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Posts Tagged ‘paz’

Religion, philosophy and humanism

01 Sep

Neither is he who simply proclaims a faith without knowing it, nor is he who follows a series of precepts without understanding the fundamentals. In Christianity what is Love, the philosopher Hannah Arendt, for example, studied as her doctorate “Love in Saint Augustine” while Edith Stein discovers from philosophy and Saint Teresa of Ávila a religious path and became a nun and martyr (died at Auschwitz).

There is much apology for superstitions and beliefs in the religious environment, but they were not unknown to Jesus, the question of the Sabbath is famous, in which Jesus asks if it is fair to save someone from an illness on Saturday (Matthew 12:10), he calls the Pharisees “whitewashed tombs” (1Jn,2,27) and finally ends by revealing to the apostles that he will have to suffer a lot from the elders, the high priests and teachers of the law (Matthew 16,21-22), to which Peter is scared and asks that this not happen, and Jesus scolds him and calls him saying that he did not have a divine inspiration.

So it is not the model of public life of many nominal religionists, false prophets and people with little depth of faith that we can understand what religion is, but there is an anthropological, philosophical and clear theological sense that underlies the teachings of love, of enduring the cross, of not building hatred, revenge or resentment in the fashion of those who do not believe.

Augustine overcame the Manichean dualism of good against evil, it is about Love that is far superior to everything and evil is just its absence, Boethius and later Thomas Aquinas instituted the question of the person and the Being, which is part of the polis, but inseparable from it.

The importance of Severino Boécio, venerated as a saint by the Catholic Church (his date is October 23rd) for the history of science and philosophy, the “quarrel of universals” and the importance of reason, Thomas Aquinas and current figures such as Edith Stein do not separate faith from human thought and contemporary humanism.

From this was born modernity and its dualisms (objective x subjective, body x mind, spiritual x material) part of the ontological dualism: being is and not being is not, however, there is now the principle of the third included coming from Stéphane Lupasco and Barsarab Nicolescu, it’s physical and real

It is time to review humanism and no face of human reality can remain without a necessary revision: what is the Being, what is the idea (the Greek eidos linked to Being) and what do the modern myths and cosmogonies mean before a deeper look to the sacred with dialogue and depth.

 

Ethics, humanism and philosophy

31 Aug

Peter Sloterdijk told El País newspaper: “current life does not invite thinking” (on 05/03/2019) and the “era of humanism is ending” said Achille Mbembe Cameroonian postcolonial historian and thinker and humanism today is an issue of state and therefore of power, since its base is economism, a materialistic humanism prevails, not always considering human values.

Philosophy became the ideological justification of power, polarization led to extremes even the denial of authors whose authors swore to defend, Eurocentric epistemicide forgets its most basic foundations and surrenders to political polarization.

What did spinozian ethics mean? What is the critique of current reason? Sloterdijk points out the cynicism.

War was inevitable in a growing polarization and new economic order.

Current philosophy already thinks about humanism alternatives, Edith Stein, a phenomenologist and student of Husserl, explored the issue of Empathy, Heidegger, another student of Husserl, the issue of Being, Emmanuel Lévinas on Husserlian hermeneutic influence, and Heidegger defines humanism as beyond essence, that is , the humanism of the other man, which can be a starting point for the new humanism, and also Habermas (The inclusion of the Other) and Byung Chul Han (The exclusion of the Other) touch on the theme.

Religion is confused between ritualism, fundamentalism and the absence of basic humanistic values: love, solidarity and fraternity, so the biblical reading is manipulated and partial, secularism advances in a minefield due to the absence of humanitarian values ​​of faith.

It is hoped that in this crisis and fragmentation of civilizing development, leaders and influential men can find serenity, dialogue and balance for possible solutions.

Philosophy cannot be anything else that does not cooperate with peace, with civilizing progress.

 

 

It is in autumn that the chickens are counted.

28 Aug

Spring is approaching in the southern hemisphere and autumn in the northern hemisphere, it is the period when Europeans know that they must have provisions to make repairs in their houses for some type of protection against the cold: heating systems, coal, gas and organize the pantry for this period.

There is a saying in Eastern Europe, a version of our saying “you don’t count the eggs before the hen lays”, there it is said “in the autumn you count the chickens”, this serves for the war that approaches to complete two years in the Eastern Europe and which spills over to all humanity.

Many analysts, including the Portuguese Miguel Monjadino, claim that Kiev’s main objective “is to recover enough territory by the autumn to maintain the support of its society, Washington and the European capitals for a military campaign in the spring” from there that will be our autumn here, only after March 2024.

American analysts indicate that more than 500,000 military personnel have already been killed in this war, and the end of the agreement on the shipment of grain from Ukraine in the region of Black Sea ports and the increase in arms, and now also planes, has yet to be considered.

But the count of losses has already begun, the disaster with a Brazilian plane that crashed in Russia and killed its occupants draws attention to yet another strange death of Putin’s opponents, the death of the head of the paramilitary group Wagner, Yevgeny Prigozhin, all occupants of the plane was confirmed in genetic analysis.

While offering condolences to Prigozhine’s family, Putin said that he had made many mistakes in life, in a clear allusion that he no longer enjoyed his sympathy.

On the economic side, the BRICS, an alliance in which Russia and Brazil participate, announce an increase in its members and a possible currency in the future, the objective is to compete with the euro and the dollar.

Peace seems more and more distant and the tension is increasing

 

 

Cultural plane and threat to peace

21 Aug

Russia officially announced the revision of all history books taught to teenagers, which there are the 8th., 9th. and 10th. series of the teaching cycle, recounting the history of the 1970s to 2000, the period of the end of the “Soviet Union” and a new section from 2014 to the present day, where the war is called “special military operation”.

The announcement was made by Vladimir Medinsky, Russian adviser to President Vladimir Putin at a press conference, and by reaching the age group of teenagers, not only does it predict a long war, they are being prepared for the next 10 years when they will be adults, as arouses distrust of military plans more audacious than the war in Ukraine.

The threats to Poland are already real, and besides Poland belonging to NATO, this recalls the 1st. September 1939 when Germany invaded Poland triggering the 2nd. World War.

This puts peace further away, and hope now comes from the bloc of declared or tactical allies of the Russian government, Ukraine’s own Zelensky believes that the Brics, the international bank that Russia participates in, could be a last attempt and mediation of the War.

The cultural war with even opposing narratives, about what the civilizing process is and its threat are increasingly present on the world stage, a war on a global scale these days, with nuclear weapons much more lethal than before the real civilizational threat .

Among several analyses, the Israeli writer and journalist Yuval Harari, author of the book “Sapiens – Brief History of Humankind”, declared to the London newspaper The Guardian, that the war in Ukraine will define the future of the whole world, “Every day that it becomes clearer that Putin’s gamble is failing. The Ukrainian people are resisting wholeheartedly, winning the admiration of the whole world and winning the war,” but there are other views.

What is clear is that the civilizing process is at stake, yes, not in the sense that Russian cultural books point out, it is not about the victory of this or that “cultural” tendency, but about the coexistence of different ideas within democratic environments and dialogue .

There is always hope for peace, but armed spirits and threats only prepare war.

 

 

 

Error and forgiveness

17 Aug

From a scientific point of view, finding errors in methods and analyzes means changing the route and not the research hypothesis, if a hypothesis is not confirmed this is a result and not an error, in fact for Popper this is how science walks, but another thinker Thomas Kuhn argues that there are ruptures or new research hypotheses, quantum physics is an example of this.

Already in philosophy, most philosophers defend that forgiveness is a moral virtue, thus it expresses the human capacity to overcome resentment and revenge, and with this restore interpersonal and social relationships, but there are philosophers who see forgiveness as weakness or illusion, since it denies the seriousness of the evil and the responsibility of the offender.

The contemporary philosopher who dealt with forgiveness was Paul Ricoeur, who developed it without departing from the religious sense (mainly Christian) and sees it as a paradox, as it goes against the unforgivable, that is, that which cannot be repaired or compensated by justice.

The theme is relevant because Ricoeur recalls that the theme became relevant “particularly characteristic of the post-Cold War period, in which so many peoples were submitted to the difficult test of integration of traumatic memories” in a text published in Esprit, no 210 (1995) , pp. 77-82 and which can be found on the Internet or part of the Ricoeur book (1967).

The author places “forgiveness in the energetic action of a work that begins in the region of memory and continues in the region of oblivion” (Ricoeur, 1995), and that a phenomenon “that can be observed on the scale of common consciousness, of memory shared” and clarifies that he wants to avoid the debatable notation of “collective memory”.

Although written well before our time, as much the totalitarian question is at stake as the question of colonialism, and this means a “shared” memory that can lead to fury.

The philosopher uses the vocabulary of the German philosopher R. Roselleck, who opposes “our global historical consciousness”, which he calls the “space of experience” and, on the other hand, the “horizon of waiting”, if we look at our experience almost we can overcome hatred and resentment between peoples and cultures, so I consider it correct not to use “collective memory”.

It is necessary to overcome historical errors, misconceptions and paths already trodden, which led us to chaos.

Ricoeur, P. (1967) Symbolism of Evil, Harper & Row Pub, New York: USA. (pdf).

 

New holodomor and the war

07 Aug

While there are expectations of new meetings for peace with Jeddah in Saudi Arabia, the perspectives of a greater involvement of other countries in the war grow with the danger of a war on a global scale.

In the harsh period of the former Soviet Union, there had already been a conflict between the Russian Soviet Republic and the Ukrainian Soviet Republic, the holodomor in 1931-32, in which the dictator Joseph Stalin confiscated Ukrainian production, killing a large number of Ukrainians from starvation, there is a book on the subject (pdf), the ukrainians managed many years after declaring this episode of their national life as a genocide.

Russia had already undermined Ukraine’s supply sources, now it systematically bombs ports and grain storage sites and spreads mines across the borders of the conquered territory, the Ukrainian economy already in ruins, now suffers a hard blow and with that there are a threat to world grain supplies.

The internal battlefront remains tough, with small advances in the counteroffensive, but the pole is now moving towards the Black Sea, where grain export ships can be hit and already a provocation with Poland, by the Wagner group that is in Belarus .

Some discourses and narratives hide the horrors of war, death of civilians, distribution and disasters in rivers and energy sources, and violation of war treaties, with mutilation and torture of prisoners, and use of weapons of war prohibited by international agreements such as, land mines, white phosphorus bombs and cluster bombs.

An involvement of Poland and Belarus, would be the first scale of a world war, reminiscent of the invasion of Germany in 1st. of September 1939, which was the trigger for the involvement of several countries, the first to declare war were England and France.

The political and financial involvement of other countries is already practically declared, with forces alongside Ukraine and Russia, but common sense still makes some countries and more cautious diplomats think about the disaster for the economy in addition to the serious danger of using nuclear force.

The forces for peace have started a conference of senior officials from around 40 countries, including the US, China, South Africa and India and are taking part in the discussions in the coastal city of Jeddah, on the Red Sea, being European newscasters, including the German DW (Deutsch Welle), without the participation of Russia.

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Conflict rages and hope for peace

31 Jul

The combat front extends across the entire eastern region of Ukraine, which claims advances, while Russia is again bombing the ports of grain stocks in Ukraine, which threatens the food security of several countries.

Putin promises to deliver grain “for free” to several African countries, but South Africa warns it is not enough, and Niger has had a Russian-backed coup d’état, and President Hohamed Bazoum is jailed, while General Abdourahamane Tchiani has taken over. the country, the European EU cut all support given to the country, with France having interests in the country’s business.

The Wagner group of mercenaries from Russia operated in the region, having influenced the positions of Mali and currently influence Burkina Faso, the group is currently in Belarus and raises fears of Poland that it could cause a conflict in the region, expanding the war zone and reaching NATO’s “weak points”.

Mali and Burkina Faso are among the poorest countries in the world and dependent on foreign aid, both for food security and military, they are predominantly agricultural countries.

Hope comes from Saudi Arabia, which will host a meeting in the city of Jeddah to address the situation of the war in Ukraine, in addition to Brazil and India, which are members of the Brics, the United Kingdom, Poland and South Africa are among countries that confirmed their attendance, Egypt, Indonesia, Mexico, Chile and Zambia are among the guests, US Security Secretary Jake Sullivan is expected to attend the meeting and Putin will not attend.

The meeting is important because there were accusations to the OPEC+ group, on October 22, that oil producing countries are supporting Russia, however the bloc, along with other countries invited to the meeting, maintains a firm position of expanding peace talks.

The meeting to attempt a peace agreement in Ukraine will take place on the 6th and 7th of August, while the Brics will have a meeting on the 22nd to the 24th of August and China proposes the inclusion of Saudi Arabia and Indonesia in the group, while Brazil and India resist the idea, Putin should not participate.

Jeddah (or Giddah) (photo) is located on the edge of the Red Sea, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, has 23 sister cities, including Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, Odessa in Ukraine, Kazan and Saint Petersburg in Russia, and its main twinning (another sister city concept) is with Miami of the US.

 

 

Food security and escalation of war

24 Jul

The end of the grain agreement prevents shipments of grains produced in Ukraine, in particular: wheat, corn and barley, with this wheat has already risen 8.5% on international exchanges and corn 3.5%, as this bombing in Odessa which is still a free port of Ukraine, which is at the western tip of Ukraine on the Black Sea.

Ukraine has received constant attacks on its ports and warehouses in Odessa, in response it carries out bombings on weapons and supply warehouses in Crimea and the Kersh bridge in the strait of the same name that connects Crimea to Russia was hit again. (in the photo the cathedral of Odessa hit this Sunday)

On the northern front there are no major advances in the counteroffensive and Russian propaganda says that its forces have advanced, while the Ukrainian forces admit only a small and slow advance, far below expectations, while waiting for more weapons and ammunition.

The number of Russian soldiers and forces has increased, but it is in the air battle that it has the greatest power, and the end result is that on all fronts the war escalates.

Hungary, Austria and this week Bulgaria have sent weapons to Ukraine and Russia’s tension with Poland is at an all-time high through Belarus, which shares a border with Poland.

The Brics held their meeting without the presence of Russia, which is a relief for the group, but this does not mean a break with the group, China is increasingly a Russian ally, Brazil and South Africa are hesitating on the subject, while India tries to reinforce its calls for peace.

A loss in world grain distribution will hit Latin America and much of Africa hard, whose leaders have also unsuccessfully tried to put pressure on Putin.

Russia and China have returned to military exercises in the Sea of ​​​​Japan, as a result of which South Korea and Japan are becoming increasingly close to Western forces and NATO.

 

 

 

 

 

The right question about evil

21 Jul

There is no doubt that there is cruelty, evil and indifference which is the great contemporary evil, but it is neither Manichaeism nor pure evil incarnate.

Always at all times agreements and wars were tried, often just for convenience or even war tactics, we have already posted about bad post-war agreements, such as Germany that came out humiliated from the first world war and we learned little from history.

We are making the route of the Jewish-Sumerian people until they get back to Canaan, where they left due to hunger to go to Egypt, before leaving Moses receives the divine message to address the Pharaoh, he goes with his brother Aaron, but what is the point knowing that the Pharaoh is merciless with the Israelite people? It’s just that the true divine message is always good seed for all peoples, that’s why the parable of the good seed, which should be the name of the parable of the tares and wheat.

Even going to talk to the pharaoh, the Israelites will be pursued, and then they will have to fight 4 battles in the flight through the desert, the battle of Rephidim where the marauding Amalekites win, the second again against Amalekites and Canaanites (so the location of Rephidim may be further north), the third a defeat against Canaanites and the 4th. the final victory.

See the reading (Mt 13,26,27): “When the wheat grew and the ears began to form, the weeds also appeared. The employees went looking for the owner and said to him, ‘ Lord, didn’t you sow good seed in your field? So where did the weeds come from?’ and the manager says not to uproot the weeds because it might uproot the wheat with it.

The divine seed is always good, but tares will always grow among the wheat and only from there can we correctly interpret the seed that falls on bad soil and among thorns and does not flower or bear fruit.

There is always hope and always a possibility for peace and harmony among nations and peoples.

 

 

The people get tired and don’t believe anymore

20 Jul

The return to the land of the tribes of Israel will not be easy, but it is to escape the oppression of Egypt, a nation that will face the famous “plagues of Egypt”, which are biblical, but also historical: the plague, war and decay and the famine, common episodes in the declines of empires.

The passage from the Exodus narrative reads (Ex 3:17): “And I decided to bring you out of the oppression of Egypt and to lead you into the land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, to one land flowing with milk and honey”, we see on the map what Canaan was like at the time.

The long journey and the scarcity of food, they ate a fallen food that they called manna and there was also a lack of water, in a place called Massa and Meriba, where the people begin to argue and “try the Lord” questioning: Is the Lord in the among us or not?

That’s when Moses will go looking for water in a prophetic inspiration.

There Moses manages to “smite the rock”, somehow shatters a rock on the mountain and finds water, but then comes the battle with the marauding Amalekites (Exodus 17:1-16), although literature indicates Horeb’s proximity to the south, the site was probably farther north, because the site of the Rephidim Battle (meaning resting place) must be farther north, at the head of the Red Sea, near Mount Sinai (Exodus 15:17-22).

During battle Moses must keep his staff raised. However, with his advanced age, his arm starts to bend, and it is necessary to support his arm so that the Israelites win the battle.

So many times these wars happened, history says that the first of them was the battle between Sumerians and Umma (around 2700 BC), the wars of Egypt, then came the Persians and the famous Punic (Greek) wars, the Roman empire , medieval battles, the Hundred Years’ War and the two world wars, the minor wars of empires and colonies.

If we learned not only from written histories, but also from worldviews (those that established the cycles: plague, war and famine) and really believed in a possibility of universal peace, not the pax Romana which is submission to an empire, respecting cultures and peoples of different races and creeds, a true civilizing process could be built.

The idea that those who want peace prepare for war is not humanitarian and still haunts the minds of men and leaders with a thirst for power