Posts Tagged ‘paz’
The Burning Bush Episode
19
Jul
The story of the departure of the Israeli people
from Egypt begins with an extraordinary event in which Moses leads Jethro’s flock, I am father-in-law and priest of Midian (history records him as a Druze) and near Mount Horeb he sees a burning bush that does not consumes it (Ex 3,3): “I am going to approach this extraordinary sight, to see why the bush does not consume”.
There he receives the mission to remove his people from Egypt and the episode of the Escape from Egypt will begin, just as Abraham had withdrawn from an unlikely path from Ur of the Chaldeans, Moses will also make a route going through the region of Midian, in the biblical narrative this people it is also of Abrahamic origin since Abraham after Sarah’s death had Midian or Madian with his wife Keturah.
The historical record of the plagues of Egypt that preceded the flight can be found in the “Ipuwer papyrus” discovered in Egypt at the beginning of the last century, and taken to the Leiden museum in Holland, it was deciphered by A. H. Gardiner, and was found near the city of Avaris.
The Israelites at the beginning of the persecution are established in the warehouses of Rameses and Pitom, then they begin to migrate to Sucode, and from there they begin the flight to the Sinai desert, it will be in Horeb where Moses saw the burning bush that will receive the tablet of the law, the Ten commandments.
Jetro’s connection with the Midianites, he was a priest, is fundamental in the logistical support for the fleeing caravan, and this is probably the reason that they took a longer route, and we see from the map that it is likely that at the end of the persecution there will be a new one. miraculous episode that is the passage to be dried by the Sea.
The following story of the people will speak of many connections with the Moabites (Ruth was a Moabite and Lot would have given rise to the people through incest with his daughter) they lived in the desert so the road to Canaan will be even longer, the Egyptians still dominated the region, what was to be accomplished in days says the narrative that took 40 years.
In the history of that region, troglodytes lived, not in the folkloric sense that we know, but the fact that they lived in caves and houses dug in the mountains, as was also characteristic of the north in the well-known Cappadocia, region of so many mystics of antiquity.
Persecution and emigration always affected nations in wars.
The peace that few desire
17
Jul
While bloody battles unfold without major
advances in the Ukrainian counter-offensive, from side to side, one can see what the war produces: the lack of principles and a growing hatred between the parties involved, which today few countries escape.
On the Russian side, inhumanity towards the troops themselves grows, General Ivan Popov, commander of the 58th. Combined Arms Army, which operates on the Zaporizhzhia combat front, was dismissed by Minister Sergei Shoigu for accusing him of treason and little support for troops in combat, other generals are also away or “resting”.
This is certainly not counterpropaganda, as the mercenary leader also accused him of the same things, and said that troops are being killed for little logistical support.
On the Ukrainian side, after the NATO meeting on July 12th, there is a clear sign for Sweden’s entry into the bloc, we remember that neighboring Finland is already there, as for NATO, it only continues to support and promise future membership, however the minister of England declared that Zelensky should show more gratitude, Zelensky reacted by asking his defense minister who was in the audience if he has good relations with the British Ben Wallace, and then asked him to make a call to him.
What is worrying on the Ukrainian side is the delivery of cluster bombs that are prohibited in international agreements, and that the US proposes to supply to the ally.
Either because of ideological and economic interests, or because they do not believe in an escalation of a third world war, which would be the greatest civilizational disaster of humanity, there is little desire and commitment for peace, some countries and leadership that tried failed to be resilient to the decision and it shows that they, too, have a vested interest in this war.
Sincere and true humanists cannot wish that the escalation of this war continues, and it is not “another war” since it involves heavy interests and threats.
The sale of Joseph, son of Jacob
13
Jul
The story of Esau and Jacob continues in the
next generation, among the children of Jacob, now Ishmael after he fought with the angel, Joseph was the most loved, which generated envy in the brothers who planned to kill him but later decided to sell him to an Egyptian caravan to a caravan leader named Potiphar, but Joseph in Egypt becomes a prisoner because Potiphar’s wife was fond of him and trapped him for refusing to betray her teachings.
In prison he manages to unravel the dreams of a prisoner who was chief cupbearer and says he will be released and becomes cupbearer in the Pharaoh’s palace who also has strange dreams, and then the cupbearer remembers Joseph and he unravels the dream of the Pharaoh that was to store food (in the photo as was the map of this period).
Joseph’s brothers go to Egypt due to the shortage of food and they encounter Joseph, who recognizes them and sends them to prison, but ends up forgiving them and provides the wheat they need and says that everything happened so that he could help them
In a work of 4 volumes, the famous writer Thomas Mann (author of The Magic Mountain) wrote the story of Joseph, son of Jacob who is sold by his brothers, out of envy, as a slave to the Egyptians for 20 pieces of silver, the historical question of coins is important because they would only appear later, however gold and silver were already used in the barter business.
Thomas Mann’s work was written mainly to fight the Hitlerism that was growing in his country, it was not just about fighting against anti-Semitism, but mainly he perceived a growing authoritarian discourse present in Germany at his time.
Also the Brazilian Oscar Pilagallo in his book “The Adventure of Money” cites Thomas Mann and also Faust by Goethe in his work, and with this he tells the story of José.
In the context we have developed, the evolution of the noosphere, the importance of Thomas Mann’s text is that he manages to understand the Babylonian influence on Jewish tales, as well as after the Exile in Egypt they will also suffer influences, and later on from the Greeks and Romans.
The lesson we can learn from Joseph of Egypt is that God took a greater good out of an evil and redeemed Joseph’s brothers despite the crime they committed, the biblical story is not for those who think of revenge or hate, it is pure love the humanity.
The lesson of Esau and Jacob
12
Jul
There is a book by brazilian writer Machado
de Assis about two brothers, also called Esau and Jacob, one of whom was a monarchist and the other a republican, and who made their mother suffer because of the dispute between the two, the story narrated by Machado de Assis’s alter-ego, Counselor Aires, it deals with the struggle of the twin brothers Pedro and Paulo, in endless conflicts and reconciliations from their mother’s womb until the beginning of adulthood, and also their love for the young Flora Batista.
In the biblical narrative Esau is older and it also says that Jacob is born moments later according to the biblical interpretation “clinging to his sister’s heel”, by a strategy of deceiving his father (he dresses in furs because his brother had more hair) and despite the father Isaac recognizing the voice ends up deceived and blesses the son, in Jewish tradition the eldest is the patriarch who must follow the father in charge of the Hebrew people.
But Jacob will spend many years running from his brother Esau for having usurped him and when he goes to meet his brother he fights “a whole night with an angel” who, at the end of the fight, wounds him in the nerve of the thigh and he starts to limp after that, but at the end of the fight he gets what he wanted to “be blessed” despite what he had done (Genesis 32:26).
After the fight, the name Jacob will be renamed to Israel by the angel, which means the one who fought with God and the place of the fight that exists is called Penuel, near the ford of Jabbok (passage where the river is shallow), one of the tributaries of the river Jordan (photo).
The figure of Jacob has no historical proof, but the twelve tribes that are born from his descent, the famous twelve tribes of Israel, whose best known and cited in history and biblical narrative are to the north: Asser, Naphtali and Eastern Manasseh, in the center Manasseh, Dah, Zebulon and Ephraim, to the south: Judah, Reuben and Moab (from the desert), of the children of Israel still have Joseph (Ephraim and Manasseh), Benjamin and Levi, who were priests did not have territorial inheritance.
They formed a United Kingdom with different tasks, the official historiography registers it as the United Kingdom of Israel and Judah, since the descendants of David will come from the tribe of Judah, and registers it as in the period of 930 BC. to 730 B.C. when it was conquered by the Neo-Assyrians under King Shalmaneser V, who levied heavy taxes on the Israelites.
The lesson of Esau and Jacob can be read both for the current world polarization, and for “brother” peoples who fight for pieces of land and power.
Seeing far and blinding near
11
Jul
Recently James Webb’s special observatory
saw the most distant galaxy that man can ever observe, the galaxy called JADES-GS-Z13-0 (photo) is approximately 320 million years from the Big Bang, which for us is a great measure, for a universe of 13.5 billion years old means relatively a few seconds after the Big Bang (one of the theories of the formation of the universe).
On the other hand, we are witnessing an increasingly unstable, unfair, ruthless and dangerous world, and with a catastrophic nuclear danger close at hand, it seems that a good part of humanity treats everything as if it were normality, not caring much about the fate of the planet. and the civilizing process that is not stagnant, but regressing in frightening steps.
The strangeness of this discovery of the universe is at the same time that we find amounts of Carbon and Oxygen in these bodies, the same James Web discovered a little later that six more galaxies (Jades was discovered with another three “near”), which were very massive where bodies smaller than those found there were expected at the beginning of the Universe.
The discovery showed that they have masses of approximately 100 million solar masses, while the normal would be for younger galaxies smaller masses, our Milky Way for example “older” has a mass of 1.5 trillion solar masses.
Furthermore it is a nursery of stars, about three suns are born there every year, and their masses are poor in metals of chemical substances heavier than helium and hydrogen (remember that they are at the top of the chemical periodic table on the left and right ).
If this restores humility to the knowledge we have of the universe, the same does not happen with social scientists, anthropologists and paleontologists, who the more they discover about our origin on the planet, for example that Neanderthals and homo sapiens coexisted and even crossed paths creating a diverse humanity, little tolerant we are with races and cultures.
And intolerance means less peace, more dangers and now we don’t have stones, axes and bows, we have nuclear weapons and dangerous atomic power plants that are subject not only to human limits, but also to natural and geological ones.
The geosphere and biosphere depend today as never before in the history of the noosphere and on what we cultivate as a civilizing culture and as a vision of other cultures and races.
The dangerous limits of war
10
Jul
After a bombing killed civilians in the Lyiv region,
in the early hours of yesterday a plane bombing hit a school building that was used for humanitarian aid in the Zaporizhya region of Ukraine, killing 4 people and injuring 13 others since the beginning of the war. Russia denies having civilian targets, but the massacre in the Bucha region will go down in history (the current city of Mariupol in the photo).
On the other hand, the United States should offer cluster bombs, which mutilate and kill in the region where they are used, making a purely military analysis that the advances of the Ukrainian counteroffensive would happen more quickly.
In Spain, which will hold elections on the 23rd, defense minister Margarida Robles is against sending this type of ammunition, while Germany is against Ukraine’s entry into NATO, since in times of war a country cannot adhere to the treaty. .
The British Prime Minister followed the Spanish position, but told reporters that “we will continue to do our part to support Ukraine against the illegal invasion”.
Former President and Prime Minister of Russia Dimitri Medvedev has again referred to “nuclear armageddon” due to American support for war and position on illegal bombs.
The controversy with the Russian mercenary group Wagner continues, and the sending of new Russian troops in the order of hundreds of thousands to the front indicated that the group’s complaint that the generals omit the death toll is probably correct, and the number of War casualties may be higher than reported.
Certainly the number of deaths will continue and the nuclear danger is increasingly entering the world’s reports, judgment and balance are expected in the midst of a difficult situation in world history.
Mercenaries, Intense Combat and the Threat of Peace
03
Jul
The war in Eastern Europe remains a center of 
concern for world peace, after some advances by the Ukrainian army, Russia again advanced in the east in combat described as “fierce” and slow advances by the Ukrainians in the south, but there are threats around Europe’s largest nuclear power plant, the Zaporizhzhia that still worry.
The debates around the Wagner group, their real objectives and the dangers for both the Russians and the West follow, since their methods and interests are ruthless and cruel, and thinking that they could have access to the nuclear arsenal makes the fact even more dangerous. .
The pope sends a bishop for talks with the Russian Orthodox Church, which can also be a mediator, since it has access to Putin and the religious dialogue between the churches can favor a future peace agreement.
The involvement of NATO and its European allies grows with each new step in the war, and now Russian Chancellor Lavrov has gone on to say that Zelensky is a puppet, which intensifies the confrontation with Europe and raises the level of tension.
Until the beginning of the European autumn (spring here in the south of the hemisphere) the war should remain intense, but with little advances from side to side, the problem with autumn there and the proximity of winter is that it becomes more strategic due to the climate, the dependency on energy and a growing difficulty in moving on the ground, until then a peace strategy is important.
The world is waiting for some truce, but the scenario is increasingly complex, since the West, through NATO, is increasingly involved in the conflict, while Russian contempt and cruelty towards Ukraine grows with each combat since the loss of life intensifies the climate of animosity and the economic situation deteriorates.
The world and people of common sense are waiting for peace, for a negotiated solution and the resumption of peaceful life in the region, which would also improve the human condition in the world.
Internal Tension in Russia and Peace
26
Jun
On Saturday (24/06) there was an uprising of troops allied with the
mercenary group Wagner, of Yevgeny Prigozhin, owner of restaurants and catering companies in Russia, called “Putin’s Chef”, but he himself would like to be called a butcher for his cruelty of your troops.
Departing from the strategic military city of Rostov on-Don in the south of Russia and close to the Black Sea, therefore close to the coast where Russia invaded the territory of Ukraine, after the capture of the Russian military base, the group walked towards Moscow and on In a few hours I was only 200 km away from Moscow, which had already taken steps with barricades and there was even an explosion in oil tanks, in Voronezh, near Moscow (photo).
The shooting down of at least 6 aircraft and a helicopter was also recorded, however the entry into Moscow would not be peaceful and other bases would come to fight the rebel group, Putin considered it a “stab in the back” and initially condemned Prigozhin and his allies by ordering them to be captured and even gave a statement on state television.
With the intervention of the President of Belarus Aleksandr Lukashenko a negotiation was made, the terms of which are not clear, but which exempted Prigozhin and his allies from any blame and political asylum was offered in Belarus, and the troops retreated to avoid “a bloodbath” and by Saturday night the rebellion had already retreated from the bases of Rostov on-Don.
A Russian presidential plane was seen heading north, but local information is that Putin would not be on board, there were several analyzes and conspiracy theories, but the shooting down of aircraft and exile and agreement with Prigozhin demonstrate Putin’s internal fragility.
It is good to think that an eventual seizure of power by Prigozhin is more dangerous than the war waged by Putin, since he would have a huge nuclear war arsenal in his hands.
In the midst of a counter-offensive by Ukraine all this means more war and distances peace.
There is a lack of sincere pacifists who are not allies of dictators and cruel mercenaries, but we have hope that it will come if hearts and minds are disarmed
Phenomenology and the other
20
Jun
The Other is not a contemporary category, however how it is realized
from the Husserlian phenomenology is something entirely new, not by chance Heidegger, Husserl’s student and disciple thought ipseity thought the rooting of otherness in “ipseity” itself (Selbstheit) (which differentiates one being from another, refusing to think the “self” (Selbst) according to the categories of substance and “identity” (Identität), thus his ontology of the Other is entirely new (within philosophy) .
If we want to deal with identity, a category proper to a period of individualism and alleged finite totalities, we can say that in a more current modern anthropology, the “theory” of identity must be seen as giving the Other the “similar” aspect as a “human being”. ”, but defined as “diverse” and “unequal” in the set of interethnic, intercultural or interreligious relations.
It is this contact between different cultures, religions and even ideological identity positions, that the civilizational process is at stake, there is no lack of “influencers” and groups that encourage one type of culture in repulsion to another, treating the unequal and the different as “enemy ” and this does not even mean that they do not exist, in a war for example, but the negation of the Other.
There is no lack of philosophers who have dealt with the subject, we highlight Husserl’s phenomenology and its influences: Heidegger, Edith Stein, I highlight Paul Ricoeur (The self as an other) and Emmanuel Lévinas (Ethics and infinity) and Hans-Georg Gadamer (Truth and Method).
But also Habermas (The philosophical discourse of Modernity and The inclusion of the Other) and Byung-Chul Han (The expulsion of the other: Society, perception and communication today) which are very good for analyzing communication and society today, but without a clear view of Being as Being as in Heideger’s ontology.
Recognizing the Other as having dignity and deserving respect, even if in positions different from ours, is the remedy for today’s lack of empathy.
Hope for Peace and Tactical Weapons
19
Jun
In the midst of international attempts to broker the war in Ukraine, several
African countries led by South Africa through its president, visited Ukraine and Russia at the end of last week, the results are not hopeful, but each attempt at peace is a new impetus and international public opinion for a negotiated and diplomatic peace is growing.
In addition to the president of South Africa Ramaphosa, there were also the presidents of Senegal Macky Sall, of Zambia Hakainde Hichilema and of Camores Azali Assoumani, in addition to high Congolese, Ugandan and Egyptian representatives.
In Ukraine, in addition to conversations with President Zelensky, they visited the cemetery where hundreds of civilians from the city of Bucha are, one of the biggest massacres promoted by the Russian invasion, and there they deposited flowers.
At the end of the week, they visited Putin and heard the traditional rhetoric that Russia had no other way out for its security, and that the negotiation must include the territories conquered in the war.
The main concern of African countries is the delivery of grains from both Ukraine and Russia and that an international crisis can affect food security, especially in the poorest countries, which includes Africa.
Russia has sent “tactical” weapons to Belarus, its traditional ally in this war, stating that the objective is not to use them, but has the “tactical” objective of defending the borders including that of its Ally.
Sending fighter jets and tanks to war is one more fuel for Ukraine, and has already changed the nuclear scenario, countries that opted for disarmament and “green” policies abandon this perspective, an example is Germany, which increased for the first time since the second world war, its military budget.
But the internal propaganda of the State, which dominates practically all means of communication, is that with nuclear weapons Russia is stronger and will be able to use them if necessary.
The conflict has already crossed all borders, there are few countries that have not positioned themselves, however, the formation of a bloc that wants peace is fundamental for a mediated exit.
