Qualities of Love and Consciousness Are Shaping Our Evolutionary Future

My common practice for this blog is to select a photograph that will prompt a contemplation. In this instance, due to a period of focused readings in theology and philosophy relative to the future of humanity, there came a moment when I had the distinct impression of being in the midst of wise and inquisitive “bees” buzzing around a beautiful flower. Having tasted some rarified nectar, they came away with similar insights but were talking about them in different ways. The impression was acute, so I wanted to synthesize their views to get a more complete picture.

To extend the metaphor, well after untold numbers of “hives” had risen and fallen, there came a time when a mighty one was in turmoil. Within it, a humble worker bee began to speak of a vast meadow with flowers having nectar so abundant and sweet, it could sustain all hives forever. The claim was too grand to believe, but the few who did were told where the meadow could be found and were given directions. Hearing of this and feeling threatened, the queen bee had the humble worker bee silenced. Nonetheless, his story lived on.

It’s this bee’s directives, interpreted and made specific by some wise and learned bees, that kept buzzing in my head. What they had in common was the necessary condition for humans to manifest the “new being,” which they agreed was in process of coming on the next turn of the evolutionary spiral.

The Process

In The Grand Option: Personal Transformation and the New Creation, philosopher Beatrice Bruteau writes, “More complex and more conscious beings are formed by the union of less complex and less conscious elements with one another. Because of their affinity for one another, the elements unite with one another in terms of their characteristic energies. Subatomic particles unite to form atoms, atoms unite to form molecules, molecules unite to form cells, cells unite to form organisms. And so on. This pattern of creating something new, something more complex and more conscious, by the union of the less complex and less conscious, recurs at each of these levels. We can legitimately extrapolate and project the pattern into the future, looking forward to another creative union in which we will be the uniting elements. We will not automatically unite merely because of some natural affinity. Since each of us is free, we can each choose whether we will enter into the proposed union, or not. Thus the union, the new being, the next creative advance of evolution, will come about only if we freely consent to form it.”

The “learned bees” I introduce here, using mostly their own words, are saying we will “freely consent to form this “new human” when we begin to see and regard others in a whole new way. (I addressed this at length in my October 12, 2025 post, How We See Others Matters Greatly).

The Directives

Pierre Teilhard de Chardin S.J. (priest, paleontologist, philosopher)

The necessary condition to form the new being: A convergence in love and the emergence of a collective consciousness, realizing our deep interrelatedness in “Christ-Omega.”

The day will come when, after harnessing the winds, the tides, and gravitation, we shall harness for God the energies of love. And on that day, for the second time in the history of the world, man will have discovered fire. Toward the Future

Teilhard coined the term “radial energy” to characterize the spiritual, center-seeking force that drives human evolution toward ever deeper unity, consciousness and convergence. “Love, conceived broadly as the psychic/spiritual energy of union, is that force… The physical structure of the universe is love.” Human Energy.

Beatrice Bruteau (philosopher, theologian)

Necessary condition: A shift from separative consciousness to “communion consciousness” rooted in mutual self-giving love.

We are being invited to participate consciously in the creation of the New Humanity. It is a matter of realizing that we live from one another and for one another. The Grand Option

Bruteau coined the term “Spondic Energy” (from Greek sponde, meaning “libation”) to characterize a “projection of love energy towards and into other persons, even toward the universe.”  “We will to pour our own life, our own existence, into others that they may be and may be abundantly. It is the proper, or characteristic, act of a person—to share self. Being with another in this central way is precisely what it means to be a person… Our spondic energy is poured toward the future, for the good of the future. It is not a reaction to the past, but a free promise to the world to come, for all things are still possible.”

Ilia Delio (theologian, scientist)

Necessary condition: A new cosmological consciousness that integrates science, technology and spirituality centered on reason and love.

Evolution moves toward greater unity and complexity through love; the new human will be one who knows that to be is to be in relation. The Unbearable Wholeness of Being

Delio urges the development of a “whole-making consciousness” that uses technology not for domination but for communion, what she calls “Christogenesis 2.0.” She believes with Teilhard, that “being is intrinsically relational.” Nothing exists independently or autonomously. “To be is to be with,” she writes. “Reality is being with another in a way open to more union and more being….” “I do not exist in order that I may possess; rather I exist in order that I may give of myself, for it is in giving that I am myself. Cosmic life is intrinsically communal. Being is first a we before it can become an I. There is no being who can stand up and say, ‘I did it alone.’ Rather, the universe is thoroughly relational and in the framework of love.”

Thomas Berry (cultural historian, ecologist)

Necessary condition: A deep ecological and cosmological awakening where we literally fall in love with the Earth and Universe, realizing that we are a mode of them, not separate from them.

The human is that being in whom the universe reflects upon itself in conscious self-awareness. The Great Work

Berry proposed that the great work of our time is reverence and restoration, a transition from a period where we’re devastating the Earth to one of collectively building the Earth. “Only then can the ‘Ecozoic Era’ — the new evolutionary age — emerge.” He said that “All human institutions, professions, programs and activities must now be judged by the extent to which they inhibit, ignore, or foster a human and Earth relationship…” “Spirituality is not about what gods you praise and how piously you do it, but about how your life affects other human beings, and other beings in the universe, including natural habitats and Mother Earth herself…” “We have science to thank for offering us ways of understanding empirical knowledge. We have religion to thank for offering us ways of understanding the ineffable. But it will be our spiritual hunger for a larger story that moves us beyond both science and religion to the place of true cosmic insight.”

Barbara Marx Hubbard (futurist, philosopher, visionary)

Necessary condition: Self-evolution through love. The “Universal Human” arises when individuals consciously choose to align personal creativity with the evolutionary impulse to live as “co-creators” rather than passive bystanders.

The first step in becoming a Universal Human is to shift your identity from your separated ego to your essential Self, your deeper identity as a co-creative expression of the divine. Emergence: The Shift from Ego to Essence

Hubbard encouraged the cultivation of “resonant relationships” based on empathy, cooperation and shared purpose, observing that this is in concert with the cooperative dynamics of evolution itself. She called for “conscious evolution” and the development of synergistic cooperation across all sectors of society, guided by higher consciousness, to move from self-centeredness to God-centeredness. (The Evolutionary Journey). “When a critical mass of people are experiencing themselves as connected, loving their neighbor as themselves, it becomes accessible to everyone…. It is possible that nature will extinct self-centered consciousness. It is not a viable trait at this level of evolution.” (2:44 video talk: (Ch 2: Technology, Co-Creation and Christianity). ” Jesus is the potential self of the human race… (He) manifested the new pattern of creation.. (He) established the template and told us that we would do it too.” (20:00 video: The Book of Co-Creation Introduction).

 

Sallie McFague (theologian, ecological theorist)

Necessary condition: A radical shift in human self-understanding — from detached dominators over creation to participants in God’s living body, the Earth. For her, the “new human” will be the kenotic human,  one who practices restraint, generosity and relational love as reflections of God’s own self-emptying presence in the world.

The model of kenosis — of pouring oneself out for the well-being of others — may be the most appropriate symbol for our time of ecological crisis. A New Climate for Theology: God, the World, and Global Warming

McFague taught that the ecological, social and spiritual crises of our time arise from an outdated self-image — the autonomous individual who treats the world as an object for use. “What’s required is a deep imaginative and ethical transformation in which we see the cosmos as the body of God and ourselves as embodied, interdependent participants within it.” As a means toward this, she proposed “kenosis” (Greek for “self-emptying,” “pouring out”) as the inner discipline needed to face global warming and unsustainable living. “Kenosis is not a call to passivity or self-denial for its own sake, but to self-emptying for the sake of others — especially the vulnerable Earth community. It is love acting with restraint.” She argued that the root cause of ecological destruction is the inflated self — humanity’s over consuming, self-centered way of being. The antidote, she wrote, is “kenotic consciousness, a deliberate humility and self-limitation that mirrors divine compassion.”

An attempt to synthesize this wisdom

It’s not surprising that these writers viewed the next turn on the evolutionary spiral as a transformation of consciousness through love. Especially interesting and inspirational for me, are the different ways they qualified the “necessary conditions” for creating the new human. Teilhard grounded love as a cosmic, “radial energy” that drives evolution toward ever deeper unity, consciousness and convergence. Like McFague’s kenosis, Bruteau spoke of “spondic energy,” the pouring out of love toward and into others that they may have life in abundance. Delio urges the development of “whole-making consciousness” that uses technology not for domination but for communion, saying “the universe is thoroughly relational and in the framework of love. The new human will be one who knows that to be is to be in relation.” Berry wrote, “spirituality is about how our lives affect other human beings, and other beings in the universe, including natural habitats and Mother Earth herself.” Hubbard foresaw the “Universal Human” arising “when enough of us choose to align our personal creativity with the cooperative dynamics of evolution, moving from self-centeredness to whole-centered, God-centered consciousness.” And McFague saw the cosmos as the body of God and ourselves as interdependent participants within it. She envisioned a kenotic human, “one who practices environmental restraint, personal generosity and relational love as reflections of God’s self-emptying presence in the world.”

Taken together, their “buzzing” is about love of a higher order, the kind that’s universal and  unconditional, capable of uniting minds, hearts and souls to bring about the new human. Beatrice’s  definition of agapé describes it succinctly.

Agapé* is a love that seeks the good of the beloved. It goes out from myself and does not return. It wills the welfare, the being and better being of the beloved, that the beloved should thrive in terms of the beloved’s own good. It is being-communicating. It is ecstatic. It is the characteristic act of the person.

Beatrice Bruteau

Given her writings and those of the other learned “bees,” I’m sure she’d extend the word “beloved” to include every life we touch.

* Agapé is the Greek word for “love.” It’s pronounced “ah-GAH-pay,” with the stress on the second syllable.

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