A masterpiece of the Latin-American imagination. Juan José Arreola is one of the greatest writers of the XX Century in Spanish, one of the first to dare to abandon realism. He is the greatest precursor of Magical Realism. As Professor George D Schade says:

Whatever the subject of his satire, Arreola most often achieves his effects by a deliberate jumbling of phantasy and reality, a mingling of the logical and the absurd, a blend of imaginative frivolity and Orwellian grimness. 

CREDITS

Produced and recorded by Gabriel Porras, professional voice artist at gabrielvoice.com and radiantwhispers.com

Translation by George D Schade for the University of Texas Press

Sound effect by Pixabay

For more of Arreola, listen to his “Bestiary”, also recorded by Gabriel Porras as "A book of fabled creatures" for radiantwhispers.com and available on all podcast platforms and at Soundcloud and YouTube.

The Switchman, by Juan José Arreola

Paul Kingsnorth is an English intellectual and environmentalist who has written novels, essays and poetry, contributing to publications such as The Guardian, The Independent, The Daily Telegraph, Le Monde, New Statesman, Granta and BBC Radio and Television. His spiritual quest was passionate and diverse. As he says, The Cross and the Machine is "an essay-length account of my journey from atheism to Orthodox Christianity, via Buddhism, witchcraft and other strange twists." 
It is a beautiful, lyrical and revealing text.
The Cross and the Machine originally appeared in First Things magazine: https://www.firstthings.com/article/2021/06/the-cross-and-the-machine

To read more from Paul Kingsnorth, visit his website paulkingsnorth.net and his YouTube channel. 

Programme recorded, presented and produced by Gabriel Porras, professional broadcaster at gabrielvoice.com and radiantwhispers.com.

Music: 
The Last Train, by David Roy, on artlist.io
Morning Mist, by We Dream of Eden, on artlist.io

Subscribe, comment and share this programme with others.

The Last Train

The Cross And The Machine, by Paul Kingsnorth

A billion women live under the shadow of Islam today (that's almost one in eight human beings walking the planet today). And all the evidence from fourteen centuries of Islamic history and theology points to the uncomfortable fact that Islam hates women. We examine numerous texts from the Qur'an and hadiths of Sahih al-Bukhari to illustrate the thesis. 

Credits and references:
Programme written, produced and hosted by Gabriel Porras at gabrielvoice.com and radiantwhispers.com

Cover:
Carte Portale 532 - Jeunes Filles Arabes, by Lehnert & Landrock at zeno.org/bildpostkarten/m/

Music:
"Broken", by Michael Vignola at artlist.io
"The Art of Listening", by Gnawledge, from their album Granada Doaba at freemusicarchive.org

Texts quoted from the Koran: 
Distribution of inheritances: 4:11 and 12.
Islam is the "perfect" religion for all mankind: 5:3 
What to do with women "who commit unlawful sexual acts" (and those who are raped): 4:15 and 24:2 
Men are superior to women: 4:34

Commentaries (tafsir) of Al Qurtubi, Al Tabari, Ibn Hajar:
https://wikiislam.net/wiki/Wife_Beating_in_the_Qur%27an

https://www.al-islam.org/tags/tafsir

Hadiths of al-Bukhari:
Most of the inhabitants of Hell are women, and they are deficient in intelligence and devotion:
Sahih Bukhari 1:6:301

It is not permissible to mourn a woman for more than three days:
Sahih Bukhari 1:6:310

Not to whip the wife as a slave:
Sahih Bukhari 7:62:132

The beaten woman who sought help from Aisha:
Sahih Bukhari 7:72:715

Hadith on the benefit of drinking camel urine:
Sahih Bukhari, Hadith: 233, and Sahih Muslim, Hadith: 1671.

Hadith on the wings of flies:
Sahih Bukhari 4:54:537 and also Sahih Bukhari 7:71:673. 

You can learn more about Bukhari here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sahih_al-Bukhari

Ayaan Hirsi Ali:  
Ayaan has written several books, among them "Infidel", about her own story and her flight from Islam, and "Heretic", about the reformation that Islam needs today. Visit his website here: https://ayaanhirsiali.com
The quote read comes from:
"Why Islam Needs a Reformation Now", http://www.openthemagazine.com/article/nation/why-islam-needs-a-reformation-now

Broken

Islam Hates Women

A lucid and easy-to-understand view of how ground-breaking Jesus' message was in his world (and ours). Jesus once said that the greatest display of love is sacrificing oneself for your friends, but by "friends," he meant every single person, regardless of our differences in nationality, race, religion, opinion, age, gender, blindness, or wisdom. Understand how and why we all fit in his comforting embrace.

Credits:
Programme produced and recorded by Gabriel Porras at gabrielvoice.com and radiantwhispers.com

Cover:
Jesus walks on the waters, image generated by artificial intelligence ai-generated-7922881_1280 at pixabay.com 

Music:
"Devotion", from The Pilgrimage Series, Part 1 on artlist.io

Text: 
"What Jesus taught and why" is a chapter from the beautiful book Jesus: a biography from a believer, by Paul Johnson. 
Copyright © Paul Johnson, 2010 ISBN 978-0-670-02159-8

Biblical passages taken from The Message, Copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson

Devotion

What Jesus taught and why, by Paul Johnson

Jack and the Beanstalk,
 by Roald Dahl


This version of the classic children's story is way funnier... and it rhymes!
Roald Dahl is a genius: his plot twists are mind-blowing, and that ending too! Brace yourself for a laugh-out-loud journey.

Presented and produced by Gabriel Porras, professional voice actor (gabrielvoice.com).

Cover design: Ricardo Gil (ricardo@scrav.com).

Copyright Roald Dahl Story Company Ltd
Roald Dahl Nominee Ltd, 1982
Puffin Books, Penguin Random House 1984
Illustration: Quentin Blake, 1982
ISBN: 978-0-141-37885-5
(Treat yourself to a copy. It's a beautiful book!) 

Visit the great Roald Dahl's website here: www.roalddahl.com

Music: 
"Jay C”, by Synthet from the album Free Synthet! at freemusicarchive.org Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
Sound effect: bbc.co.uk – © copyright BBC

Free Synthet

Jay C

Jack and the Beanstalk, by Roald Dahl

My atheist friends love to cite Immanuel Kant, David Hume and Voltaire as leading thinkers who opened new horizons for humanity, freeing it from the religious prejudices that had enslaved it for centuries. But things were very different, and the writings of these three influential thinkers provided a framework that supported the slavery and exploitation of non-European races more than anyone else. We examine the great ambiguities of the Enlightenment and the main myths of atheism, such as The Myth of Progress, The Myth of Human Rationality and The Myth of Human Goodness, with a discussion of Steven Pinker's  "Enlightenment Now".

Programme written, presented and produced by Gabriel Porras, professional voice actor (gabrielvoice.com).

Cover design: Ricardo Gil (ricardo@scrav.com).

Music: 
"Joking Together", by Michele Nobler/Memory Tapes @artlist.io
"Alive and Well", by Campagna/Hello Love @artlist.io

The inspiration for this programme comes from a debate between Steven Pinker and Nick Spencer, titled "Have science, reason and humanism replaced faith?", available on YouTube: https://youtu.be/Ssf5XN5o9q4?feature=shared

Nick Spencer published a well-argued article entitled "Atheist Fairy Tales: exposing secularism's major myths" on Premier Unbelievable: https://www.premierunbelievable.com/topics/atheist-fairytales-exposing-secularisms-major-myths/12200.article 

Francis Collins, the director of the Human Genome Project, published a book entitled "The Language of God", in which he makes a strong case for the existence of God.

Joking Together

The Daydreams of Atheism

Reducing the conflict in Gaza to a question of Palestinian-Israeli differences is an unforgivable mistake. The conflict that has been raging in Gaza for decades is the conflict between Islam and world civilisation, that is, between Islam and you and me, and each and every one of us who are not yet under Islam: not only Jews, Christians, Buddhists, Newagers and Hindus. Also homosexuals, transsexuals, feminists, atheists, agnostics, science, education, technology and progress and welfare for all. All this is lost if Hamas wins, and Islam advances.

Programme written, presented and produced by Gabriel Porras, at murmullosradiantes.com. 

Cover created by Ricardo Gil, ricardo@scrav.com
Image by Vectonauta at www.freepik.es

Music: 
"Gone with the winds", by Veaceslav Draganov (Picture) on artlist.com.
"Jericho at Dusk", by Alon Peretz (Three Middle Eastern Cities), on artlist.com
"Ruhi", by Meriem Ben Amor, on artlist.com

Links and references:
On how Hamas rewards its soldiers with girls as young as nine years old, see these photographs: https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/hamas-wedding-girls/

On Islam's hatred of women, and how it promises a paradise of luxury and sex to Hamas soldiers and Islamism, listen to these past episodes:
"Islam hates women": https://soundcloud.com/murmullosradiantes/el-islam-odia-a-las-mujeres
"Is paradise a luxury brothel?": https://soundcloud.com/murmullosradiantes/el-paraiso-es-un-burdel-de-lujo
On the dangerous stupidity of the masses:
https://soundcloud.com/murmullosradiantes/el-peligro-de-la-estupidez-mr-sc-esp

A long and detailed collection of Hamas abuses on this Wikipedia page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criticism_of_Hamas#Press_restrictions

On the despicable sexual violence of Hamas’ attack on 07 October: https://youtu.be/2l3EbRiDATE?feature=shared

Mosab Hassan Yousef, son of one of the founders of Hamas, appears in multiple YouTube videos, such as this one:
https://youtu.be/H9WEcvrWvyo?feature=shared
His experiences and perspectives on the workings of Hamas appear in a book entitled "Son of Hamas": 
https://amzn.eu/d/ff29BB7
and a film entitled "The Green Prince": 
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/video/detail/B00YRUA3QU/ref=atv_dp_share_cu_r
 
On Hamas soldiers shouting "Allah is victorious" as they behead and rape innocent Israelis on October 7, 2023: https://youtu.be/SmivUM0tlwc?feature=shared

A passionate article by Alan Dershowitz, professor emeritus at Harvard Law School, which inspired me to write this episode: https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/20126/hamas-nazis

Photos of Mufti Husseini reviewing troops and having tea with Hitler can be seen here: https://youtu.be/ou0EgaK49Ak?feature=shared

Gone with the winds

If Hamas Wins, We All Lose

Every year, Christmas is the greatest celebration around the globe. No other event makes us get together as families and friends like Christmas. And yet, Christmas is also the worst time of the year for millions of lonely, hurting people. Commandeered by businesses and restaurants, Christmas celebrations often obscure Christ, whose birth is the original and best reason to celebrate Christmas. Find out why the birth of Christ deserves to be celebrated with all your heart.

Programme presented and produced by Gabriel Porras at gabrielvoice.com and musmullosradiantes.com

Text: Nicky Gumbel
Nicky Gumbel is the creator of the Alpha Course, which is a beautiful and warm introduction to Christianity. Over 26 million people have taken the Alpha Course in over 100 countries. Nicky graduated in Law at Cambridge and in Theology at Oxford. He worked as a barrister before becoming a writer and preacher. 
Join an Alpha Course near you here: https://alpha.org.uk/try
You can also do it online.

Cover created by Ricardo Gil, ricardo@scrav.com with AI at www.bing.com by Microsoft

Music: 
"Handpanophone" by David Charrier is from his album Ephemeral on artlist.io.
Sound effect: 
Clean high bell ring, license Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0) https://orangefreesounds.com/

Handpanophone

Why celebrate Christmas?, by Nicky Gumbel

🔥 How to Control Anger Before It Controls You - 10 Life-Changing Strategies
If anger has made you say or do things you later regret, this episode is for you.
Here you'll discover 10 strategies proven by modern psychology to calm you down before you explode. They're practical, easy and have helped thousands of people improve their daily lives.
Learn how to manage your anger at work, at home, with your loved ones or even with yourself.
🌟 You are not alone. Your calm is just a step away.
💬 Let me know in the comments which of these techniques you're going to try today.
📩 Share this video with anyone who needs it.
👉 Subscribe for more emotional tools!


Control your anger before it controls you - 10 strategies that change lives

Jalal al-Din Rumi (1207-1273) was a Persian mystic, poet and scholar whose voice still resonates with astonishing force more than eight centuries later. He was born in what is now Afghanistan and was raised in the rich tradition of Sufism. Each of his verses is a dance between the human soul and the divine, an attempt to put into words the experience of spiritual love, the soul's deep longing for its origin.
The ‘Dance of the Atoms’ celebrates the unity of all creation, expressing that every atom in the universe is dancing in the light and presence of God, in constant movement towards the divine. Everything is alive, interconnected, in a mystical way that sounds very close to how we understand quantum physics today and the energy that binds all matter together.

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This version of Rumi's poem was created and read by Gabriel Porras for gabrielvoice.com and radiantwhispers.com.

Cover by Ricardo Gil (scravricardo@gmail.com). Image created by AI at Freepik.com.

Music:
And my heavy heart found its wings once again, by The Laws of Gravity at artlist.io. Used with license. 

Rumi: Dance of the Atoms

Jean-François Revel (1924-2006) was a French Jean-François Revel, a French philosopher, novelist and satirist (1924–2006), published a fascinating book in 1983 entitled How Democracies Die. This book feels like a report from the future, smuggled out of tomorrow's newspapers. Revel had a clear vision of our modern paradox: the freest and richest societies can become their own enemies when their virtues are used as weapons against them. Although he was agnostic, Revel understood the void left by the abandonment of Christian civilisation and morality. He conducted a profound analysis of ‘self-dissolution’ long before social media and human resources sensitivity training made this diagnosis commonplace.
This episode delves into his great warning: that the best virtues of Western civilisation are also its greatest weakness. As in a judo match, our enemies know how to use democracy's own weight to bring it down. Every pillar of Western freedom is used against it: the most advanced and secure societies open their borders wide in the name of compassion; they make a suicidal pact with “tolerance” and are so careful not to offend anyone that they neutralise language until citizens can no longer name sabotage in parliament, classrooms and popular culture. Revel saw how each virtue is exploited as a vulnerability in a relentless attack that cracks the foundations of every Western democracy.

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How Democracies Perish, by Jean-François Revel

All we have to comfort, guide us and sustain us in this straggling path called life are the radiant whispers that we grasp as a distant “sunrise of wonder” in our spiritual practice, in great works of literature, music, art, and in nature and blue skies. These are the Radiant Whispers. That's what this podcast is about. We will talk about culture and society, about ancient and modern history, literature and art with dramatized readings of poetry, fables, theatre, novels and stories. Subscribe -let's find radiant whispers everywhere.

The Switchman, by Juan José Arreola

Radiant Whispers

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