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Arquivo para a ‘Cognition’ Categoria

True asceticism

13 Feb

There are no clear definitions, neither in psychology, nor in sociology or morals, of what constitutes true balanced joy, or it deviates towards euphoria which involves maintaining joy at high levels, which is not possible all the time, or its compensation, which is to decrease to nostalgic and low levels that cannot be more than contentment.

Also in philosophy he spoke about joy and euphoria, derived from the Greek (euphoria) which means to easily sustain what is carried (phoros), but the term appears in modern terms in 1875 to refer to the contentment experienced by morphine addicts, being also characteristic of what is called bipolar disorder.

Everything depends on the desire for human elevation to a stage where being higher is sustainable (charged – self + phoros), so an ascent, an ascesis, can be assumed.

Peter Sloterdijk conceptualized current society as having a despiritualized asceticism, of course its spirituality does not refer to a cult or defined belief, but he questions that this climb today is without spiritual support, without a true asceticism.

The metaphor that Sloterdijk uses of the spheres, once again with explicit allusions to Heidegger, referring to the constructions of the intimate and immunological spheres, is that of the house (Haus or Gehäuse), it is not only a place that offers protection, but also constitutes a psychic, spiritual and intellectual sphere for this “ascesis”.

There is no climb without effort, and often without sacrifices, and there is no climb if it is not going to the top, so asceticism is not an exercise or training, but a practical life of ascending.

Therefore, joy without effort for life, for daily bread, for human and not just material progress is false asceticism, it has no support, it collapses after “exercise” and if it can be compared to climbing a mountain, you must remember to support it at the top when descending.

Speeches, apotheoses and vertigo are almost endless pursuits these days, catchphrases do not produce life, they do not give people joy and lasting peace, possession of false wisdom, false joy and elevation, because they collapse the next day in the face of reality.

Promises of earthly paradise, enrichment and consumer goods are nothing more than euphoria, false asceticism, the possession of a good does not necessarily mean happiness and inner peace, which all men desire, even more so these days, a little bit of lasting peace and joy is only possible with true asceticism, without giving up the goods of life and mutual respect.

Joy will pass and an Ash Wednesday will come and then let us face the difficulties with courage and determination, a true ascetic knows every step they must take.

 

 

There is an inner Being

07 Feb

The philosopher Hannah Arendt had already developed the theme of Vita Contemplativa, and the Korean-German essayist Byung Chul-Han expands on this theme in his book with the same name, but we will only point out the new features there, including what he takes from Heidegger that It’s the disposition.

In Being and Time, Heidegger works on the verb stimmen, using the conjugation stimmung (which is translated as disposition) and also uses Gestiment-Sein (to be willing), but which in German is something like being in tune, being in tune with something and This modifies the concept of intention.

Literally disposition, a state of mind precedes any intentionality referred to objects: “Disposition has already opened up, however, being-in-the-world as a whole, and makes primarily possible a direction towards [something]” (Heidegger apud Han, 2023, p. 66).

Thus, the relationship with the external world, with objects, with beings and with everything that comes from outside the Being, means that we are disposed, says the text: “Disposition opens up to us the space only in which we confront ourselves with a entity. It reveals the Being” (Han, idem).

This vision transforms what we are and what we think, in spiritual terms, what the soul is disposed to and what it is directed towards from interiority, says the text: “The contemplative dimension that inhabits it transforms it into a correspondence. It corresponds to what “addresses us as the voice [Stimme] of being”, by allowing itself to be defined by it” (Han, 2023, p. 67).

Thus thinking becomes something other than logical articulation or narrative discourse: “Thinking means “opening our ears”; that is, listen and listen carefully. Speaking presupposes listening and responding. “Philosophia is the truly consummate correspondence that speaks attentively to the call of the being of beings. The correspondent hears the voice of the call […]” (Han, 2023, pgs. 67-68).

All of this seems excessively philosophical and in fact it is, but it means, as the author states, that something defined, and we have many pre-arranged definitions, is something that is condensed in our mind and our thoughts “in the pre-reflective scope”, I mean inside us.

So it is what we have inside, in our interiority that helps or limits us, says the author quoting Heidegger again: “If the fundamental disposition is left out, then everything is a forced cluster of concepts and shells of words” (Heiddeger apud Han, p. 68).

Thus, it is not the outside and what we take outside of ourselves that defines us, but what we have inside and that is why interiority is fundamental for any analysis.

 

HAN, Byung-Chul. (2023) Vita contemplativa: ou sobre a inatividade. Trad. Lucas Machado. Brazil, Petrópolis, RJ: Vozes.

 

 

Power and respect

02 Feb

Byung Chul-Han in his book The Swarm, clarifies that only respect has symmetry, that is, it can make the relationship one of mutual respect and recognition of what is good for everyone.

This is one of the greatest values ​​of social action, solidarity with those who for some reason made a mistake or had a deviation in their behavioral action, being allowed to return to social life and the hope of a new life.

It is necessary to experience something new, to resume a respectful relationship with the Other, and to social reintegration. This does not mean tolerating what is unacceptable, whether morally or socially, but having a new life experience of resocialization and reorganization of life. guys.

Power, when exercised only to repress and combat what is socially and morally reprehensible, should not be absent, it would be an omission and disorganization, but every human being and every person can and should be allowed their resocialization and social reinsertion.

Social life has deteriorated not because people make mistakes, this is typical of social and human life, but because resuming a respectful relationship, being patient in listening to the Other and allowing them to change is giving them hope and conditions to have a new experience. and respect.

The culture of exclusion, hatred and lack of forgiveness leads to a hostile society, the end of fair social relations and the path that provides the possibility for greater equity and justice for all. Exclusion thickens the broth of marginality, the culture of disrespect and gives rise to all types of polarization and confrontation.

A society without a return to a balanced social life, fair in all senses, including moral and economic, makes the development of a culture of peace and fraternity possible.

There is no way back, just imposing rules and concepts, often dubious and without an adequate practical reason (the Greek phronesis), becomes an ideological direction that is as hostile as what it condemns: authoritarianism and ignorance.

There is a lack of common sense, practical reason in all areas of society, from political to religious, the practice of distrust, discredit and disrespect for different thoughts, makes the field of authoritarianism increasingly present and the field of democracy and equality distant.

The practice of daily attitudes of good, of patient listening is the path for those who truly desire a more fraternal and supportive world, the practice of aggression and hatred does not lead to a real possibility of returning to the path of war and confrontation.

Those who say they follow Love and solidarity need to get out of words and into actions.

 

 

Happy 2024 and blog line

31 Dec

It is difficult to make a positive assessment of 2023, we expected some positive reaction from humanity in the post-pandemic where many died as a result of the worsening of collateral diseases caused by the coronavirus, we expected more solidarity and respect for human life.

Ukraine will start the year with a day of mourning due to the massive attack carried out by Russia that killed 39 people and injured 159 others, most of them civilians, the UN declared the attack “unacceptable” and the United States admits direct intervention in war through its troops, this would in practice represent the beginning of a 3rd. World War.

In addition to this crisis, there is the scourge of war in the Gaza strip and tension between Venezuela and Guyana.

The year is not yet over and this month the blog broke its record number of hits with more than 32 thousand and the new line where we delve deeper into the issue of the noosphere, based on Teilhard Chardin who coined the term, also the crisis of thought (we see that the philosophy is also experiencing a crisis) and which is the origin of the current civilizational crisis and Cyberculture, with ethical and social aspects that are deepened in readings of both the emergence of new technologies (ChatGPT, Bard, Azure, etc.) that enter the Era of Generative AI, in the LLM (Large Language Model) model.

The complex scenario requires reading a few authors who detect the golden thread of the current crisis, the idealistic model that comes from the dualism of Ancient Greece (being is and non-being is not), the centralizing and monopolizing state model (even the liberal model that grows in some countries continues to dictate centralized theories and models) and whose crisis affects the social body, culture and even religion where there is no shortage of false prophets, soothsayers and apocalypticists, this appeal grows depending on the severity of the time.

We leave a breath of hope, of certainty that it is possible to emerge from a crisis with balance, responsibility and a dispassionate look at problems, passion for life yes, but not that of fanatics and saviors of the country who contribute little or nothing to humanitarian and responsible for the human future.

 

Inform, symbol and connect

15 Nov

What was missing in the text of Crisis of Narration, there is also something wrong in “Infocracy: digitalization and the crisis of democracy in philosophy” (2022) of Byung-Chul, the idea that information is in itself incomplete, is present in another book entitled Vita Contemplativa (ed. Vozes, 2023) because there, returning to being, one can find how form becomes narration within being, and becomes in-form.

An excerpt from this book says: “The loss of shared feeling accentuates the lack of being. The community is a symbolically mediated totality. The symbolic narrative void leads to the fragmentation and erosion of society.” (HAN, 2023, p. 91-92). (emphasis added)

Thus recognizing this aspect of the need for being as a symbolic void, which the contemporary narrative in general does not contemplate due to its informational vices, at the same time the author states: “The human being, as a symbolon, longs for a sacred and restorative totality” (page 92).

The term symbolon appears prominently because the author uses it based on a reading of Plato’s Banquet, where Aristophanes remembers that this broken piece of being, which for him was initially spherical and was broken, has this broken piece with a “symbol”.

Now if symbol is a part, united to another part we form a totality, not just in a community, but in every “sacred and restorative totality”, where there are men united for a good and just cause.

Narrative and information in this context, where the part is united, as an important principle defended by Edgar Morin said: “It is necessary to replace a thought that isolates and separates with a thought that unites and distinguishes”, thus the union of distinct “symbols” and that are part of contemporary cultures and peoples.

Thus, the ontological information (proper to being) linked to the context of the narration in its time and the object of thoughts within a diversity, are not a reason for fragmentation but rather for a universe that unites us and makes us more “whole” within our lives. communities.

Contemporary hyperactivity, which not only but also the digital world can lead us to, is itself a world that rejects internalization, meditation and thus, narration itself.

The author writes about this interiority: “Active life, with its pathos of action, blocks access to religion” (page 154), action is part of religious life as much as lay life, what differentiates is that in addition to prudence, our reflections from last week, can lead to a different, fair action that leads to happiness and fulfillment different from pure “action”.

Pathos, to clarify, is part of the Greek triad “ethos, pathos and logos”, while ethos persuades us through character, or by whoever narrates, if this is worthy of faith, logos persuades us through logical (broad) reason and pathos by feelings caused by sadness or joy, love or hate, and so often without going through reason and ethics.

HAN, Byung-Chul. (2023) Vita Contemplativa or about inactivity. Trans. Lucas Machado. Brazil, Petrópolis: Vozes.

 

 

Unitas multiplex, networks and the beatitudes

03 Nov

Among the main concepts developed by Edgar Morin are cosmic Dasein (similar to Heidegger’s Dasein but expanded to the cosmic and similar to Teilhard Chardin’s Cosmic Christ), hominization and human identity, which is also linked to anthropolytic, but a fundamental and new is Unitas Multiplex.

According to Jean Ladriére Unitas Multiplex is “a system is a complex object, made up of distinct components joined together by a certain number of relationships”, and this both combines with the concept of social networks (not media) and Morin’s complexity, and Here we will establish a set of relationships with the biblical virtues of the beatitudes.

In a complex system, a certain number of relationships may be broken, what in social networks are called “structural holes” (Burt, 1992), weak ties (Granovetter, 1973) and small worlds of Duncan Watts (1998)

A system represented as a social network is a structure that connects nodes (forms a mathematical graph), generally each of these nodes are people, and links between nodes, representing relationships between these people (GRANOVETTER, 1973).

For Granovetter, bridges are links that enable weak ties, those that are on the periphery of the network or that are only reached by some nodes.

But neither the network theory nor the unitas multiplex theory establish the virtues that enable greater contact between these nodes, and as all these nodes can be reached, talking about empathy and bonds of solidarity is little, the biblical beatitudes can help.

Jesus climbs a mountain and speaks to a crowd of people, not just the disciples but everyone who wants to hear him (Mt 5:3-12):

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven. Blessed are the afflicted, for they will be comforted. [the weak ties]

Blessed are the meek, for they will possess the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be satisfied. [the strong ties]

Blessed are the merciful, for they will obtain mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. [empathy]

Blessed are those who promote peace, for they will be called children of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven!

Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward will be great in heaven” [keeping the net united to the mystical body or “cosmic dasein”].

It seems heroic, or utopian, but if we want a peaceful Homeland, it’s a good recipe.

 

BURT, R. S. The social structure of competition. In: NOHRIA, N.; ECCLES, R. G. Networks and organizations: structure, form and action. Boston: Harvard Business School, 1992.

GRANOVETTER, M. S. The strength of weak ties. American Journal of Sociology, Chicago, vol. 78, no. 6, p. 1360-1380, May 1973.

WATTS, D. J.Strogatz, S. H. (1998). “Collective dynamics of ‘small-world’ networks” (PDF), NATURE, VOL 393, 4 June.

 

About the modern and God

22 Aug

If it is true that the religious discourse of our days borders on insanity, it is also true that what modernity thought and still thinks about God is practically unknown.

Born to a family of Lutheran pastors, Nietzsche did not speak of the Death of God as his shallow reading thinks, they did not read the Gay Science where the philosopher proclaims “The mad man – You have not heard of that mad man who in the middle of the morning lit a lantern and ran to the market , and began to cry out incessantly: ‘I’m looking for God! I’m looking for God!’?” drink the sea entirely? Who gave us the sponge to erase the horizon? What have we done, in untying the earth from its sun? Whither is it moving now? Whither are we moving?'” is in §125.

He sought in the philosophy of the East: Thus spoke Zarathustra the lost mystique, but his work The Birth of Tragedy has striking passages where he shows the need to understand this way of understanding life, where he makes studies on the Apollonian and the Dionysian, where chapter 5 it is believed that this is where Heidegger starts to write the Origin of the Work of Art.

From Husserl’s Influence were born the philosophies of Heidegger and Edith Stein, who later became mystic, being Jewish became Christian and was a martyr in Nazi Germany, still under the influence of Heidegger is Hannah Arendt, whose doctoral thesis is “Love in Santo Agostinho”, although there are gaps that his contemporaries attest, it is a good read.

From Hannah Arendt came the meditations on Vitta Activa and Vitta Contemplativa, which the contemporary philosopher Byung Chul Han will take up again in his Society of Tiredness, not forgetting to touch on the Christian philosophy of Saint Gregory of Nazianzus (or Nazianzen).

He was strongly influenced by Peter Sloterdijk, who despite his atheism, in all his works the deep marks of the knowledge of Christian thought, claims the prophet Jonah to say that we all have a whale (Jonas when refusing his mission was devoured by a whale and returned to the beach) and a little Jonas, refuses our mission on this planet.

Byung Chul Han makes a very current diagnosis, he adds that the “modern loss of faith, which concerns not only God and the beyond, but reality itself, becomes radically transitory human life” (Han, p. 42) .

This is not a separate problem, it is an essential part of modern thought, refusal of the essential, adoption of the transitory, fleeting and frivolous life and of fleeting and ecstatic pleasures.

Han, Byung Chul. (2015) Burnout Society. Ed. Stanford Briefs; 1ª ed., Stanford, USA.

 

Limits and importance of testimony

11 Aug

The men who gave a great turning point in history and who made a difference in their time were those whose testimony influenced and often changed the course of history, what seemed inevitable was avoided, what seemed lost was clarified.

It doesn’t mean that they didn’t think and reason, but that they witnessed and lived first.

Mahatma Gandhi unleashed civil disobedience in his country, India, to encourage the struggle for the country’s independence from England, on August 15, 1947 it was won with violence being practiced only by the British colonizers.

Everyone knows Martin Luther King’s peaceful fight, but it was the gesture of a black woman who triggered his fight, the woman named Rosa Parks, who in Alabama, in 1st. In December 1955, she refused to give up her seat on a bus to a white man, she was arrested and forced to pay a $14.00 bail.

Nelson Mandela after leaving prison, and leading the end of the racist regime of “apartheid”, in 1994 becomes the first black president of South Africa, instead of “taking revenge” on whites, he proposes a new attitude, contrary to of the dominators and recreates South Africa with racial tolerance and the presidents that followed him were all black, in a demonstration that won the fight and disarmed his persecutors.

There is talk of the miracle of the loaves, but the most important thing follows later in the biblical narrative in Matthew 14, 22-24, he had dismissed the crowd that had eaten the loaves, the disciples got into the boat and Jesus withdrew to pray alone, then went walking to the disciples over the sea.

The disciples are frightened by this image, they say “it is a ghost”, but He says: “it is I”, Peter also wants to walk on the water, Jesus calls him, but he sinks, weak in faith, the witness not only requires truth and experience, but also a belief and cannot be distant from it.

More than the miracle of bread that satisfies the body, Jesus wants the miracle of faith, which satisfies the soul.

 

 

The clearing, the unveiling and Being

04 Aug

The clearing is a small space with light that opens up in the middle of the forest, Heidegger defines it in the philosophical sense as follows: “Destiny appropriates itself as the clearing of being, which is, as clearing. It is the clearing that grants the proximity of being. In this proximity, in the clearing of making room, man lives as an ex-sistent, without him being able to experience and assume this dwelling” (Heidegger, 1979), in this sense, the being appropriates a true and eternal “dwelling”.

The clearing is then the place of unveiling the Being, in its temporality of ex-sistent it experiences, due to its finite condition, a pleasant and sensitive dwelling, almost eternal, however temporary as an entity.

So the clearing comes from the human condition, and it is not just the divine Theophany, however the biblical narrative gives the human and temporal Jesus at a specific moment on Mount Tabor, we have already posted something on the subject, but in the sense of the asceticism of the soul, here one wishes to complete it in an unveiling.

As we posted earlier, it is possible both to reveal and to unveil human beings, in the first case a temporary understanding that is revealed (clarifies, but new doubts remain) and unveiling, often partially incomprehensible to human beings due to their cognitive finitude or a mystical asceticism whose details are often difficult to communicate due to the absence of appropriate words or metaphors, like a work of art.

In the biblical narrative, it is on Mount Tabor where a theophany occurs, it was not in the baptism of Jesus nor in the miracles that it happened, when climbing the mountain Jesus takes three closer disciples: John, Peter and James and before their eyes he is transfigured and appears next to Moses and Elijah, says the narrative (Mt 17. 2-3):

“And he was transfigured before them; his face shone like the sun and his clothes became white as light. Then Moses and Elijah appeared to them, talking with Jesus.”

The apostles feel the “clearing” and want to stay there and build three tents, then a cloud covers them, as in the tabernacle of Moses, they hear a divine locution and they prostrate their faces to the ground, Jesus calms them down and when they raise their eyes they see only Jesus and go down the mountain.

For non-believers, the biblical narrative is imaginary, but it helps to understand the unveiling.

Heideggger, Martin. (1979) “O fim da filosofia e a tarefa do pensamento”. In: Os pensadores. São Paulo: Abril Cultural, 1979, p. 79 (in portuguese).

Heidegger, M. (2003) The End of Philosophy, transl. Joan Stambaugh, 1st Edition, Univ. Chicago Press, USA.

 

The noosphere and oral culture

06 Jul

The period of oral culture predominated before 3000 BC, although there were scribes in Egypt, cuneiform writing in Mesopotamia and ancient Babylon, there was also writing in Ancient China and also in the civilizations originaries in the Americas: Mayans, Aztecs and Incas.

The form of dissemination of culture and, therefore, of the evolution of the noosphere was through prophets and oracles, whose main function was the transmission of oral culture and preceded literate and philosophical teaching, until we have a more notable turn in Greco-Jewish culture -Roman.

In biblical terms, according to Genesis reports, using genealogies presented in the bible, we can say that it is at least 6 thousand years old, but if we understand the narrative, Abel was a shepherd and Cain was a farmer, so this narrative begins at the moment when man becomes more sedentary and the civilizing process becomes clearer, the fact that Abel is a shepherd is symbolic for biblical language.

If this is a fact without historical proof and also Noah and the flood are still an eternal search for documentation, however their sons Shem and Ham can already be found in history, since the Semitic and Hamite peoples are registered in history, and Jafé who was to dwell in the tents of Shem.

The Semites were the dawn of the Mesopotamian cultures that peaked in Babylon (1792–1000 BC) and were later dominated by the Persians.

Prophets and oracles will be fundamental in ancient cultures, they should have a certain “divine” illumination so that history does not get corrupted and customs are changed.

According to Genesis 11, from the Flood to Abraham passed about 292 years, and from the birth of Abraham to the settlement of Jacob in Egypt passed about 290 years, ‘from Abram to the coming of Christ is about 2000 years, and then begins an era of written culture, and thus the gospels appear while in ancient Greece the Socratic and Platonic schools, since we know of Socrates through Plato and then the Aristotelian school, period that the schools and writings are fixed.

It is not about overcoming oral culture, but it appears together with writing, handwritten books, which later became famous for copyist monks, this period is called scriptorium.

Oral culture remains with native peoples, also among African peoples, printed writing will be a conquest of modernity, so to speak of schooling is to speak of modernity, and now we are in a new transition due to new media.