The whole life lies in the verb seeing.
Pierre Teilhard De ChardinRead
To our critical eyes, the threads of which the past is woven are, by nature, endless and indivisible. Scientifically speaking, we cannot grasp the absolute beginning of anything: everything extends backwards to be prolonged by something else.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The past is a continuous thread, where everything is interconnected and cannot be pinpointed to a singular beginning.
This quote by Pierre Teilhard De Chardin reflects on the intricate and interconnected nature of time and existence. It suggests that our understanding of the past is limited by our perspective, as every event or entity is built upon a chain of previous occurrences. This continuity illustrates that rather than having a definitive starting point, everything is part of an endless tapestry of interconnectedness that extends back through time.
Themes
TimeInterconnectednessHistoryExistenceContinuity
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used in a philosophy class discussion about the nature of time.
More from Pierre Teilhard De Chardin
All quotes →Religion and science are the two conjugated faces or phases of one and the same complete act of knowledge - the only one which can embrace the past and future of evolution and so contemplate, measure and fulfil them.
Pierre Teilhard De ChardinRead
The mineral world is a much more supple and mobile world than could be imagined by the science of the ancients. Vaguely analogous to the metamorphoses of living creatures, there occurs in the most solid rocks, as we now know, perpetual transformation of a mineral species.
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We may, perhaps, imagine that the creation was finished long ago. But that would be quite wrong. It continues still more magnificently, and at the highest levels of the world.
Pierre Teilhard De ChardinRead
Love alone is capable of uniting living beings in such a way as to complete and fulfill them, for it alone takes them and joins them by what is deepest in themselves. All we need is to imagine our ability to love developing until it embraces the totality of men and the earth.
Pierre Teilhard De ChardinRead
If there is one thing I fear less than everything else, it is, I believe, persecution for my opinions. There are a good many points about which I may be diffident, but when it comes to questions of Truth and intellectual independence, there is no holding me - I can envisage no finer end than to sacrifice oneself for a conviction.
Pierre Teilhard De ChardinRead
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