As the energy builds for 11.11.11, I come across more and more information on various ceremonies and group meditations to be held around the world. So wonderful, these focused dates where we practice consciously creating and holding an energetic field of peace, harmony, and deep, deep aliveness and joy. Were Teilhard de Chardin among us today, he would rejoice to see/feel/recognize/experience what was for him, the apex of human evolution on Earth, the “noosphere,” swirling into full manifestation.
Here’s the first of four pages in a 1995 Wired article on the origins of what is coming into fullness now. After that, Fred Burks’s email to his list with his ideas and a collection of events worldwide. Also, see stevebeckow.com for ongoing posts on 11.11.11 ceremonies, group meditations, and other events.
A Globe, clothing itself with a Brain
An obscure Jesuit priest, Pierre Teilhard de Chardin,set down the philosophical framework for planetary, Net-based consciousness 50 years ago.
By Jennifer Cobb Kreisberg
He has inspired Al Gore and Mario Cuomo. Cyberbard John Perry Barlow finds him richly prescient. Nobel laureate Christian de Duve claims his vision helps us find meaning in the cosmos. Even Marshall McLuhan cited his “lyrical testimony” when formulating his emerging global-village vision. Whom is this eclectic group celebrating? An obscure Jesuit priest and paleontologist named Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, whose quirky philosophy points, oddly, right into cyberspace.
Teilhard de Chardin finds allies among those searching for grains of spiritual truth in a secular universe. As Mario Cuomo put it, “Teilhard made negativism a sin. He taught us how the whole universe – even pain and imperfection – is sacred.” Marshall McLuhan turned to Teilhard as a source of divine insight in The Gutenberg Galaxy, his classic analysis of Western culture’s descent into a profane world. Al Gore, in his book Earth in the Balance, argues that Teilhard helps us understand the importance of faith in the future. “Armed with such faith,” Gore writes, “we might find it possible to resanctify the earth, identify it as God’s creation, and accept our responsibility to protect and defend it.”
From the ’20s to the ’50s, Teilhard de Chardin drafted a series of poetic works about evolution that has reemerged as a foundation for new evolutionary theories. In particular, Teilhard and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Vernadsky inspired the renegade Gaia hypothesis (later set forth by James Lovelock and Lynn Margulis): the global ecosystem is a superorganism with a whole much greater than the sum of its parts. This vision is clearly theological – suddenly everything, from rocks to people, takes on a holistic importance. As a Jesuit, Teilhard felt this deeply, and a handful of cyberphilosophers are now mining this ideological source as they search for the deeper implications of the Net. As Barlow says, “Teilhard’s work is about creating a consciousness so profound it will make good company for God itself.”
Teilhard imagined a stage of evolution characterized by a complex membrane of information enveloping the globe and fueled by human consciousness. It sounds a little off-the-wall, until you think about the Net, that vast electronic web encircling the Earth, running point to point through a nervelike constellation of wires. We live in an intertwined world of telephone lines, wireless satellite-based transmissions, and dedicated computer circuits that allow us to travel electronically from Des Moines to Delhi in the blink of an eye.
Teilhard saw the Net coming more than half a century before it arrived. He believed this vast thinking membrane would ultimately coalesce into “the living unity of a single tissue” containing our collective thoughts and experiences. In his magnum opus, The Phenomenon of Man, Teilhard wrote, “Is this not like some great body which is being born – with its limbs, its nervous system, its perceptive organs, its memory – the body in fact of that great living Thing which had to come to fulfill the ambitions aroused in the reflective being by the newly acquired consciousness?”
“What Teilhard was saying here can easily be summed up in a few words,” says John Perry Barlow. “The point of all evolution up to this stage is the creation of a collective organism of Mind.”
Teilhard’s philosophy of evolution was born out of his duality as both a Jesuit father ordained in 1911 and a paleontologist whose career began in the early 1920s. While conducting research in the Egyptian desert, Teilhard was scratching around for the remains of ancient creatures when he turned over a stone, dusted it off, and suddenly realized that everything around him was beautifully connected in one vast, pulsating web of divine life. Teilhard soon developed a philosophy that married the science of the material world with the sacred forces of the Catholic Church. Neither the Catholic Church nor the scientific academy, however, agreed. Teilhard’s premise, that rocks possessed a divine force, was seen as flaky by scientists and outright heretical by the church. Teilhard’s writings were scorned by peers in both camps.
Jennifer Cobb Kreisberg has an MA in theology and studies the sacred dimension of technology.
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Fred Burks email to his list re: 11.11.11
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“It’s not about rebellion, it’s about awakening to the infinite potentials within ourselves and all around us for ever deeper love and more meaningful connection!” What wild and exciting times we live in!!! I have a special invitation for everyone on this list and all others interested in supporting personal and global transformation. I’m sure many of you are now feeling major shifts happening on both personal and global levels. Though we are facing some real challenges, it’s an awesome time to be alive, and each of us can play as big of a part as we feel ready to play in spreading love and transformation in our lives and world. This exciting invitation involves two dates that have sparked the imagination of milions worldwide: 11-11-11 and 12-21-2012. With all of this concentrated attention, we have a powerful opportunity to focus our energies on these two dates to spread love, healing, and transformation both in our own lives and for all in our world. I have no doubt that when many people focus their energy at the same time on a shared vision, a collective energetic wave is generated which has far-reaching effects. Each extra person who joins in adds exponentially to this wave. Whether or not the actual dates of Nov. 11, 2011 (11-11-11) and Dec. 21, 2012 have inherent value, the fact that so many are paying attention to these dates creates a rich opportunity for all interested to focus our energies together at these points in time. I invite each of you either to join in one of the events already planned around the world (see list below) or to call together a group of friends on these dates to join in inviting ever more love and transformation into our world. Here are suggestions for a few key visions upon which we can focus together:
Shine light into the darkness: Behind the scenes on the global stage, much information of key importance has been hidden from the public in order to forward secret agendas of power and control in our world. Let us join in calling for light to be shone into these dark and secret places, so that we all can better know what we are dealing with and work together to transform these agendas to support what’s best for all in our world. And possibly even more important, let us each examine any secrets or hidden agendas we have in our own lives, and then find ways to shine light there and transform ourselves through inviting love and transformation into all parts of our lives. See the heart in every person: Every person in the world has a heart. Think about it. Even those you most dislike have a heart. Even the world’s most diabolical political leaders and greediest business executives have a heart. And every heart has a place within that wants only to love and be loved. Let us open our own hearts as we seek to see the heart and support the desire to love and be loved in all around us, including even the world’s leaders and richest people, and especially those with whom we have challenges in our personal lives. Spread love and transformation to all: Let us join together in spreading heartfelt loving energy and wishes for transformation to all who are open to receive it, as well as to the beautiful planet which supports us in living here. Let’s invite all to let go of the old polarizing us vs. them ways of thinking and open to the harmonizing beauty and joy of seeing that we are all members of one human family doing our best to survive, grow, and even thrive in these challenging times. For global leaders who are still focused on old paradigm ways of power and money, and for the parts within each of us which might be overly focused on money and power, let’s energetically invite these to open to the richness and power of our hearts to feel love and to value the deeper things in life. It’s not about rebellion, it’s about awakening to the infinite potentials within ourselves and all around us for ever deeper love and more meaningful connection! Invite spiritual guidance in supporting these: I have no doubt that there are many guiding spirits, guardian angels, and beings from places beyond our planet and from dimensions more expanded than this three-dimensional world who are more than eager to support us in our desire to spread love and transformation. I also suspect that the support they can give us depends largely on our desire for this, so let’s consciously invite and call in their help on both 11-11-11 and 12-21-2012. If you are ready to ramp up your level of excitement around all of this another notch, I invite you to check out the awesome website and upcoming transformational documentary Thrive at the liink below. A great trailer is available there now, andThrive is scheduled to premiere on 11-11-11. You can also stream the full, inspiring documentary at this website staring on 11-11-11 for US $5. 11-11-11 is rapidly approaching. If the idea of spreading love and transformation collectively inspires you, contact your friends now and invite them to gather on this special date. See if you can even arrange to be together at 11:11 in the morning or evening. Knowing that millions will be joining you on this special date, I invite you to breathe in this collective waveof love and support, and to share your heartfelt love and support with whoever is with you and with all in our world. A sampling of 11-11-11 gatherings around the world and related articles Johannesburg, South Africa: 11-11-11 event celebrating spiritual oneness – Article here Sedona, Arizona, U.S.: 11-11-11 spiritual event – Website here, video here Sydney, Australia: 11-11-11 meditation gathering with MedMob – Information here Australia, several other locations: 11-11-11 events around Austalia- Information here Lake Titicaca, Peru: Spiritual 11-11-11 event – Information here Dublin, Ireland: 11-11-11 day of prayer – Information here Egypt’s Great Pyramid: Sunrise 11-11-11 meditation – Website here Colinsville, Illinois, U.S.: 11-11-11 gathering – Information here Pasadena, California, U.S.: Christian 11-11-11 prayer gathering at Rose Bowl – Website here Denver, Colorado, U.S.: 11-11-11 gathering – Website here Facebook page featuring some 11-11-11 gatherings around the world – Facebook page here Oneness Across the Globe event reported in San Francisco Chronicle – Article here Huffington Post on spiritual significance of 11-11-11 – Article here For a list of lots more 11-11-11 gatherings around the globe, click here. You can also use an Internet search engine to enter the terms 11-11-11 and the name of your city to look for a gathering near you. Thanks for your interest in helping to transform our world. What an exciting time of great shift and possibility in our world!!! I have no doubt that what we are doing here makes a big difference. Take care, and enjoy the final week before this special date. With sacred love, anticipation, and very best wishes, |
