“I feel that you must resign yourself to taking me as I am, that is, with the congenital quality which ever since my childhood has caused my spiritual life to be completely dominated by a sort of profound ‘feeling’ for the organic realness of the World. At first it was an ill-defined feeling in my mind and heart, but as the years have gone by it has gradually become a precise, compelling sense of the Universe’s general convergence upon itself; a convergence which coincides with, and culminates in, him in whom all holds together, and whom the Society taught me to love.
I have found an extraordinarily rich and inexhaustible source of clarity and interior strength, and an atmosphere outside which it is now physically impossible for me to breathe, to worship, to believe. My attitude is simply the result of my own absolute inability to contain my own feeling of wonderment.
Everything stems from that basic psychological condition, and I can no more change it than I can change my age or the color of my eyes. Never has Christ seemed to me more real, more personal or more immense.
“How, then, can I believe that there is any evil in the road I am following?
I fully recognize, of course, that Rome may have its own reasons for judging that, in its present form, my concept of Christianity may be premature or incomplete and that at the present moment its wider diffusion may be inopportune.
Obviously I cannot abandon my own personal search – that would involve me in an interior catastrophe and in disloyalty to my own cherished vocation.
Look on this letter simply as a proof that you can rely on me unreservedly to work for the kingdom of God, which is the one thing I keep before my eyes and the one goal to which science leads me.”
Quote taken from Letter of Teilhard de Chardin in 1951 to the Jesuit Superior General in Rome; courtesy of Colin Coward of Changing Attitude.
Teilhard de Chardin 
I know how he feels. How can we communicate the joy of God in the universe? The closest for me personally is music – many hymns and much choral music – but what about Cat Stevens – “I can’t keep it in, gotta let it out”?!
Thank you for the kind comments. I agree with you on music as a method of communicating with God. I LOL at the Cat Stevens reference :-). I am a big fan of his (both professionally and what he has done personally in recent decades promoting peace and unity)
Peace,
W. Ockham
“My attitude is simply the result of my own absolute inability to contain my own feeling of wonderment.” This sentence speaks to who I am as well – but my wonderment at the goodness of the Lord is at the centre of who I am and how I live my identity. I should also like to explain the infrequency of my visits to your blog or any blog for that matter recently – I’m writing final papers as the semester has ended. Soon I’ll be back more regularly. Thank you.
Hi Lynda:
The “feeling of wonderment” speaks very powerfully to me as well.
I was at 5-day Ignatian retreat in the Summer of 2012 (the header for my blog is a picture of a sunrise over Lake Oshkosh, WI from that retreat). One of the themes that struck me was wonder; wonder at the beauty of nature, the wonder of opening the door to God’s presence in my life after many years of keeping him at bay. I experienced a deep joy during those days that reminded me of my childhood at Christmas. The comfort of being surrounded by a loving family and the excitement of both giving and receiving presents. It was one of the few mystical experiences that I had but it still speaks very deeply to me.
The motto I wrote in my journal was “Every Day is Christmas”. That phrase was intended to both capture the feeling of that moment but also as a reminder that the Incarnation continues to surround us in our daily lives through The Divine Milieu. I frequently fall back into the false self of the ego but I try to remember that Every Day truly is Christmas.
Good luck with your final papers. I do not envy you :-).
Peace,
W. Ockham
William, I thank God every single day for the privilege of studying theology at my age when there are so many in our world who do not have the opportunity to go to school. I must admit that the final crunch does make me question why I’m doing this but the joy of learning more about our Lord surpasses all the pain of writing papers. It is a great experience to move outside our comfort zone for that is where the real lessons of life are learned. God is so good!
Loved this piece.
What an absolutely extraordinary quote, from the beginning to the end. How inspiring and revealing! Thank you so much!
This is beautiful – thank you!
Thank you all for the kind comments.
Peace,
W. Ockham