Moments of Omega
A Thank You Note to Teilhard de Chardin
At this moment in American history I find myself deeply disappointed in the state of the world and my country. The unkindness, the cruelty, the greed, the injustice, the violence, and the callousness are disheartening. I wonder if the values I cherish - compassion, equality, diversity, inclusion - have been in vain. I think of the early followers of Jesus, who must also have felt such disappointment, and embarrassment, after Jesus was crucified, but before he was resurrected. They, too, had given their lives to a hope that seemingly failed.
In times like these, I find myself in need of perspective — something that can help me step back from the immediacy of current events and see a larger vision of meaning and purpose. I want the process of living itself, with its sufferings and joys, to have meaning in a larger context.
I think of Teilhard de Chardin. While I am not a scholar of his work but I find what I know of his vision of human evolution compelling as, in Whitehead's words, a "lure for feeling." His idea that we, as human beings, are gradually evolving into a noosphere—a community of harmonized minds that transcends the sum of its parts—offers me a way to contextualize the present struggles within a much broader and more hopeful trajectory. We are on a journey of collective transformation, so he says, a slow but persistent evolution toward greater connection and understanding. The notion that evolution, in its geological, biological, and psychological dimensions, is moving toward something like this allows me to gain a little distance from the immediacies of today’s challenges. Whitehead once said that it is more important for a proposition to be interesting than that it be true, and added that, in some contexts, truthful propositions are even more interesting. I'm not sure if Teilhard's idea of a noosphere is true, but it is interesting in a way we need today.
I understand that some people, the techno-utopians, think the internet is itself an expression of the noosphere. Perhaps, if there are any Teilhardians in Silicon Valley, this is how they look at things - with Artificial Intelligence as the next step. I am hoping for something more of the noosphere—a true convergence of minds and hearts, where people not only exchange knowledge but cultivate deep empathy, shared purpose, and a collective sense of care for one another and the world. I'm hoping that the noosphere might be an empathy-sphere, too, possessing its own love-energy.
I want other living beings to be part of the noosphere, too. I hope the converence of minds and hearts might also be cosmic in scope. Why should this vision be limited to Earth alone? We are small but included in such a larger, galactic whole = witness the worlds opened up to us by the James Webb telescope. Is it possible that beings in those worlds, too, seek something like a convergence of minds and hearts? And might we dare imagine that this convergence might be inter-galactic? It sounds like science fiction, I know, but in times of need such wild imaginings can be springboards for hope - even hope on our small but gorgeous planet, filled with its many forms of life.
In this regard, Teilhard’s idea of the Omega Point—the ultimate culmination of evolution in a higher, unified consciousness—is both consoling and hopeful. As I understand it, the Omega Point is a state of affairs in which love is all-in-all. There is something profoundly reassuring in the idea that my own identity is somehow embedded in this Omega Point, that it is about love, and that my individual existence is not isolated but part of a greater unfolding process toward and into love.
In short, Teilhard helps me think that I am part of a much larger story, one that is ultimately about love, and that the challenges of our historical moment, however overwhelming, are not the whole story nor its ultimate conclusion.
For some reason this vast hope does not lead me to want to sit back and let things pass here on earth. This perspective encourages me to engage with life more fully, to see each day as part of an ongoing evolution toward greater compassion and understanding. It reminds me that my actions, no matter how small, contribute to a larger process.
As a process theologian, I have my own way of interpreting this vision. I see the Omega Point as what Whitehead calls consequent nature of God—a reality that is not merely a distant future but something that is happening all the time, albeit growing through time, with new things added to it. In process thought, God continuously receives all that happens, weaving it into a Harmony of Harmonies, a cosmic experience of love that is itself evolving. This ongoing enfoldment of the world within divine love provides me with the perspective I need to endure the difficulties of the present moment.
The consequent nature of God is not a point if we think of points in spatial terms. It is not a dot on a page. Instead it is everywhere at once, best understood as a field. Indeed, we might call if the Omega Field. And the many subjective aims of diverse creatures on our planet and other planets partake of it. This means that there is not a specified "end" to the cosmic process but rather that there are many "ends," each of which partake of the deep and evolving End, which is itself in process and always beginning anew. The End is an Omega yet always also an Alpha.
So this is a thank-you note to Teilhard de Chardin. In a moment when the world feels fractured and uncertain, his insights offer me a way to see beyond the turbulence of history and recognize, or at least hold onto the hope of, a deeper, unfolding pattern of unity and love. His vision reminds me that even amidst struggle, we may be part of a larger evolutionary movement, one that calls us toward a higher consciousness and collective harmony. In a time of trial, his ideas give me a framework for hope, for trust that love is our destiny.
I do not say this with certainty. His ideas are, I believe, hopes, lures for feeling, imaginative invitations. We need not cling to them or make gods of them. Are they of our own invention? Perhaps they are. But perhaps these ideas - a Noosphere and an Omega - come from a place that transcends us. Perhaps they are gifts from a deeper place.
As a process theologian I cannot help but think that this deeper place is God as revealed in Christ. Christ is a name for Jesus, but also a name for the creative love-energy that pervades the universe. The deeper dreams of the human imagination are not dreamt by humans alone. They are dreamt by God, too. They are manifestations of Christ.
This does not mean that the Christic dreams will necessarily come true or that they will come true all at once. Dreams can be partially realized, and realized in small portions, but still be quite meaningful. Whenever on this small planet we give ourselves to Love in small ways, when we extend a helping hand to others, when we care for one another and the Earth, when we take care of the very young, the very old, and all in between, when we feel a oneness that includes a manyness - some small portion of Omega is realized on earth as it is in heaven. They are Omega moments.
The very idea that we can enjoy Omega moments in our daily lives, even in times of despair, and that we can give ourselves to a larger adventure of Love - an adventure of which the whole universe partakes - offers hope. I am thankful to Teilhard de Chardin for the power and beauty of this idea. It can help liberate us from the idea that these historic times are all that there is, so that we can act productively and lovingly, and sometimes even joyfully, in these historic times.
- Jay McDaniel
In times like these, I find myself in need of perspective — something that can help me step back from the immediacy of current events and see a larger vision of meaning and purpose. I want the process of living itself, with its sufferings and joys, to have meaning in a larger context.
I think of Teilhard de Chardin. While I am not a scholar of his work but I find what I know of his vision of human evolution compelling as, in Whitehead's words, a "lure for feeling." His idea that we, as human beings, are gradually evolving into a noosphere—a community of harmonized minds that transcends the sum of its parts—offers me a way to contextualize the present struggles within a much broader and more hopeful trajectory. We are on a journey of collective transformation, so he says, a slow but persistent evolution toward greater connection and understanding. The notion that evolution, in its geological, biological, and psychological dimensions, is moving toward something like this allows me to gain a little distance from the immediacies of today’s challenges. Whitehead once said that it is more important for a proposition to be interesting than that it be true, and added that, in some contexts, truthful propositions are even more interesting. I'm not sure if Teilhard's idea of a noosphere is true, but it is interesting in a way we need today.
I understand that some people, the techno-utopians, think the internet is itself an expression of the noosphere. Perhaps, if there are any Teilhardians in Silicon Valley, this is how they look at things - with Artificial Intelligence as the next step. I am hoping for something more of the noosphere—a true convergence of minds and hearts, where people not only exchange knowledge but cultivate deep empathy, shared purpose, and a collective sense of care for one another and the world. I'm hoping that the noosphere might be an empathy-sphere, too, possessing its own love-energy.
I want other living beings to be part of the noosphere, too. I hope the converence of minds and hearts might also be cosmic in scope. Why should this vision be limited to Earth alone? We are small but included in such a larger, galactic whole = witness the worlds opened up to us by the James Webb telescope. Is it possible that beings in those worlds, too, seek something like a convergence of minds and hearts? And might we dare imagine that this convergence might be inter-galactic? It sounds like science fiction, I know, but in times of need such wild imaginings can be springboards for hope - even hope on our small but gorgeous planet, filled with its many forms of life.
In this regard, Teilhard’s idea of the Omega Point—the ultimate culmination of evolution in a higher, unified consciousness—is both consoling and hopeful. As I understand it, the Omega Point is a state of affairs in which love is all-in-all. There is something profoundly reassuring in the idea that my own identity is somehow embedded in this Omega Point, that it is about love, and that my individual existence is not isolated but part of a greater unfolding process toward and into love.
In short, Teilhard helps me think that I am part of a much larger story, one that is ultimately about love, and that the challenges of our historical moment, however overwhelming, are not the whole story nor its ultimate conclusion.
For some reason this vast hope does not lead me to want to sit back and let things pass here on earth. This perspective encourages me to engage with life more fully, to see each day as part of an ongoing evolution toward greater compassion and understanding. It reminds me that my actions, no matter how small, contribute to a larger process.
As a process theologian, I have my own way of interpreting this vision. I see the Omega Point as what Whitehead calls consequent nature of God—a reality that is not merely a distant future but something that is happening all the time, albeit growing through time, with new things added to it. In process thought, God continuously receives all that happens, weaving it into a Harmony of Harmonies, a cosmic experience of love that is itself evolving. This ongoing enfoldment of the world within divine love provides me with the perspective I need to endure the difficulties of the present moment.
The consequent nature of God is not a point if we think of points in spatial terms. It is not a dot on a page. Instead it is everywhere at once, best understood as a field. Indeed, we might call if the Omega Field. And the many subjective aims of diverse creatures on our planet and other planets partake of it. This means that there is not a specified "end" to the cosmic process but rather that there are many "ends," each of which partake of the deep and evolving End, which is itself in process and always beginning anew. The End is an Omega yet always also an Alpha.
So this is a thank-you note to Teilhard de Chardin. In a moment when the world feels fractured and uncertain, his insights offer me a way to see beyond the turbulence of history and recognize, or at least hold onto the hope of, a deeper, unfolding pattern of unity and love. His vision reminds me that even amidst struggle, we may be part of a larger evolutionary movement, one that calls us toward a higher consciousness and collective harmony. In a time of trial, his ideas give me a framework for hope, for trust that love is our destiny.
I do not say this with certainty. His ideas are, I believe, hopes, lures for feeling, imaginative invitations. We need not cling to them or make gods of them. Are they of our own invention? Perhaps they are. But perhaps these ideas - a Noosphere and an Omega - come from a place that transcends us. Perhaps they are gifts from a deeper place.
As a process theologian I cannot help but think that this deeper place is God as revealed in Christ. Christ is a name for Jesus, but also a name for the creative love-energy that pervades the universe. The deeper dreams of the human imagination are not dreamt by humans alone. They are dreamt by God, too. They are manifestations of Christ.
This does not mean that the Christic dreams will necessarily come true or that they will come true all at once. Dreams can be partially realized, and realized in small portions, but still be quite meaningful. Whenever on this small planet we give ourselves to Love in small ways, when we extend a helping hand to others, when we care for one another and the Earth, when we take care of the very young, the very old, and all in between, when we feel a oneness that includes a manyness - some small portion of Omega is realized on earth as it is in heaven. They are Omega moments.
The very idea that we can enjoy Omega moments in our daily lives, even in times of despair, and that we can give ourselves to a larger adventure of Love - an adventure of which the whole universe partakes - offers hope. I am thankful to Teilhard de Chardin for the power and beauty of this idea. It can help liberate us from the idea that these historic times are all that there is, so that we can act productively and lovingly, and sometimes even joyfully, in these historic times.
- Jay McDaniel