Teilhardian Principle 12: To know, love, and serve the universe with a passion
In the past, we were told that our first commitment was to love, know, and serve God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. It was also suggested that we should avoid loving things of this world.
We are invited to love the cosmos with a passion. We must see the awesome beauty and unity of creation. I would love for God is one in which we respond because God has loved us first. I would love for creation is a generative love, a love that wants to produce something new with the materials that surround us. Creation is something that waits to be continually recreated. It needs our human spirit to imagine what that transformation will be. He needs us to love it generatively into being. We are familiar with his generative love. It gives existence to what did not exist before.
Responsive and generative love flow together. Creation is our first lesson in learning about who God is. Learning to love what God created is to learn about God. The more passionately we come to know the universe and its God-given purpose, the more passionately we come to know and love God. As we respond to the generative love of God, we are inspired to love it generatively too. In creation, God's spirit is continually being made manifest to us.
Teilhardian Principle 13: To love the invisible.
This encourages you to get in touch with your inner self call, the invisible within. Within you is the spark of the divine spirit that pushes you to create and evolve. It shows you that there are more things in your life that are invisible and intangible. We have to learn to see the invisible. We see invisible concepts like marriage, relationship, and team, and we rally around them.
Teilhardian Principle 14: To love the not-yet.
We strive toward the future that has yet to become manifest. We reached towards ever higher levels of complexity and consciousness. Evolution is all about the future. Evolution is no longer about problem solving, adaptation, or natural selection. It is about imagining A desired future, while living in the present, and choosing to create the desired future. It means having a goal in mind. An evolutionary spirituality is to teach people how to envision the future that God envisions for creation. It asks us what will I do with this one precious and wild life?
Science fiction writers imagine the not yet. Research scientists search for something that has not yet been invented. Recall all the things you have outgrown or left behind so that you can create the future. Jesus talked about the not yet during the Last Supper as he encouraged his friends to focus upon what lay beyond the suffering. Jesus envisioned what he desired to create. The not yet is a central focus and an evolutionary spirituality.
Teilhardian Principle 15: An evolutionary spirituality is focused primarily on grace, not on sin.
Former spirituality placed emphasis on individuals’ personal sins and making reparations for them. It was a sin-redemption spirituality. Jesus quickly forgave the sins of those who trusted in him. He was more interested in having the person return to the community and being spiritually free to be loving and productive there. Each person had important work to do for God and needed to be free within to do it.
The forgiving attitude is the point of the parable of the prodigal son. The father never asks the son to do penance or reparation. He never asked for the return of the inheritance. The father simply reinstates the son as a full and respected member of the family. It is God’s gift to us to see each of us as a full and respected member of God's family.
This is the type of change in thinking and behavior with a focus on future works. God's unconditional grace comes as a total surprise to us. With metanoia a future orientation is clearly what God wants. Divine grace transcends sin. In the Christ project, God says stay focused on my love and grace. Never let others discourage you about your past. There is much work to be done in the present and the future, and you can do your part of that work in freedom. I want you to do it at my side in joyful union with me. We are renewed again and made whole. No matter what our past has been, we are given another chance to create our lives the way God wants. This does not mean we resolve all the issues of the past. The prodigal son was not asked to do that. That's God's work.
Teilhardian Principle 16: To recognize that union differentiates.
The law of union is a hard insight to grasp. The more completely you give yourself to creating togetherness, friendship, marriage, family, teamwork, the more clearly your own identity is clarified. You will become partners with others. You learn who you are by making connections. The law that union differentiates states that while participating in any organized whole, the parts perfect and fulfill themselves.
A well-organized whole has a genuine and intrinsic life of its own. The members of a union are not random parts. You are a highly differentiated individual that enjoys uniqueness, differentiation, imperfection precisely when you function as part of the whole. Relationships always bring complexity. You learn who you truly are by making your life more complex. You become more whole and learn of your fuller identity.
Teilhardian Principle 17: To love the invisible.
You begin to realize that everything you do is being done alongside with Christ who lives and moves and has your being. It is Christ in the universe that converges upon itself as more people become more conscious of this universal self-convergence process. Most of the human cells within the body of Christ become aware of their own identity but also of their larger identity. They will be not only a part of the cosmic Christ, but they will fully know it. Humanity has a ways to go, but Teilhard is optimistic that we will eventually learn the way of love.
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