The dynamism of the world towards the spirit.(Tangaza)

Group 1

Group members class A.

1.Nsa Charles Ndibowiy 12054T ; 2. Andrianoronandimby Jean-Luc 12111T ; 3. Majone Romao                                 12052T;  4. Paluku Mulyandanda Godefroid    12138T  ;  5. Martin Mwenda Ikiao ; 6. Ssekweyama Rocco Kasirye            12146T  

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        

Rocco

Group Sharing Group one

The members agreed that they have seen the dynamism of life in nature and in human beings. Majority of the members agreed that they have ever worked in taking care of a garden and also keeping animals.

The members accepted that they have noted how plants grow and die. One of the members brought forward the reality that one, plants a seed and then this seed germinates and sprouts and grows to the stage when it produces fruits but at a certain point in time it dies.

One member discussed that, it is the same with animals as they are born young but keep on growing until when they become old.

On the point of “becoming” in human beings, all the members agreed that they have noticed their growth and development:

Physically

The members argued that there is always growth and development going on in life for example, they noted that one is born when he is young and he or she grows in the body size, height, abilities and potentialities.

Psychologically

It was noted that the level of consciousness in man keeps on growing. One member argued that, as one grows consciously he or she realises that there are goals to be attained in life to make one’s life fruitful. The members also noted basing on their experience, that one also becomes aware of the society around him or her that is to say, the culture and the traditions and the responsibilities attached to that.

Intellectual

The members anonymously agreed that, one grows intellectually as he or she advances in age. One member gave an example that, as one is young, he asks a lot of questions but gradually through experience one gains more knowledge and the intellect tremendously improves. The memory grows, ability to reflect, understanding and judgment are also empowered.

Spiritually

The idea of God grows. The simple knowledge about God which one gets when he or she is still young goes on growing. One member gave an example of the teachings about God which are imparted by the parents, Sunday school teachers then also by the catechists. One member also reminded the rest the way his faith has grown through the retreats, recollections, spiritual readings and spiritual directions.  All this improves one’s knowledge about God. Later in life one starts to back up his faith with reason. 

Comment

The group noted the point of interconnectedness and interdependence of creatures in nature and in human beings. The group realised that things are related in a way. In terms of who is responsible for the movements in them? Pierre Teilhard concludes that such a question can be answered in religious terms.

Secondly, there is an order or degree in creation. It was noted that in creation you find plants, animals and human beings but all these presupposes something superior to them which is God. So all the creation makes their movements towards the spirit.

Secretary : Ssekweyama Rocco.

Group 2

Group 2:

Apondi Samuel Oketc

Sereka Francis

Munanga Godfrey Musikohe

Ebenyo Joseph Eyang’an

Akoth Osodo Elisabeth

Bouda Bertin (secretary)

Theme: Dynamism of the world towards Spirit

I)                   Theme: Dynamism of the world towards Spirit

I)                   Sharing on the dynamism of life in nature and human being

1.      Life in nature

A look at a garden makes us affirm that plants have a dynamic movement of life. The seeds put into fertile soil germinate, grow, bear fruits and perish systematically. Plants need good care in order to bear much fruits. A caring gardener obtains beautiful and productive plants. Yet, the growth of the plants does not depend on care but their productivity does. Moreover, every plant needs water and other nutriments to develop.

Animals follow a fix movement of life according to their race. They are determined by the instinct of surviving. Each one “minds” its life. The sheep will abandon the lamb and flee while they are threatened to death.

2.      Life in human being

The growth of human being is complex and is influenced by the milieu and one's responsibilities. A person grown in a village might look differently and/or be more or less mature than his /her peer in town is.

Physically, human being has two types of life: the passive one and the active one. At time of passive life (childhood and late ages), human being depend completely on his/her fellow human beings. At time of active life, human being is independent but is not free from referring to other fellows. Basing on our lives, we are inclined to say that we are born with predisposition to learn and the ability of transcendence. We seek for eternal life. Let us remember what Saint Augustine said: “Our hearts are restless until they rest in God”

II)                Commentary on the dynamism of the world towards Spirit

1.      Life: movement, unity and eternity

Both in nature and in human beings there is dynamism of life. Taken individually, beings seem to be in the same dynamism of life: birth, growth and death. However, life is distinguished between nature and human beings; yet they are interdependent. Without nature, human beings cannot survive and so, they have an obligation to protect the nature. Life in human beings is linked to life in nature.

The movement of life in individual beings does end (plants perish: animals and people die). Here human beings experience and become aware of their limitedness. However, the movement of life taken as a whole in the world does not end. The history of life confirms this unending movement of life. We might say life in years ago is not the same as today; this is true in circumstances of life. Nevertheless, the dynamism of life remains the same both in individual being and in the world.

In the world, life flows and does not stop, and we cannot determine the time when it will stop. Those who pretended to fix an end for the movement of life have always found themselves in mistakes (for example the millenarians). As in the same way we cannot determine the end of life, so we cannot determine its beginning.

2.      Life: its origin and gaol

We are not able to fix either the end or the beginning of the movement of life but the question of the source and the goal of life remains and need an answer.

We believe that the movement of life that we see in the world is originated in God and, as Pierre Teilhard de Chardin says: “It is towards the Spirit”. (Cf. lecturer notes).

Group 3

Kweyamba

We all agreed to have experienced the dynamism of life in nature and human beings. Each one had his own experienced as expressed below;

            The first person shared on how he had planted a fruit tree which took time to grow. It later bore fruits after much effort in watering and applying manure.

He further shared how he witnessed his nephews growing physically and intellectually, joining schools and others remaining behind due to failure. How girls are psychologically upset for not being married and the spiritual experience of people who go to church and others not.

            The second person shared that our becoming depends on natural endowments (gifts). Hence his capacity to study and grasp things has made him what he is today. Since becoming is an endless process, he still makes effort to discover the potentialities in him in order to improve them.

            The third person shared how his thinking was quite poor during childhood as opposed to now.

            The fourth person appealed to faith and hope as necessary in the dynamism of life. We plant things but we don’t know if they will grow.  This gives room for  faith and hope.

            The fifth person spoke of improvement in his thinking capacity unlike before. He also shared about change in environment whereby some places have beautiful green vegetation and others are desert-like due to natural disasters. About chicks which grow, lay eggs and eventually hatching new chicks and the process continues.

            The last person shared about the shamba and the garden. The product depends on the seriousness of a gardener. There is dependence between the garden and the caretaker. The garden is a source of health, strength and physical growth to caretaker. On the other hand, the garden depends on the caretaker for water, manure and pesticides. He shared about his intellectual growth.  That in childhood he thought babies come from the river or falling from the sky.

            However, we objectively agreed that becoming is an endless process leading to dynamism of life in nature. There is diversity in what we become. Each one follows his own pattern according to the gifts he possesses. And there must be a power which keeps all things in the process of becoming.

Group members :

1. Juana Benjamin                                             

2.  John Michael

3. Akaguza Ojonojima John

4. Rainu Raam

5. Juana Benjamin

6. Kweyamba Respicius (Secretary)

Group 4

Group 4 “Topic Five”
The Dynamism of the world towards the spirit.
It is a well known fact that everything that is in nature undergoes
change, nothing ever remains the same. The group started by giving
their experiences in what they observed when taking care of pets in
their respective homes and the changes they see in the environment.
One member shared that in his home area, people mistreated animals. He
cited one incident were a dog had its two legs broken. His family felt
pity for the dog; they took it and tried to bandage the fractured
legs. What amazed him the most was the great love that was shown to
the animal, and this love was reciprocated.
Others gave their experiences in taking care of pigs, chickens, and
rabbits. This creates happiness in one’s hearts especially when you
see your animals growing in good health. The other amazing thing is to
see how the turkey takes care of its young, before it hatches it hides
its eggs; one will just be surprised to see it with young ones. The
Chicken hatching the eggs of the duck, and taking care of the duckling
like they were its own. In all this there is a process of change.
There is beauty in watching wild animals, and natural vegetation.
There is also a kind of grass in Ghana which when translated in
English is called “Give me up to 6pm” one could cut the grass in the
morning, and when you go back in the evening it would have grown
again.
Comments
All creatures are in a state of growth, and we all participating in
that circle of life. Every living creature is moving towards the
creator. All things emerged from one point and they are heading
towards that very single point. Human beings are aware of the beauty
in nature, but nature is not. It is a person therefore who adds beauty
to it. The Turkey takes great care of its young; we also have a duty
to take care of ourselves as we are in a process of becoming. Just
like the garden if not properly taken care of, it can become bushy. In
the same way if we do not take care of our lives, things can be going
wrong all the time. Human beings are in a continuous process of
change; hence the way of reasoning also changes drastically, for
instance the love a person has for one particular person may cause the
person to start loving all living creatures in the world

Group 5
Presenter: Nuwagaba Justus

Other group members:
 Leonard G. Wambui;  Mumpa,;  Kabuya,                                                                                                                        Nicodemus Rono,  Kodati.

The group understands ‘dynamism of life’ as the progressive occurrence or the unfolding of different stages of development in living things, namely; plants, animals and human beings.

Group sharing:

Members explained that the dynamism of life in animals, in plants and in human beings differs in the following ways:

Plants grow and develop faster than animals and human beings. Plants, compared to animals and human beings, need maximally six months to change from a state of a seed to a grown up plant that stands on its own, and by this same time some plants have actually reached their maturity depending on the species.

Animals also grow and develop faster than human beings. Although some animals require the same time as of human beings to develop from a fetus into an independent born animal, once they are born they take shorter time to reach maturity as compared to human beings.

However, aspects of development among the three elements greatly differ. Growth and development of plants is simply physical/vegetative. On the other hand, other than physical change, animals undergo a progressive development of senses and instincts. Different from the two, human beings develop not only physically but also psychologically, intellectually and spiritually.

It is because of this distinction in dynamism that change and development in human beings takes a little bit longer than in plants and animals. Human beings have a special purpose for which they are undergoing longer and special dynamism in life. The purpose or the goal, as Pierre Teilhard de Chardin in the text that is accompanying this discussion calls it, is that they develop from being weak and incapacitated children who expect to receive everything from their parents into a mature, confident and responsible adult that can takes good and morally sound personal decisions that lead them to happiness.

Different from animals, Human beings are also capable of developing and using their intellect to seek help when they are in difficulties. We the religious for example do seek help from a spiritual director to overcome a spiritual crisis.

The Source of all dynamism

The group noted that even if dynamism in life in human beings consists of intellectual, psychological and spiritual aspects, it remains unclear to us as individuals as regards to when it occurs. We are not aware of the exact time when the spiritual, intellectual, spiritual and even physical changes and developments occur in our life. We do not know exactly when we stopped the habits that we had as children. People just tell us that we have changed our behavior or our voice. We do not feel the progress of changes in us. We only feel the same each day and only those around us note the changes and tell us. How and when these changes occur remains a mystery to us.

Dynamism of life in plants, animals and human beings is also unpredictable. In plants, we are somehow sure that when we plant maize in a proper season it will grow, and in case of drought, if we can irrigate the garden of maize, we are almost sure that the maize will reach expected maturity. However, we are also not completely sure if our efforts to make them grow up to maturity will produce intended results. We do not have complete control, and yet the little control that we have over them is greater than we have over animals and human beings. When a baby is born, we are uncertain of its life spurn. Whether it will grow into a normal adult is not so much in our control. When a person falls sick, we can only take him to the hospital but we are not sure if they will recover.

With these insights the group is lead into a realization that we can only provide conditions for the dynamism but we are not the source of that dynamism. This way we came to terms with Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (1881-1955) who explains that the “point omega”/ the source of evolution and dynamism of all living things in the world is God. God is the force, the movement, the spirit that animates the dynamism and the evolution of all living elements in the world.

Group 6

Members: Judge Michira, Christopher Nkole, Anthony Musonda, Joseph Mmasi, Bartholomew Senewo, secretary: Pawel Gabrys

The dynamism of life, the process of growth and development in nature and human being.

            Every life is dynamic, there is moment of growth and decline in individual beings as well as in the entire cosmos. “A time of giving birth, a time for dying; a time for planting, a time for uprooting what has been planted.”(Qo 3:2)

            Jorge noticed that looking at the animals, when they are born, they start to walk and run very quickly, from the first day in their life, they are able to do something, they are dynamic.

Comparing animals with human beings we see that our growth is on the higher and different level, for example elephants are much bigger than us, but we are able to control them.

Looking at nature, during the dry season, we observe that some of plants die, become dry like the grass at the football pitch, but the roots are still alive and later when the rain starts they are growing back and multiplying in the same place.

            Anthony experienced that in Zambia during a dry period plants are dying and some die completely, only the seeds remain to preserve the species, than during future rains they sprout and grow quickly to bloom and bear the fruit which will be the germ of a new life later.

            Through the death of one others can live. “Unless a wheat grain falls into the earth and dies, it remains only a single grain, but if it dies it yields a rich harvest.”(Jn 12:24) It is also similar in the human world, for ex. St Maximilian Kolbe gave up his life for other prisoner who was destined for  the death. This is an example of higher spiritual growth, as it was in cases of other martyrs.

            Christopher remarked that the world of matter points towards God, looking from psychological and intellectual point of view there is unity and harmony. A question arises: who sustain all that exist?

            St. Thomas  in exposing his fifth way of proving the existence of God observed that natural things as they are without intelligence nevertheless act in order to achieve an intelligent end. He concludes, "Therefore some intelligent being exists by whom all natural things are directed to their end; and this being we call God."  (Summa Theologica: Q[2], A[3])

            Looking back at my life I see how I was growing in different aspects, becoming physically similar to my father, psychologically and spiritually more to my mother. The less visible and the most important is the spiritual growth. Through deepening the relationship with the Lord, I improved my relations with others and also better understood my own self. Spiritual growth concerns the holistic development and the ultimate result is an authentic maturity in Christ.

           

            Different individual beings are related together and they are moving in the process of evolution and progress being animated by higher intelligent being. “Persons in turn tend to a higher unity, a communion among themselves and with the universal whole.” (Foundations of Theological Study – R. Viladesau, M. S. Massa) K. Rahner has suggested that the dynamism of the world is rooted in love, and that the goal and culmination of that dynamism is union with God through the Spirit of Christ. 

Group 7

 Question NO.5 on the Dynamism of life in nature and human beings

The members of this group are :Houkp Gerald, hrudaya Raju, Dominic Makau,Deem Virtudazo and sr juliet Onuchukwu.

We realized that many thing grow and develop without our awareness e.g. A day old chick need food and water including warm environment (light) to survive .but how it grow is unknown .

A farmer  sow a seed  of maize  into the soil he put water  , manure  but after seven days it sprout out the famer is happy and  is expecting to harvest  the crop after some month but how it grow is unknown to him. 

The dynamism  of life is in different stages  :

Each stage of our life has its experience ,the physical aspect as a child is born , he/ she is under the care of his /her  parent after some time different changes occur in the person and each bodily change present us with new challenges.(Adolescents stage)

 As we develop psychologically ,we learn to confront  issues such as trust and mistrust, sense of belonging to  age group , our capacity to think critically grow as well .

As  the person develop  intellectually  he / she  is interested in receiving information, through formal and informal education, asking question and he/she is able to know the meaning of thing's  different from when the person is young. I remember when I was 6 years, my mother use to tell me that if you steal meat from the pot God will appear with a long cane to beat me and this made me to be afraid  of God. but as I grow I realize that God is in heaven and my mother is the person to flogged me if she caught me stealing.

spiritually, the  faith we receive from our parent  as a child, through the catechism lesson ,contributed  to our knowledge of God .  As we develop It help us  to make choice to dedicate ourselves to him leaving  our family  and the material thing. this help us in  our moral judgement,to be connected in order that our relationship with him will be firm.

Comment: we realize that every human being is in the process  of growth and moving toward God the source of  our existence. Man is in connection with the entire creation , as nature depend on us to care for them , human  beings depend on others to care  for us but the growth and development of all that exist belong to God as Paul wrote in his letter to the Corinthian '' I Paul plant ,Apollo's watered but God makes it to grow''. This implies that everything  that   lives  and breathe are united in Gods love

secretary: Deem virtudazo