WHO IS THIS GUY CALLED ARIEL?

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Thursday, December 15, 2005

FIESTA. PART TWO

Alex read his story, and he thought it good. He recalled so much of his last holiday in Spain: recalled it sights and sounds and that unique Spanish odour of sunshine and hot herbs; of wood smoke in the autumn and spring air; and that sense of time suspended, for truly it seemed to him that Spain existed within its own time capsule. And soon now he would return to that land that he loved so much. The bells’ clangour filled the air, making his ears ring, and the youngsters paraded up and down the... Sign in to see full entry.

Wednesday, December 14, 2005

FIESTA, PART ONE

What I like doing, perhaps most of all in my writing, is to write a story-within-story, such as this one. “ The Lovers ” was the first story that I’d ever written, so it has a special significance for me, and I’ve made it the first part of trilogy of the same name. After coming to live in the mountains, near the small town of Periana, in Andalucia, and attending the many fiestas, ferias, and even funerals, this story seemed to come quite naturally to me. Like a few other things that I’ve... Sign in to see full entry.

Tuesday, December 13, 2005

THE SILENT HEALER. A REPOST FOR ALL YOU SICK PEOPLE OUT THERE

I have read in so many posts and comments about bloggers feeling ill; under the weather, or suffering from some aliment or other, that I’ve decided to repost this piece that I posted back in ( I think, July ). Lady Ariela and I have used a variety of Aloe Vera products for decades now, and they really do all that it says in my post. Synergy is the process whereby substances, often only in trace quantities, in combination with others have cumulative powers greatly out of proportion to their... Sign in to see full entry.

Monday, December 12, 2005

A HEALTHY DIET, PART TWO

To read the 18 th and early 19 th century diaries of Parson Woodforde, of Norfolk (England ), is to gain the impression of a gormandising hog, gorging and swilling his way to an early grave, but in fact he had a long, fulfilling life, and in this he was in no way untypical of the age in which he lived, and his daily diet was roughly typical of people on his income: £400 per annum. It is interesting – and is an indication of how little bread was eaten at his Rectory – to note that Woodforde’s... Sign in to see full entry.

Sunday, December 11, 2005

A HEALTHY DIET, PART ONE ( A reworking)

In recent decades, dietary science seems to have degenerated into an endless quest for ever more substances in the human diet which can be said to cause some disease or other. There is now hardly any food which is ‘safe ’ to eat, and fats and sugar are looked upon by the credulous as highly toxic substances – roughly on a par with dioxin, or plutonium. And hardly a week passes that something that was formerly held to be good for you is now found to be bad for you; and vice versa. The public have... Sign in to see full entry.

Saturday, December 10, 2005

THE EMISSARY

He sat on the Underground train, the vibration awakening ages old aches in his brittle bones. Tall and gaunt, he was skeleton thin, his clothes were old and shabby, hanging slackly on his frame, so that he resembled a scarecrow. He sat thinking: this one would be easy, because it was time. With others it was hard; when it was not time, and especially when they were babies or young children. Then it was hard, and could be soul destroying. He was tired to his very soul, but there could not be any... Sign in to see full entry.

Friday, December 9, 2005

THE SAGA OF ARIALA'S AWESOME RUBBER SPOON. DO NOT READ WHILE ALONE!!

My face assumed a deathly pallor, when I saw the lady, Ariala, rubber spoon in dainty hand, stalking through the Blogit land. Honest! “ Hist!” I gasped, “ Can she see us?” But she was stalking Odysseus; and she cast ne’er a glance at us, so why did we make such a fuss? I wonder. By the light of the gibbous moon, I saw Ariala’s awesome spoon; swinging hard, swinging fast, as that lady wandered past. Clearly. I could smell her hot ire burning: sense the rage within her churning; in her eyes I saw... Sign in to see full entry.

Wednesday, December 7, 2005

A CATHOLIC BOY'S LONG JOURNEY INTO ATHEISM. PART FIVE

In these posts, I have set out some of my reasons for no longer holding any religious beliefs, or being able any longer even to believe in such a being as the God of Christianity; and mine has truly been a long journey into atheism. But the most lethal rocks upon which the vessel of my Christian, Catholic, beliefs foundered were those of free will in God-created Man; and Christians’ selectivity in their beliefs, and their contemporary attitudes to sin. It is in these two subjects that Christian... Sign in to see full entry.

Tuesday, December 6, 2005

THIS BLOGGER INTENDS TO BECOME A SERIAL RE-POSTER.

A post in Blogit is an ephemeral thing, having a shelf-life of at best a mere few days, and during my time here ( since July of this year ), I have noted what I perceive – possibly mistakenly – to be an inhibition about re-posting work. It’s as if its felt to be … what? Dishonest? Cheating in some way? I don’t know, but I wonder why this should be so. I am sure that I’m not alone – not the only guilty one – in not trawling down the length of someone else’s blog to read previously posted pieces:... Sign in to see full entry.

Monday, December 5, 2005

THE SPANISH INQUISITION. FINAL PART

The incalculable wealth of Spain’s empire did nothing to alleviate the lot of the population, but rather went to fund the lifestyle of the monarchs and nobility, and to build one grandiose religious or secular building after another. In the Middle Ages, the population of Spain was approximately 14,000,000, but by the 18 th century it had fallen to just under 7,000,000; most of them living in conditions as bad as those of mediaeval times. ( Even as late at the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War in... Sign in to see full entry.

Sunday, December 4, 2005

THE SPANISH INQUISITION. PART NINE

The power of the Inquisition waxed and waned according to the strength or weakness, and the piety and religious bigotry of the reigning monarch: and his or her dependence upon it for finance. With that nauseating hypocrisy that was so typical of the Inquisition, when the Treasury was depleted confiscations became more severe, and more wide-ranging. Throughout its history the Inquisition was the second power in the land: a state-within-a-state; only the monarchs themselves immune from its baleful... Sign in to see full entry.

Saturday, December 3, 2005

THE SPANISH INQUISITION. PART 8

We have concentrated upon heresy in these articles solely for the purpose of brevity; but it must be remembered that the Inquisition awarded merciless punishments for other crimes. These included incest, adultery, bigamy, homosexuality and perjury ( dealt with particularly severely when committed during an Inquisition inquiry, no doubt for the embarrassment that it caused the Inquisitors ), along with a whole host of secular crimes. Foreign seamen and other travellers who strayed into Spain or... Sign in to see full entry.

Friday, December 2, 2005

THE SPANISH INQUISITION. PART SEVEN

Once the torture had “ proved ” the victim’s guilt of heresy, an auto de fé was held, at which sentences were passed and carried out, and these were held in circumstances of such pomp and ceremony as had not been witnessed since the days of the Circus Maximus in Rome. In order to impress upon every citizen the power of the Inquisition, they were held on Sundays, on days of fiesta, or one of the Church’s holy days. They were also held to celebrate notable occasions: such as a coronation; a visit... Sign in to see full entry.

Wednesday, November 30, 2005

THE SPANISH INQUISITION. PART SIX

Ferdinand V and Isabella 1 were determined that their Spanish Inquisition should be far more zealous, unrelenting and cruel in its suppression of heresy than the Roman ( or Papal ) Inquisition that existed elsewhere. Pope Sixtus 1V gave them the power to appoint three bishops to oversee the running of the Inquisition, and to replace or dismiss them at will. In reality power was vested in the monarchs and Torquemada. ( Ferdinand was subsequently to defy Popes in a manner that in anyone else would... Sign in to see full entry.

Tuesday, November 29, 2005

CATHOLIC BOY'S LONG JOURNEY INTO ATHEISM. PART 4

As I noted in my last post, religious beliefs are either selected, or are selected for, or imposed, upon one. Human nature being what it is, acceptance of such beliefs has an unfortunate tendency to close the mind to all doubts as to their validity; and even more to the voice of the non-believer. But, as will be noted below, even this adamant refusal to question one’s beliefs, or to heed the voice of dissent is invariably highly selective. Study of the various cave paintings, and other... Sign in to see full entry.

Sunday, November 27, 2005

A CATHOLIC BOY'S LONG JOURNEY INTO ATHEISM PART 3

If I have not already made sufficiently clear what this series of posts on my atheism, and those on the Spanish Inquisition that run concurrently with them, are not, permit me to do so now. They are not an attack on Christians and their beliefs, for my condemnation is aimed solely at followers of all religions who propagate hatred and intolerance of others. They are not intended to undermine anybody’s religious beliefs, nor to convert others to atheism, for I feel that we all must establish our... Sign in to see full entry.

Saturday, November 26, 2005

THE SPANISH INQUISITION. PART 5

The Roman Inquisition was without parallel in human history. In the Roman empire, for example, ædiles (magistrates ) hunted down and persecuted Christians and other perceived dissidents, but only as part of their general duties. But the Roman Inquisition was the first organisation to be established, maintained and funded expressly for the purposes of rooting out heresy, and punishing the heretic. The Spanish Inquisition was to build upon this foundation a vast edifice of power that was to be... Sign in to see full entry.

Friday, November 25, 2005

A CATHOLIC BOY'S LONG JOURNEY INTO ATHEISM. PART TWO

Firstly, I would like to offer my thanks for all who left kind comments during my absence yesterday, and to hope that you all had a good Thanksgiving, preferably in the bosoms of you families. Although, as an Englishman, I do not celebrate this festival, my thoughts at that time were with my many American friends – Christians and non-believers alike – and I believe that we should all give thanks for our manifold blessings. I was fourteen years old at the end of the greatest, and most savage war... Sign in to see full entry.

Wednesday, November 23, 2005

ARIEL WISHES ALL HIS AMERICAN FRIENDS A HAPPY THANKSGIVING

An don't go stuffing yourselves so much that you can't blog! 'cos I want to read lots of interestin' stuff when you get back! Give Sign in to see full entry.

COSTAS, A REPOST AS A CHANGE FROM ALL THIS SERIOUS STUFF!

I've been tied up in a lot of them goldarned Life things today, so I haven't been able to finish the next part of my series on the Spanish Inquisition, and my atheism pieces, so I offer you this instead. I hope you like it Not for me the costas; those hideous concrete labyrinths; those Babels of foreign tongues, where the briny sea air is ubiquitously redolent of frying fish and chips, and loud with children’s shrieks. Not for me those lands of black socks with sandals; of hideous, obscene tee... Sign in to see full entry.

About this Blog

Fiction, poetry, articles and a whole lot of other Ariel's stuff ; musings and ponderings ; they're all here, and i hope you'll find something here that you like. But I have a deeper purpose in mind. See, reading the papers and watching TV, it's so easy to think that the whole world's motivated by racial and religious hatreds of various kinds. Well most of us aren't, are we? We ordinary people are moved by love and compassion for our fellow humans ; and respect and tolerance for their differences. It's true that all that it takes for evil to flourish is for good men to do nothing, so we who are motivated by love have a duty speak out against the evils of the world ; not to be ashamed of our histories, nor embarrassed about being and saying clearly what we are and what we believe. If we don't learn to love each other, we'll perish. Although I am an atheist, my guiding principle is, and always has been, Christ's adjuration to " Love thy neighbour as thyself"

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