French physical chemist and priest Pierre Teilhard’s posthumously published 1976 Activation of Energy: Enlightening Reflections on Spiritual Energy, where he attempts an upgrade formulation, of religion restated in the guise of science, akin to Gottfried Leibniz’ “monads”, or monadology, mixing “spiritual” talk, e.g. spirit-matter or spirit-energy, in with physical chemistry, in argument. [1] |
“I am far from denying the destructive and disintegrating forces of passion. I will go so far as to agree that apart from the reproductive function, men have hitherto used love, on the whole, as an instrument of self-corruption and intoxication. But what do these excesses prove? Because fire consumes and electricity can kill are we to stop using them? The feminine is the most formidable of the forces of matter. True enough. "Very well, then," say the moralists, "we must avoid it." "Not at all," I reply, "we take hold of it." In every domain of the real (physical, affective, intellectual) "danger" is a sign of power. Only a mountain can create a terrifying drop. The customary education of the Christian conscience tends to make us confuse tutiorism with prudence, safety with truth. Avoiding the risk of transgression has become more important to us than carrying a difficult position for God. And it is this that is killing us. "The more dangerous a thing, the more is its conquest ordained by life": it is from that conviction that the modern world has emerged; and from that our religion, too, must be reborn.”— Pierre Teilhard (1934), "The Evolution of Chastity" (1934), as translated by René Hague in Toward the Future (1975) (Ѻ)
“The universal energy must be a thinking energy if it is not to be less highly evolved than the ends animated by its action. And consequently ... the attributes of cosmic value with which it is surrounded in our modern eyes do not affect in the slightest the necessity obliging us to recognize in it a transcendent form of personality.”
“God’s energy is transmuted directly to us through the power of their radiation. We can understand this more completely by taking a scientific example. Newton's law of thermodynamics tells us …”— Andrew Vidich (2008), Light Upon Light (Ѻ)
“Not only do missional churches tap into the unlimited supply of God’s energy source, they produce energy. According to Brian McLaren, ... ministry begun, and every new church started, the first law of thermodynamics is broken. New energy is…”— Milfred Minatrea (2012), Shaped By God’s Heart (Ѻ)
“... better to connect to God’s energy source (infinite) than to humanity's energy source (nonexistent). ... The second law of thermodynamics is equally interesting, and again reveals something of spiritual importance. This law, known as the law of...”— Richard Swenson (2014), More Than Meets the Eye (Ѻ)