Blog Marcos L. Mucheroni Filosofia, Noosfera e cibercultura

Manuel Alegre is a contemporary Portuguese poet when he was a military man in the then colony of Angola, he participated in the first rebellion that tried to free Angola from the yoke of his country (he was arrested by the PIDE, Salazar police), he won several awards, including the Camões Prize in 2017, he wrote “Jornada da África” in 1989, “Alma” in 1995 and “The third Rose” in 1998, between others of course, but his book that we reference here is “Raphael” (in picture used in figure of its cover).

During his period of exile after his arrest, he lived in Algiers, which is why he will refer to Rafael in the novel as someone who lived under different pseudonyms, sometimes he feels Spanish, Portuguese or Algerian, but Manuel Alegre’s deepest feeling is of a citizen of the world, nameless and looking for references.

In the Book Rafael goes from house to house, from hotel to hotel, changes his name, lets his mustache grow, wears glasses without lenses, uses a passport in hotels where he hides his citizenship and another to travel, in each new document a name and a different profession, he is clandestine within himself, he has lost his references and his own personal identity, he already is and he is not, he does not use his first name, he has four or five pseudonyms that he prefers, whether he is French, Spanish or Algerian, he is alone, not in the proper sense, as a solitary literature might wish, but as a member of an international brigade, he feels solidarity with it.

Ser e não ser has already been written by William Shapespeare, but in Manuel Alegre it acquires a contemporary meaning, the citizen of the world in solidarity with all peoples, I make here a mystical incursion, which is not in your book and which I consider important, not to be is also part of Being when we are in solidarity with other peoples, customs and cultures, and in my case without losing our own, also the name of the archangel Raphael is significant for me, in Hebrew origin El is God and Rafa is healing, so Raphael has the meaning God heals, here in the sense of a socially and culturally sick world for not recognizing other values ​​and cultures.

I know 23 countries, 4 in Latin America, 19 in Europe, especially Spain and Italy because of my ancestry, and Portugal where I saw more clearly all the influence in Brazil, but I still feel Brazilian and today’s debut day of the national team in the World Cup around the world I will be with neighbors and friends cheering for the national team, without this meaning hatred or contempt for other peoples and cultures.

Christian values ​​that are universal are those that promote fraternity among men and for this they make use of their so-called theological virtues: faith, hope and charity, among them it is charity that has the greatest precedence.
Without charity, an essential aspect of those who profess religious faith in the advent of Jesus, a feast that begins next week, whose culmination is Christmas, without this charity neither the greatest altruism nor the greatest virtue can achieve the true Christian faith.
In times of crisis men not only lose fraternity, in fighting for their own survival and vision of the world, they also lose hope and with this grows not only hatred, but also intolerance, fear and division between peoples and nations.
So it is truly heroic to continue to promote charity and faith, and at different times in history it has even been necessary to go to the point of martyrdom to keep them as values, it is not just the misunderstanding of Christian values, but of all human values ​​that come into play. game when hatred and division thrive in many ways.
Dangerous times as we remembered in the previous post can be particularly difficult.
When Christians are also attacked, this is where their true faith and values ​​are tested, says a passage from the Gospel of Luke (Lk 12:13): “Before these things take place, you will be arrested and persecuted, you will be handed over to synagogues [false temples ] and put in prison, you will be brought before kings and governors for my name’s sake. This will be the occasion when you will testify to your faith”, but the gospel promises divine protection.
Thus we are not immune to human difficulties and divisions, but we seek unity.

It is a fact that great changes and perhaps even revolutions are underway at this time in human history, however the interpretation of false prophets is earthly and not divine, since they only look at earthly facts, is there something divine also going on?

For those who believe there is always, but what is speculated in false prophecies is the end of the world or the new coming of Jesus (Parousia), says the apocalypse through Jesus when he asks when this end time will be (Rev 2,8-9 ): Jesus answered: “Take heed that you are not deceived, because many will come in my name saying, ‘It is I!’ and again, ‘The time is at hand.’ Do not follow these people! When you hear of wars and revolutions, do not be terrified. These things must happen first, but it will not be the end right away.”

Impossible clearer, but there is also something divine in the air, civil disruption has taken ethical and moral values ​​together, even the strictest justice seems to slip through authoritarianism and tendentious arrogance, the religious also seem confused, the politicians even worse, pure radicalization blends in with authentic proposals and values ​​of social change and appreciation for the most socially disadvantaged.

Thus, there is a picture of a civilizing crisis: market imbalances, great powers in economic, social conflicts and at war or close to it, absence of a study leader and international organizations that have confidence and credibility, everything is biased and polarized to the extreme.

In the religious field, more spiritual trends are becoming clear and others are merely political and earthly, in the Islamic world there is a lot of tension and the struggle for civil rights, in Iran there is a strong struggle for women’s rights, there are also tensions in the eastern world, in addition to the crisis in China and from North Korea, the ancestral and cultural values ​​of the East are also in check, although the official discourse denies this, young people already question it.

In Brazil, the political polarization reaches the extreme, the elections are questioned and before taking office there are already problems in the new PT government that should start in January, new road blocks and a new wave of Covid 19 is a concern again, the perspective understanding the transition between radically opposed policies is difficult not only in the executive branch, but also in the legislative and legal branches.

To those who believe, God always acts in the extraordinary, that is, what men and earthly values ​​do not reach, so something can be expected in the divine plan, but it is always totally different from human rationality, it is unpredictable and completely disconcerting for men, Who would have thought that Jesus was raised in a village called Nazareth, today it has 72 thousand inhabitants, in the time of Jesus less than 10 thousand.

For those who believe there is always a ray of hope, there is always a divine light feeding and clarifying human reality.