“Teilhard in NY: The Meaning of Exile”

With Tracy Higgins

November 15, 2023

Online at 7pm EST

In this lecture, Tracy Higgins will share details of Teilhard’s last four years in New York: his medical condition, his psychological state from a Jungian perspective, and his experience of exile. She will refer not only to Teilhard’s letters but also to observations from witnesses that are not readily accessible to most readers.

It might be helpful to read Tracy Higgins’ Teilhard Studies #86: “Teilhard in New York” prior to attending. This monograph was sent to all members and is available online here.

Tracy Higgins came to know Teilhard during her years living in France. She now lives in New York, but as Gertrude Stein used to say, Paris is her hometown. She lived in Paris during her formative adult years as a counterintelligence liaison officer assigned to work with the French security and intelligence services. She empathizes with Teilhard’s profound attachment to France, where, as he wrote to his cousin Marguerite, the Spirit seems “to blow stronger.” Nevertheless, she appreciated the opportunity to return to her family’s native New York, where she earned a PhD in Nursing from Columbia University. Her experience nurtured an acute awareness of the contrast between life in the United States and France, and how a native is indelibly imprinted by early experiences and relationships.