Living under suspicion, appearances.

 F. Nietzsche maintains, "appearance is the living reality itself acting that, ironically with itself, had come to make me believe that here there is nothing more than appearance, will-o'-the-wisp, dances of goblins and nothing else."

The installation of a 'truth', by whatever group it is, solely by the use of the power that they tend to exercise, leads to produce an incongruous situation, on the one hand the enlightened believers of possessing the truth and on the other the total skepticism of not consider that it is possible to reach a certain degree of veracity.

In the first case, the enlightened, José Rafael Herrera, expresses: “As is known, all senteces– is made up of a verb and a predicate. In Spinoza's key, verb is principle, substance. Predicate is attribute and mode. Preaching is the action of someone who pre-says, of someone who is empowered to anticipate what is imminent and says-it-before. He is, then, the one who warns, because his function consists precisely in preaching the verb, the truth that he already knows, because it has been revealed to him. The "bearer of the truth" anticipates the event, warns what is coming and, therefore, must take the forecasts and act accordingly. He is, all of him, "enlightened" by the effect of the spark, by the splendor of divine revelation. He is the radiance itself of the flash in the face of the bearer of the "philosophy of the pistol shot". And that was what Queen Isabella the Catholic of  Spain,could see in Torquemada's sullen countenance – and still smudged by the abrasive flashes of truth –: at the request of the queen, and by means of a bull from Pope Sixtus IV, the bruciante is appointed general inquisitor, directly dependent on the Spanish Crown. His cruelty and fanaticism against the “enemies of the Christian faith” –particularly against the Jews– are still an object of astonishment. Spain has paid dearly – and with it a good part of the Western world – the hatred spread by that sinister character, in the name of truth”. How many 'bruciantes', 'torquemadas', exist and are imposing their truths on the rest of society, as holders, illuminated by a superior being, of absolute truth.

At the other extreme, skepticism, which leads us to think that nothing is true, and that even this itself is not true either, leaves us unable to know, that knowledge, not even as a form of adaptation and mastery of nature is useless.

In antiquity, Plato already warned of the need to respond to this dilemma and in the "Allegory of the Cave" he expressed that the world we observe, which we call reality, is appearance. The true, the truth is beyond what we see, in another dimension, it is not in this world. If the truth is absolute, lack does not fit, it cannot be a part, it has to be the whole. So he solves it by creating a world of 'Archetypes', today we would say in another dimension, of which what we see are more or less similar copies.

Darío Sztajnszrajber, maintains “the question of truth moves between two poles: it exists and it is impossible, or it does not exist. Although it doesn't exist, you can't stop looking for it, but if it exists, it's not for us."

Aristotle maintained that 'the truth is hidden behind appearances, so it must be revealed'. Plato's archetypes were located in things, in reality, in essences, which must be apprehended, made conscious.

You have to look for the truth, it slips away from our gaze like a wild animal that feels the danger of being found and devoured.

“Doing philosophy is the permanent construction of an existential insecurity; we flee when we fight with the assurances of that numbness that we provoke at the same time, because we are looking for a knowledge that we know we will never reach”

Which means living in the appearance, in the shadows.

“The penumbra has the property of not allowing us to perceive where the darkness ends and where the light begins. Its gloomy circular presence does not allow us to accurately specify the beginning of one and the end of the other. Not without a certain risk - which, led by the hand by the temptation of its singular beauty, may well seem divine, like almost all risks - it is possible to read in the semi-darkness. The enchantment of the risk in question is saved by the fact of being able to perceive a certain magic in the blurred characters that suddenly come to life and that allow surprising, for the daring gaze, and behind the dead letter, nothing less than the Spirit: the Logos re-acquiring immanent reality, exercising the purity of the fire that is his being and that, at the same time, is not. Philosophy itself, that is, the one that carries an emphatic meaning, undoubtedly lives between lights and shadows for the sake of ideas. Only those who have penetrated the densest darkness can conquer the light of truth: "in the circle the beginning and the end coincide", observe, in the penumbra, the dark Ephesus (Heraclitus)."

For his part, Darío Sztajnszrajber said that currently "the real-apparent dichotomy is an archaic category, it makes no sense in the digital age" and that "technology does not destroy or improve human beings, it transforms them." , problematized the concepts of truth and lie in today's society”. “Post-truth has to do with lying, with lying to oneself. The opposite of the truth is not a lie, it is fiction, appearance, ”he said. In relation to what we conceive as reality, he assured that it is a social construction. “The most interesting thing is that the show of the show convinces. Everyone knows it's not like that, but it doesn't seem to matter."

J. A. López maintains that “perhaps this absent life that we lead, where the virtual gains ground on reality, is not so bad, deep down. We lose a dimension, yes, but we gain another. Perhaps we are not very present in the place where we are, but the photos and comments that we post about it build another that is similar to it. Isn't that, for better or worse, what we've always done? We create our own imaginary world - built with our perceptions, our impressions, our expectations... - and we develop in it as if it were real. In this game of "as if..." resides meaning, which is complete in itself, and is closer to us than the always fragmentary reality".

The search for a way to return to an objective reality, independent of the observer, is an effort that even scientists have to toil.

 

Thus S. Hawkins says: "Philosophers, from Plato to now, have argued over the centuries about the nature of reality. Classical science is based on the belief that there is an external real world whose properties are defined and independent of the observer who perceives them. According to classical science, certain objects exist and have physical properties, such as velocity and mass, with well-defined values. In that view, our theories are attempts to describe such objects and their properties, and our measurements and perceptions correspond to them. Both the observer and the observed are parts of a world that has an objective existence, and any distinction between the two is of no significant importance."...however "Different theories may describe the same phenomenon through frames different conceptual concepts”… and “David Hume (1711-1776) wrote that although we do not have rational guarantees to believe in an objective reality, we have no other option but to act as if said reality were true.” That is why he proposes “There is no image —or theory— independent of the concept of reality. Thus, we will adopt a perspective that we will call model-dependent realism: the idea that a physical theory or picture of the world is a model (usually of a mathematical nature) and a set of rules that relate the elements of the model to the observations. It provides a framework in which to interpret modern science."

About this we can say: “We have always lived in a parallel world: that of our fantasies, our fears and our hopes. Now we've made it faster and bigger. If this ends up dragging our life, and making it "liquid", as Zygmunt Bauman reflects, perhaps it is because we do not want to be in it, because we do not dare to stay and we prefer to run and run... Life was already an illusion, sometimes happy and others terrible.”

“The denial of the truth leads us towards a life devoid of facts. Which also denies knowledge, where there is no truth there is no knowledge. To later sink into ignorance of a reality, which ends up denying the facts. While the present is diluted between desires and illusions, which feed a life of collective unconsciousness. This is one of the realities in which the social masses develop. Domesticated and chained to an existence of darkness, which runs through the corridors of the labyrinths of shared ignorance. The truth will always be denied by the unconscious crowds, because the truth destroys their useless illusions and unfulfilled desires."

We are here faced with the loss of meaning of the category error.

There can no longer be truth, there is no possibility of confronting it with reality, since reality is illusion.

Everything is mere illusion, desire, penumbra, which hides the truth from us. Affirming something is taken as an attempt to install a lie, pass it off as the truth, without understanding that in order to lie it is necessary to know the truth. For lying is a moral concept. On the other hand, from a epistemological perspective, the error, the misunderstanding, are the opposite of the truth.

        And the possibility of 'conspiracy theory' comes to us. "The truth does not matter, but who can install it."

Reading of Jean Dubuffet in “Suffocating culture”.

Jean Dubuffet was an art theoretician, a dedicated worker of creative attitudes and a trusting observer of a multitude of individuals: the sick, the mad, simple people without culture, workers and farmers. Below expresses a disagreement -in his opinion- enormous, how much creative spirit are the teachers capable of granting the students? And because of what incapacity the process is interrupted?

“The teachers are perpetual schoolchildren, schoolchildren who, once their school stage is over, leave the school through one door to enter through the other, like the soldiers who are re-enlisting. They are schoolchildren who, instead of aspiring to an adult activity, that is, creative, have clung to the condition of students, that is, passively receptive, as if they were sponges. The creative spirit is as opposed as possible to the condition of a teacher. There is more kinship between artistic (or literary) creation and all other forms of creation (in the most common fields, trade, crafts or any manual work or not) than between creation and the purely normalizing attitude of the teacher , which by definition is not animated by any creative taste and must indiscriminately give its approval to everything that, during the long development of the past, has prevailed. The teacher is the cataloger, the homogenizer, the confirmer of what predominates, where and at the moment in which that which predominates has taken place.

Brazil geopolitics

Lula in China: "We are trying to balance world geopolitics"

President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva assured this Friday that he wants Brazil and China to associate to "balance global geopolitics" and warned that "no one is going to prohibit" the deepening of relations between the two countries, during the official visit made to his Chinese peer, Xi Jinping, in Beijing, who received him with the largest official State ceremony not recorded since before the pandemic.

 

The summit raised the level of the alliance between China and Brazil after Lula's return to the presidency on January 1, and resulted in the signing of 15 agreements between governments, 20 between companies from both countries, and a push to reduce dependence on the US dollar from bilateral trade and to form a peace club to stop the war in Ukraine, the Télam news agency reported.

 

Trade agreements

 

 

"No one is going to prohibit Brazil from perfecting its relationship with China," Lula said upon arriving at the People's Palace, where he was received by Xi for a bilateral meeting in which 15 agreements were signed in which, according to the Brazilian side, in the long term Chinese investments in Brazil for some US$ 10,000 million.

Lula made the statement when recalling that yesterday, in Shanghai, he visited the factory of the telecommunications giant Huawei, leader in the fifth generation internet (5G), objected to by the US.

For his part, Xi gave a boost to the figure of the leader of the Workers' Party that governs the largest Latin American economy for the third time. "China places relations with Brazil at the top of our foreign relations. You are our old friend and a good friend. It was with your attention and support that relations between China and Brazil achieved a great leap," the host praised.

 

According to Xi, "the Communist Party is leading the nation in a concerted effort to transform China into a great modern socialist country in all respects and promote national rejuvenation on all fronts through a path of modernization. This will unlock new opportunities for Brazil and other countries of the world".

 

The summit was interpreted by the Brazilian media as a strong message to the United States, displaced in 2009 by China as Brazil's main partner: Joe Biden's administration at the summit held with Lula in February in Washington did not secure investment and hardly offered US$ 50 million for the Amazon fund to encourage regional economies.

Geopolitics

Before seeing Xi, Lula met with the leader of the People's Assembly (Parliament), Zhao Leji. There he assured that world geopolitics must change supported by both China and Brazil, within the framework of his speech for the reform of international institutions and the need to trade in local currencies, leaving aside the dollar.

 

"It is together with China that we have been trying to balance world geopolitics, discussing the most important issues," said President Lula. "We want to raise the level of the strategic association between our countries, expand trade flows and, together with China, balance global geopolitics," said the Brazilian.

 

Lula was received by Xi at the People's Palace with military honors and by a group of children waving Brazilian flags to the rhythm of the song "New Time" by Brazilian musician Ivan Lins. This detail of a song made in 1980 that predicted the end of the military dictatorship was interpreted in Brazil as the closing of the controversial Bolsonaro chapter.

 

In the 49-point joint declaration, Brazil ratified the recognition of only one China, with Taiwan. Both countries also supported their initiatives to seek a negotiated solution to the war in Ukraine, although they did not detail the plans.

 

In 2009, during Lula's second consecutive term, China displaced the US as Brazil's main trading partner, and since then the relationship has grown with the export profile of raw materials, which is why Lula said he was looking for investments to create innovations with value. aggregate in Brazilian soil.

 

In the speech open to the press, which preceded the private meeting, Lula spoke of intensifying Brazil-China relations in areas such as science and technology, exchange of university students, cultural relations, strategies to combat climate change, clean energy, production electric cars and buses.

 

“I think my government's understanding of China is that we must work hard to create a Brazil-China relationship that is not just a relationship of purely commercial interest. Although the commercial interest is very important," said Lula, who even called for China's commitment to the energy transition and the reduction of polluting emissions.

 

At the South American level, China confirmed that it wants to deepen relations with Mercosur as a bloc, without reference to possible unilateral agreements that the Uruguayan government had encouraged.

 

Caring for the environment

“We are counting on China in our fight to preserve planet Earth, advocating for a healthier climate policy where people can breathe cleaner air and drink cleaner water. For this, an energy transition is extremely important so that we can produce cleaner energy, especially wind, solar, biomass," Lula said.

 

“Brazil has 80% of its energy totally clean and is committed at this moment, in my government, to achieve zero deforestation in the Amazon by 2030 to make our contribution to the preservation of the planet,” she continued.

 

Lula also took advantage of the speech to thank China for its support for the election of former president Dilma Rousseff as head of the New Development Bank (NBD), the bank of the Brics (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa), a tool for the corporation of the global south that seeks to be an alternative to the World Bank to finance development actions. This is Lula's third official visit to China.

 

The Brazilian Economy Minister, Fernando Haddad, said at a press conference that betting on China does not take away the importance that the US has for Brazil. However, he assured that there is a "divestment of American companies" on Brazilian soil, alluding to the departure of the automaker Ford, whose abandoned plant intends to be used by the Chinese electric car manufacturer BYD

 

"Lula wants Chinese investment to reindustrialize and the agreements are in that direction," said Haddad, who insisted that Brasilia works to encourage the use of local currencies in trade with both China and Mercosur. China also granted Brazil a US$1.5 billion credit line for the powerful National Bank for Economic and Social Development (Bndes).