Arquivo para a ‘Calm Technology’ Categoria
The dark night of humanity
04
Aug
Watching political debates or even relevant issues of public life, a brief look at
culture and religion, any angle that looks at the moment aggravated by the pandemic, it is relevant to point out the confused features of this civilizing moment.
It is a fact that we have already been through another pandemic, in frightening numbers the so-called “Spanish flu” in the middle of the 1st. world war, it was a great and humanitarian disaster that challenged humanity, and even then came the second war, the concentration camps and the Hiroshima bomb, but the contours of this moment seem even more serious, there is a crisis of thought.
What can be observed are phrases made with a doubtful impact, appeals to impossible optimism in the face of the pandemic scenario or the hope “after all this is over”, however as the vaccine does not reach reality it imposes it, even on the wise on duty a little sobriety, but still without the solidarity and humanity that would be desirable.
The crisis of thought already pointed out by Edgar Morin, Nicolescu Barsarab and many others, in addition to the scientific and technical debate, is the difficulty of composing elements that should go beyond the limits of specialties to solve problems beyond the disease, the social and the religious, to tackle the problem together would require an overall view and not an impoverished disciplinary view of specialists.
When less is seen by pure and simple analysis, the darker this night becomes, the foundations lost, even if the civilizing foundations can be overcome: the Greek culture, the Judeo-Christian religiosity that so many scholars had, also the Islamic with Avicenna, Averroes, Al-Khwarismi and more recently Abdus Salam, who won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1979.
Science is still strongly linked to the positivism and logicism of two centuries ago, while Karl Popper, Tomas Kuhn or Bachelard are still little known and confined in circles of “experts of the scientific method” which indicates a shallow reading of these questioners of conventional science.
The last century gave us Gustave Klimpt, Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, Salvador Dali, the bold architecture of Antoni Gaudi, by Brazilian Oscar Niemeyer, but the straight façades, the abuse of glass and crystals that appear for the first time in the Crystal Palace (photo), English architectural structure of the 19th century that invoked a recreation center for “education of the people”, cited by Sloterdijk and his disciple Byung Chul Han as representative of current architecture, as centers of consumption and “an architectural form was proclaimed as the key to capitalism . condition of the world ”(SLOTERDIJK, 2005, P. 279).
The Creator’s greatness and daily novelty are a stark contrast to repetitive, outdated religions that say nothing to the world today, about the pandemic oscillating between simple adherence to current discourse to models of solidarity and defense of life that are too fragile for tragedy pandemic.
SLOTERIJK, P. Crystal Palace, Chapter 33 of in Globalen Inneren Raum des Kapitals: Für eine philosophische Theorie der Globalisierung (In the Global Inner Space of Capital: For a Philosophical Theory of Globalization). Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp, 2005, pg. 265-276.
Saint John Damascene and pericoresis
05
Jun
Even for those who do not believe in the
concept of pericoresis, it is important because it makes the idea of relationship something more substantial, although it is already admitted that man is a relational being, the relationship is full of dualisms and non-Trinitarian interpretations (in the case of Christians) and can lead to indifference.
After resolving the Trinitarian dogma by the Cappadocian priests, who explained that God is One and Triune, are people (hypostasis) and maintain unity (ousia), Damasceno will dwell on the relationship between the three people and create a term also used in philosophy: pericoresis, interpenetration in relationships, that is, the possibility of listening to the Other not just out of respect, which would already be a step, but trying to penetrate and understand the reasons for his thinking.
It was João Damasceno (675-749) who studied this relationship of pericoresis, the term emerges proposing the articulation between the unity and the communion of the Trinity, it seems simple to say this, but difficult to understand and practice, since most relationships exclude the Other which is different, be it of color, race, creed or culture, far ahead of his time João Damasceno was a friend of the Saracens.
In his historical theological journey, he sought to find something to explain the relationship, which was in accordance with what the scriptures said of God and his relevance in history: the articulation between the concept of God that is triune and one, but each one being a natural person (prosopon) and God, João structured the intra-Trinitarian way, based on the Greek concept of person: hypostasis.
In the Greek word it means hypo, which is sub, underneath, and stasis, which is sub-posited; as if it were a support, but in the divine relationship this concept should be expanded and explained.
The term pericoresis emerges in this Patristic Theology, as the articulation between unity and communion of the Trinity, but going further, so the Father is one in the Son and the Son one in the Father, and both are one in the Holy Spirit, so there is an interpretation, it is more what a pure relationship it is to be in the Other.
The problem with some religious interpretations is the static relationship of the three, which is the dualistic relationship that comes from idealistic philosophy, where subject and object are separated and are relational by a type of transcendence, which actually has nothing to do with the Divine mystery nor is it religious.
In a deeper spiritual asceticism is the effort to understand and love the Other who is different, who is not my mirror, does not have my concepts and judgments, does not classify the world as I do, the great tragedy of our days is the lack of pericoresis , and thus of Trinitarian relations.
I think that the pandemic shows us this, even though there is a great pain that kills everyone and that sensitizes many people, that opens the heart to look at the suffering of the other, there are those that close themselves in groups, ideas and schemes to not look at the pain , the hunger and despair that the pandemic has generated, or we wake up together or perish together, staying in our trench is non-relational
Sensibility and public cause
16
Mar
Health is a public cause, almost everyone agrees, but when proposing protective
measures, many people, not seeing the cases explode and the number of infected people growing, do not understand why and make them a joke or disdain, it was like that in countries that later woke up, this is the case of Italy, whose number of deaths exploded yesterday, Spain and Portugal where the movement on the streets disappeared and many products on the market as well.
Italy recorded 368 deaths, an increase of 25% just this Sunday, and the number of infected people went to 3690 this weekend, Spain and Portugal the number of people who decided to stay at home practically paralyzed the country and for this to be as possible, families have stocked up in supermarkets, they have reduced offers, those who have not been prevented may be left without some products.
Several authorities have commented on the effects, there is a real video of a meeting that took place at Incor (Heart Institute), and a fake attributed to Stanford University, it is also false that Cuba sent vaccine to China, a fake and ridiculous fake is that lemon and vitamin C fights the virus.
The politicization of the issue is also of little concern for the population, we must all fight because soon the explosion of the coronavirus will happen in Brazil, what many experts are concerned about is the capacity of the Health System to respond, all over the world and also in Brazil , with protection the curve will be less steep and the system will have a response capacity, the graph above explores with and without protective measures.
The most complete video on the subject, because it also deals with the cultural aspect and behavior in combating a pandemic, is that of the profa. Dr. Claudia Feitosa Santana, from University of São Paulo, Brazil (is possible setting to English):
in Balsamão, away from the hustle and bustle
19
Jul
The movement to rest, to meditate and to dive deep in the Being, is 
a process of alienation of the political, social and economic crises. .
One can and should recover life from day to day, but with renewed energy, at the suggestion of a friend arriving in Portugal Marians of the Immaculate Conception.
It stands on top of Mount Morais, which is one of the five levels of the world, and the second is more important than Psalm 124, which says, “As Jerusalem surrounded thereby, protect your people / agora and forever.”
Climbing the terrace to the belvedere, with the Sierra de Bornes around, the olive groves of Chacim in the background, and the Abilheira thermal baths below, the tons of sunset are seen in this sunny period.
The story of the Polish book Casimir Wyszynski (1700-1755) described it as follows: “Here we are surrounded by rivers, fields, orchards, vineyards, meadows, olive trees and fruits of various kinds, and on this hill there are forests, trees, beautiful oaks.”
He is being formed by a monastery there, who already lived and called Brother Casimiro with his companion of grace Joao de Deus, who accepted and dressed to integrate a new order.
Does the desire to retreat and meditate to hear the deep voices in us, is also what Jesus means to care about his faith? Jesus and not to help the services of the house, seeing Jesus rebuke her (Luke 10,42): “Martha, Martha! You are worried and anxious for many things. But one thing is necessary. Mary chose a better place and this is not the one.”
It takes time to breathe, to rest and re-establish as energies.
Black holes and worldview
16
Jul
Until recently the material world comprised only the so-called baryonic matter
which is 4% of the only one, which is the material that most people know, with the dark energy and mass appeared the “black holes” that are actually black bodies.
Scientists still believe from Einstein’s theory that black holes suck objects and everything around them, including light itself, now a new phenomenon can change that. This process of sucking is called accretion, so there is a hot plasma that orbits around the black hole and is sucked by accretion, but this can also occur in bodies, and now a body that resists this accretion has been sighted. of accretion body, by the junction of material around it in the process of protoplanet formation.
The GRS1915 + 105 object is actually two stars a black hole (the body whose gravity prevents anything from escaping, hence being called the hungry), and a very modest star for the proportion of the black hole, similar to the sun. If compared to the 13 billion light-years of the observable universe, it is close to the Earth, because it is 40 thousand light-years away, what intrigues is that the black star (the name looks better than a hole) is that the star -star is not sucked though called accretion.
Next to an American laboratory, the star was observed using an ESO (Southern European Observatory) telescope, forming a trio from Germany and Chile that captured the light from the companion star of the black hole and determined to ” technical “:
According to a paper published in Nature, astrophysicist Charles Bailyn of Yale University, USA, said that the calculations are still not very accurate in size, mass and energy: “It is computed using very simple observations and calculations based only on the laws of orbital motion of Kepler, who are already known and have been trusted for centuries. ”
The mass is one of the problem points, in addition to the aspect of the addition, according to Jochen Greiner of the Astrophysical Institute of Potsdam, Germany, one of the authors of the article: “I would be very surprised if the mass was so wrong that theories applied.
By that I mean that I am convinced that theories have missed the mark: “In fact it is already suspected that what we think about mass is something quite different, by the theory of the current relativity, until the particle of Highs and the existence of the black holes they seemed to confirm, since the universe copernican and newtonian were surpassed.
Now if the mass is the one that is measured, and the hole does not suck it, it means that there will be a new worldview, where mass and matter must be re-conceptued.
A more human biblic Mary
19
Dec
A 15-year-old girl realizes that she will be a mother in a difficult way to understand,
despite being deeply religious, and having the courage to assume what was for her a Will of God, would certainly be shaken, as indeed it was, says the Bible reading Lk 1: 27-28:
“The angel, coming to her, said,” Rejoice, gracious, the Lord is with you! ”
Maria was troubled by these words, wondering what that greeting might mean.
She says she does not know (have related to) any man, so the angel explains Lk 1:35:
“The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So he who is to be born will be called the Holy One, the Son of God.”
Faced with the perplexity of the adolescent, the angel gives her a key to read Lk 1:36:
“And Elizabeth, her kinswoman, shall have a son in old age; that which was said to be barren is already in its sixth month of gestation. ”
“The angel answered,” The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you, so that he who is to be born will be called Holy, Son of God. ”
And it says here that it is used by religious in various contexts and should not be Lk 1, 37:
“For nothing is impossible with God.”
Curiously, it is almost always those who use the biblical text those who least believe that Mary was special in the eyes of God and men, but there are also those who do not see the frailty and the doubts of this young adolescent who runs the cousin’s house, just because of the angel’s reading key: “Elizabeth, her kinswoman, will have a son in old age,” and probably this instigated Mary to visit her (in the picture, the Visitation of Raphael, 1517).
The following reading reads, that days later, Mary was “hurriedly into the mountainous lands of Judea,” the village where Elizabeth lived, who was pregnant with John the Baptist, the forerunner of Jesus, and Zechariah her husband who had been mute to the knowledge of conception.
Now Mary had not yet sung her song, the so-called Magnificat, and it is very probable that her heart still had doubts and was still part of the initial shock. He says that as soon as Mary greeted the cousin, the child of Elizabeth (John the Baptist) jumped in her womb, and Elizabeth was “full of the Holy Spirit”, we spoke in the previous post about the role of this little understood God, the Holy Spirit.
Like the ontoanthropological relationship with Eve, there is an ontotheological relationship with Izabel, her cousin, and only then does she sing her song Lc 1, 46-48)
“And Mary said, My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior; Because he looked upon the humility of his maidservant; For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed, “which is a proto-gospel of Mary, from which one can draw also a relationship with the Hail Mary of the Catholics, which has biblical reference Lc 1,42.
What should we do ?
13
Dec
The aporia of the Greeks, the impropriety (I translated as unreasonableness) 
of Heidegger, the fear and the fragility of Martha Nussbaum, may all be composed in a juice that helps to look forward with serenity and hope. Before the advent of the birth of Jesus, Christmas has this deeper symbolic meaning, we expect a “salvation” and it must be concrete.
John the Baptist preached in the desert and the crowd that followed him are in anguish, they asked him: “What should we to do? “John answered:” Whoever has two coats, give one to him who has not; and whoever has food, do the same! “(Luke 3:11).
There were also tax collectors, the corrupt ones of today who pollute the entire financial health of the state, this is the protest in France, and it seems that Teresa Mey in the United Kingdom also begins to show signs of weakness, the conservative turn shows her impotence.
What we should do, not lose solidarity, fraternity, and the spirit of the advent of Christmas help us in what must “come” and will come, but it takes strong minds and hearts.
The feeling of death, and even a certain despondency in the hearts desirous of the future may be present, but should not mean surrender or paralysis, but Aporia.
It is necessary to be open to the new, and to develop solidarity denouncing violence and social abuses, the Nobel Prize doctor Denis Mukwege who rescues victims of abuse in Congo and denounces the violence ignored by the West that happens in his parents, along with Nadia Murad activist against the sexual abuse of women, who was herself a victim of violence Denis Mukwege praised the good use of new media to denounce these facts that the major press ignores or makes them less serious than they are, so digital change, artificial intelligence, information and communication are there not to disrupt, but to help this.
The examples of Denis Mukwege and Nadia Murad serve us to overcome fear and move forward, the changes will happen.
Christmas and Winter
05
Dec
Christmas is different in Europe, the contrast between the warmth of hearts and the
frost on the streets gives a very special recollection climate, unlike tropical countries.
I thought it was more sad, but it is not, there are hearts attentive to the lights, the buzz of the streets, even if someone criticizes the consumerism or the exaggeration, people want to greet each other, they want to do something almost the same as in Brazil, I feel here even warmer.
We had a lunch with colleagues from my work environment, and it was really a party, they put up the famous Christmas songs, not the conventional ones, but those of children like “I left my shoe”, is a good mood, at least in Portugal.
I went downtown, a beautiful Christmas tree on one side of Praça do Comercio (center place of Lisbon), the conversation on the streets is curious, even Islamist or evangelical, maybe it was only in Portugal, but it warmed my heart.
I will not be here on Christmas Eve, nor at the end of the year, but I gained a more optimistic view.
It is difficult to imagine that among so many religious women, politics are the result of a return to national and xenophobic feelings, there is still room for warmth, love and friendship.
In my corner I celebrated, sure that it will be a little more difficult in Brazil, but not impossible, you have to try to keep ties and avoid making more bombs than the ones there.
Advent time, which means something will come, even if it is contrary to what we want, we must keep hope, the spirit attentive to injustices and not do with others, what we do not want them to do to us.
Even if Christmas is cold by the natural climate or the political climate, let’s keep the heat
The first essential step is to have the right diagnosis, so many self-help books, good nutrition, recipes of happiness that do not seem to move people from anxiety, fear, anguish, and with increasingly serious syndromes like Burnout.
Diagnosis is a society that has pushed us to a job, not only functional but necessary, but with additional burdens of political, social, religious and even family activism as being “necessary” to live well.
There is no room for contemplation, even for rest, for leisure activities, because in them we also put more activism, endless queues of cars for beaches, fields or other retreats that are nothing more than to lead the agitation in the suitcase.
We do not know how to read the signs of the times, and with this activism only increases the emptiness and the sense of concern, the diagnosis already pointed out by Nietzsche has a recipe in Kierkegaard to return to being what we are, and from there to change and evolution with serenity .
The apocalyptic will say signs of the times, the pragmatics will say humanity is thus, always was and always will be, incapacity to read the times, non-fundamentalist reading about the end times “Take care that your hearts are not insensitive because of gluttony, of drunkenness and worries of life, and that this day does not suddenly fall upon you “(Lk 21:35), can serve for our times well before the end of the world that will be delayed.
Look at the signs of the times with serenity
30
Nov
In spite of all the fatigue, an active stimulus, the overload of work and even of emotions,
it is possible to find shortcuts to a simple and well-lived life, even in times of sharpness.
The first essential step is to have the right diagnosis, so many self-help books, good nutrition, recipes of happiness that do not seem to move people from anxiety, fear, anguish, and with increasingly serious syndromes like Burnout.
Diagnosis is a society that has pushed us to a job, not only functional but necessary, but with additional burdens of political, social, religious and even family activism as being “necessary” to live well.
There is no room for contemplation, even for rest, for leisure activities, because in them we also put more activism, endless queues of cars for beaches, fields or other retreats that are nothing more than to lead the agitation in the suitcase.
We do not know how to read the signs of the times, and with this activism only increases the emptiness and the sense of concern, the diagnosis already pointed out by Nietzsche has a recipe in Kierkegaard to return to being what we are, and from there to change and evolution with serenity .
The apocalyptic will say signs of the times, the pragmatics will say humanity is thus, always was and always will be, incapacity to read the times, non-fundamentalist reading about the end times “Take care that your hearts are not insensitive because of gluttony, of drunkenness and worries of life, and that this day does not suddenly fall upon you “(Lk 21:35), can serve for our times well before the end of the world that will be delayed.
It does not matter if this would be the end of time, the problem is to become insensitive, or still intoxicated or too preoccupied with life, it becomes obscured.
Serenity, diagnosis and education
29
Nov
The apparent cause of our day-to-day problems seems to be the latest advances,
innovations, social life, social media “media” and human work in many areas, we embark on the easy discourse of liquidity, hypercommunication, and excess information, this diagnosis is correct.
With the wrong diagnosis, we prescribe the wrong medicine, put more exercise into our lives, an exercise life, Sloterdijk would say, more natural food and more active life for it, fault of diagnosis error and absence of a clear future.
The clearing can only come from the thought, the appeal to practice is the worst remedy we have not have a weekend of rest and recreational activities because there are matters “urgent.”
The diagnosis of this current drama was already in Nietzsche (1834-1900), wrote in Human too Human: “For lack of rest our civilization is headed for a new barbarism. At no other time did the assets, that is, the restless ones, avail so much. Thus it belongs to the necessary corrections to be made as to the character of humanity to greatly strengthen the contemplative element, ‘a clear indication of the date of the present problem.
It may even be earlier, Kierkegaard (1813-1855) wrote: “the remedy for anxiety is to be as we truly are,” pointing out at the beginning of modernity the ontological problem of which humanity suffers a great deal, wanting to be what one is not , even if the daring and the search for new horizons is good, it must be done in solidarity with the Other.
The diagnosis, said Priest Manuel Antunes, whose birth celebrated 100 years on November 3, is to counter the homo mechanicus, the fruit of modernity, which created what the Portuguese wise man called “foam man”: light, without consistency, without fidelity and without strong convictions.
The education that must follow must be highly dialogic, comprehensive and transdisciplinary, defended Father Manuel Antunes, defend Edgar Morin, Basarab Nicolescu and so many others, however a method is necessary so that it does not stop in the speech.
The method proposed by Gadamer in his reading of Heidegger is the hermeneutic circle, the possibility that from preconceptions we arrive at a fusion of horizons and a greater possibility of re-reading of the present time, outlining ways for the future.
