“In spite of the continual turmoil I’ve been in for the last month, I can see that various ideas are quietly continuing to work themselves out in my mind,—both about the nature of ‘the human virtues’ and the ‘ human moral ideal ‘, which seems to be the preserve of the stoics and of those who close their hearts to all personal hopes of heaven,—or about the sort of divineness of the future,—the future that is made up of terrifying inevitability, of no less frightening renewal, and at the same time of benign Providence that can make itself manifest and modify itself in proportion to the intensity of our faith. In this latter group of ideas particularly (the future) there are, I think, many things to be said and discovered, which can help us to reveal to ourselves the deep-seated centre of our emotions and fears, and which have the power, in consequence, of revealing God to us. I’ll tell you about this as my thought takes final shape.”
–– Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, The Making of a Mind; Letters from a Soldier-Priest (p. 227-28);
Teilhard de Chardin 
As usual, Teilhard’s thinking intrigues me; however, I can’t help thinking that the recipient of the letter must have been left waiting anxiously for Teilhard’s thoughts to “take final shape”!
🙂
I find this interesting and relevant. I have read recently that the Hopi’s among other indigenous peoples have no language for time and to me, it echoes a bit of John of the Cross. If we are, in effect, having daily “dos-overs” or each day being given a new day, but one that doesn’t move forward, our “future” becomes our today as does our past. There is no future to concern ourselves with, nor a past to regret or relive, it is all somehow now. I can’t quite get my head around it, but it is swirling in my mind anyway!
I often ponder the notion that everything but this now, isn’t real. So if I think about something ten years ago, it’s like looking at an old movie that is of made up characters that don’t really exist. If I ponder something in the future, I realize it is all made up. Not real, either. You are left sitting in your living room, looking around and realize this is it. This moment sitting here. It’s the only true real moment happening. As Teilhard suggests it is both terrifying and exhilarating simultaneously.
Love that “…. no less frightening renewal…”
Win.soko and Noelle:
The concept of time is fascinating to me as well. It is something I would like to study and ponder if I had more “time” (bad pun intended :-). I re-read St. Augustine’s Confessions approximately a year ago for the first time since college and had forgotten that he has some interesting things to say about time. Eric Rosenfield had a brief but interesting analysis on Augustine’s thought which you can read here.
http://www.ericrosenfield.com/time.html
Peace,
W. Ockham