For the last several years, and with no particular purpose other than a desire to meander through reflection, I have taken the period between Christmas and New Years Eve to produce a summary of the slice of the year to which I paid attention through epigrams and aphorisms. It follows an end-of-year tradition I started in 2016 (for those see here), 2017 (for these see here), 2018 (for those see here), 2019 (for those see here); 2020 (for those see here); 2022 (for those see here); and 2023 (for those see here).
2023 was the year of belief, of the believer, and in the believing. It was the year in which one could personalize truth --my truth conflated belief in a thing with the thing itself. And it became a marker--not of the thing itself but of faith and loyalty to the holder of this personalized belief-truth. In 2023 it became clear that the suzerainty of the Enlightenment was now contested even as its own nature was being interrogated away by its feuding factions. 2023 was, in this sense, the year of total war in the sense of conflict at virtually every level of human relations. Nothing is now uncontested. And all of the old prejudices, tactics, ploys, tropes, are on display as they are hurled into the battles among those who would claim not merely the rights of the suzerain but also that of the high priest. Yet these trajectories appeared poisoned as well by addiction, by desire, and by the irrational. Belief here is not merely the exercise of a rational faith, but the eruption of passions and lusts which, in their own way, assert the sort of control that in its 21st century manifestation is increasingly played by our rich investment in pharmacopeia of the body and of the mind--that cornucopia now provides the ambrosia in the service of which and in the expectation of uninterrupted access to that sustaining elixir, some sectors of the human collective have sworn fealty.
At the start of this year I noted, in passing on the Annual Oracle of the Ifa practitioners of Cuba, that this was to be the year of Obatala (The Orishas Speak: The 2023 Letter of the Yoruba Association of Cuba (Letra del Año para el 2023 de la Asociación Yoruba de Cuba) and My Preliminary Interpretation
). "For
2023, there is something new and something old. Working through the
semiotic signification embodied in Ifa and the ruling spirits one can
translate the fundamentals of the 2023 oracle this way: Obtalá returns as the ruling sign--but with a vengeance. " Obatala
is the essence of rationality and irrationality. Obatala represents the
highest form of rational creative potential as well as its basest forms
of dissipation. Obatala in 2023 was reinforced by Oshun, the essence of fertility, wealth--and passion. Passion that served as an intensifier of the positive and negative gyrations of the rational irrationality that marked the year.
And 2023 did not disappoint. It
was a year of the passionate and dispassionate believer; and it was the year that belief, again, became the primary addiction of the human collective and its social relations. However presented, in whatever fancy dress it might be offered up. . . .and consumed by humans who appear to have been starving for its nourishment. It was a year in which the only belief worth having, was in the passionate/dispassion of the believer. If the year had a credo, it might be this (with apologies for the inelegance of the Latin text):
Quod ex fide;
Quod formare omnia potest;
Veram formationem dant desiderio meo;
Vera illa imago fidei meae communitatis est;
In quo absurditas rationis essentiam format;
et appetitus formae rationis;
Fides autem in sua transmissione est;
Credentia autem in sua logica et veritate est
I believe in one absurdity
That emerges from a faith;
That can shape all things;
That give true formation to my desire;
That is a true reflection of my community of faith;
In which absurdity forms the essence of reason;
and desire reason's form;
And faith is in its transmission;
And belief is in its logic and truth
And it is in that spirit, of belief and the believer, of the insistence of the human spirit to be human despite its best efforts, of the spirit of 2023, that the epigrams and aphorisms that follow are offered. Each aphorism links to a essay written during the year. This first set focuses on the manifestation of belief formed from out of its etymological roots: to desire, esteem, trust (to make these real). It is in the context of desire and its manifesting, that the highs and lows of 2023 begin to emerge.
Links to the 2023 Year End Ruminations here:
Part 1: I believe I believe I believe;
Part 2: The Human Spirit Spirited Away
Part 3: The Masses Must be Educated!
Part 4: The (Re)(De)(Trans)(Con)volution will be Televised!
1. Facts intensify belief; and belief intensifies fact by the force with with a believer projects belief in the facticity of a belief; a fact, as such, is the unexplainable manifestation of belief.
When Academy Awards boss Bill Kramer recently applauded comedian Chris Rock for speaking “his truth” about being slapped by Will Smith at the 2022 Oscars ceremony, he used a turn of phrase that is fast becoming a part of everyday speech around the world.Take Oprah Winfrey’s interview with Prince Harry and the Duchess of Sussex Meghan Markle, for example. Oprah asked, “How do you feel about the palace hearing you speak your truth today?” Or consider Samantha Imrie, a juror in the civil lawsuit over Gwyneth Paltrow’s role in a 2016 ski accident with Terry Sanderson. Asked about Sanderson’s testimony, Imrie replied, “He was telling his truth […] I do think he did not intend to tell a truth that wasn’t his truth.” (With so many people speaking ‘their truth’, how do we know what the truth really is?)
2. Belief is the concrete manifestation of a desire to make the world in the image of that desire; the more a thing is desired the more likely it can be manifested in the objective signs captured by desire.
Journalists and researchers are still piecing together a full picture of what caused a massive explosion at the Al Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza on Tuesday. The blast killed hundreds of people, many of whom were reportedly sheltering from bombardment elsewhere. . . . As more evidence has emerged, including photos of the blast site and videos from the time of the explosion, the majority of independent analysts say the damage is not consistent with a standard Israeli airstrike. But in the immediate aftermath of the tragedy, the shifting accounts in news outlets and the rapid spread on social media of unverified information, old videos and bogus eyewitness accounts fueled speculation, suspicion and outrage — and, experts say, are making it more difficult to establish accountability for the tragedy. Even before evidence was available and fully assessed, many people had already made up their minds about whether Israel or Palestinians were to blame for the carnage. Protests broke out across the Middle East and a planned summit between President Biden and Palestinian, Egyptian and Jordanian leaders was canceled. (Fake accounts, old videos and rumors fuel chaos around Gaza hospital explosion)
3. Belief in the essence of an individual or object is projected onto the facts through which the individual is constituted or in which the individual is thought to shape the world around them so that each fact is transformed from a thing into a confirmation of the fundamental belief around which facts revolve.
The Business of Facilitation and the Presumption of Corporate Untrustworthiness; The Norwegian "Guiding Cases" in Delek Group, Sumitomo, and KDDI ("Critically now, presuppositions of corporate untrustworthiness appear to serve as an unspoken parameter guiding the scope and application of the analytical project of quasi state organs like the Norwegian Pension Fund Global Trustworthiness has become, indeed, an important principle that has been a key element in the constitution of Chinese "Social credit" systems. But in liberal democracies, it is meant to reflect, in jurisprudential analytics and interpretation, an ideological belief in the character, motives and behavioral compulsions of economic enterprises--at least when measures against the desires and lusts of states and non-governmental organs. * * * There is an underlying presumption that is worthy of some interrogation-that companies cannot be trusted but states can; or put differently that public institutions are more trustworthy, legitimate, and authoritative than private. Not that this presumption is irrational--but at the same time it is a presumption that eviscerates context and that drives a number of important European initiatives, including the so called Business and Human Rights Treaty and the legalization of the UN Guiding Principles 2nd Pillar. As political choices those are as good as any other. Bit their justification might not be as sturdy as the rhetoric on which those presumptions are built. In the case of Sumitomo, Norges Bank chose to avoid the presumption and placed Sumitomo under observation. Effectively, Sumitomo will have a form of due diligence reporting to undertake in addition to other diligence obligations. That leaves the issue of coordination and conflict for another day--and a different body. ")
4. Hearing is believing; hearing makes it real; especially where the hearing is implausible but desired.
New Yorkers are getting robocalls from Mayor Eric Adams speaking Mandarin, Urdu or Yiddish, even though he doesn’t actually speak those languages. City Hall is using voice cloning artificial intelligence to create audio public service announcements that sound just like him. (Greetings from Mayor Adams, generated by AI, in different languages)
5. Seeing is believing; believing makes it real; especially where technology can create the visual in a virtual space--it is desire that makes the virtual not just real but a truthful representation.
Deepfakes are becoming more popular; you’ve probably seen them in movies and on social media. Now they are even being used to commit crimes."What a Deepfake is is an image that is created by AI that's manipulated and fabricates a person, a place, or an event,” said Matt Gaydos, Bossier Parish sheriff's public information officer.Rafael Valentine Jordan of Bossier City is the first person arrested in Louisiana on those charges. He was arrested in late November for child porn. Days later, police found evidence that Jordan used deepfake technology to create 436 images of child pornography, Gaydos said. He was booked into the Bossier Maxium Security Faciility on a $880,000 bond.
Deepfakes aren't illegal unless used to commit a crime, like deepfake child porn or porn of someone over 18 who did not consent. It's already illegal in Texas, and now Louisiana is among the growing list of states where it's a crime. “It was enacted this year. A lot of people aren't familiar with it, even law enforcement; we're still learning. We're still trying to apply it to cases when it comes up, if it's applicable," said Gaydos.
The Bossier Sheriff's Office was the first in the state to enforce this law when it came to charges of deepfake child porn. “Child sexual abuse material has been illegal forever. However, Louisiana's never had it illegal where it was CGI, or computer-generated, or deepfake, if you want to call it that, imagery depicting children that is so realistic. It's hard to tell the difference when you see it at first. But it looks like child sexual abuse material," said Tim Wooten, Bossier Parish sheriff's digital forensics unit.
Bossier authorities are warning people to be careful when using AI. “It's really important that people understand that when you're going on to make and create AI stuff, be careful of what you're creating and what you're clicking on. If you don't know what it is and you click on it by accident, the best thing to do is, if something crazy pops up, notify us immediately so that we know that your intent is not to look at it, not to possess it." Unlawful deepfakes depicting a minor can land you in jail for 5–20 years. At least 5 years will be served without the benefit of parole, probation, or suspension of sentence. The other charge of unlawful deepfakes of someone over 18 who did not consent comes with anywhere between 10 and 30 years in prison. (Bossier man arrested for first deepfake charge in Louisiana)
6. Facts are incantations of belief; belief is the intensification of desire that signifies everything around it; one does not see or understand things and events--one intensifies one's belief in what one must see; in this sense, facts are the consummation of desire.
"American and Ukrainian military leaders are searching for a new strategy that they can begin executing early next year to revive Kyiv’s fortunes and flagging support for the country’s war against Russia, according to U.S. and Ukrainian officials. he push for a fresh approach comes after Ukraine’s monthslong counteroffensive failed in its goal of retaking territory lost to the invading Russian army and after weeks of often tense encounters between top American officials and their Ukrainian counterparts."(U.S. and Ukraine Search for a New Strategy After Failed Counteroffensive)
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