Eternal Present and History of the Present Time: Encounters, Controversies, and Possibilities

Abstract

On February 9, 1914, the ideal of an egalitarian society, represented by the Holy Brotherhood of monks José and João Maria, was interrupted by the bombing of the Holy City of Taquaruçu, led by an alliance of coronels, politicians, and military from Santa Catarina, southern Brazil. Almost a century later, this societal project resurfaced through the cultural group Renascença Cabocla, founded by descendants of the monks' devotees. This article investigates the continuity of the Brotherhood's religious and social values over time, highlighting Taquaruçu's role in the memory of the conflict known as the Contestado War and how the Renascença Cabocla group keeps these ideals alive in the present. Based on theoretical discussions about the history of the present and influenced by Gilles Deleuze's concept of temporality, the study proposes a reflection on the coexistence between the past and the present. Thus, it identifies in the ideal of the Holy Brotherhood, briefly lived in Taquaruçu, and in the Renascença group an "extended and sacred time" that transcends linear chronology. This approach suggests a revision of the "historical temporality" that guides the history of the present, introducing the notion of an "eternal time" - a continuous and expansive present, as elaborated by Deleuze when discussing the structure of the event between the times of Cronos and Aion. In this way, it proposes an expansion of the conception of historical time that, as a rule, guides the temporal notion that serves as the epistemological basis for the history of the present, as it has been debated and practiced today.