Teilhard de Chardin's 'Planetary Mind' and Our Spiritual Evolution

This is a cool podcast from On Being is devoted to the thought of French philosopher and Jesuit priest, Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, who was trained as a paleontologist and geologist but is best known for his idea of the Omega Point ("a maximum level of complexity and consciousness towards which he believed the universe was evolving") and for developing Vladimir Vernadsky's concept of the Noosphere.

His best known book is The Phenomenon of Man, in which he outlined a sweeping account of the unfolding of the cosmos. He is in many ways an early example of integral thought in spirituality.

TEILHARD DE CHARDIN'S 'PLANETARY MIND' AND OUR SPIRITUAL EVOLUTION
December 20, 2012

The coming stage of evolution, Teilhard de Chardin said, won't be driven by physical adaptation but by human consciousness, creativity, and spirit. We visit with his biographer Ursula King, and we experience his ideas energizing New York Times Dot Earth blogger Andrew Revkin and evolutionary biologist David Sloan Wilson.

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Radio Show/Podcast (mp3, 51:09)

Unedited Interviews:

Ursula King (mp3, 1:30:34)
David Sloan Wilson (mp3, 1:41:35)
Andrew Revkin (mp3, 37:24)

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Ursula King is Professor Emerita of Theology and Religious Studies at the University of Bristol.

David Sloan Wilson is SUNY Distinguished Professor of Biology and Anthropology at Binghamton University in New York.

Andrew Revkin is Senior Fellow for Environmental Understanding at Pace University. His blog at The New York Times is called Dot Earth.