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AN ATHEIST'S DEATH
After a short and relatively painless agony, an inveterate atheist
dies. Much to his surprise, it is not the eternal night, the dreamless
silence of the soul and the definitive dissolution of the conscience
that follows the termination of his body activities.
He wakes up instead, in a different place than that of his departure,
and in the company of other human beings.
The scenery that breaks before his eyes is quite a peaceful and agrestic
one: little woods, smooth green hills, here and there a small lake;
little one-storey wooden houses are scattered acroos the green with
no apparent scheme, and all around the area people, either chilling
out by themselves, or gathered in small and playful parties.
But above all, a lot of average space between each human being. Not
a densely populated region at all.
As the spot where he regains consciousness happen to be at the end of
a small queue of some four people, he decides that, given the circumstances,
there are not much better things to do than to wait for his turn. To
greet him at the end of the short wait is an archangel, who, after a
quick look at a big registry book laid on his table, informs him: “Welcome
to afterlife. In your lifetime you have stubbornly refused to affiliate
to any established religion, you have dismissed any irrational explanation
to the mystery of existence among all those that were repeatedly offered
to you from the priesthood and the sacred books, and because of this
conduct you have been assigned to Hell”.
“Hell – the atheist thinks – so this is it; I would
have never expected it, but here I am, facing eternal damnation. Well,
not much else to do but go with it”.
His reply to the archangel is firm: “All my life I have been faithful
to myself; I have lived according to the needs of my inquisitive spirit,
and I have been passionately committed to the search for my personal
freedom. I have no regrets, and I am ready to accept the consequences
of my choices. Take me to Hell, and so be it”.
“Oh, but this IS Hell - is the archangel's reply – in fact,
if you give me a minute to close today’s registry, I’d like
to show you a bit around”.
Our hero is puzzled, and not sure what to think, but he decides to play
the game for the time being.
“Before you start building you own hut you should go and check
one of the existing ones out: many times people just move to a different
area, and there are always empty dwellings available around.
“That there is the tennis ground, if you’re into this sort
of things, and on that pier you can just help yourself to any of the
anchored boats to go fishing on the lake. There there’s the open
air cinema, plus few small projection rooms for private views. We have
an amazing collection of movies here; in fact we have ALL movies that
were ever made. Me, personally, I like to hang around live music venues
better; there are about fifty just in this sector”
The resurrected is beginning to make sense of all this: “I know
what’s going on: he wants me to taste all earthly delights for
the last time, to make my damnation even more bitter; he wants me to
beg for mercy... But he’s not going to have it: I’m going
to stand straight and face my destiny with courage”.
The archangel continues his little sightseeing: “You are welcome
to help yourself to any fruits on the trees, but as you have just resurrected
you must be starving, and you sure can do with a proper meal; besides,
I want to show you the restaurant. And, you must not let your first
day in Hell finish without tasting the fabulous wine that we produce
round here”...
As they rush towards their next stop they walk along the sharp edge
of a high plateau, and the atheist is suddenly distracted by a fearsome
view. The plain right below, as far as eyes can see, is an endless stretch
of sterile land, covered with huge holes in the ground, where thousands,
hundreds of thousands of people, screaming off their throats, are amassed
naked, devoured by flames.
He’s speechless, hardly able to blink, or move a muscle. Red eyed
and dry mouthed by the sudden wave of heat that just hit his face, he
shouts to the archangel, who’s way ahead and urging him to walk
on.
“That is Hell isn’t it? Damn you archangel, I knew this
from the start! Now you’re taking me for the last meal and then
this is what there is for me for the rest of eternity! Fire and pain!”
The archangel points to the plain with his thumb, avoiding looking at
it. “What, that? Oh no, no; those are the Christians: they...
they want it like that!”
4 THINGS I FEEL I SHOULD LET AS MANY PEOPLE AS POSSIBLE KNOW
1 – There is not, in
all medical literature, one seminal text stating and demonstrating that
HIV is the direct cause of AIDS. See what Peter H. Duesberg, and other
established medical personalities, have to say on the subject; go to
www.duesberg.com.
If you have further information on this topic, or indeed evidences that
what stated above is false, I would very much like to hear from you.
2 – Your hair does not
need shampoo; it is perfectly able to look after itself if you wash
it daily with straight water. If you stop bombarding your scalp with
shampoo, your head will look and smell like a garbage dump for a month
or two. This is because your hair has gone mad, and it constantly produces
natural fat without measure, just to have it completely wiped out with
the next shampoo. If you can put up with it, after a short period your
skin will find its natural balance, and start producing just the quantity
of sebum needed to keep your hair healthy, strong and good looking.
Shampoo is a con of planetary proportions. Use water. I've been going
on for over fifteen years, and so have many other people I know.
3 – Most washing-up liquids
work as well if diluted one to ten with water. You will have to use
a little more liquid, of course, but not ten times as much.
4 – If you can listen,
in details, what everybody else is doing, it means you are playing at
the right volume.
10 FRAGMENTS OF LITERATURE WITHOUT WHICH I WOULD PROBABLY SPEND
MY DAYS CLUNG TO THE ROOF BY THE FINGERNAILS, SCREAMING WITH TERROR
a retrospect - ezra pound (1918)
the preface - from the picture of dorian gray - oscar wilde (1891)
ambient music - on the inner sleeve of music for airports - brian eno
(1978)
l'arte dei rumori - luigi russolo (1913)
experimental music – john cage (1957)
the last 209 words of tropic of cancer – henry miller (1934)
wilhelm reich
the groucho marx letters
charmes de londres – jacques prevert (1952)
heaven and hell – aldous huxley (1956)
11 THINGS I HAVE LEARNT FROM 12 CONGA PLAYERS
from tata güinnes - to assign undivided beauty
to every single note
from francisco aguabella - to space up the two open
tones on the tumbao
from jorge alfonso - the demonic geometry of 5 drums
from daniel ponce - to make sense with 4
from eddie montalvo - the melody of 3
from “el panga” - to hit the congas hard
from jerry gonzales - how to cope with a lightweight
body
from mañenguito - to not imitate anybody
from paoli mejias - the importance of growing some
triceps
from eddie brown and bobbye hall -
to back up the backbeat
from bobby thomas junior - to swing the jazz
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