All my friends—the Devil, Socrates, Lucifer are dead

“Man's enemies are not demons, but human beings like himself.”

—Lao Tzu

By Alex P. Vidal

I BELIEVE in God, but I had three friends in the Philippines who had been “arguing” with me against the existence of the Divine Providence.

And they have all died. No one was buried in the cemetery.

“If I die, I want to be burned,” Lucifer, who was 95 when he passed away at 11 o’clock in the evening on June 29, 2022 in Iloilo, told me many years ago in Amigo Terrace Hotel. 

His wish was granted. Lucifer, a musician during the World War II, was cremated the following day (June 30). His family had requested Lucifer’s death “shouldn’t be made public—especially in the social media.”

My two other atheist friends, The Devil and Socrates “went to hell” ahead of Lucifer. 

The Devil, 58, died in 2020 while Socrates, 85, went to the kingdom come in 2019.

They, too, were burned as they had wished. 

Of the three, Socrates, like the ancient Greek philosopher, was the moderate. 

“God, I think, is only an imagination,” he once told me. “But I was intrigued when Voltaire exclaimed that ‘if God didn’t exist, it was necessary to invent Him.’”

-o0o-

But The Devil, who died of diabetes, was the worst agnostic. 

“God is sonnovitch,” he hollered in the sidewalk of Jaro Plaza without any apparent provocation from any religious group or individual. “The priests, bishops, nuns, and all the clergy in general are b_llshits.”

One night at around past 11 o’clock sometime in 1998, The Devil missed a trip to the Jaro PNP jail by the skin of the teeth when cooler heads pulled him away from the vicinity of the Jaro Archdiocese just in time before the cops arrived.

The Devil, heavily intoxicated, had thrown an empty beer bottle at the gates of the Jaro Archdiocese while shouting and demanding from Jaro Archbishop Angel Lagdameo to “open your goddam refrigerators and let the poor and the street children get inside to eat the abundant food.” 

“If God exists, there would be no suffering,” insisted The Devil, whose favorite book is The American Caesar written by William Manchester. “The street children would not die of hunger and neglect.” 

Lucifer, who played piano for Hitler’s generals, admitted he never believed in God “ever since.”

-o0o-

“God is a joke,” Lucifer sighed while holding a goblet full of Dansk Klapojster Mjod, his favorite red wine. “I laughed when I saw that several churches in Europe were now empty. People were now beginning to realize that God is a big joke.”

At one time, I managed to gather the three: The Devil, Socrates, Lucifer.

It was difficult to arrange the “satanic” meeting since The Devil slept in the morning, while Socrates needed to be in Guimbal, Iloilo before six o’clock in the evening.

Lucifer was easy to summon since he lived in a subdivision in La Paz district, City Proper.

The three freethinkers finally met in a coffee shop inside a big mall in the corner of Mabini and Ledesma Streets, City Proper one afternoon sometime in 2001.

As expected, the session was a blockbuster, raucous, explosive!

They started the “demonic” assembly each pretending as nerds. 

It was the timid-looking but sharp-minded Socrates who broke the ice when he blurted, “It’s good that all of Alex’s friends are freethinkers (laugh).”

“Let’s put it this way,” volunteered Lucifer. “He believes in God while some of us don’t probably. But it’s okay because he is our host (laugh).”

The Devil maintained his silence and listened while Socrates and Lucifer began slandering and lambasting the ecclesiastical hierarchy like Russian bombs wreaking havoc on the Ukraine cities.

“Epicurus (a Greek philosopher who founded Epicureanism) was an early philosopher to dispute many religious beliefs, including the existence of an afterlife or a personal deity,” blasted Socrates.

Lucifer postdated his spiel: “That’s ancient. Let’s go to Spinoza. I forgot his first name. He had this provocative idea that God is not the creator of the world, but that the world is part of God.”

“Baruch…Baruch Spinoza,” Socrates interrupted.

After emptying three bottles of beer, The Devil joined the fray. 

And in a rowdy manner and loud voice, he brought the House down—and sent everyone scampering by yelling, as usual, and cursing (in expletives) Lagdameo, the priests, the nuns, and all religious groups.

“It’s time to go home,” Socrates, who doesn’t drink, suggested. 

“This man (The Devil) has no manners,” boomed Lucifer who turned his back and walked away. 

(The author, who is now based in New York City, used to be the editor of two local dailies in Iloilo.—Ed) 

   

 

Farewell my friend, ‘Willie the Devil’

“The long, dull, monotonous years of middle-aged prosperity or middle-aged adversity are excellent campaigning weather for the devil.”
—C.S. LEWIS

By Alex P. Vidal

I REGRET that I failed to visit my friend, Willie Andrew Gonzalez Branum, who lived in Jaro, Iloilo City, when I went to the Philippines in 2012.
Now he’s gone. 
Branum, 58, or “Willie the Devil”, succumbed to cardiac arrest on May 26 in the conclusion of his dialysis, according to our friend, Atty. Joseph Celis, National Police Commission (Napolcom) Western Visayas regional director.
Willie Andrew G. Branum once threatened to swallow whole every priest he would meet in the road on his way home.
He once showed to me a book he spotted while we were busy ransacking a box full of second hand books in the ground floor of SM City in Iloilo City.
Willie the Devil exclaimed, "Gotcha! At last, I found it."
The book, American Caesar, was about the exploits of Gen. Douglas MacArthur by William Manchester.
Manchester paints a sympathetic but balanced portrait of MacArthur, praising the general for his military genius, administrative skill, and personal bravery, while criticizing his vanity, paranoia, and tendency toward insubordination. 
As the title suggests, Manchester's central thesis is that MacArthur was an analogue of Julius Caesar, a proposition he supports by noting their great intellect, brilliant strategic generalship, political ambition, magnanimity as conquerors, and shared tragic flaw of hubris.
"The problem is," bemoaned Willie the Devil, "this book, as well as other classical books, are beyond the reach of ordinary people. Very expensive if to be bought directly from regular bookstores. It is supposed to be the obligation of the government to make all those great books accessible to everybody—even to members of the society's hoi polloi."
Willie the Devil further thundered: "If those idiots in government can enrich themselves by committing graft and corruption while in office, why can't they do something to help alleviate ignorance in our country?" 

POVERTY

The Devil had a casus belli or cause for war. 
He pointed out that the root cause of poverty in the Philippines is “due to ignorance.” 
When citizens are ignorant, their opportunities to advance their economic well-being are limited if not stymied. They can easily be subjugated and mesmerized.
And because of ignorance, they elect fellow ignoramuses such as comedians, action stars, basketball three-pointers, and other ridiculous showbiz characters into higher office--only to add insult to their injury and rob them of their dignity down to their last cents.
Also, both the Devil and yours truly agreed that "there seems to be a conspiracy between the oligarchs and religious authorities to deny people the chance to have access on classical books -- books that will liberate the mind and open the floodgates of philosophical and scientific inquiries en route to searching for knowledge and truth."

EXPENSIVE
  
Important books about science, history, geometry, psychology, astronomy, environment, physics, religion, sociology, biography, medicine, and philosophy are gathering cobwebs and decaying in bookstores not because nobody could locate them, but because they are too expensive. 
A low-income earner intending to read any of the books will have to prioritize first the food for his family and agonize that he can't even begin reading the first chapter of those books.
History shows that the educated man--the intellectual--has given the best government and achieved the best results when given the opportunity.
Alexander the Great was an intellectual. 
His teacher was Aristotle and he acquired all the learning of his day. 
After talking with Diogenes in his tub at Corinth he remarked, "Were I not Alexander, I would wish to be Diogenes."
Julius Caesar was a learned man. His Commentaries had not been excelled for two thousand years until another intellectual came along to make history and record it--Winston Churchill.

SCHOLAR

Marcus Aurelius was a great scholar and intellectual. He had a true conception of the universe and his idea of God would be acceptable to most people today above the second-year-high-school level.
Napoleon Bonaparte was a prodigious reader. It is recorded that in his headquarters in Waterloo, with the weight of the entire world on his shoulders, he had a mobile library of some 800 books--most of them on history, science, and philosophy.
Queen Elizabeth I, who ushered in the era of Britain's glory, understood the value of education and learning. 
Frederick the Great was a scholar. He kept Voltaire by his side and subsidized as many men of talent as his coffers would allow. England put emphasis on intellectuals, and elevated her educated men to positions of highest power--Burke, Disraeli, Gladstone, Balfour.

VICTORY

The victory of 600,000 Israelis against 12 million Arabs was won by a group of intellectuals who laid the foundation of the great nation. 
George Washington's greatness was due in no little measure to his tremendous respect for intellectuals. Benjamin Franklin, of course, stands out. 
Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton, bitter political enemies, had one thing in common. They were both learned men in history, political science, and philosophy. 
It is interesting to read the titles of the books Franklin had in his library. 
There was the Bible, Euclid, Shakespeare, Homer's Iliad, Plutarch's Lives. 
A man could spend two lifetimes studying those five books.
(The author, who is now based in New York City, used to be the editor of two local dailies in Iloilo)

I agree with this ‘devil’

“The long, dull, monotonous years of middle-aged prosperity or middle-aged adversity are excellent campaigning weather for the devil.”

—C.S. LEWIS

By Alex P. Vidal


MY friend, Willie Andrew G. Branum, a "devil" who once threatened to swallow whole every priest he would meet in the road on his way home, once showed to me a book he spotted while we were busy ransacking a box full of second hand books in the ground floor of SM City in Iloilo City.
The Will the Devil exclaimed, "Gotcha! At last, I found it."
The book, American Caesar, was about the exploits of Gen. Douglas MacArthur by William Manchester.
Manchester paints a sympathetic but balanced portrait of MacArthur, praising the general for his military genius, administrative skill, and personal bravery, while criticizing his vanity, paranoia, and tendency toward insubordination. 
As the title suggests, Manchester's central thesis is that MacArthur was an analogue of Julius Caesar, a proposition he supports by noting their great intellect, brilliant strategic generalship, political ambition, magnanimity as conquerors, and shared tragic flaw of hubris.
"The problem is," bemoaned Willie the Devil, "this book, as well as other classical books, are beyond the reach of ordinary people. Very expensive if to be bought directly from regular bookstores. It is supposed to be the obligation of the government to make all those great books accessible to everybody—even to members of the society's hoi polloi."
Willie the Devil further thundered: "If those idiots in government can enrich themselves by committing graft and corruption while in office, why can't they do something to help alleviate ignorance in our country?" 


POVERTY


The Devil had a casus belli or cause for war. 
He pointed out that the root cause of poverty in the Philippines is “due to ignorance.” 
When citizens are ignorant, their opportunities to advance their economic well-being are limited if not stymied. They can easily be subjugated and mesmerized.
And because of ignorance, they elect fellow ignoramuses such as comedians, action stars, basketball three-pointers, and other ridiculous showbiz characters into higher office--only to add insult to their injury and rob them of their dignity down to their last cents.
Also, both the Devil and yours truly agreed that "there seems to be a conspiracy between the oligarchs and religious authorities to deny people the chance to have access on classical books -- books that will liberate the mind and open the floodgates of philosophical and scientific inquiries en route to searching for knowledge and truth."


EXPENSIVE  


Important books about science, history, geometry, psychology, astronomy, environment, physics, religion, sociology, biography, medicine, and philosophy are gathering cobwebs and decaying in bookstores not because nobody could locate them, but because they are too expensive. 
A low-income earner intending to read any of the books will have to prioritize first the food for his family and agonize that he can't even begin reading the first chapter of those books.
History shows that the educated man--the intellectual--has given the best government and achieved the best results when given the opportunity.
Alexander the Great was an intellectual. 
His teacher was Aristotle and he acquired all the learning of his day. 
After talking with Diogenes in his tub at Corinth he remarked, "Were I not Alexander, I would wish to be Diogenes."
Julius Caesar was a learned man. His Commentaries had not been excelled for two thousand years until another intellectual came along to make history and record it--Winston Churchill.


SCHOLAR


Marcus Aurelius was a great scholar and intellectual. He had a true conception of the universe and his idea of God would be acceptable to most people today above the second-year-high-school level.
Napoleon Bonaparte was a prodigious reader. It is recorded that in his headquarters in Waterloo, with the weight of the entire world on his shoulders, he had a mobile library of some 800 books--most of them on history, science, and philosophy.
Queen Elizabeth I, who ushered in the era of Britain's glory, understood the value of education and learning. 
Frederick the Great was a scholar. He kept Voltaire by his side and subsidized as many men of talent as his coffers would allow. England put emphasis on intellectuals, and elevated her educated men to positions of highest power--Burke, Disraeli, Gladstone, Balfour.


VICTORY


The victory of 600,000 Israelis against 12 million Arabs was won by a group of intellectuals who laid the foundation of the great nation. 
George Washington's greatness was due in no little measure to his tremendous respect for intellectuals. Benjamin Franklin, of course, stands out. 
Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton, bitter political enemies, had one thing in common. They were both learned men in history, political science, and philosophy. 
It is interesting to read the titles of the books Franklin had in his library. 
There was the Bible, Euclid, Shakespeare, Homer's Iliad, Plutarch's Lives. 
A man could spend two lifetimes studying those five books.