A Chance Encounter With Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (Think About This)
by Joel Pitney
Pierre Teilhard de Chardin is one of the most influential Evolutionaries of the twentieth century. His vision for humanity’s role in the grand story of evolution has inspired countless individuals, many of whom have appeared on the pages of EnlightenNext magazine. One of the most interesting examples is human potential pioneer Jean Houston, who befriended Teilhard after a chance encounter in Central Park in 1951 when she was fourteen years old. In the following excerpt from an EnlightenNext interview, Houston describes an exchange with “Mr. Tayer,” as she called him, in which he shares his spiritual interpretation of evolution:
“We need to have more specialists in spirit who will lead people into self-discovery,” he told me.
“What do you mean, Mr. Tayer?”
He said—and this is exactly what he said; I was taking notes because I knew I was in the presence of greatness—”We are being called into metamorphosis, into a far higher order, and yet we often act only from a tiny portion of ourselves. It is necessary that we increase that portion. But do not think for one minute, Jean, that we are alone in making that possible. We are part of a cosmic evolutionary movement that inspires us to unite with God. This is the lightning flash for all our potentialities. This is the great originating cause of all our shifts and changes. Without it there is nothing but struggle and decline.”
Like just about everyone else these days, we at EnlightenNext are undergoing a period of enormous transition. Eighteen years ago, I came up with an intriguing idea: Produce a second-to-none spiritual magazine that would play a significant role in helping to make better sense out of the complex journey that Eastern enlightenment was taking as it slowly but surely established a small but not insignificant niche in postmodern Western culture. Over the years, as I and we have grown and evolved, the magazine has become much more than what it originally was, embracing integral theory, evolutionary cosmology, and the all-important relationship between consciousness and culture. 
