages to determine a cosmic axis of
evolution, far from being a mere intellectual diversion, is by way of
expressing the condition of survival for the human race? And
more especially how can we do other than feel that it is about the
social phenomenon, according to the degree of central and organic value which we attribute to it, that Mankind is in process of
reassessing and regrouping itself?
PARIS, DECEMBER 20,

1947.

L'ANTHROPOLOCIE, SEPTEMBER

1948.

CHAPTER 15
THE DIRECTIONS
AND CONDITIONS OF
THE FUTURE

mean the human future, certainly contains an element of the unpredictable in

itsel Because of the enormous number of physical variables on which it depends, and even more
the ever-growing predominance of the psychic (individual choice) over the purely statistical, it seems
to be decidedly the case that human evolution goes
beyond the bounds of exact calculation. So it
would be an error, deserving of vigorous denunciation, to talk as though biology in its forecasts can
behave like astronomy. But it is surely no less excessive and dangerous to behave as though our
"freedom" were confronted by a future that is
completely indeterminate. No matter what the Existentialists may claim, to suppose that the Duration ahead of us resembles a virgin, "isotropic"
substance into which we may cut as we please, as
expediency dictates and in any direction, is positively and scientificallY incorrect. Life, and most particularly the extreme point of Life represented by

THE FUTURE, I

THE DIRECTIONS j\ND CONDITIONS OF THE FUTURE 225

Mankind, is not simply a state. It is on the contrary (I shall come

back to this) a vast, directed movement, bound up with the very
structure of the Cosmogenesis. It has a "thread" which cannot be
suppressed, and which must continue to show itself, in no way impaired, but respected, utilized and expressed, until (and at this point
more than ever) it reaches the highest, most conscious forms of its
development.
At a time when delegates from all over the world are coming together in a variety of bodies for the purpose of attempting to sketch
a first outline of future society, it seems to me essential to set forth
the main constructive axes without which it is mere self-delusion to
suppose that we can conceive or undertake any ordering or development of the Earth: general tendencies of advance and growth, that
is to say, which in certain conditions-despite our freedom of choice,
or better still, because of it-Mankind cannot in any circumstances
ignore, and must heed more and more as time goes on.
That is the purpose of this brief note.

1. The General Tendencies

WHATEVER THE PARTICULAR

modalities of the form it may

eventually take, the world of Man (this is my thesis) already shows

certain tendencies in its development, certain lines of embryogenesis, of which we may safely predict that they are definitive and will
only become accentuated with time. Without resorting to any systematized theory (I shall propose one later) and simply confining
ourselves to the objective study of observable facts, these axes of
growth can be reduced to three.

a First-the continuous rise qf Social Unifuation (rise qf masses and

races). Clearly no one can yet predict the exact nature of the world-

226

THE FUTURE OF MAN

group toward which events are leading us. But here and now one
thing is certain, and it appears to me that its recognition in theory,
and acceptance in practice, must be the sine qua non of any valid
discussion and effective action affecting the political, economic
and moral ordering of the present world: this is that nothing, absolutely nothing-we may as well make up our minds to it---can
arrest the progress of social Man toward ever greater interdependence and cohesion. The reason is this. The human mass on
the restricted surface of the earth, after a period of expansion covering all historic time, is now entering (following an abrupt but not
accidental acceleration of its rate of reproduction) a phase of compression which we may seek to control but which there are no
grounds for supposing will ever be reversed. What is the automatic
reaction of human society to this process of compression? Experience supplies the answer (which theory can easily explain)-it organizes itself. To adapt themselves to, and in some sort to escape
from, the planetary grip which forces them ever closer together, individuals find themselves compelled (eventually they acquire a
taste for it) to arrange their communal lives more adroidy; first in
order to preserve, and later to increase their freedom of action.
And since the compulsion is applied on a uniform and total scale
to the whole mass of humanity the ultimate social organization
which it evokes must of necessity be unitary. I have said elsewhere
and I repeat it here!: it would be easier, at the stage of evolution
we have reached, to prevent the earth from revolving than to prevent Mankind from becoming totalized.

b Second, and correlatively-the growth oj gen~alized technology and

mechanization. Here again the facts are clear and the reasons obvious. In a Mankind becoming unified under pressure, its various orI

Cf. Chapter 7-Human Planetization.

THE DIRECTIONS AND CONDITIONS OF THE FUTURE 227

gans tending in consequence to achieve planetary dimensions, it is

inevitable that the mechanical equipment of society will become
all-pervading and enormous. But this change of scale alone is not
enough in itself to explain the sudden and irreversible rise of the
industrial phenomenon which we see taking place around us.
What has really let loose the Machine in the world, and for good,
is that it both facilitates and indefinitely multiplies our activities.
Not only does it relieve us mechanically of a crushing weight of
physical and mental labor; but by the miraculous enhancing of our
senses, through its powers of enlargement, penetration and exact
measurement, it constantly increases the scope and clarity of our
perceptions. It fulfills the dream of all living creatures by satisfying
our instinctive craving for the maximum oj consciousness with a minimum of effort! Having embarked upon so profitable a path, how
can Mankind fail to pursue it?

c Thirdry and finalry-the heightening oj vision. One may say of

the deeper vision that I have in mind that it is conveyed to our
senses by the increased power of our instruments. But in a larger
and more significant sense, I mean the growth of our reflective
concept of the Universe, it arises irresistibly out of the mastery
we have acquired of the physical springs of the world. Because of
this technical control an increasing current of free energy is flowing through the human mass: energy already promoted but hitherto absorbed by the work of the hands, and also latent energy,
released and in effect created by the better ordering of matter.
But it becomes decidedly apparent2 that this added energy, when
it is made available to the human social organism, can only be
usefully and effectively employed in one way: it must be trans2 Provided we except the regressive cases of indolence (search for well-being as
opposed to more-being) which momentarily crop up here and there through the
excess of ease and comfort.

228

THE FUTURE OF MAN

formed into research and creative work. The more free Man's
mind is, the more does he reflect; and the more he reflects the
further do his thoughts penetrate and the more intensively do
they become arranged in closely related systems. That is why
the great wave of modern technical progress is automatically accompanied by an ever-spreading ripple of theoretical thought
and speculation. Everybody knows, without troubling to weigh
the reason or importance of a fact seemingly so commonplace,
that nothing is more impossible than to inhibit the growth of an
idea. Applying this in its widest sense, the surest affirmation we
can make about the human future is that nothing will ever
restrain Man from seeking to think and essay everything to the
very end.
Unification, technification, growing rationalization of the human Earth: we need to shut our eyes to the spectacle of the world
we live in, it seems to me, if we are to suppose that we can ever
escape from these three basic trends. But let me add at once that
we must be insensitive to what, for want of a better word, I will
call the "excellence" of the Universe if we are alarmed or rebellious at a prospect that it would be radically wrong to regard as
a humiliating threat to our liberty. For how can we fail to discern
in the simultaneous rise of Society, the Machine and Thought,
this threefold tide that is bearing us upward, the essential and
primordial process of Life itself-I mean, the organic in-folding
of Cosmic matter upon itself, whereby ever-increasing unity, subtended by ever-heightened consciousness, is achieved by ever
more complicated structural arrangements? We must not suppose, even at this early and half-passive stage of our hominization, that the partly enforced flowering of thought imposed on
us by planetary pressure represents a force of enslavement of

THE DIRECTIONS /\ND CONDITIONS OF THE FUTURE 229

which we are the victims: we must recognize it as a force of liberation. 3

What matters is that in the interacting development of these
two basic trends upon which Mankind is continuing to build itself,
technical organization and the growth of reflective consciousness,
the second should acquire an ever greater predominance and degree of autonomy, conformably with the fundamental law of "vital in-folding."
And it is here, the General Tendencies being established, that
the question of the Conditions of the Future arises.

2. The Conditions
IF IT IS

true that, bound by the collective interaction of its liber-

ties, the human social group cannot escape from certain irreversible laws of evolution, does this mean that, observed along its
axis of "greatest complexity" (i.e., increasing liberty) the World is
coiling upon itself with as much sureness as it is in other respects
radiating outward and explosively expanding? In other words, because certain unalterable factors compel us to advance, with no
possibility of return, in the direction of increasing hominization,
must we conclude that biological evolution on Earth will easily
achieve its purpose-that Thought will necessarily succeed in so
shaping itself that in the end it will comprehend everything?
By no means; and for a series of reasons (or conditions to be
fulfilled) which I must now set forth, from the most superficial to
vVhich does not mean, alas, that the liberating process will not be accompanied by a certain amount of suffering, setbacks and even apparent wastage: the
whole problem of Evil is restated (more comprehensibly, it seems to me, than
in the case of a static world) in this vision of a Universe in evolution.
3

230

THE FUTURE OF MAN

the most profound. First conditions of survival, then conditions of

health, and finally, above all, conditions of synthesis.

a First-Conditions of Survival. I am not thinking particularly of

the possibility of a cosmic catastrophe which might render the earth
prematurely uninhabitable. The presumed duration of the whole
human development (a few million years) is so trifling compared
with the extent of astronomic time, even at the lowest estimate, that
the chance of a variation of the solar equilibrium while anthropogenesis is in process may be ignored. Nor do I propose to dwell upon
the truly negligible possibility of some rash or criminal experiment
blowing up the world (there is, after all, an instinct of planetary
preservation) or even of some infectious disease causing the total
elimination of an animal group as far-sighted, progressive and ubiquitous as Mankind in the adult state. But on the other hand I think
we must pay serious attention to warnings such as that recendy uttered by Mr. Fairfield Osborn, in his book Our Plundered Planet. 4
In our hurry to advance are we not squandering our reserves
to such an extent that our progress may soon be brought to a halt
for lack of supplies? Where physical energy and even inorganic
substances are concerned, science can foresee and indeed already
possesses inexhaustible substitutes for coal, petroleum and certain
metals. But foodstuffs are another matter. How long (if it ever happens at all) will it take chemical science to find ways of feeding us
by the direct conversion of carbon, nitrogen and other simple elements? The population graph is rising almost vertically, while
arable land in every continent is being ruined for lack of proper
husbandry. We must take care: we still have feet of clay.
Brown & Co., Boston, 1948. See also in Harper's (February 1948) the welldocumented article by C. Lester Walker: "Too Many People."

THE DIRECTIONS AND CONDITIONS OF TIlE FUTURE 231

b Secondly-Conditions of Health. I am thinking far less of hy-

giene and physical culture, to which sufficient thought is devoted

already, than of the vital problems posed by genetics, which are
willfully ignored. As I mentioned above after rising slowly until the
seventeenth century, when it reached about 400 millions, the
earth's population began to shoot up in an alarming fashion. It was
800 millions by the end of the eighteenth century, I,600 millions by
I900

and over

2000

millions by

I940.

At the present rate of in-

crease, regardless of war and famine, we must expect a further 500

millions in the next twenty-five years. This demographic explosion,
so closely connected with the development of a relatively unified
and industrialized Earth, clearly gives rise to entirely new necessities and problems, both quantitative and qualitative. From the
palaeolithic age onward, and still more after the neolithic age,
Man has always lived in a state of expansion: to him to grow and
to multiply have been one and the same thing. But now we suddenly see the saturation point ahead of us, and approaching at a
dizzy speed. How are we to prevent this compression of Mankind
on the closed surface of the planet (a thing that is good in itself, as
we have seen, since it promotes social unification) from passing that
critical point beyond which any increase in numbers will mean
famine and suffocation? Above all, how are we to ensure that the
maximum population, when it is reached, shall be composed only
of elements harmonious in themselves and blended as harmoniously as possible together? Individual eugenics5 (breeding and
education designed to produce only the best individual types) and
racial eugenics (the grouping or intermixing of different ethnic
types being not left to chance but effected as a controlled process
, The word is used here in its general and etymological sense of "perfection in
the continuance and fulfIllment of the species."

232

THE FUTURE OF MAN

in the proportions most beneficial to humanity as a whole), both,

as I well know, come up against apparently insuperable difficulties,
from the point of view of technical organization and from that of
psychological resistance. But this does not alter the fact that the
problem of building a healthy Mankind already stares us in the
face and is growing more acute every day. With the help of science,
and sustained by a renewed sense of our species, shall we be able
to round this dangerous corner?

c Finally-Conditions oj Synthesis, the most important oj all. What

does the term mean? Cosmically speaking, as I have said, Man is
collectively immersed in a "vortex" of organization which, operating above the level of the individual, gathers and lifts individuals as
a whole toward the heightening of their power of reflection by
means of a surplus of technical complexity. But, given the nature of
the riflexive phenomenon, what rule must this evolutionary process
observe if it is to fulfill its purpose? Essentially the following: that
within the compressive arrangement which gathers them into a single complex center of vision, the human elements must group and
tighten not merely without becoming distorted in the process, but
with an enhancement of their "centric" qualities, i.e., their personality: 6 a delicate operation and one which, biologically, it would
seem to be impossible to carry out except in an atmosphere (or temperature) of unanimity or mutual attraction. Recent totalitarian experiments seem to furnish material for a positive judgment on this
last point: the individual, outwardly bound to his fellows by coercion and solely in terms of function, deteriorates and retrogresses:
It must truly be said that this is not merely a condition of success but a positive requirement of growth. Although compelled to totalize himself (collectively) Man, at all costs, must not cease at the same time to personalize himself.
This is the whole problem and drama of anthropogenesis.

THE DIRECTIONS /\ND CONDITIONS OF THE FUTURE 233

he becomes mechanized. To repeat a comparison I have already

used above, under these purely enforced conditions the center of
consciousness cannot achieve its natural growth rising out of the
technical center of social organization. Only union through love and

in love (using the word "love" in its widest and most real sense of
"mutual internal affinity"), because it brings individuals together,
not superficially and tangentially but center to center, can physically possess the property of not merely differentiating but also personalizing the elements which comprise it. This amounts to saying
that even under the irresistible compulsion of the pressures causing
it to unite, Mankind will only find and shape itself if men can learn
to love one another in the very act of drawing closer.
But how is this warming of hearts to be realized? In my paper
on the formation of the Noosphere 7 I suggested that the very excess of external compression to which we are subjected by the relative contraction of our planet may one day cause us to breach
that mysterious wall of growing repulsion which, more often than
not, sets the human molecules in opposition to one another, and
enter the powerful, still-unknown field of our basic affinities. In
other words, attraction ",rill one day be born of enforced nearness.
I am very much less disposed to believe today that the tightening
of the human mass will

if itself suffice to warm the human heart.

But I continue to believe, if anything more strongly, in the hidden

existence and eventual release of forces of attraction between men
which are as powerful in their own way as nuclear energy appears
to be, at the other end of the spectrum of complexity. And surely
it is this kind of attraction, the necessary condition of our unity,
which must be linked at its root with the radiations of some ultimate Center (at once transcendent and immanent) of psychic coni

See above, p. 149.

234

THE FUTURE OF MAN

gregation: the same Center as that whose existence, opening for

human endeavor a door to the Irreversible, seems indispensable
(the supreme condition of the future!), for the preservation of the
will to advance, in defiance of the shadow of death, upon an evolutionary path become reflective, conscious of the future ...8
If this is true, is it not apparent that the success of Anthropogenesis, ultimately dependent upon achieving contact with the
supracosmic, must, despite the rigors of its external conditioning,
essentially contain an irreducible element of indeterminacy and
uncertainty?

Conclusion
into account, where does the balance lie
between these diverse influences, "for and against"? Faced by the
biological dilemma confronting our zoological group (unite or perish) which are we to accept, which way rather than another, as the
direction in which the indeterminacy essential to the human adventure is most likely to be resolved?
As I have said elsewhere, the more we study the past, noting
the steady rise of Life over millions of years, and observing the
ever-growing multitude of reflective elements engaged in the construction of the Noosphere; the more must we be convinced that
by a sort of "infallibility of large numbers" Mankind, the present
crest of the evolutionary wave, cannot fail in the course of its
guided probings to fmd the right road and an outlet for its higher
ascent. Far from being stultified by overcrowding, the cells of individual freedom, in a concerted action growing more powerful as

ALL THINGS TAKEN

See above, Chapter Is-The Human Rebound of Evolution, p.

192.

THE DIRECTIONS J\ND CONDITIONS OF THE FUTURE 235

they increase in numbers, will rectify and redress themselves when

they begin to move in the direction toward which they are inwardly
polarized. It is reasoned calculation, not speculation, which makes
me ready to lay odds on the ultimate triumph of hominization over
all the vicissitudes threatening its progress.
For a Christian, provided his Christology accepts the fact that
the collective consummation of earthly Mankind is not a meaningless and still less a hostile event but a precondition9 of the final,
"parousiac" establishment of the Kingdom of God-for such a
Christian the eventual biological success of Man on Earth is not
merely a probability but a certainty: since Christ (and in Him virtually the World) is already risen. But this certainty, born as it is of
a "supernatural" act of faith, is of its nature supraphenomenal:
which means, in one sense, that it leaves all the anxieties attendant
upon the human condition, on their own level, still in the heart of
the believer.
PARIS, JUNE

Necessary, but not sufficient in itself.

30, 1948,

PSYCHE, OCTOBER

1948.

CHAPTER 16
THE ESSENCE OF THE
DEMOCRATIC IDEA
A Biological Approach to the Problem

an abstract concept of the

kind that can be set forth geometrically in terms of
pure ratiocination. Like so many of the notions on
which modern ideologies are based-evolution,
progress, feminism and so forth-it was originally,
and to a great extent still is, no more than the approximate expression of a profound but confused
aspiration striving to see the light and to take
shape. For this reason its elucidation calls for as
much, or more, psychology as logic. Do we not all
spend our lives in seeking to interpret ourselves by
way of actions that often appear contradictory?
How can we hope to understand ourselves without
first possessing some knowledge of our nature, history and temperament?
It may be that the growth of modern Democracy, and consequendy the impulses underlying it,
will become more intelligible if, disregarding the
DEMOCRACY IS NOT

THE ESSENCE OF THE, DEl'10CRATIC IDEA

237

political and juridical aspects, we approach the problem in biological terms.

The question asked is, "What is Democracy?" Would it not be
more exact and profitable slightly to modify our phraseology and
to ask: "What exactly is hidden behind the idea of Democracy?"

1. The Present Evolutionary State of Mankind

THE PEOPLE WHO

make it their business to study or order hu-

man society (ethnologists, politicians, political economists, etc.) do

so in practice as though Social Man were virgin wax to be molded
into any shape they choose. They do not seem to have noticed that
the living substance they are manipulating is, by reason of its very
formation, characterized by certain narrowly defined lines of
growth; and that these, although they are sufficiently supple to permit the architects of the New Earth to make use of them, are also
strong enough to disrupt any attempted arrangement that does not
respect them.
This being so, of all the structural tendencies inherent in the
human mass the most fundamental (indeed, the one from which all
others are derived) is undoubtedly that which has led Mankind,
under the twofold influence of planetary compression and psychic
interpenetration, to enter upon an irresistible process of unification and organization upon itself But to this a vital condition is attached, namely, that if it is to be viable and stable the resulting
unification must not stifle but on the contrary must exalt the incommunicable uniqueness of each separate element in the unified
system: something that is proved possible on a small scale by every
successful team or association. In point of fact to the enlightened
observer it is perfectly apparent that we could more easily prevent

238

THE FUTURE OF MAN

the earth from turning than Mankind from progressing, laboriously but inexorably, in a twofold conjoined movement toward a
personalizing totalization. This evolutionary situation (arising out
of a very much more generalized movement of "in-folding," cosmic in its dimensions) could go unperceived while human socialization, still in its initial phase of expansion, was spreading over the
earth's surface. But it becomes increasingly manifest as the second
phase which we have now entered, that of socialization through
compression, takes clearer shape around us. And I believe it is this,
to the extent that it is beginning to penetrate our consciousness,
that is arousing the turmoil of so-called "democratic" aspirations
in all our hearts.

2. Biological Definition and Interpretation

of the

Spirit of Democracy

LET US ASSUME that the strangely contagious modern obsession

with democratic ideas is nothing else than the feeling and liking
Man has acquired for a process which, by the collective organization of the zoological group to which he belongs, is carrying
him toward certain new states of superpersonalization-or, which
comes to the same thing, superreflection. In other words, let us
identify the spirit of Democracy with the "evolutionary sense" or
"the sense of species"-the last signifying, in the case of Man, not
merely the instinct for permanence through propagation, but also
a will to grow through the organized arrangement of the species
upon itsel We need do no more than this, it seems to me, and we
shall fmd that light is shed on coundess points that have hitherto
been obscure, and that many disquieting antinomies have become
(at least in theory) effordessly reconciled.

THF, ESSE,NCE, OF THE, DE]\10CRATIC IDE,A

239

Let us apply this principle first to the legendary attributes, Liberty, Equality, Fraternity, which are indissolubly associated in our
minds with the idea of any government of the people by the people; and then to the conflict, now more acute than ever, which has
always divided Democracy into two factions, liberal and socialist.

a Liberty, Equality, Fraternity. It was in I789 that this famous slogan electrified the Western world: but as events have shown, its
meaning was far from clear to the minds of those it inspired. Liberty-to do anything? Equality-in all respects? Fraternity-based
on what common bonds? ... Even today the magical words are
much moreftlt than understood. But does not their undeniable, if
vague, attraction take on a clearer aspect if we consider them, as I
suggest, from a biological standpoint?
Liberty: that is to say, the chance offered to every man (by removing obstacles and placing the appropriate means at his disposal)
of "transhumanizing" himself by developing his potentialities to
the fullest extent.
Equality: the right of every man to participate, according to
his aptitudes and powers, in the common endeavor to promote,
each by way of the other, the future of the individual and the
species. Indeed, is it not this need and legitimate demand to participate in the Human Affair (the need felt by every man to live coextensively with Mankind) which, deeper than any desire for material
gain, is today agitating those classes and races that have hitherto
been left "out of the game"?
Fraternity: as between man and man, in the sense of an organic interrelation based not merely on our more or less accidental coexistence on the surface of the earth, or even on our common
origin, but on the fact that we represent, all of us together, the front
line, the crest of an evolutionary wave still in full flood.

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THE FUTURE OF MAN

Liberty, Equality, Fraternity-no longer indeterminate, amorphous and inert, but directed, guided, dynamized by the growth of
a fundamental impulse which underlies and sustains them.
Does not everything truly become more clear in the light of
this guiding principle?

b Liberal Democracy and Directed Democracy. The UNESCO questionnaire refers in passing to the disparity, deplored by de Tocqueville, between "democracy" and "socialism." Broadly speaking, the
avowed object of the inquiry is an attempt to resolve, at least theoretically, the present tensions in this field between East and West.
But does not the strange and persistent cleavage, so invariably
manifest within so-called democratic movements in the opposed
concepts of liberalism and dirigisme (or individualism and totalitarianism) explain itself when we realize that, although they may look
like contradictory social ideals, they are in fact natural components
(personalization and totalization) whose interaction biologically determines the essence and progress of anthropogenesis? On the one
hand we have a system centered on the individual, and on the other
a system centered on the group. Sometimes the first of the two vectors, sometimes the second, breaks away and so dominates the
other as to appear determined to engulf everything. A shift to the
right is followed by a shift to the left. But there is really no fundamental contradiction in this. It is simply a matter of disconnection
and disharmony which may even (why not?) be an inevitable and
necessary alternation. Biologically, let me repeat, there can be no
true Democracy without the balanced combination of these two
complementary factors, which in their pure state are expressed, one
by individualist and the other by authoritarian regimes.
But in practical terms how precisely are we to proceed eventually in order to bring them into harmony?

THE ESSE,NCE OF THE DEMOCRATIC IDEA

241

3. The Technique of Democracies

large number of UNESCO's questions are
concerned with the study and criticism of the existing forms and
methods of Democracy. Since this is a sphere in which I have no
competence I shall confine myself to the three following remarks,
all from a biological standpoint:

VERY PROPERLY, A

a In the first place, and in the light of what I have said, there
are two general conditions which must at all costs be observed in the
planning of democratic institutions. The first of these is that the
individual must be allowed the widest possible liberty of choice
within which to develop his personal qualities (the one theoretical
restriction being that his choice should be exercised in the direction of heightened powers of reflection and consciousness). The
second, off-setting the first, is that everything must be done to
promote and foster the currents of convergence (collective organizations) within which alone, by the laws of anthropogenesis, individual action can achieve its fulfillment and full consistence. In
short, what is needed is a judicious mixture of laissez-faire and firmness. The problem is one of moderation, tact and "art" for which
no hard-and-fast rules can be laid down, but which, in each particular case, every nation is perfectly capable of solving in its own
way-provided its instinct of progress and "superhumanization" is
sufficiently developed.

b Secondly, it is only by way of countless experiments and gropings that the Democratic ideal (like Life itselfj can hope to achieve
its own formulation and, still more, can materialize. Despite the
compressive and unifying conditions to which we are subject,
Mankind is still made up of terribly heterogeneous parts, un-

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THE FUTURE OF MAN

equally matured, whose democratization can be effected only with

the use of imagination and suppleness, and in conformity with the
varying circumstances in each portion of the World.

c Finally, it is upon the maintenance and growth in human

consciousness of what I have called the "sense of the Species" that
the realization of a truly democratic world society ultimately depends. Only a powerful polarization of human wills, after each
fragment of humanity has been led to the discovery of his own
particular form of freedom, can ensure the convergence and unified working of this plurality in a single, coherent planetary system.
Above all, only this polarization, through the unity thus constituted, can create the atmosphere of noncoercion-unanimitv-which is, when all is said, the rare essence of Democracy.
UNPUBLISHED. PARIS, FEBRUARY 2,

1949.

IN RESPONSE TO A QUESTIONNAIRE FROM UNESCO.

CHAPTER 17
DOES MANKIND MOVE
BIOLOGICALLY
UPON ITSELF?
Gali1eo's Question Restated

IN THE PAST

three years I have twice sought in

these pages to depict and interpret from a purely

l

scientific standpoint what I have called "the organic concretion upon itself of Mankind" and the
corresponding "rebound," in terms of biological
evolution, that seems to result from this.
I beg leave to return to the subject, this time not
with the calmness of a theorist adding to his argument but with a greater and fiercer vehemence, the
better to stress the vital importance and urgency,
both for our thought and our action, of the problem presented by the explosion of human Totalization which we already see in full spate around us.
Describing the formation of a thinking enveI Revue des Questions Scientifiques,January 1947 and April, 1948.
In this volume, "The Formation of the Noosphere," p. 149:
and "The Human Rebound of Evolution and its Consequences," p. 192.

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THE FUTURE OF MAN

lope, a Noosphere, now being shaped round our planet, I wrote that
this was a "defensible hypothesis." But did I speak strongly enough?
Was there not a certain perfidy in those soothing and cautious
words, even a hint of cowardice? I wrote of "plausible views," as
though all this were no more than a game of academic speculation
inviting no intellectual commitment, to be taken up or dropped at
our leisure, with all conclusions deferred. But does this attitude of
unconcerned detachment really meet the situation of the individual
man today, who flnds himself confronted by the expansion and overflowing of human collectivization? Surely the truth, for those of us
who seek to understand the portents we see multiplying around us,
is that we must face the fact that in no sphere, whether politicoeconomic or social, artistic or mystical, can anything stable or enduring be built on Earth until we have found a positive answer to the
following question:
What degree of reality and what ontological signillcance are
we to attribute to this strange shift of the current, as a result of
which modern man, scarcely entered into what he supposed to
be the haven of his individual rights, flnds himself suddenly
drawn into a great unitary whirlpool where it seems that his
most hard-won attributes, those of his incommunicable, personal
being, are in danger of being destroyed? Is it Life that we see on
the horizon, concealed behind the rise of the masses, or is it
Death?
In recent months my observation and personal knowledge
have made me increasingly conscious of a paramount and immediate necessity: the necessity for our generation of adopting certain
flrm values regarding the course of the world, of taking a major
decision upon which the future of human history will depend.
It is this dramatic situation whose urgency I wish to stress in
the form of three essentially related propositions of which each of
us carries the substance in his heart, without choosing, or without

DOES M/\NT<IND HOVE. BIOLOGICALLY

245

daring, to acknowledge them and accept their inexorable pressure

and their natural logic.

1. The First Point (beyond dispute): The Material

Fact of the Injolding of Mankind upon Itself

AS A BASIS

for what I have to say (indeed, as a basis for any at-

tempt to understand what is happening in the world) a plain fact

must be plainly stated which perhaps my previous writings have
failed to detach sufficiently from certain accessory hypotheses-although, rid of encumbrances, it is as evident as the rising sun. I
mean the essentially modern fact of the "social-scientific agglomeration" of Mankind upon itself.
Let us first be sure that we understand the meaning of the
word "modern." We can all see, at least in retrospect, that since
Man first appeared on earth he has not only spread over the continents in an amorphous flood but has constituted himself a group
of exceptional solidarity, not merely ubiquitous but "totalitarian"
in tendency. But during tens of thousands of years the weaving
and extension of the thinking network over the surface of the
globe proceeded so slowly and sporadically that until quite recently
not even the most acute observers, although they recognized the
biological singularity of our nature, seem to have suspected that,
zoologically speaking, Humanity might be wholly unique in its destiny and structural potentialities. To the old naturalists the human
"species" had virtually achieved its vital equilibrium, and they
found nothing (except of course a more highly developed mind
and sensibility) to distinguish it from other animal families where
the probable curve of its development was concerned.
Such was the comfortable vista which, less than a century ago,
began abruptly to change beneath our gaze, something in the fash-

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THE FUTURE OF MAN

ion of those organic tissues in the living body which, after long
remaining harmless and dormant, their cells apparently indistinguishable from those of the surrounding tissue, suddenly burst into
dangerous growth. Or we may liken the change to the fall of an avalanche in the mountains-a sudden calamity, long and noiselessly
prepared-or, better still, to the sudden birth of a cyclone in tranquil, overheated air, or of a whirlpool in the smooth waters of a
river. Is not this precisely the kind of spectacle to which we are now
awakening (still without really believing in it); the spectacle of
Mankind, suddenly shaken out of a deceptive inertia, being swept
along ever more rapidly, by the current of its own proliferation and
contraction, into the diminishing circles of a sort of maelstrom coiling it irresistibly upon itself?
Let us try and get some idea of the speed (the rising curve, if
you prefer) of this process of in-folding over the period of a single
generation. Looking back to the turn of the century we see limited
wars, clearly marked frontiers, large blank spaces on the map and
distant, exotic lands, to visit which was still like entering another
world. Today we have a planet girdled by radio in the fraction of a
second and by the airplane in a few hours. We see races and cultures jostling one another, and a soaring world population amid
which we are all beginning to fight for elbowroom. We see a world,
stretched almost to breaking-point between two ideological poles,
where it is impossible for the smallest peasant in the remotest countryside to live without continually being in some way affected or
worried by what is going on in New York or Moscow or China ...
To steady ourselves in face of this progressive invasion of our private lives, and keep our footing in the rising tide, we tend to deny the
reality of what is happening. Or we tell ourselves that this intermingling of all men over all the earth can portend no more than a passing phase of political readjustment such as has already occurred
many times in history: not a defmitive and lasting phenomenon, but

DOES Mf\NKIND NOVE BIOLOGICALLY

247

a momentary complexity of circumstances, brought about by chance

at the present time, and later to be resolved by some other chance.
But it must surely be clear that in this we are simply deceiving
ourselves. Is it conceivable that the human world will relax its grip,
loosen the coils which it has woven round all our separate lives?
How can we dare to suppose it?
No matter where we look, there is no indication that the grip
is tending to relax. I do not deny that there are revolts against it,
on the part of individuals and even of nations; but these spasmodic
movements of protest are painfully crushed by the tightening of
the vise almost as soon as they appear.
Nor is this all. As the phenomenon of human in-folding takes
shape, so does its implacable and henceforth unchangeable mechanism become apparent. In origin this is a material force, that of
terrestrial compression acting on a rapidly growing population composed of elements whose field of action grows even more rapidly.
The Earth is visibly contracting, and the hundreds of millions of
people on its surface, reacting to the pressure of this contraction, are
compelled not only to make technical arrangements among themselves, but to accept and use the inexhaustible spiritual and intellectuallinks born of the revolutionary power of Reflection. How can
we hope to resist, how dream of escaping, from the play of these two
cosmic coils (spatial and mental) that close in upon us in a movement
conjugated upon ourselves? The human molecules are tightly
packed together, and the more this is the case the more impossible it
becomes for them, owing to their nature and structure, not to merge
both physically and in spirit. Rising social standards, the rise of the
Machine, the growth of knowledge ... We are naively disposed to
speak, to marvel, or even grow indignant, as though these separate
events and their conjunction were something accidental or surprising. But how can we fail to see that we are simply dealing with three
aspects of a single perfectly regulated process on a planetary scale?

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THE FUTURE OF MAN

It is amazing how often, in casual reading or conversation, one

encounters either a total inability to see and understand, or a deliberate refusal to accept, the plainest evidence of this material fact of
the inevitable drawing-together of Mankind. Let us consign past
thinking to the past. Yesterday, perhaps, it was still possible for us to
wonder whether Mankind as an ethnic and cultural whole could be
said to constitute a fmally stabilized group: today, overtaken by the
rush of events, there is no longer room for any uncertainty in the
matter. For whatever deeper reasons, still calling for discovery and
debate, the human mass, which at one time seemed immobile or
immobilized, is again on the move. The wheels are in motion and
the speed is visibly increasing, rendering perfecdy abortive any attempt at resistance on our part, whether physical or mental, to the
tide that is sweeping us along. For however long it may endure, the
human world will henceforth only be able to continue to exist by
organizing itself ever more tighdy upon itsel We may delude ourselves with the notion that we are simply weathering a storm. The
truth is that we are undergoing a radical change of climate.
We must accept it once and for all. Human Problem No. I is no
longer that of deciding whether we can escape the sociophysical infolding of the human race upon itself, since this is irrevocably imposed on us by the physiochemical structure of the Earth. All that
matters, the only meaningful question, is to know whither this process
of totalization is leading us-toward what summit, or what abyss?

2. The Second Point (which now emerges):

The Biological Value of Human Socialization

the foregoing is that, confronted by this
technico-social embrace of the human mass, modern man, in so

WHAT RESULTS FROM

DOES MANKIND NOVE BIOLOGICALLY

249

far as he has any clear idea of what is happening, tends to take

fright as though at an impending disaster. Having scarcely
emerged, after millennia of painful differentiation, from what the
ethnologists call the state of primitive co-consciousness, are we
now, through the very excess of our civilization, to sink back into
a state of even greater obscurity?
It must be said that appearances (or excuses) are not lacking to
warrant this pessimistic view. At close quarters and on the individuallevel we see the ugliness, vulgarity and servitude with which the
growth of industrialism has undeniably sullied the poetry of
primeval pastures. At a higher level we see the somber threat, still
increasing despite the surgical operation of the second World War
which was supposed to abate it, of so-called political totalitarianism. And on what is, in a sense, a higher level still we have the disquieting example of such animal groups as termites, ants and bees,
our ancestors in the Tree of Life, which, afflicted by an evil of
which we seem to perceive the symptoms in ourselves, have lapsed
into a state of social enslavement-the very fate toward which an
implacable destiny seems to be impelling us. Evidence such as this,
if it is insufficiently studied, must certainly cause us dismay. Does
it not suggest that this is a general law of life; that the living creature, compelled for its own survival to attach itself materially and
spiritually to others of its kind, and to an increasing extent as it
progresses autonomously and in individual freedom, is automatically prevented by Nature from rising above a given level of emancipation and consciousness? And may it not be that we are now
thrusting against this barrier the surface-limit of the "I"?
If that is so, then the whirlpool in which we are seized must
end by dehumanizing us. It means that we are lapsing into a sort
of senescence. This is one way of explaining the irresistible movement of concentration that has us in its grip: the quick answer, the

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THE FUTURE OF MAN

simplest and most morbidly fascinating to sensibilities as shaken

and bruised as our own at the present time. 2
But (let it be cried from the rooftops!) there is another way. To
that tired and outworn approach to the problem of the Socialization of the Earth we may oppose an entirely different, very much
more constructive interpretation, solidly and scientifically based on
a new vision of Life and the World, of the grand phenomenon of
human Totalization.
Let me briefly recapitulate the theory in its broad outline, looking fIrst at Life as Science is now beginning to rediscover and reassess it.
Because plants and animals are excessively fragile in their structure, and because until now their existence has only been detected,
indeed is only conceivable, in severely limited zones of Time and
Space, we have been accustomed to regard them as an anomaly
and an exception, almost a small, separate world within the great
universe. But much has happened to change this view. New lights
have been vouchsafed us-the reality, capable of defInition, of a
Cosmogenesis; the discovery of the genesis of atoms, of the increasingly "molecular" aspect of living organisms pursued to the
infInitesimal, and of the persistence of this "molecular" characteristic in the mechanisms of heredity and evolution rising to the highest organic types; the existence of a center of indeterminacy at the
very heart of every element of Matter ... The cumulative effect of
these revelations has been to open our eyes to a very different and
quite otherwise alluring possibility. This is that living beings, far
from constituting a singular and inexplicable oddity in the world,
are on the contrary the fInal outcome of an entirely generalized
Three reasons, among others, which explain the favor it enjoys in contemporary literature and in the conservative and existentialist press. It is so easy to
write and get oneself read if one sets up as a prophet of disaster. "Frighten
me .. I'"
2

DOES HANKIND HOVE BIOLOGICALLY

251

physicochemical process in virtue of which the stuff of the cosmos,

by virtue of the very position it occupies and its structure, is not
only in a state of spatial expansion (as in these days is generally accepted) but that, even more significandy, it presents itself to our experience as actuated by a movement of qualitative in-folding (or
arrangement, if you prefer) upon itself; and this "in-folding
arrangement" moves in the direction, not of any homogeneous repetition, but of a formidable growth of complexity, increasing with
the passage of time and resulting in proteins, cells and living matter of every kind. A certain Laplacian cosmology having accustomed our minds to the idea that the phenomena of the dissipation
of energy and the way of "greatest probability" are the only ones
physically possible, we instinctively recoil from the thought of a partial "lapse" of the Universe into Complexity. Yet, just as the shift to
red of the galactic spectra compels us to accept the centrifugal
flight of the sidereal layers-so, and still more certainly, must the
distribution and history of the small, the big, and, finally, the very
large particles (what is each of us, in effect, but an immense molecule?) point to a continuous global drift of the "stuff of things"
toward ever more advanced and bewilderingly elaborate types of
construction that are closed and centered on themselves?3
Viewed in this way Life, far from being an aberration on the
part of Nature, becomes within the field of our experience nothing less than the most advanced form of one of the most fundamental currents of the Universe, in process of taking shape around
us. Which is to conclude that, everywhere exerting its pressure, it
tends with a "cosmic" tenacity and intensity to make continuous
progress wherever it has gained a foothold, always moving in the
same direction and reaching out as far as possible.
Thus matter has a "ballast" of, not so much geometry (as Bergson maintained), as complexity. The fact may be hard to explain, but it is there before
our eyes.

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THE FUTURE OF MAN

Having postulated so much, let us return to the significance

and value of human totalization.
What characterizes this process in our eyes, as we have said, is
the network of social-technical bonds from which our personal
freedom suffers at the fIrst contact, and in which, at fIrst sight, we
see nothing but diminution and mechanization.
But why do we, or more precisely how can we, fail to detect in this
same process, and to the exact extent that it constitutes an organized whole-how fail to perceive, beneath what looks at fIrst sight
like a purely blind mechanical operation, the same process of
"complexifIcation" which, if our new concept is valid, constitutes
the essential proceeding of Life? What discloses and measures, both
as a reagent and a parameter, the eu-complex or organic arrangements of matter, as opposed to the purely fortuitous or mechanical
(pseudo-complex) groupings that take place between atoms and molecules, is the appearance and growth in the former of psychic properties. In physicochemical terms a very high degree of complexity
begets consciousness: few laws of Nature are so sure, so consistent
(or so litde exploited) as this. And whatever may be said about the
"gregariousness of crowds" and the "brutalization of the masses"4
the fact remains beyond dispute that, although human socialization
may not yet have shown itself to be particularly productive of
virtue,5 it is this process that has unloosed the formidable scientiflc
impulse that is causing us to revise our conception of the Universe
from top to bottom. 6

Effects, not of complexity, but of unorganized large numbers.

We must wait and see.
6 Without, of course, denying the great fact of the growth of science, the "pessimists" tend to see in it nothing but an accidental (and dangerous) by-product
of social mechanization-something utterly without spiritual value: "epimind," one might call it, released by an epiphenomenon.

DOES MANKIND MOVE BIOLOGICALLY

253

Human Totalization develops mind; it goes hand-in-hand with "psychogenesis": THEREFORE it is oj a biological nature, order and dimension.
We need no further evidence, in my view, to prove scientifically that
the social in-folding which we are undergoing is nothing other than
the direct and logical extension, over our heads, of the process of cosmic in-folding which gave birth to the first cell and the first thought
on earth. Supercomplexification and superinteriorization, within the
zone that I have called the Noosphere, of the stuff of the Universe:
not only of men, but of the Man who is to be born tomorrow! Everything falls into place around us, amid the so-called human chaos, if
we view it in this light. The World goes on its way-and that is all.
We rebel at yielding to the excess of vitalization that is bearing
us along because we fear that in doing so we shall lose the precious
fragment, "me", which we have acquired. But how can we fail to
see that, of itself and properly controlled/ and provided it acts not
simply on what is "mechanizable" (instinct) but on what can be
rendered "unanimizable" (reflective psychism) totalization by its
nature does not merely differentiate but personalizes what it unites?
All things considered it seems, then, that we have two opposed
evaluations of this process of the in-folding of Humanity upon itself; a process which is clearly apparent and which nothing can
prevent.

a That the planetary collectivization which confronts us is a

crude phenomenon of mechanization or senescence which will
end by dehumanizing us;
b That on the contrary it is a mark and an effect of biologi-

cal superarrangement destined to ultrapersonalize us.

Within a field of affective attraction sufficiently intense to influence the human mass as a whole and at the same time.

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THE FUTURE OF MAN

I maintain that of these two judgments it is the second which

is far more likely to fit the reality. That its validity has not yet been
fmally demonstrated or verified may be admitted. Nevertheless it is
solid enough for us to feel, considering the moment of history in
which we live, that the time has come when we may, indeed must,
resolutely stake our futUre on it.
This brings me to the heart of what I am trying to say in these
pages.

The Hour of Choice

physical no less than intellectual and moral,
and whether it be a question of flowing water, a traveler on a journey, or a thinker or mystic engaged in the pursuit of truth, there
inevitably comes a point in time and place when the necessity presents itself, to mechanical forces, or to our freedom of choice, of
deciding once and for all which of two paths is the one to take. The
enforced, irrevocable choice at a parting of the ways that will never
occur again: which of us has not encountered that agonizing
dilemma? But how many of us realize that it is precisely the situation in which social man finds himself, here and now, in face of the
rising tide of socialization?
Borne on a current of Totalization that is taking shape and
gathering speed around us, we cannot, as I have said, either stop
or turn back. Indeed, how can we even contemplate escaping from
a tide that is not only planetary but cosmic in its dimensions?
As I have also shown, two attitudes are theoretically possible in
this situation, two forms of "existentialism." We can reject and resist the tide, seeking by every means to slow it down and even to escape individually (at the risk of perishing in stoical isolation) from
what looks like a rush to the abyss; or we can yield to it and actively
IN EVERY SPHERE,

DOES MANKIND MOVE BIOLOGICALLY

255

contribute to what we accept as a liberating and life-giving movement.

It remains for me to demonstrate the urgency of the problem;
that is to say, to fulfill my purpose by showing that we have truly
reached the parting of the ways, the point where the waters divide;
and also to show that in this momentous hour we cannot continue
physically to exist (to act) without deciding here and now which of
the two attitudes we shall adopt: that of defiance or that of faith in
the unification of mankind.
The urgency is due first and foremost to the state of deepseated irresolution created by our seeming lack of choice in face of
the immense problems which Mankind must solve without delay if
it is to survive. We debate endlessly about Peace, Democracy, the
Rights of Man, the conditions of racial and individual eugenics,
the value and morality of scientific research pushed to the uttermost limit, and the true nature of the Kingdom of God; but here
again, how can we fail to see that each of these inescapable questions has two aspects, and therefore two answers, according to whether
we regard the human species as culminating in the individual or
as pursuing a collective course toward higher levels of complexity and consciousness? Let such organizations as the U.N. and
UNESCO continue to multiply and flourish; I for one shall always
rejoice unreservedly in their existence. But we must realize that we
shall be forever building on shifting sand so long as bodies of this
kind are not agreed on the basic values and purpose underlying
their projects and decisions-that is to say, on their attitude toward
human totalization. What good does it do to discuss the ripples on
the surface while the undertow is still uncontrolled?
Without realizing it-and this is at the root of our present political and ideological stagnation-we are still desperately clinging to
the old concept, now become unliveable, of a world in a state of human immobility, as though this idea were not visibly crumbling. In

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THE FUTURE OF MAN

doing so we run a twofold risk, not only of continuing in a state of

inefficiency and chaos but, which is far worse, of missing what may
be the only chance offered to the earth of achieving its maturity.
For herein lies the tragic nature of a dilemma presenting itself,
as it does to Man, in purely "reflective" terms. We cannot wait passively upon the statistical play of events to decide for us which road
the world is to take tomorrow. We must positively and ardently take
a hand in the game ourselves. If it is true, as I suggest, that salvation
lies in the direction of an Earth organically in-folded upon itself, it is
then surely evident that, through a reciprocal mechanism of action
and reaction, the vision and prevision of this ultimate end, this outcome of History and of Life, may be made to play an essential part
in the building of the future, if only by creating the atmosphere, the
psychic fold of attraction, without which it will be impossible for Humanity to continue to converge upon itsel Again, if it be true that
Evolution is rebounding on itself through the fact of human totalization, it must, becoming conscious, fasten passionately upon itself:
which is to say that Man to progress further, will need to be sustained
by a powerful collective faith. According to whether we believe in it
or reject it, the totalizing process, from which there is no escape, will
either infuse new life into us or destroy us-that is the fact. It is precisely in order to discover and bring into the open this saving and
transforming Faith that we must, at this crucial instant, take a positive stand on the spiritualizing and humanizing value of social totalization, and thus reaffIrm our sense of the Species on a new plane.
We must do so now. Life will not wait for us, and our state is insecure.
Who can say whether tomorrow will not be too late?
What is, in fact, happening in the world today is as though,
four hundred years later and at a higher turn of the spiral, we
found ourselves back in the intellectual position of the contemporaries of Galileo. For the men of the sixteenth century it was the

DOES MANKIND 1'-10VE BIOLOGICALLY

257

idea of a Universe in motion (in the oversimplified but still perfectly recognizable form of an "absolute" rotation of the earth
round the sun) which, as it dawned on their minds, affected them
even more deeply than the ending of the geocentric concept. Under the influence of this initial shock, as we can now see, the whole
sidereal Cosmos, as expressed in terms of the physics, philosophy
and theology of those days, began to give way to a Cosmogenesis:
a transformation that was no doubt less heavily loaded with practical consequences, or less directly a stimulant of action, than the
one we are now undergoing, which is a passage from the concept
of a static and dispersed humanity to one of humanity biologically
impelled toward the mysterious destiny of a global anthropogenesis. It was a transformation of the same order of magnitude, and
psychologically of the same kind: that is to say, an acquiescence, at
once free and enforced, in the necessity of adopting a new point of
view to the extent that this resulted from a general and irresistible maturing of the human consciousness. Following the moment
when a few men began to see the world through the eyes of
Copernicus all men came to see it in the same fashion. A first flash
of illumination, intuitively accepted despite the risk of error; and
as the intuition was increasingly confirmed by observation and experiment, it came to be embodied in the inherited core of human
consciousness. In the sixteenth century-as had already happened
at long intervals in the course of history, and as is again happening tod~men found themselves suddenly "up against a blank wall," in
the sense that they felt instinctively that they could not continue to
be men without adopting a positive position toward a given interpretation of the phenomenal framework enclosing them. Accordingly they made their choice. And, as we look back we see that Life,
reaching a major fork in the road, and acting in men and through
men, once again took the right way.

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THE FUTURE OF MAN

May it happen-I have no doubt that it will, because I am profoundly convinced of the essential bond of complicity uniting Life,
Truth and Freedom-may it happen that our descendants four
centuries hence, being faced by some new parting of the ways that
we cannot yet foresee, will look back and say: "In the twentieth
century they saw dearly. Let us seek to follow their example!"
Once again, as in the days of Galileo and the problem of the
movements of the earth, we have to achieve unanimity, this time
regarding the value, whether materially constructive or vitalizing,
of the phenomenon of socialization. But if I am not mistaken the
balance is already swinging in favor of the organic nature (and the
resultant biological effects, which we cannot yet foresee) of human
"planetization." The more we allow ourselves to believe in this
possible superorganization of the world, the more shall we fmd
reason to believe in it, and the more numerous will become the believers. It seems that already a collective intuition in that direction,
which nothing will be able to arrest, is on the move. 8
So that it requires no great gift of prophecy to affirm that,
within two or three generations, the notion of the psychic infolding of the earth upon itself, in the bosom of some new "space
of complexity," will be as generally accepted and utilized by our
successors as the idea of the earth's mechanical movement round
the sun, in the bosom of the fIrmament, is accepted by ourselves.
SAINT-GERMAIN-EN-LAYE, MAY

4, 1949.

REVUE DES QUESTIONS SCIENTIFlQUES, OCTOBER 20,

8 We

1949.

must bear in mind that although the horizon in the direction of human totalization remains politically, economically and psychologically obscure, this is of
little importance. The immediate question is not one of knowing precisely
whither the current is taking us and how we shall shoot the rapids, but simply of
deciding, having reached the fork, whether we are following the main course of
the stream-that is to say, are not detaching ourselves from the World in motion.

CHAPTER 18
THE HEART OF
THE PROBLEM
Some say, "Let us wait patiently un HI the Christ returns."
Others say, "Let us rather finish building the Earth."
SHII others think, "To speed the Parousia,
let us complete the making of Man on Earth."

Introduction
AMONG THE MOST

disquieting aspects of the

modern world is its general and growing state of

dissatisfaction in religious matters. Except in a humanitarian form, which we shall discuss later, there
is no present sign anywhere of Faith that is expand-

ing. there are only here and there, creeds that at the
best are holding their own, where they are not positively retrogressing. This is not because the world
is growing colder: never has it generated more psychic warmth! Nor is it because Christianity has lost
anything of its absolute power to attract: on the
contrary, everything I am about to say goes to
prove its extraordinary power of adaptability and
mastery. But the fact remains that for some obscure
reason something has gone wrong between Man
and God as in these days He is represented to Man. Man

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THE FUTURE OF MAN

would seem to have no clear picture of the God he longs to worship. Hence (despite certain positive indications of rebirth which
are, however, still largely obscured) the persistent impression one
gains from everything taking place around us is of an irresistible
growth of atheism---or more exactly, a mounting and irresistible
de-Christianization.
For the use of those better placed than I, whose direct or indirect task it is to lead the Church, I wish to show candidly in this
paper where, in my view, the root of the trouble lies, and how, by
means of a simple readjustment at this particular, clearly localized
point, we may hope to procure a rapid and complete rebound in
the religious and Christian evolution of Mankind.
I say "candidly." It would be presumptuous on my part to deliver a lecture, and criticism would be out of place. What I have to
offer is simply the testimony of my own life, a testimony which I
have the less right to suppress since I am one of the few beings who
can offer it. For more than fIfty years it has been my lot (and my
good fortune) to live in close and intimate professional contact, in
Europe, Asia and America, with what was and still is most humanly valuable, signifIcant and influential-"seminal" one might
say-among the people of many countries. It is natural that, by
reason of the unusual and exceptional contacts which have enabled me, a Jesuit (reared, that is to say, in the bosom of the
Church) to penetrate and move freely in active spheres of thought
and free research, I should have been very forcibly struck by things
scarcely apparent to those who have lived only in one or other of
the two opposed worlds, so that I feel compelled to cry them aloud.
It is this cry, and this alone, which I wish to make heard herethe cry of one who thinks he sees.

THE HEART OF TIU PROBLEH

261

1. A Major Event in Human Consciousness:

The Emergence of the "Ultra-Human"

understand what is now taking place in human
consciousness must of necessity proceed from the fundamental
change of view which since the sixteenth century has been steadily
exploding and rendering fluid what had seemed to be the ultimate
stability-our concept of the world itsel To our clearer vision the
universe is no longer an Order but a Process. The cosmos has become a Cosmogenesis. And it may be said without exaggeration
that, directly or indirectly, all the intellectual crises through which
civilization has passed in the last four centuries arise out of the
successive stages whereby a static "Weltanschauung has been and is
being transformed, in our minds and hearts, into a "Weltanschauung
of movement.
In the early stage, that of Galileo, it may have seemed that the
stars alone were affected. But soon the Darwinian stage showed
that the cosmic process extends from sidereal space to life on earth;
with the inevitable result that, in the present phase, Man finds himself overtaken and borne on the whirlwind which his own science
has discovered and, as it were, unloosed. From the time of the Renaissance, in other words, the cosmos has looked increasingly like
a cosmogenesis; and now we find that Man in his turn is tending
to be identified with an anthropogenesis. This is a major event
which must lead, as we shall see, to the profound modification of
the whole structure not only of our Thought but of our Beliefs.
Many biologists, and not the least eminent among them (all being convinced, moreover, that Man, like everything else, emerged
by evolutionary means, i.e., was born in Nature) undoubtedly still
believe that the human species, having attained the level of Homo
sapiens, has reached an upper organic limit beyond which it cannot

ANY EFFORT TO

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THE FUTURE OF MAN

develop, so that anthropogenesis is only of retrospective interest in

the past. But I am convinced that, in opposition to this wholly illogical and arbitrary idea of arrested hominization, a new concept
is arising, out of the growing accumulation of analogies and facts,
which must eventually replace it. This is that, under the combined
influence of two irresistible forces of planetary dimensions (the
geographical curve of the Earth, by which we are physically compressed, and the psychic curve of Thought, which draws us closer
together), the power of reflection of the human mass, which
means its degree of humanization, far from having come to a stop, is
entering a critical period of intensification and renewed growth.
What we see taking place in the world today is not merely the
multiplication of men but the continued shaping of Man. Man, that
is to say, is not yet zoologically mature. Psychologically he has not
spoken his last word. In one form or another something ultrahuman is being born which, through the direct or indirect effect of
socialization, cannot fail to make its appearance in the near future:
a future that is not simply the unfolding of Time, but which is being constructed in advance of us ... Here is a vision which Man,
we may be sure, having first glimpsed it in our day, will never lose
sight of.
This having been postulated, do those in high places realize
the revolutionary power of so novel a concept (it would be better
to use the word "doctrine") in its effect on religious Faith? For the
spiritually minded, whether in the East or the West, one point has
hitherto not been in doubt: that Man could only attain to a fuller
life by rising "vertically" above the material zones of the world.
Now we see the possibility of an entirely different line of progress.
The long dreamed-of Higher Life, the Union, the consummation
that has hitherto been sought Above, in the direction of some kind
of transcendent (see OY, diagram p. 269): should we not rather look

THE HEART OF THE, PROBLEl'1

263

for it Ahead, in the prolongation of the inherent forces of evolution

(see ox, diagram p. 26g)?
Above or ahead-or both? ...
This is the question that must be forced upon every human
conscience by our increasing awareness of the tide of anthropogenesis on which we are borne. It is, I am convinced, the vital question, and the fact that we have thus far left it unconfronted is the
root cause of all our religious troubles; whereas an answer to it,
which is perfectly possible, would mark a decisive advance on the
part of Mankind toward God. That is the heart of the problem.

2. At the Source of the Modern Religious Crisis:

A Conflict of Faith Between the Ahove and the Ahead
ARISING OUT OF

what I have said, the diagram at the end of this

chapter represents the state of tension which has come to exist

more or less consciously in every human heart as a result of the
seeming conflict between the modern forward impulse (ox), induced in us all by the newly born force of transhominization, and
the traditional upward impulse of religious worship (OY). To render the problem more concrete it is stated in its most fmal and
recognizable terms, the coordinate OY simply representing the
Christian impulse and ox the Communist or Marxist impulse! as
these are commonly manifest in the present-day world. The question is, how does the situation look, here and now, as between these
opposed forces?
I An unfavorable simplification where ox is concerned, inasmuch as Marxism
and Communism (the latter a thoroughly bad, ill-chosen word, it may be said
in passing) are clearly no more than an embryonic form, even a caricature, of
a neohumanism that is still scarcely born.

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THE FUTURE OF MAN

We are bound to answer that it looks like one of conflict that

may even be irreconcilable. The line OY, faith in God, soars upward, indifferent to any thought of an ultra-evolution of the human species, while the line ox, faith in the World, formally denies
(at least in words) the existence of any transcendent God. Could
there be a greater gulf, or one more impossible to bridge?
Such is the appearance: but let me say quickly that it cannot
be true, not fmally true, unless we accept the absurd position that
the human soul is so badly devised that it contradicts within itself
its own profoundest aspirations. Let us look more closely at OX and
OY and see how these two vectors or currents appear and are at
present behaving in their opposed state. Is it not apparent that both
suffer acutely from their antagonism, and therefore that there must
be some way of overcoming their mutual isolation?
Where ox is concerned the social experiment now in progress
abundandy demonstrates how impossible it is for a purely immanent
current of hominization to live wholly, in a closed circuit, upon itsel With no oudet ahead offering a way of escape from total
death, no supreme center of personalization to radiate love among
the human cells, it is a frozen world that in the end must disintegrate entirely in a Universe without heart or ultimate purpose.
However powerful its impetus in the early stages of the course of
biological evolution into which it has thrust itself, the Marxist anthropogenesis, because it rules out the existence of an irreversible
Center at its consummation, can neither justify nor sustain its momentum to the end.
Worldly faith, in short, is not enough in itself to move the earth
forward: but can we be sure that the Christian faith in its ancient
interpretation is still sufficient of itself to carry the world upward?
By definition and principle it is the specific function of the
Church to Christianize all that is human in Man. But what is likely
to happen (indeed, is happening already) if at the very moment

T.HE, HEART OF THE PROBLEM

265

when an added component begins to arise in the anima naturaliter

christiana, and one so compelling as the awareness of a terrestrial
"ultra-human," ecclesiastical authority ignores, disdains and even
condemns this new aspiration without seeking to understand it?
This, and simply this, that Christianity will lose, to the extent that
it fails to embrace as it should everything that is human on earth, the
keen edge of its vitality and its full power to attract. Being for the
time incompletely humanized it will no longer fully satisfy even its own
disciples. It will be less able to win over the unconverted or to resist its adversaries. We wonder why there is so much unease in the
hearts of religious and of priests, why so few deep conversions are
effected in China despite the flood of missionaries, why the Christian Church, with all its superiority of benevolence and devotion,
yet makes so little appeal to the working masses. My answer is simply this, that it is because at present our magnificent Christian
charity lacks what it needs to make it decisively effective, the sensitizing ingredient of Human faith and hope without which, in reason and in fact, no religion can henceforth appear to Man other
than colorless, cold and inassimilable.
OY and ox, the Upward and the Forward: two religious forces,
let me repeat, now met together in the heart of every man; forces
which, as we have seen, weaken and wither away in separation ...
Therefore, as it remains for me to show, forces which await one
thing alone-not that we should choose between them, but that we
should find the means of combining them.

3. The Rebound of the Christian Faith:

Upward by Way of Forward
agreed that the drama of the present religious
conflict lies in the apparent irreconcilability of two opposed kinds
IT IS GENERALLY

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THE FUTURE OF MAN

of faith-Christian faith, which disdains the primacy of the ultrahuman and the Earth, and "natural" faith, which is founded upon
it. But is it certain that these two forces, neither of which, as we
have seen, can achieve its full development without the other, are
really so mutually exclusive (the one so antiprogressive and the
other so wholly atheist) as we assume? Is this so if we look to the
very heart of the matter? Only a litde reflection and psychological
insight is required to see that it is not.
On the one hand, neo-human faith in the World, to the extent
that it is truly a Faith (that is to say, entailing sacrifice and the fmal
abandonment of self for something greater) necessarily implies an
element of worship, the acceptance of something "divine."2 Every
conversation I have ever had with communist intellectuals has left
me with a decided impression that Marxist atheism is not absolute,
but that it simply rejects an "extrinsicist" form of God, a deus ex
machina whose existence can only undermine the dignity of the
Universe and weaken the springs of human endeavor-a "pseudoGod," in short, whom no one in these days any longer wants, least
of all the Christians.
And on the other hand Christian faith (I stress the word Christian, as opposed to those "oriental" faiths for which spiritual ascension often expressly signifies the negation or condemnation of
the Phenomenon), by the very fact that it is rooted in the idea of
Incarnation, has always based a large part of its tenets on the tangible values of the World and of Matter. A too humble and subordinate part, it may seem to us now (but was not this inevitable in
the days when Man, not having become aware of the genesis of
the Universe in progress, could not apprehend the spiritual possi2 As in the case of biological evolutionary theory which also bore a materialist
and atheist aspect when it appeared a century ago, but of which the spiritual
content is now becoming apparent.

THE H.EART OF THE PROBLEl'1

267

bilities still buried in the entrails of the Earth?) yet still a part so intimately linked with the essence of Christian dogma that, like a living bud, it needed only a sign, a ray of light, to cause it to break
into flower. To clarify our ideas let us consider a single case, one
which sums up everything. We continue from force of habit to
think of the Parousia, whereby the Kingdom of God is to be consummated on Earth, as an event of a purely catastrophic naturethat is to say, liable to come about at any moment in history,
irrespective of any definite state of Mankind. This is one way of
looking at the matter. But why should we not assume, in accordance with the latest scientific view of Mankind in an actual state
of anthropogenesis,3 that the parousiac spark can, of physical and
organic necessity, only be kindled between Heaven and a Mankind
which has biologically reached a certain critical evolutionary point
of collective maturity?
For my own part I can see no reason at all, theological or traditional, why this "revised" approach should give rise to any serious difficulty. And it seems to me certain, on the other hand, that
by the very fact of making this simple readjustment in our "eschatological" vision we shall have performed a psychic operation
having incalculable consequences. For if truly, in order that the
Kingdom of God may come (in order that the Pleroma may close
in upon its fullness), it is necessary, as an essential physical condition,4 that the human Earth should already have attained the natural completion of its evolutionary growth, then it must mean that
the ultra-human perfection which neo-humanism envisages for
3 And, it may be added, in perfect analogy with the mystery of the first Christmas which (as everyone agrees) could only have happened between Heaven
and an Earth which was prepared, socially, politically and psychologically, to receiveJesus.
4 But not, of course, sufficient in itself!

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THE FUTURE OF MAN

Evolution will coincide in concrete terms with the crowning of the

Incarnation awaited by all Christians. The two vectors, or components as they are better called, veer and draw together until they
give a possible resultant. The supernaturalizing Christian Above is
incorporated (not immersed) in the human Ahead! And at the
same time Faith in God, in the very degree in which it assimilates
and sublimates within its own spirit the spirit of Faith in the World,
regains all its power to attract and convert!
I said at the beginning of this paper that the human world of
today has not grown cold, but that it is ardendy searching for a
God proportionate to the new dimensions of a Universe whose appearance has completely revolutionized the scale of our faculty of
worship. And it is because the total Unity of which we dream still
seems to beckon in two different directions, toward the zenith and
toward the horizon, that we see the dramatic growth of a whole
race of the "spiritually stateless"-human beings torn between a
Marxism whose depersonalizing effect revolts them and a Christianity so lukewarm in human terms that it sickens them.
But let there be revealed to us the possibility of believing at the
same time and wholly in God and the World, the one through the
other;5 let this belief burst forth, as it is ineluctably in process of
doing under the pressure of these seemingly opposed forces, and
then, we may be sure of it, a great flame will illumine all things: for
a Faith will have been born (or reborn) containing and embracing
all others-and, inevitably, it is the strongest Faith which sooner or
later must possess the Earth.
UNPUBLISHED. LES MOULINS (PUY-DE-DOME), SEPTEMBER

8, 1949.

In a Christ no longer seen only as the Savior of individual souls, but (precisely
because He is the Redeemer in the fullest sense) as the ultimate Mover of anthropogenesis. (see diagram, p. 269).

THE HEART OF THE PROBLEH

269

DIAGRAM ILLUSTRATING THE CONFLICT BETWEEN THE

TWO KINDS OF FAITH IN THE HEART OF MODERN MAN

,,R
,
,,
,
,,
,
,
,,

"-------x

o
Oy:

Christian Faith in a personal transcendent, aspiring upward

toward the Above.

ox:
OR:

Human Faith in an ultra-human, driving forward toward

the Ahead.
Christian Faith, "rectified" or "made explicit," reconciling
the two: salvation (outlet) at once Above and Ahead in a
Christ who is both Savior and Mover, not only of individual
men but of anthropogenesis as a whole.
Let it be noted that by its construction OR is not a half-

measure, a compromise between Heaven and Earth, but a resultant combining and fortifying, each through the other, two forms
of detachment-that is to say, of "sacrifice to that which is greater
than self."

CHAPTER 19
ON THE PROBABLE
EXISTENCE AHEAD OF
US OF AN "ULTRA-HUMAN"
(Reflections

of a Biologist)

1. Physicohiological Definition of the Human:

A Specific Superstate of Living Matter

approximation, if to begin with we
try to observe it from a purely experimental standpoint, the Human amounts to no more than a particular fragment of matter brought locally to a
state of extreme complexity or (which seems to be
only another aspect of the same phenomenon)
extreme "corpuscularity": the effect of its elaboration being to bring about the positive predominance, on a reflective level, of the purposeful
operation of individual centers of action over the
workings of hazard and large numbers.
On a riflective level: that is what it is important to
understand.
From the beginning and throughout the his-

AT A FIRST

ON THE, PROBJ\BLE EXISTENCE AHEAD

271

tory of the vitalization of matter we see the progressive growth of

what is in fact psychism within more and more complex and interiorized organic systems (living supermolecules). Millions of years
before the birth of Man, the animal felt, discovered and knew;
but its consciousness remained simple and direct. Only Man upon
this earth, completing the circle of knowledge in the depths of
himself, knows that he knows-with the multiplicity of consequences
that we all experience, without having fully assessed their stupendous biological significance: prevision of the future, construction
of ordered systems, power of planned invention, regulation (and
rebounding) of the evolutionary process, etc .... We often hear
talk of the "intellectual fringe of instinct" and "animal intelligence." Such expressions, to the extent that the word "intelligence" is interpreted in its full sense of reflective psychism, are
scientifically false and dangerous inasmuch as they conceal or invalidate the formidable event represented by the "punctiform" infolding of a psychic core upon itself-that is to say, the progress
of Consciousness from the first to the second stage of its powers. It
is, of course, perfectly legitimate to regard all the biological stems
composing the Biosphere as proceeding equally, each according
to its own orientation, in the universal direction of considered
thought. But what is even more certain, so that it becomes selfevident when we observe in the light of facts the revolutionary biological superiority of Thought over Instinct, is that if a given
Phylum X, shall we say, preceding the anthropoids, had suceeded
in passing the barrier separating reflective consciousness from direct consciousness, Man would never have come into existence: instead of him, Phylum X would have woven and constituted the
Noosphere.
In short, sharply sundered by a critical surface of transformation from the layers of organized matter in which it exists, the Hu-

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THE FUTURE OF MAN

man does indeed represent, at the heart (or summit) of Life, a core
of "hyperpsychized" cosmic substance, perfectly defmed and instantly recognizable by its growing, pervasive power of reasoned
autoevolution which, so far as we know, it is unique in possessing.

2. Growth of the Human:

The Historical Phase of Expansion

a crucial discontinuity exists between the purely
animated envelope of the Earth and its thinking envelope (i.e., between the Biosphere and the Noosphere), which is manifest in the
fundamentally different proceedings of Life on either side of this
gap between the two layers, naturally does not mean that the Human sprang into existence among the Living in an immediate state
of completeness. On the contrary.
In the fIrst place, there is a wide zone of obscurity at the level
of the zoological surface of hominization, seemingly impenetrable
to our most searching methods of investigating the past, in which
we can discern almost no outward evidence of the distinction between Irreflection and Reflection, although this had already been
born. The human fetus in the earliest stages of its development,
when it is virtually incapable of morphological defmition, is a case
in point. Even if by some inconceivable chance we were to come
upon their traces, can we be sure that we should be able to recognize the fIrst thinking beings, either by their bones or the products
of their activity?
And even if we confIne ourselves to those increasingly welldefmed zones in which Mankind (become almost worldwide by the
beginning of the Quaternary era) spreads and grows as it approaches nearer to ourselves, the fact is surely undeniable--more-

THE FACT THAT

ON THE, PROBABLE EXISTENCE ABF,AD

273

over, it is a phenomenon loaded with consequences-that in a

Mankind in process of planetary expansion, the Human (or Reflective) behaves like a physical magnitude, not simply variable but
irresistibly rising: like a vapor which becomes increasingly gaseous
as it departs in a rising temperature from its point of liquefaction.
Let us note the two main phases, one anatomical, the other social, of this progressive transhominization.

a The anatomical phase. A question that has long been debated

among anthropologists is that of how far, given the osteological
characteristics of a particular cranium, it is possible to deduce, not
only the shape of the brain housed within the cranium, but the
particular kind of psychism contained in the brain. It is increasingly clear that in the present state of our knowledge the process is
beset by innumerable pitfalls. Nevertheless, in certain cases and
within approximate limits, the attempt can yield useful results.
Generally speaking the brain of mammals, as hominization
takes place, not only suddenly increases its average size, and exhibits a specific development in its frontal region, but also increases
what might be called its "compacity"; either structurally, by the
development of the areas of association included between the sensory areas, or geometrically by the global folding back of the lobes
and hemispheres upon each other.
It seems logical, this being so, to distinguish osteologically, at
the beginning of anthropogenesis, a "prehominian" fossil stage
represented by crania markedly less curved upon themselves
(markedly less "globular") than is the case with modern man: a distinction which is borne out by the very significant fact that at this
prehominian stage Mankind seems to have been made up of a
more or less divergent sheaf of ethnic shoots ("subphyla"?), very
much more independent of one another than any racial groups

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THE FUTURE OF MAN

have since been. These indications suggest that the Reflective element, although already discernible in that remote period, had not
yet attained the degree of perfection in its functioning that it possesses today.
In fact, it is not until we reach the artist populations of the Upper Pleistocene period-the natural scientists' Homo sapiens-that
we really come, in a cerebral and phyletic sense, to the Human in
full course of organic consolidation upon itsel

b The Social Phase. I say deliberately "in full course" and not
"in a full state of completion": because (and this is what we must
realize) it is at this point, in order to ensure the continuance of the
process of hominization, that the social element subdy enters to
take the place of the "anatomical," whose advance is at least temporarily arrested.
A great many of our contemporaries, perhaps the majority,
still regard the technico-cultural knitting together of human society as a sort of para-biological epiphenomenon very inferior in organic value to other combinations achieved on the molecular or
cellular scale by the forces of Life. But in terms of sound science
this tendency to minimize its importance is wholly unwarrantable.
For if the distinguishing characteristic of authentically "vital"
arrangements of matter is that their "psychic temperature" rises
proportionately to their degree of complexity, how can we withhold the status of organisms (in the fullest sense) from the groupings, so strongly "psychogenic" in their nature, which are effected
within the human mass by the action of socialization?
By this interpretation, it seems to me, nothing is more wrong
than to treat the Human as though it has been biologically stationary since the ending of the Ice Age. It may be that to macro-

ON THE, PROBABLE EXISTENCE AHEAD

275

scopic observation nothing has changed during this period in the

generalized arrangement of the cerebral neurons. But on the other
hand, what an extraordinary and irreversible increase of collective
consciousness is manifest in the appearance, association and opposition of techniques, visions, passions and ideas! What an intensification of reflective life!
Indeed the grand problem with which Man confronts the biologist is not that of deciding whether anthropogenesis has effectively continued its physico-psychic progress during the past thirty
thousand years, since the answer to this is clearly evident. It is far
more a matter of determining whether, having reached the physical boundaries of its geographical expansion, Mankind may not be
in process of leveling out, its vitality undermined by the very excess of its dimensions.
And here a great surprise awaits us.

3. Growth of the Human:

The Modern Phase of Supercompression
regard present-day Mankind as socially complete, it
would be necessary for it, having achieved the limit of planetary
expansion as it has now done, to show an appreciable waning of its
power of numerical increase. But what we are witnessing is the exact opposite. The statistics for a century past show no gradual stabilization but an immense rise in the earth's population. It is as
though, being geographically compressed, Mankind were rebounding numerically upon itself; with the result that we can now
clearly see the tighdy meshed mechanism which from the fIrst, although more or less obscurely, has governed its development.
At the beginning of the process we have increasingly severe deFOR US TO

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THE FUTURE OF MAN

mographic pressure, forcing the human mass to adapt itself as best

it can to the confmed surface of the earth: an inescapable, mathematical compression, of necessity entailing a concerted effort by
individuals to find means of organizing their communal lives by
arranging the world around them. So we have inventive effort and
in the end the growth of Reflection (i.e., that which is Human)
within the Noosphere: a growth which is again transformed (to the
degree in which the increasingly reflective and hominized individual acquires a larger radius of influence and greater powers of action) into a further increase of planetary compression. So it goes
on: ever-tightening compression compelling ever more Reflection ...
From the first beginnings of History, let me repeat, this principle of the compressive generation of consciousness has been ceaselessly at work in the human mass. But from the moment-we have
just reached itl-when the compression of populations in the
teeming continents gains a decided ascendancy over their movement of expansion upon the earth's surface, the process is naturally speeded up to a staggering extent. We are today witnessing a
truly explosive growth of technology and research, bringing an increasing mastery, both theoretical and practical, of the secrets and
sources of cosmic energy at every level and in every form; and,
correlative with this, the rapid heightening of what I have called
the psychic temperature of the earth. A single glance at the overall picture of surface chaos is enough to assure us that this is so. We
see a human tide bearing us upward with all the force of a contracting star; it is not slack water, as we might have thought, but the
very crisis of the rising tide in full flood: the ineluctable growth on
our horizon of a true "Ultra-Human."

ON THE PROB.t\B Lf, EXISTENCE AHEAD

277

4. The Face of the Ultra-Human

CLEARLY, IN THE

light of what I have said, we have no grounds

for expecting any relaxation, still less any end, of the process of
compressive socialization which has now begun; and this being so
it is fruitless to seek to escape the whirlwind that is closing in on us,
What is of extreme importance, on the other hand, is that we
should know what course to steer, and how we must spiritually conduct ourselves if we are to ensure that the totalitarian embrace
which enfolds us will have the effect, not of dehumanizing us
through mechanization, but (as seems possible) of superhumanizing us by the intensification of our powers of understanding and
love.
The study of this vital question will enable us to defme both
the physical conditions necessary to the realization of the UltraHuman and (to some extent!) its probable final aspect.
It may be said that for a long time, under pressure of the external forces engaged in concentrating it, the Human developed in
a fashion that was mainly automatic-spurred on principally, in
Bergson's expression, by a vis a tergo, a "push from behind." But
when intelligence, which originally, as has been well said, was simply a means of survival, became gradually elevated to the function
and dignity of a "reason for living," it was inevitable that, with the
accentuation of the forces of liberty, a profound modification
should become discernible in the working of anthropogenesis, and
one of which we are only now beginning to experience the full effects. No doubt it is true that certain inward necessities, persisting
in the most spiritualized recesses of our being, inexorably compel
us to continue our forward progress. What power on earth has ever
succeeded in arresting the growth of an idea or a passion, once
they have taken shape? But the fact remains that, as Reflection in-

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THE. FUTURE. OF MAN

creases, there is added and allied to this basic determinism the possibility of Man's withdrawal or rejection of whatever does not appear to satisfy his heart or his reason. Which is to say that, given a
sufficient degree of hominization, the "planetary sequence" generating the Human can only continue to operate in an atmosphere
of consent-meaning, fmally, under the impulsion of some desire.
So that in line with, and gradually replacing, the thrust from below, we see the appearance of a force of attraction coming from
above which shows itself to be organically indispensable for the
continuance of the sequence, indispensable for the maintenance of
the evolutionary impetus, and also indispensable for the creation of
an atmosphere enveloping Mankind in process of totalization, of
psychic warmth and kindness without which Man's economictechnological grip upon the World can only crush souls together,
without causing them to fuse and unite ... The "pull" after the
"push," as the English would say.
But whence may we expect it to come, this mysterious and indispensable force of attraction, exerting its radiance upon our
minds and hearts?
In broad terms it may be affirmed that the Human, by reason
of its structure, having become aware of its uncompleted state,
cannot submit without extreme reluctance, still less give itself with
passion, to the movement that is bearing it along unless there
be some kind of discernible and definitive consummation to be
looked for at the end, if only as a limit. Above all it rejects dispersal
and dissolution and the circle from which there is no escape. The
only air which Reflection can breathe must, of vital necessity, be
that of a psychically and physically convergent Universe. There must
be some peak, some revelation, some vivifying transformation at
the end of the journey. Ultimately, and even under the urge and
spur of material necessity, only a prospect, a hope of this kind is
capable of sustaining our forward progress to the end.

ON THE PROBABLE EXISTENCE AlfEAD

279

But how exacdy are we to imagine it, how conceive it, this
awaited peak, this culmination of anthropogenesis, without which
we shall refuse, and ever more stubbornly, to move at all?
Here we are confronted by two pardy divergent and opposed
answers: not merely theoretical and abstract solutions, but eventualities that have been slowly maturing in the experience of
Mankind throughout the ages, and have now been abrupdy
brought into the daylight of our consciousness by the sudden
emergence of the totalizing forces to which we are compelled to
adapt ourselves.
According to the first answer (the "collectivist solution") it will
suffice to ensure the biological success of our evolution if the Human organizes itself gradually on a global scale in a sort of closed
circuit, within which each thinking element, intellectually and affectively connected with every other, will attain to a maximum of
individual mastery by participating in a certain ultimate clarity of vision and extreme warmth of sympathy proper to the system as a
whole. A higher state of consciousness diffused through the ultratechnified, ultra-socialized, ultra-cerebralized layers of the human
mass, but without the emergence (neither necessary nor conceivable) at any point in the system of a universal, defmed and autonomous Center of Reflection: this, by the first hypothesis, is all
we are entided to look for or desire as the eventual highest end of
hominization.
According to the second answer on the other hand (the
"personalist solution") a Center about which everything will be
grouped, a keystone of the vault at the summit of the human edifice, is precisely what we must look for and postulate with all our
strength, in order that nothing may crumble. For according to the
supporters of this second theory, if a real power of love does not
indeed arise at the heart of Evolution, stronger than all individual
egotisms and passions, how can the Noosphere ever be stabilized?

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THE FUTURE OF MAN

And if a nucleus of ultra-consistence does not emerge at the heart

of the cosmic movement, by its presence ensuring the ultimate
preservation of all the incommunicable sum of Reflection sublimated through the ages by anthropogenesis, how shall we be persuaded (even under the external pressure of planetary shrinkage)
to embark upon a journey leading to total Death? Indeed, to fuse
together the human multitude (even taken in its present state of supercompression) without crushing it, it seems essential that there
should be a field of attraction at once powerful and irreversible,
and such as cannot emanate collectively from a simple nebula of
reflecting atoms, but which requires as its source a self-subsisting,
strongly personalized star.
This, at least by implication, is the sense of Christian argument
and feeling during two thousand years. Moreover I am convinced
that it is a belief that the urgency of events will increasingly compel biologists and psychologists to adopt. So that the greatest event
in the history of the Earth, now taking place, may indeed be the
gradual discovery, by those with eyes to see, not merely of Some
Thing but of Some One at the peak created by the convergence of
the evolving Universe upon itsel
---~~~----

"'I,,,

MANY PEOPLE, OF course, will hesitate to accompany me so far

in my inferences and predictions. But to keep within the bounds of
what is indisputable, it appears to me that from the facts I have set
forth above two conclusions emerge which must be accepted by
anyone who does not refuse to see what is happening in the world
today.
The first is that the Human (or, what comes to the same thing,
the Reflective) not only genuinely represents, in the physical sense,

ON TH.F. PROBABLE EXISTENCE AHEAD

281

a definite segregation of the "stuff of the cosmos" raised to a

higher (and ever-rising) state of complexity and consciousness; but
also that this separate Human element cannot achieve its final
equilibrium except by coiling and concentrating, through both
compulsion and attraction, on a planetary scale upon itself, until it
becomes a natural unity, organically and psychically indivisible.
The second conclusion is that, in terms of this ultimate state of
organization and interiorization, our present condition is still so
immature that Mankind in its existing form (and although there is
nothing more "adult" of its kind in the Universe with which, thus
far, we can compare it) cannot be scientifically regarded as anything more than an organism which has not yet emerged from the
embryonic stage.
So that in any event, whether personally centered or acentered
in its eventual form (we may leave that question open) a vast realm
of the Ultra-Human lies ahead of us: a realm in which we shall not
be able to survive, or superlive, except by developing and embracing on earth, to the utmost extent, all the powers of common vision and unanimization that are available to us.
UNPUBLISHED. PARIS, JANUARY

6, 1950.

CHAPTER 20
HOW MAY WE CONCEIVE
AND HOPE THAT HUMAN
UNANIMIZATION WILL
BE REALIZED ON EARTH?

the spectacle of the scattered human mass! A turbulent ant hill of separate elements whose most evident characteristic,
excepting certain limited cases of deep affinity
(married couples, families, the team, the mother
country) seems to be one of mutual repulsion,
whether between individuals or groups. Yet we
nurse in the depths of our minds and hearts the
conviction that it could be otherwise, that such
chaos and disorder are "against nature" inasmuch
as they prevent the realization, or delay the coming, of a state of affairs which would multiply as
though to infinity our human powers of thought,
feeling and action.
Is the situation really desperate, or are there
reasons for believing in view of certain defmite indications, despite appearances to the contrary, that
Mankind as a whole is not only capable of unanimity but is actually in process of becoming truly

HOW DEPRESSING IS

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283

unanimized? Do there exist, in other words, certain planetary energies which, as a whole, overcoming the forces of repulsion that
seem to be incurably opposed to universal human harmony, are
tending inexorably to bring together and organize upon itself (unbelievable though this may seem) the terrifying multitude of thousands of millions of thinking consciousnesses which forms the
"reflective layer" of the earth?
My object here is to show that such energies do exist.
They are of two kinds: forces of compression, which by external and internal determinisms bring about a first stage of enforced
unification; and subsequently forces of attraction, which through
the action of internal affinity effect a genuine unanimization by

free consent.
Let us look in turn at these two processes which so universally
pervade the human atmosphere that, like light and air, we often
tend to ignore them, although they envelop us so closely that no act
of ours can escape them.

1. Unification

by Force or Compression:

The Geographical and the Mental Curvatures

a The Geographical Curvature. Biologically speaking the human

zoological group is developing on a closed surface. More exactly,
since although the world population has already virtually filled the
continents to saturation-point it shows no sign of leveling out but
continues to increase at an ever-growing rate, the group behaves as
though it were developing in a world that is continually shrinking,
so that it becomes ever more tightly compressed upon itself
The first and obvious effect of this tremendous ethnic compression is to bring bodies relentlessly together. But the growing density

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THE FUTURE OF MAN

of human stuff, however material its origin, is also having a profound effect on human souls. In order to respond vitally and adapt
itself comfortably to the increasing pressure, in order to survive and
enjoy well-being the multitude of thinking beings reacts naturally by
arranging itself as well as possible, economically and technologically,
upon itsel This automatically compels it to be constandy inventing
new systems of mechanical equipment and social organization. In
other words it is forced to reflect; and this causes it to reflect a litde
more upon itself, that is to say to develop further in itself those qualities which are specifically and in a higher sense human.
It is a profoundly instructive and mysterious phenomenon.
The human mass is spiritually warmed and illumined by the iron
grip of planetary compression; and the warming, whereby the rays
of individual interaction expand, induces a further increase, in a
kind of recoil, of the compression which was its cause ... and so
on, in a chain-reaction of increasing rapidity.
Out of this there arises first an irresistible grouping principle
which, in its impact on the intelligence, almost automatically overrules the egoistical and mutually repulsive tendencies of the human individual.
But that is not all: for to this first geographical compression
there is rapidly added a tightening effect, due this time to the
emergence and influence of a curvature which is not geometric but

mental, and which I must now explain.

b The Mental Curvature. In the "humanizing" chain of events
which we have disclosed and described, the mind, which at first
seemed to be no more than a "device" for confronting and resisting
planetary compression, is very soon automatically transformed into a
"reason" of existence. We think first in order to survive, and then we
live in order to think: such is the fundamental law of anthropogenesis which emerges. But Thought, once it is let loose, displays an ex-

H.OW HAY WE CONCEIVE AND HOPE

285

traordinary power of self-protraction and extension, as though it

were an independent organism which, being once born, cannot be
restrained from growing and propagating itself and absorbing everything into its network. All history bears witness to the fact that nothing has ever been able to prevent an idea from growing and spreading
and fmally becoming universal. The reflective, psychic environment
which surrounds us is so constituted that we cannot remain in it without moving forward; and we cannot advance except by drawing
closer and rubbing shoulders with one another. It is as though all our
individual strivings after more truth soared upward into a mental
"cupola" whose closed walls inexorably compel our minds to mingle!
An enforced coalescence of all Thought in the sum total of
itself ...
The increasingly apparent growth, overriding the monstrous
and chaotic human dispersal which so distresses us, of this force of
auto-unification emerging from the psychic energies released by
the technico-social concretion of the earth: this surely is a guarantee that, within our universe, the impulse of totalization must eventually triumph over the impulses of dispersal.
Assuredly. But on one condition. Under the influence of economic forces and the intellectual reasons invoked to break down
the barriers behind which our egotism shelters, there must emerge,
since this alone can be completely unanimizing, the sense of a single, fundamental aspiration.

2. Free Unification Through Attraction:

A Point of Universal Convergence on the Hori'{pn
DESPITE THE COMPULSIONS, both geographical and psychic,
which oblige men to live and think in an ever closer community,
they do not necessarily love each other the more on that account-

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THE FUTURE OF MAN

far from it. The two greatest scientists in the world, being preoccupied with the same problem, may nonetheless detest each other.
This is a strange and sad fact of which we are all aware, and because of this separation of head and heart we are bound to conclude that, however social necessity and logic may impel it from
behind, the human mass will only become thoroughly unified under the influence of some form of ajJectioe energy which will place
the human particles in the fortunate position of being unable to
love and fulfill themselves individually except by contributing in
some degree to the love and fulfIllment of all: to the extent, that is
to say, that all are equal and integral parts of a single universe that
is vitally converging. A "pull," in other words, must be born of the
"push."! But amid the politico-social crisis which now besets us,
have we valid, objective reasons for believing in the possibility of
this happy state of affairs, even to the point of discerning its fIrst
indications?
I believe we have, on the following grounds.
If we look for the principal outcome, "Result No. I," of the ineluctable scientifIc unillcation of our intellects during the past century, we must quickly perceive that the gain consists far less in our
securing control of any particular source of natural energy than in
the general awakening of our consciousness to the vast and extreme organicity of the universe as a whole, considered in terms of
its internal forces of development. We see more clearly with every
increase in our knowledge that we are, all of us, participants in
a process (Cosmogenesis culminating in Anthropogenesis) upon
which our ultimate fulfillment-one might even say, our beatifIcation--obscurely depends. And whence can it arise, this accumulation of evidence that the extreme point of each of us (our
I

Teilhard uses the English words.

HOW NAY WE CONCEIVE AND HOPE

287

ultra-ego, it might be termed) coincides with some common fulfillment of the evolutionary process, a common super-ego, except out
of the principle of attraction which we have postulated and invoked above as being necessary to make the rebellious nuclei of
our individual personalities cohere from within, to instil unanimity
even in their hearts?
Thus, superimposed on the twofold tightening action of what
I have called the geometrical and mental curvatures of the human earth-superimposed and emanating from them-we have a
third and final unifying influence brought to bear in regulating
the movements of the Noosphere, that of a destiny that is
supremely attractive, the same for all at the same time. A total
community of desire, which makes of it a third force as planetary
in its dimensions as the other two, but operating, no matter how
irresistibly, in the manner of a seduction-that is to say, by free
consent.
It would be premature to assert that this new force as yet plays
any very explicit part in the course of political or social events
around us. Yet may we not claim, observing the precipitate growth
and succession of democracies and totalitarian regimes during the
past hundred and fifty years in the history of the world, that it is
the Sense

if the Species,

which for a time seemed to have vanished

from the depths of our hearts, dispelled in some sort by the growth
of Reflection, that is now gradually resuming its place and reasserting its rights over all narrow individualism? The Sense of the
Species interpreted in the new, grand human manner: not, as formerly, a shoot which merely seeks to prolong itself until it bears its
fruit, but the fruit itself, gathering and growing upon itself in the
expectation of eventual ripeness.
But if the hope of this maturing of the Species, and the belief
in its coming, are to illumine and truly unanimize our hearts, we

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THE FUTURE OF MAN

must endow it with certain positive attributes. It is here that opinions are divided.
Those who think on Marxist lines believe that all that is necessary to inspire and polarize the human molecules is that they
should look forward to an eventual state of collective reflection and
sympathy, at the culmination of anthropogenesis, from which all
will benefit through participation: as it were, a vault of mutually reinforced thoughts, a closed circuit of attachments in which the individual will achieve intellectual and affective fulfillment to the
extent that he is one with the whole system.
But in the Christian view only the eventual appearance, at the
summit and in the heart of the unified world, of an autonomous
center of congregation is structurally and functionally capable of
inspiring, preserving and fully releasing, within a human mass still
spiritually dispersed, the looked-for forces of unanimization. According to the supporters of this hypothesis only a veritable
super-love, the attractive power of a veritable "super-being," can of
psychological necessity dominate, possess and synthesize the host
of other earthly loves. Failing such a center of universal convergence, not metaphorical or potential but real, there can be no true
coherence among totalized Mankind, and therefore no true consistence. A world culminating in the Impersonal can bring us neither the warmth of attraction nor the hope of irreversibility
(immortality) without which individual egotism will always have
the last word. A veritable Ego at the summit of the world is needed
for the consummation, without confounding them, of all the elemental egos of Earth ... I have talked of the "Christian view," but
this idea is gaining ground in other circles. Was it not Camus who
wrote in Sisyphe, "If Man found that the Universe could love he
would be reconciled"? And did not Wells, through his exponent
the humanitarian biologist Steele in The Anatomy of Frustration, ex-

HOW HAY \VE CONCEIVE AND HOPE

289

press his need to find, above and beyond humanity, a "universal

lover"?

Let me recapitulate and conclude.

Essentially, in the twofold irresistible embrace of a planet that
is visibly shrinking, and Thought that is more and more rapidly
coiling in upon itself, the dust of human units finds itself subjected
to a tremendous pressure of coalescence, far stronger than the individual or national repulsions that so alarm us. But despite the
closing of this vise nothing seems finally capable of guiding us into
the natural sphere of our interhuman affinities except the emergence of a powerful field of internal attraction, in which we shall
find ourselves caught from within. The rebirth of the Sense of
Species, rendered virtually inevitable by the phase of compressive
and totalizing socialization which we have now entered, affords a
first indication of the existence of such a field of unanimization
and a clue to its nature.
Nevertheless, however efficacious this newly born faith of Man
In

the ultra-human may prove to be, it seems that Man's urge

toward Some Thing ahead of him cannot achieve its full fruition except by combining with another and still more fundamental aspiration-one from above, urging him toward Some One.
UNPUBLISHED. PARIS, JANUARY 18, 1950.

CHAPTER 21
FROM THE PRE-HUMAN TO
THE ULTRA-HUMAN: THE
PHASES OF A LIVING PLANET

to detect and classify in the heavens a life of the stars, red, blue and
white, giant, middle-sized and dwarf; each type, in
its dimensions, particular radiations and brilliance,
being subject to a given evolutionary cycle.
It is a matter of great interest; but have we
sometimes thought how much more interesting
and moving it would be if we could observe or at
least reconstruct the history, not of the glowing
suns in the heart of galaxies but of the mysterious
living planets? Celestial bodies such as these (they
undoubtedly exist as we shall see) give out no perceptible radiation, or none that our present instruments can detect. I We know nothing as yet of their
number, their distribution or their history. Our
study of them, in short, is restricted to a single
specimen, that of our own Earth, which is apparendy far from having attained its full development.

ASTRONOMY IS BEGINNING

I But is it inconceivable that there should some day be spectroscopes sensitive to some form of vital radiation?

FRO.M THE PRE-HUNf\N TO THE ULTR.!\.-HUlVTAN

291

It is an unfavorable situation, but capable nevertheless of being put to use, since by means of the remarkable phenomena of
sedimentation and fossilization we can trace the biological past of
this planet over a period of nearly a thousand million years.
Using it as a representative example, though still unique in our
experience and probably "immature," let us seek to sketch on scientific lines the probable evolutionary curve of any living planet; a
problem in which affective reasoning is singularly mingled with
speculation, since what we are looking for and seeking to extrapolate is nothing less than our own destiny.
More than 600 million years ago the earth, like a nova of a singular kind, began to glow dimly with life. Under the influence of
solar radiation the sensitive film of its youthful waters became
charged in places with asymmetrical and multiplying proteins. We
do not know what caused this phenomenon, whether it was the
outcome of some sudden convulsion or of a long process of ripening. What we do know is that this did indeed happen, and moreover that of statistical necessity it could not have failed to happen,
given the physicochemical conditions prevailing on the planet that
bears us. However improbable in a mechanistic sense the elaborate
organic structure created by life may appear, it seems increasingly
evident that the cosmic substance is drawn toward these states of
extreme arrangement by a particular kind of attraction which
compels it, by the play of large numbers in which it is involved, to
miss no opportunity of becoming more complex and thus achieving a higher degree of freedom.
So we may assume that sporadically, in the course of time,
numerous centers of indeterminacy and consciousness can and
must have appeared in sidereal space, of which our own Earth is
one. Although Life by its structure seems in certain ways to be
highly exceptional, everything suggests that its pressure is exerted

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THE FUTURE OF MAN

throughout the universe. And everything suggests that, wherever

cosmic hazard has enabled it to hatch out and establish itself, it
cannot thereafter cease to become intensified to the utmost, in accordance with an automatic process which may be analyzed as follows:
First, increase. Even in its lowest forms living matter, by its
physicochemical nature, possesses the extraordinary power of reproducing itself indefmitely in a geometrical progression. For this
reason however minute and scattered the first patches of vitalized
proteins may have been, they could do no other than spread rapidly until they covered the entire surface of the planet; and their
expansion within a closed circle, after its initial unrestricted stage,
produced an increasing degree of compression. A gas under
mounting mechanical pressure as a rule changes its state. In the
same way a multitude of individuals, a living mass, being subjected
to pressure within an enclosed space, and to increasing biological
interpenetration, reacts by organizing itself upon itself: that is to
say, by seeking through selective experiment for the individual or
collective arrangements which best suit it, such arrangements being, in the event, those in which the degree of complexity is highest and therefore the state of indeterminacy the most advanced.
Many biologists, intent upon scientific objectivity are reluctant
to see in the historical development of terrestrial life anything
more than an unlimited proliferation of forms, all on the same
level. A steady increase of living creatures and living combinations,
they agree; but, despite this, not more life. What reason have we for
supposing that a mammal is more than a polypary?
Far more suggestive and convincing than this "flat" vision of
the biological world is the three-dimensional concept of a heavenly
body on which, through the effect of planetary compression, the
state of complexity (or, which amounts to the same thing, the "psy-

FROM THE PRE-TruMAN TO THE ULT.RA-.HUHAN

293

chic" temperature of the biosphere) is continually rising. This

explains the supersession in successive stages of arthropods by vertebrates, of pisciforms by tetrapods, and finally, within the tetrapod
group, the progressive predominance of the mammals, gradually
forming their own primate strain, with the growth, globally irreversible and constantly accelerated along certain favored lines, of
"cerebration" from the beginning of life up to the present time.
The quantity and quality of cephalized nervous substance on
earth have indeed never been as great as they are today. This "orthogenetic" view of animal evolution is gradually becoming common ground among scientists; but it only achieves full validity, in
terms of my argument, to the extent that it implies a continuous
psychic "chain" going back to the beginning of life.
Looking back over the immense extent of geological time we
can see that the separate links in the chain have undergone no essential change. It would seem that the principal factor making for
progress is still the operation of forces of natural selection, choosing from outside the most successful and adaptable products of a
process of expansion that is disorderly in itsel Where, during the
course of time, an important transformation seems to have taken
place is at the level of the latest link in the chain, that of the "acquirement of consciousness." For it is inevitable, by very reason of
the selective growth of psychism in the biosphere, that each new
higher element engendered by evolution must, to the extent that it
is more conscious, have a wider field of action. The mere fact of
its "ultra-cerebration" causes it to take up more room. So that the
compression of living matter, due in the first place simply to physical increase, is gradually heightened by its internal psychic expansion. The chain coils in upon itself and the intensity of the
phenomenon tends to rise almost vertically Or to adopt another
image one might say that the "psychic tint" of the earth, studied at

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THE FUTURE OF MAN

a great distance by some celestial observer, for two combined reasons would be seen, in the course of eons of geological time, to become gradually heightened in intensity until it reaches the
peculiarly moving moment of climax when, in a spread of more
active radiation covering Africa and southern Asia, a series of
sparks begins to glow, foreshadowing the incandescence which is
"hominization. "
Closely related though he is to the other major primates,
among which he is biologically only one of a family, Man is psychically distinguished from all other animals by the entirely new
fact that he not only knows, but knows that he knows. In him, for
the first time on earth, consciousness has coiled back upon itself to
become thought. To an observer unaware of what it signifies, the
event might at first seem to have little importance; but in fact it
represents the complete resurgence of terrestrial life upon itsel In
reflecting psychically upon itself Life positively made a new start.
In a second turn of the spiral, tighter than the first, it embarked for
a second time upon its cycle of multiplication, compression and interiorization.
This is how the thinking layer of the earth as we know it today,
the Noosphere, came rapidly into being, proceeding from certain
centers of reflection which apparently emerged, at the threshold of
the Pleistocene period, somewhere in the tropical or subtropical
zones of the Ancient World 2 : a planetary neo-envelope, essentially
linked with the biosphere in which it has its root, yet distinguished
from it by an autonomous circulatory, nervous and, finally, cerebral
system. The Noosphere: a new stage for a renewed Life.
One may say that until the coming of Man it was natural selection that set the course of morphogenesis and cerebration, but
2 i.e., in the place where, during the Upper Tertiary era, the group of the great
anthropoids was first established and subsequently spread.

FRO.M THE PRE-.HUNAN TO THE ULTRA-.HUHAN 295

that after Man it is the power of invention that begins to grasp the
evolutionary reins. A wholly inward change, having no direct effect
on anatomy; but a change, as we now know, entailing two decisive
consequences for the future. The first is an unlimited increase in
the aura of influence radiating from every living being; the second,
even more radical, the prospect afforded to a growing number of
individuals of being joined together and ever more closely unanimized in the inextinguishable fire of research pursued in common.
From the Quaternary era onward Life has continued to superdevelop itself, through Man, in the second degree. But although
this phenomenon is several hundred thousand years old, there are
growing indications that the process, far from slowing down, is now
entering upon a particularly accelerated and critical phase of its
development.
So far as we are able to follow its historical progress, the grouping and organization of the human mass has in the past been
broadly governed far more by the principle of expansion than by
that of compression. Diverse civilizations were able to grow and
rub shoulders on a sparsely inhabited planet without encountering
any major difficulty. But now, following the dramatic growth of industry, communications and populations in the course of a single
century, we can discern the outline of an astonishing event. The
hitherto scattered fragments of humanity, being at length brought
into close contact, are beginning to interpenetrate to the point of
reacting economically and psychically upon each other; with the
result, given the fundamental relationship between biological compression and the heightening of consciousness, of an irresistible
rise within us and around us of the level of Reflection. Under the
influence of the forces compressing it within a closed vessel, human substance is beginning to "planetize" itself, that is to say, to be
interiorized and animated globally upon itself.
We may have supposed that the human species, being ma-

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THE FUTURE OF MAN

tured, has reached the limit of its development. Now we see that it
is still in an embryonic state. Science can discern, in the hundreds of
thousands (or more probably millions) of years3 lying ahead of the
Mankind we know, a deep if still obscure fringe of the "ultrahuman."
If this is so, and assuming that no sidereal accident interferes
with the course of events, how is the adventure likely to conclude?
Can we look forward to nothing but a state of senescence at the end
of the planetary cycle of hominization or, on the contrary, will it
be a paroxysm of the Noosphere?
The senescence theory finds immediate and natural support in
the fact of our individual ends. Since each separate thinking element of the earth is destined to wither and die, why should the
sum total of them all, Mankind, be exempt from a similar fate?
This is the first thought that occurs to us: but is it sound? Is it certain that we can extrapolate the general evolutionary curve of the
species (phylogenesis) on the lines of the evolutionary pattern of
the individual (ontogenesis) without making any correction? Nothing proves that we can, and there is a powerful argument against
it. For although certain principles of wear and disintegration,
which apparendy cannot be prevented from growing more pronounced with age, seem to be inherent in the structure of our individual bodies, there is no indication of any similar factor in the
global evolution of a living mass as large as the Noosphere, where
the overriding evolutionary law seems to be that of statistical necessity, it must simply converge upon itsel
The more deeply we study this distinction the more probable
does it seem that the human multitude is moving as time passes not
Since Mankind's behavior on the "tree of Life" is rather that of a flowering
than of an ordinary shoot, it is possible that the estimate of several million
years, based on the average longevity of animal forms, should be materially reduced to allow for the acceleration due to the totalization of the Noosphere.
3

FRO.i"l TIlE PRE-HUNAN TO THE ULTRA.-IlUHAN

297

toward any slackening but rather toward a superstate of psychic

tension. Which means that it is not any sluggishness of the spirit
that lies ahead of us, but on the contrary an eventual critical point
of collective reflexion. Not a gradual darkening but a sudden blaze
of brilliance, an explosion in which Thought, carried to the extreme, is volatilized upon itself: such, if I had to bet on it, is how I
would depict the ultimate phase of a vitalized star.
But can even this, a supreme explosion, be considered a biologically satisfactory culmination of the phenomenon of Man? It
is here that we encounter the very root of the problem proposed to
our scientific understanding by the existence of living planets.

In speaking of the rise of terrestrial psychic temperature I have

always assumed that in the Noosphere, as in the Biosphere, the
need and the will to grow both remain constant. There can be no
natural selection, still less reflective invention, if the individual is
not inwardly intent upon "superliving," or at least upon survival.
No evolutionary mechanism can have any power over a cosmic
matter if it is entirely passive, less still if it is opposed to it. But the
possibility has to be faced of Mankind falling suddenly out of love
with its own destiny. This disenchantment would be conceivable,
and indeed inevitable, if as a result of growing reflection we came
to believe that our end could only be collective death in an hermetically sealed world. Clearly in face of so appalling a discovery
the psychic mechanism of evolution would come to a sudden stop,
undermined and shattered in its very substance, despite all the violent tuggings of the chain of planetary in-folding.
The more one considers this eventuality (which cannot be dismissed as a myth, as certain morbid symptoms, such as Sartrian
existentialism, show) the more does one tend to the view that the
grand enigma presented by the phenomenon of Man is not the
question of knowing how life was kindled on earth, but of understanding how it might be extinguished on earth without being

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THE FUTURE OF MAN

continued elsewhere. Having once become reflective it cannot acquiesce in its total disappearance without biologically contradicting itself.
In consequence one is the less disposed to reject as unscientific
the idea that the critical point of planetary Reflection, the fruit of
socialization, far from being a mere spark in the darkness, represents our passage, by translation or dematerialization, to another
sphere of the Universe: not an ending of the Ultra-Human but its
accession to some sort of Trans-Human at the ultimate heart of
things.
PARIS, APRIL

27, 1950.

ALMANACH DES SCIENCES, 1951.

CHAPTER 22
THE END OF
THE SPECIES

than a hundred years ago,

Man learned to his astonishment that there was an
origin of animal species, a genesis in which he
himself was involved. Not only did all kinds of animals share the earth with him, but he found that
he was in some sort a part of this zoological diversity which hitherto he had regarded as being
merely his neighbors. Life was in movement, and
Mankind was the latest of its successive waves!
This astonishing pronouncement on the part
of science seemed at first to do no more than stimulate the curiosity (or indignation) of theorists;
but it was soon apparent that the shock was not
purely mental, and that nineteenth-century man
had been shaken by it to his depths. Three hundred years earlier, in the time of Galileo, the end of
geocentrism had intrigued or disturbed thinking
minds without having any appreciable effect on the
mass of people. The sidereal dispute had, after all,
NOT MUCH MORE

300

THE FUTURE OF MAN

produced no change in the earth itself, or in its inhabitants or their

relations with one another. But the concept of biological evolution
inevitably led to a profound reshaping of planetary values.
To some outraged spirits, no doubt, Man appeared diminished
and dethroned by transformism which made him no more than the
latest arrival in the animal kingdom. But to the minds of the majority our human condition seemed fmally to be exalted by the fact
that we were rooted in the fauna and soil of the planet-evolving
Man in the forefront of the animals.
In short, until then, Man, although he knew that the human
race might continue to exist for a long time, had not suspected that
it had a future. Now however, because he was a species, and species
change, he could begin to look for and seek to conquer something
quite new that lay ahead of him.
That is why "Darwinism," as it was then called, however naive
its beginnings, came at exactly the right moment to create the cosmological atmosphere of which the great technico-social advance
of the last century stood in need if it was to believe passionately in
what it was doing. Rudimentary though it was, Darwinism afforded a scientific justification of faith in progress.

BUT TODAY, BY a development natural to itself, the movement

has come to look like a receding tide. For all his discoveries and inventions, twentieth-century man is a sad creature. How shall we
account for his present dejected state except basically by the fact
that, following that exalted vision of species in growth, he is now
confronted by an accumulation of scientific evidence pointing to
the reverse-the species doomed to extinction?
The extinction of the species ...
Biologists do not agree about the mechanism of the continual

T.HE END OF T.HE SPECIES

301

disappearance of phyla in the course of geological time, a process

almost as mysterious as that of their formation; but the reality of
the phenomenon is indisputable. Either the different species, losing
their powers of "speciation," survive as living fossils, which after all
is a form of death; or else, and there are infmitely more of these,
they simply vanish, one sort being replaced by another. Whatever
the reason may be, inadaptability to a new environment, competition, a mysterious senescence, or possibly a single basic cause underlying all these reasons, the end is always the same. The days (or
the millennia) of every living form are by statistical reckoning ineluctably numbered; so much so that, using the scale of time
furnished by the study of certain isotopes, it is beginning to be possible to calculate in millions of years the average life oj a species.
Man now sees that the seeds of his ultimate dissolution are at
the heart of his being. The End oj the Species is in the marrow of our
bones!
Is it not this presentiment of a blank wall ahead, underlying all
sorts of tensions and specific fears, which paradoxically (at the very
moment when every barrier seems to be giving way before our
power of understanding and mastering the world) is darkening and
hardening the minds of our generation?

us, we shall gain nothing by shutting

our eyes to this shadow of collective death that has appeared on
our horizon. On the contrary, we must open them wider.
But how are we to exorcise the shadow?
It may be said that timidly, even furtively (it is remarkable how
coy we are in referring to the matter) two methods are used by
writers and teachers to reassure themselves and others in face of
the ever more obsessive certainty of the eventual ending of the hu-

AS PSYCHIATRY TEACHES

302

THE FUTURE OF MAN

man species: the first is to invoke the infmity of Time and the second is to seek shelter in the depths of Space.
The Time argument is as follows. By the latest estimates of
palaeontology the probable life of a phylum of average dimensions
is to be reckoned in tens of millions of years. But if this is true of
"ordinary" species, what duration may we not look for in the case
of Man, that favored race which, by its intelligence, has succeeded
in removing all danger of serious competition and even in attacking the causes of senescence at the root.
Then the Space argument. Even if we suppose that, by prolonging its existence on a scale of planetary longevity, the human
species will eventually fmd itself with a chemically exhausted Earth
beneath its feet, is not Man even now in process of developing astronautical means which will enable him to go elsewhere and continue his destiny in some other corner of the firmament?
That is what they say, and for all I know there may be people
for whom this sort of reasoning does really dispel the clouds that
veil the future. I can only say that for my part I fmd such consolations intolerable, not only because they do nothing but palliate and
postpone our fears, which is bad enough, but even more because
they seem to me scientifically false.
In order that the end of Mankind may be deferred sine die we
are asked to believe in a species that will drag on and spread itself
indefinitely; which means, in effect, that it would run down more
and more. But is not this the precise opposite of what is happening here and now in the human world?
I have been insisting for a long time on the importance and significance of the technico-mental process which, particularly during
the past hundred years, has been irresistibly causing Mankind
to draw closer together and unite upon itsel From routine or prejudice the majority of anthropologists still refuse to see in this
movement of totalization anything more than a superficial and

T.HE END OF THE SPECIES

303

temporary side effect of the organic forces of biogenesis. Any parallel that may be drawn between socialization and speciation, they
maintain, is purely metaphorical. To which I would reply that, if
this is so, to what undisclosed form of energy shall we scientifically
attribute the irreversible and conjugated growth of Arrangement
and Consciousness which historically characterizes (as it does everything else, in indisputably "biological" fields) the establishment of
Mankind on Earth?
We have only to go a litde further, I am convinced, and our
minds, awakened at last to the existence of an added dimension,
will grasp the profound identity existing between the forces of civilization and those of evolution. Man will then assume his true
shape in the eyes of the naturalists-that of a species which having entered the realm of Thought, henceforth folds back its
branches upon itself instead of spreading them. Man, a species
which converges, instead of diverging like every other species on
earth: so that we are bound to envisage its ending in terms of some
paroxysmal state of maturation which, by its scientific probability
alone must illumine for us all the darkest menaces of the future.
For if by its structure Mankind does not dissipate itself but
continually concentrates upon itself; in other words, if, alone
among all the living forms known to us, our zoological phylum
is laboriously moving toward a critical point of speciation, then are
not all hopes permitted to us in the matter of survival and irreversibility?
The end of a "thinking species": not disintegration and death,
but a new breakthrough and a rebirth, this time outside Time and
Space, through the very excess of unification and coreflexion. I
I Such coreflexion, as I am constandy obliged to say, in no way entailing a diminution but on the contrary an increase of the "person." Must I again repeat
the truth, of universal application, that if it be properly ordered union does not
confound but differentiates?

304

THE FUTURE OF MAN

It goes without saying that this idea of a salvation of the

Species sought, not in the direction of any temporo-spatial consolidation or expansion but by way of spiritual escape through the excess of consciousness, is not yet seriously considered by the
biologists. At first sight it appears fantastic. Yet if one thinks about
it long and carefully, it is remarkable how it sustains examination,
grows stronger and, for two particular reasons among others, takes
root in the mind.
For one thing, as I have said, it corresponds more closely than
any other extrapolation to the marked (even challenging) urgency
of our own time in the broad progress of the Phenomenon of
Man. But in addition it seems to be more capable than any other
vision of the future of stimulating and steadying our power of action by counteracting the prevailing pessimism.
This is a fact which we must face.
In the present age, what does most discredit to faith in progress
(apart from our reticence and helplessness as we contemplate the
"end of the Race") is the unhappy tendency still prevailing among
its adepts to distort everything that is most valid and noble in our
newly aroused expectation of an "ultra-human" by reducing it to
some form of threadbare millennium. The believers in progress
think in terms of a Golden Age, a period of euphoria and abundance; and this, they give us to understand, is all that Evolution has
in store for us. 2 It is right that our hearts should fail us at the
thought of so "bourgeois" a paradise.
We need to remind ourselves yet again, so as to offset this truly
pagan materialism and naturalism, that although the laws of biogenesis by their nature presuppose, and in fact bring about, an improvement in human living conditions, it is not well-being but a
2 I may cite, as an instance of this poverty of thought, the French mm sheltering behind so many famous names, La Vie Commence Demain.

THE END OF T.HE SPECIES

305

hunger for more-being which, of psychological necessity, can alone

preserve the thinking earth from the taedium vitae. And this makes
fully plain the importance of what I have already suggested, that it
is upon its point (or superstructure) of spiritual concentration, and
not on its basis (or infrastructure) of material arrangement, that
the equilibrium of Mankind biologically depends.
For if, pursuing this thought, we accept the existence of a critical point of speciation at the conclusion of all technologies and
civilizations, it means (with Tension maintaining its ascendancy
over Rest to the end in biogenesis) that an outlet appears at the peak
of Time, not only for our hope of escape but for our expectation
of some revelation.
And this is what can best allay the conflict between light and
darkness, exaltation and despair, in which, following the rebirth in
us of the Sense of the Species, we are now absorbed.
NEW YORK, DECEMBER

9, 1952.

PSYCHE, FEBRUARY

1953.

NOTE BY FRENCH EDITOR. Underlying this final testimony is

Teilhard de Chardin's earliest mystical intimation, set forth in Cosmic Life as early as 1916. The following extracts from that work
show the unity of fundamental Christian vision and scientific
knowledge which he preserved to the end.

Cosmic Life 3
any way be intermixed with or lost in the participated being which he sustains and animates and holds together,
GOD CANNOT IN

Printed in full in Writings in Time

Harper & Row, New York, 1968.

of War, pp. 14-71. Collins, London and

306

THE FUTURE OF MAN

but he is at the birth, and the growth and the fmal term of all
things ...
The exclusive task of the world is the physical incorporation of
the faithful in the Christ who is of God. This cardinal task is being
carried out with the rigor and harmony oj a natural evolution.
At the source of its developments an operation was called for,
transcendent in order, to graft the person of a God onto the human cosmos, under conditions that are mysterious but physically
governed ... Et Verbum caro factum est. This was the Incarnation.
From this first and fundamental contact between God and the human race-which means in virtue of the penetration of the Divine
into our nature-a new life was born: an unlooked for magnification and "obediental" extension of our natural capabilitiesgrace ... Grace is the unique sap that starts from the same trunk
and rises up into the branches, it is the blood that courses through
the veins under the impulse of one and the same Heart, the nervous current that is transmitted through the limbs at the dictate of
one and the same Head: and that radiant Head, that mighty
Heart, that fruitful Stock, must inevitably be Christ ...
The Incarnation is a making new, a restoration, of all the universe's forces and powers; Christ is the Instrument, the Center, the
End, of the whole of animate and material creation; through Him,
everything is created, sanctified and vivified. This is the constant and
general teaching of St. John and St. Paul (that most "cosmic" of
sacred writers), and it has passed into the most solemn formulas of
the Liturgy: and yet we repeat it, and generations to come will go
on repeating it, without ever being able to grasp or appreciate its
profound and mysterious significance, bound up as it is with understanding of the universe.
With the origin of all things, there began an advent of recollection and work in the course of which the forces of determinism,

THE, E,ND OF THE, SPECIF.,S

307

obediently and lovingly, lent themselves and directed themselves in

the preparation of a Fruit that exceeded all hope and yet was
awaited. The world's energies and substances-so harmoniously
adapted and controlled that the supreme Transcendent would
seem to germinate entirely from their immanence-concentrated
and were purified in the stock of Jesse; from their accumulated and
distilled treasures they produced the glittering gem of matter, the
Pearl of the Cosmos, and the link with the incarnate personal Absolute-the Blessed Virgin Mary, Queen and Mother of all things,
the true Demeter ... and when the day of the Virgin came to pass,
then the final purpose of the universe, deep-rooted and gratuitous,
was suddenly made clear: since the days when the first breath of
individualization passed over the expanse of the Supreme Center here
below so that in it could be seen the ripple of the smile of the original monads, all things were moving toward the Child born of
Woman.
And since Christ was born, and ceased to grow, and died, everything has continued in motion because he has notyet attained the fullness of his
form. He has not gathered about Him the last folds of the garment
of flesh and love woven for him by his faithful. The mystical Christ
has not reached the peak of his growth . .. and it is in the continuation
of this engendering that there lies the ultimate driving force behind all created activity ... Christ is the term of even the natural evolution of living beings.

CONCLUSION

The End of the World

To conclude these
writings on the Future of Man we quote the following extract from another work, A{y Universe. 1
Summarizing in a luminous synthesis the thinker
and priest's intimations of the End of the World, it
ends with the words of St. Paul, quoted on the last
page of Teilhard de Chardin's journal, which express his supreme vision: "God all in all."2
NOTE BY FRENCH EDITOR.

... Forced against one another by the increase in

their numbers and the multiplication of their interrelations-compressed together by the activation of a common force and the awareness of a
common distress-the men of the future will form,
in some way, but one single consciousness; and
since, once their initiation is complete they will
have gauged the strength of their associated
minds, the immensity of the universe, and the nar1 Printed in Science and Christ, pp. 83-5. Collins, London, and
Harper & Row, New York, 1968.
2 In Latin: Erit in omnibus omnia Deus. In Greek: En pasi panta
Theos. 1 Corinthians 15.28.

CONCLUSION

309

rowness of their prison, this consciousness will be truly adult and

of age. May we not imagine that at that moment a truly and totally human act will be effected for the first time, in a final option-the yes or no as an answer to God, pronounced individually
by beings in each one of whom the sense of human freedom and
responsibility will have reached its full development?
It is by no means easy to picture to ourselves what sort of event
the end of the world could be. A sidereal catastrophe would be a
fitting counterpart to our individual deaths, but it would entail the
end of the earth rather than that of the cosmos-and it is the cosmos that has to disappear.
The more I think about this mystery, the more it appears to
me, in my dreams, as a "turning-about" of consciousness-as an
eruption of interior life-as an ecstasy. There is no need to rack
our brains to understand how the material vastness of the universe
will ever be able to disappear. Spirit has only to be reversed, to
move into a different zone, for the whole shape of the world immediately to be changed.
When the end of time is at hand, a terrifying spiritual pressure
will be exerted on the confines of the real, built up by the desperate efforts of souls tense with longing to escape from the earth.
This pressure will be unanimous. Scripture, however, tells us that
at the same time the world will be infected by a profound schismsome trying to emerge from themselves in order to dominate the
world even more completely-others, relying on the words of
Christ, waiting passionately for the world to die, so that they may
be absorbed with it in God.
It is then, we may be sure, that the Parousia will be realized in a
creation that has been taken to the climax of its capacity for union.
The single act of assimilation and synthesis that has been going on
since the beginning of time will then at last be made plain, and the
universal Christ will blaze out like a flash of lightning in the storm

310

THE FUTURE OF MAN

clouds of a world whose slow consecration is complete. The trumpets of the angels are but a poor symbol. It will be impelled by the
most powerful organic attraction that can be conceived (the very
force by which the universe holds together) that the monads will join
in a headlong rush to the place irrevocably appointed for them by
the total adulthood of things and the inexorable irreversibility of the
whole history of the world-some, spiritualized matter, in the limitless fulfillment of an eternal communion-others, materialized
spirit, in the conscious torment of an endless decomposition.
At that moment, St. Paul tells us (I Cor. 15. 23 fI) when Christ
has emptied all created forces (rejecting in them everything that is a
factor of dissociation and superanimating all that is a force of
unity), he will consummate universal unification by giving himself,
in his complete and adult Body, with a fInally satisfIed capacity for
union, to the embrace of the Godhead.
Thus will be constituted the organic complex of God and
world-the Pleroma-the mysterious reality of which we cannot
say that it is more beautiful than God by himself (since God could
dispense with the world), but which we cannot, either, consider
completely gratuitous, completely subsidiary, without making Creation unintelligible, the Passion of Christ meaningless, and our effort completely valueless.
Et tunc eritfinis.
Like a vast tide, Being will have engulfed the shifting sands of
being. Within a now tranquil ocean, each drop of which, nevertheless, will be conscious of remaining itself, the astonishing adventure
of the world will have ended. The dream of every mystic, the eternal pantheist ideal, will have found its full and legitimate satisfaction. "Erit in omnibus omnia Deus."
TIENTSIN, MARCH 25, 1924.

311

CONCLUSION

Conclusion
Three days before his death Pierre
Teilhard de Chardin wrote the following, which constitutes his
supreme testimony as a thinker and a priest.
NOTE BY FRENCH EDITOR.

LAST PAGE OF THE JOURNAL OF PIERRE

TEILHARD DE CHARDIN

Maunrfy Thursday.

What I believe.

St. Paul-the three verses: En pasi panta Theos.

Christogenesis.
2

Cosmos = Cosmogenesis-Biogenesis-Noogenesis-

The universe is centered-Evolutively

The two
articles of
my Credo

Christ is its Center

Above
Ahead

The Christian Phenomenon

Noogenesis = Christogenesis (=Paul)

The three verses are 1 Corinthians 15. 26, 27 and 28:

The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.
For he hath put all things under his feet. But when he saith, all

312

THE FUTURE OF MAN

things are put under him, it is manifest that he is expected, which

did put all things under him.
And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the
Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him,
that God may be all in all.
APRIL

7, 1955

INDEX

Above, and Ahead, 262ff.

acquired characteristics,
transmission, 17
action: human, environment of,
48ff.; in individual and
mankind, 8; problem of, 42
activation, coefficient of, 204
additivity, 16ff.; education as, 20
aesthetic powers, development of, 6
aggregation, human, stages of, 169
agricultural groups, 170
agriculture, discovery of, 135
albuminoids, 99; see also proteins
animals: "education" among, 18;
limbs of, as tools, 158; see also
consciousness
annihilation, point of, 47
anthropogenesis, 232n., 261, 275,
286
ants, 29, 31, 249
asceticism, 34
association(s), 29; differentiation in,
44
astronomy, 28, 91, 290
astrophysics, 92
atheism: growth of, 260; Marxist,
266
atom(s): genesis of, 250; importance
of links between, 104
atomic energy, release of, 133ff.
atomism, 57
attraction, forces of, 232, 278ff.
Augustine, St., 9

autoevolution, 272
autonomy, human, 9
Babel,182
baboon, 157n.
bees/bee colonies, 29, 249
behavior-patterns, transmission of, 20
being, value of, 32, 48
Benda,]ulien, 207n .
Bergson, Henri, 19, 106, 216, 25m.,

277
Betti, 207n.
biology, 28, 176
biosphere, 151, 193n., 271 et passim
Blanc, A., 152n.
Boll, Marcel, 212
boredom, 139
brain: collective, 161, 172; human,
217; evolution of, 163; and
social thought, 161ff.; and
osteology, 27$ prehominid, 273
Buddha, 41
Camus, Albert, 288
cells, 100, 108
centration, 154, 203
cephalization, 56
cerebralization/ cerebration, 56,
168, 293
chance, influence of, 197
change: entitative, in man, 6;
morphological, slowing down
of, 15

314

INDEX

chaos, primordial, 95f.

charity, 71, 129; primacy of, 87f.; see
also love
Charles, Pierre, 149n.
China, 265
choice, necessity of, 254
Christ, 13, 182, 235, 306f.; as
fulfillment, 307; primacy of,
86f.
Christianity, 205, 220f., 259ff.; and
education, 24fL; renewal of, 85f.
Christmas, first, 267n.
chromosomes, 137, 156
Church, Christian, 13, 219, 259f.,
264circumflexion, 153
civilizations, first, 170
class antagonism, 130
classification, of natural units, 99f.
co-consciousness, primitive, 249
coherence, and truth, 2II
coiling, in evolution, 214, 218
collectivization, growth of, 106f.,
122,244
collectivism, 279
collectivity, sense of, 171, 180
Communism, 26$ see also Marxism
complexification, 154, 168, 195,206,
252f.
complexity(-ies), 98ff.; axis of, 197;
and consciousness, relation,
105, 122ff., 174, 206, 219, 252;
phases of rise to, 213f.
compression, 226, 233, 247, 275f.,
283ff.,293
computers, electronic, 162
Comte, Auguste, 149
concentration, progress in, 61
consciousness, 5, 12, 33f., 40, 47, 74,
180, 214ff., 294; acquisition of,

293; in animals, 193, 271;

centration of, 127; collective,
23f., 161, 275; convergent, 50;
growth of, 55ff., 69, III; higher,
47, 72; machine and, 160;
planetization of, 109, II7f.;
second degree, 126; universality
of, 123; see also complexity;
reflection; self-knowledge
Consentino, A., 33
convergence, law of, 159
Copernicus, 257
corals, 29
cosmogenesis, 250, 257, 261, 286
cosmology, Christian and human,
220f.
Cournot, A.-A., 149, 178
criticism, 202
curvature, geographical and mental,
283ff.
Darwin, Charles/Darwinism, 79,
196, 261, 300
death,43,72, 82, 280, 297f., 301
decomposition, psychic, 127
democracy, 236ff.; growth of, 121;
liberal and directed, 240;
techniques of, 241f.
detachment, 71
determinism(s), 178; in history, I2I;
organic, 19
differentiation, increasing, 42

dirigisme,

240

discovery, passion for, IIO

duckweed,loo
duration, genetic, 171
Durkheim, Emile, 149
Earth: apparent insignificance,
91f.; development of, 291f.;

INDEX

relation to universe, 10$

significance of man on, 104;
Spirit of the, 140; "thinking,"
150
ecstasy, 41, 47, 116,309
Eddington, Sir Arthur, 97
education, 18ff.; and Christianity,
2{ff.; and mankind, 21ff.
egocentrism, 206
electricity, utilization of, 135
elements: chemical, 99;
posturanian, 101
embryogenesis, spontaneity in, 19
empires, 170
end of the world, 113, 220, 308
energy: dissipation of, 70, 83, 251, see
also entropy: harnessing of, 135;
increase in free, 227;
invariability of, 201; physical
and spiritual interlocking, 209
enslavement, social, 249
entropy, 39, 70, 80
equality, 239
eschatology, 267, 308
ethics, 199
eu-complex, 252
eugenics, 231
evil, 82, 229n.
evolution, $ axis of, 210ff., 222;
direction of, 78; and life, 21{;
and education, 22; human
conditions for continuation,
203; rebounding of, 171, 193,
195,196,200, 204,208,216,
243, 256; relation of man to,
79; spirit of, 128, 139; spiritual,
of universe, 73
excentration, 47; human, 10
existentialism/ existentialists, 224,
254,297

315

faith, Christian and natural, 263ff.

Faust, 182
field of attraction, psychic, 256
finality, emergence of, 195
fire, discovery of, 135
frxism,4
folklore, 180
foodstuffs, supply of, 230
foresight, 216
fragmentation, tendency to, 194
fraternity, 239
freedom: and evolution, 63; human,
177; individual and collective,
146
future, conditions of, 229ff.
galaxies, 93, 101; genesis of, 96;
shift to red of spectra, 251
Galileo, 79, 256, 258, 261, 299
genetics, 137, 231
geocentrism, 257, 299
God, 181, 305, 310; problem of,
175; rise of a, 113
Golden Age, 304
grace, 27, 87, 306
gravity,95
group formation: biological, 29;
human, 30
Guardini, Romano, 212
Haldane,]. B. S., 109
health, conditions of, 231
hemoglobin, 99
heredity: apparatus of, 156; cellular,
17; and education, 18, 26,
157; individual and social, 20
hominization, 151, 194, 196, 228,
235, 264, 294 et passim

Homo progressivus, 130

Homo sapiens, 106, 261

316

INDEX

hope, evolution and, 63

hormones, 137
human, defmition of, 270
humanization, 262
humanism: Christian, 25; and God,
88
hunting groups, 169
Huxley, Aldous, 185
Huxley, Sir Julian, 109, 161
hydrogen, 102
hymenoptera, 29
Ice Age, 6, 274
illuminism, 220
immobilism/immobilists, 2, 148
impulse, vital, 209
Incarnation, 24, 25, 266, 306
indeterminacy, 250, 292
India, 34individual: isolation of, in mankind,
127; relation to life, 217; value
of, 36
indolence, 227n.
inflexion, 153, 165
in-folding: of humanity, 253; of
matter, 251
innervation, progressive, 56
insects, 19
instinct, 215, 253, 271
intelligence: animal, 271;
development of, 277; value of,
216
invention, 216, 295; ordering of,
198ff.
irreversibility, 175, 203
Jacob and the angel, 182
Jeans, Sir James, 93, 94, 97, 106, 115,
212
John, St., 306

Karma, 35
Lafitte,Jacques, 159n.
Lamarck/Lamarckianism, 79,196
Laplace, P.-S. de, 96, 97, 251
Le Roy, Edouard, 158n.
Levy-Bruhl, Lucien, 149
liberalism, 240
liberty, 239
lie, the, 199n.
life: additive quality of, 16; age of,
54; as aim of evolution, 212;
dawn of, 124,291; essence of
universe, 212ff., 217;
hominization of, 108;
insignificance of, 212;
movement of, 56ff., 292; nature
of, 80; progressiveness of, 252
light, analysis of, 92
Linnaeus, C., 150
love, 67, 84, 233, 279, 288; and
human association, 45;
planetization and, 112; see also
charity
lysis, 152n.
machine: autonomy of, 158;
functions of, 226; unity of, 160
man: biological perfection of, 138;
as convergent species, 303; as
fruit of progress, 59; phyletic
development of, 29; psychic
immaturity of, 262; relationship
with universe, 6; significance
on earth, 104, 105; uniqueness
of, 79,144
mankind: age of, 59, 295; future of,
6 Iff.; planetization of, 108,
117ff.; progress to higher, 82;
socialization of, 117

317

INDEX
Marais, Eugene N., 157n.
Marxism, 132, 185, 263, 268, 288
Mary, the Virgin, 307
masses, rise of, II 7
mathematics, 136
matter: disintegration of, 70;
sanctification of, 87; and spirit,
relation, 85; spiritual value of,
36; superorganization of, 171;
vitalization of, 108, 137,209
mechanization: anatomical, in man,
158; growth of, 226
medium yellows, 92, 101
memory, collective, 125
metazoa, associated, 100
microscope, electronic, 125
Milky Way, 53, 94
mimetism, 215n.
Miocene period, 5
molecules, 99, 102, 250
moleculization, 108
monism, 36
moral action, biological value of, 6
moral values, evolution of, 8
morality: confusion of, 8S; and
evolution, 200
movement, 3ff.; of life, 56ff.; slow,
53, 164
mutation, and specific dispersion, 152
mystical body, 13n., 24, 220n.
mysticism/mystics, 34, 115
mythology, 180
nationalism, 194, 208
nature: as becoming, 3; rigidity of,
3ff.
nebulae, 53
negation, reality as, 34
neo-Darwinism, 196, 197
neo-Lamarckians,196

neolithic revolution, 30
nervous system: development of, 57,
166; of generalized, 125
neuroptera, 29
Nietzsche, Friedrich, 126
"noodynarnic," 205n.
noogenesis, 70, 80
Noosphere, 125, 130, 131, 152ff., 193,
219,271,294 etpassimj anatomy
of, 155ff.; birth and structure,
152ff.; cerebration in, 161ff.;
phases and future of, 169ff.;
physiology of, 164ff
Oligocene period, 5
Omega point, 115
omnipotence, divine, 71
ontogenesis, 14, 19, 296
optimism, 32ff., 205; of withdrawal
or of evolution, 34ff.
organicism, of human groupings,
274
organization: and conquest of
nuclear power, 137; social, 28
orthogenesis, 152 and n., 293
Osborn, Fairfield, 230
Other, the, 47; increasing
importance of, 107
otter, 157n.
oxygen, 103
Pacific, industrialization of, 120
paleontology, 52, 54ff
panorganized world, 170
Parousia, 13, 220, and n., 221, 267,

30 9
Pascal, Blaise, 76, 95
Paul, St., 306, 308ff.
peace, 144ff.
personal, rise toward, 203

318

INDEX

personalization, 70, 189, 203, 209,

253f.; function of, 45; total, 51
personalism, 279
personality, collective, 25
pessimism, 32f., 40
phenomenalism, 206
philosophy, common, 185
phyletic sense: revival of, 129;
submergence of, 127
phylogenesis, 14, 296
phylum, 152f.
physics, 69; and biology, 100
Pithecanthropus, 60
planetization, 108ff., Il7ff., 169, 258
planets: evolution of, 291f.; genesis of,
96f.; living, 290; number of, 97;
relation to universe, 91ff., 103
plasticity, of nature, 4Plato,8f.
Pleistocene period, 274, 294
pluralism/plurality, 36, 37
polymerization, 44
Polynesia, 120
polyps, 29
population, increase of, 230f., 275,
28 3
pressure, vital, 5
prevision, Il4
primates: evolution of, 6; man and
other, 150, 294
progress, Iff., 52ff.; Darwinism and,
300; as force, 10; of mankind,
1Of., Ilf.; and organization, 60;
reserve of, 62; technical and
moral, gulf between, 200
Prometheus, 182, 183
proteins, 99f., 108, 291f.
pseudo-complex, 252
psychiatry,301
psychic power, development of, 171

psychoanalysis, 137
purposiveness, biological, 197f.
Quaternary era, 272, 295
racialism, 194
radio, 162
realism, 52
recurrence, law of, 100, 124
red giants, 92, 101
reflection, 105, 126, 145, 153f., 165,
168, 173, 192, 218, 270, 276f.,
278f., 284f.,296;and
irreflection, 272; and reflexion,
xi-xii; and vitalization, 214reflexion, 128, 153, 159, 174, 232;
collective, 194, 297
Reindeer Age, 60
relationships, interindividual,
organic nature of, 6, 7
religion, decline of, 259f.
reproduction, 29; and additivity, 16f.
research, 130, 167f., 295
Rights of Man, 188f.
rigidity, see nature
Rostand,jean, 156
Sartre,j.-P., 297
science, as source of life, 10
selection, natural, 197,209,293,295
self-arrangement, 197
self-knowledge, 7, 153
self-preservation, 201
senescence, human, 249, 253, 296
Simpson, G. G., 162
Sinanthropus, 60, 156
Sirius, 93
socialization, 21, 29, 31, 42, Il7,
217ff., 250, 274; and speciation,
303; tendency toward, 124f.

319

INDEX
socialism, democracy and, 240
society, anatomy of, 156
sociology; 124; organic and juridical
approaches, 149
soul: evolution and, 6f.; progress
and,3
space: and future of man, 302; and
geometry, 49; and time,
relation, see time
space travel, 115, 302f.
space-time continuum, 78, 81, 216;
and Christianity, 86;
convergence of, 81
speciation, and socialization, 303
species: appearance of new, 5;
average life of, 301;
development of, 28; extinction
of, 300; man as convergent,
30$ sense of, 238, 242, 287,
28 9,3 0 5
spectroscope, 101, 290n.
stars, 91ff., 101, 290; luminosity, 9$
mass and density, 9$ number
of, 93; temperature, 93
Suess, Eduard, 15m.
Sun, the, 92, 97
supercreativeness, 140
superhumanization, 106
superpersonalization, I 12
survival: conditions of, 230; urge to,

Tertiary era, 5, 152

thinking, purposive, force of, 198ff.
thought: appearance of, 5, 45, 58;
evolution of, 82, 285, 294;
evolution of collective, 1$
speed of, 162
time: arrow of, 40, 85; conic
curvature of, 75ff.; discovery of,
75; infinity of, 302; new
awareness of, 76; and space,
relation, 49, 76
Titans, 182
Tocqueville, Alexis de, 240
tools: animal limbs as, 159;
development of, 160; man and,
159
totalization, 189, 207ff., 250ff.;
contemporary, 108, I I I
totalitarianism, 30, 37, III, 128;
political, 30, 249; results of, 212
transcendency, 70, 262
transformism, 5, 17,300

297
sympathy, 128, 140, 172
synthesis, 163, 232; potential of, in
universe, 81; supreme, 115

ultra-ego, 287
ultra-human, 276ff.
ultra-personalization, 203
unanimization, 281, 282
unanimity, 65,112, 130, 173,242,
28 3
unemployment, I 66f.
UNESCO,255
unification, 43, 64, 65, 283ff.; social,
rise of, 225
union, differentiation by, 44, 46,

Tannery, 207n.
technology, growth of, 226
telepathy, 162, 172
television, 162
termitaryltermites, 29, 44, 249

United Nations, 255

units, true and false, 99
unity: and individual, 112f.;
need for, and Christ, 13;
psychic, and physical

30 3n .

INDEX

320

plurality,

122;

of universe,

I I,

36
universe: complexity of, 98ff;
conical structure of, 87;
curvature of, 81; death of, 9;
genesis of, 95; limits of, 95;
nature of, 210; transformation
of, 9
values: contemporary problem of,
31; personal, 44; within animal
kingdom, 215
variable, change of, 105
Venus, II5
Vernadsky, Wladimir, 15m.

viruses, 99, 123

vision, heightening of,

227f.

war, effect of atomic power on,

140
Wells, H. G., 288
white dwarfs, 92, 101
whole, discovery of, 7
willpower, 8
will to survive, 174
withdrawal, 35, 41
"within," 123
World War II, 90f., IIO, II9f., 184,
249
worship, 266

(1881-1955)
was a philosopher, paleontologist, and Jesuit priest.
Born in France, educated in Jesuit schools, and ordained in 19II, he journeyed to various parts of the
world on geological and paleontological expeditions and published several works on science. His
renowned works, The Phenomenon qf Man and The
Divine Milieu, were published shortly after his death
and today are regarded as classics of Catholic theology.
PIERRE TEILHARD DE CHARDIN