Phrases From SONG Dialogues Come To Mind

The general idea behind the books of SONG is the survival of families, nations, cultures in the face of what seem to be impossible odds.

Ringing in my ears are echoes of words long ago spoken - 

What are you going to do about it?

It's coming - you can't stop it.

Your ways are out-dated.

Comply or die.

No.

No.

No.

No.

No.

No.

WE SAY NO.

Corrections and Updates

For the moment at least, and hopefully for all time, the updates and corrections to the Mamm Books and DANANN are as complete as I'm going to get them.

Thankfully HELL AND HIGH WATER has relatively independent story lines (WHEW) and I'm not going to fret about them right now.

As for why I've fretted about getting these fine-edited right now, it's because I read them all over again in preparation for the writing of RICIMER and found a couple of things that I wanted fixed.

So I fixed them.

Hopefully tomorrow I'll get the new files submitted for print, and the Kindle editions will be fixed at the same time. None of the Story Lines changed, mind you - just a touch-up here and there.

When they're all ready I'll post links.

Well well ... 'INFJ' giving way to 'INFP' ... good news for me ... from my perspective ...

The book that 'changed' me.

The personality type 'test results' you'll find below are From HERE

This is the first time this test has resulted in the 'P' being so strong, edging 'J' almost completely out of the picture. The I, N, and F have always consistently been way high in percentiles with J being less extreme, then edging into P ... and now ... what the heck!

I'm glad to see these popping up in people's social media feeds. There are a variety of free 'MBTI tests' on line - they're all pretty darned accurate and consistent - and surprisingly USEFUL.

Knowing, being able to get a handle on, your own personal style, gives you insights about yourself that you may not have thought about much, or at all for that matter. At least that's how it's been for me. We all are simply a we are, as a general rule. Yet that 'J' always bothered me a little about myself, which the tests have consistently shown over the years ... it was always sort of borderline. 

So, curious me, I'm wondering what has 'changed' in the past couple of years, with that 'J' edging closer to the 'P' end of the scale. Aren't our 'personalities' supposed to be basically cast in concrete? How come mine seems to be changing?

When I stop and analyze it, look at it from where I'm at now, the answer stares me in the face.

I've made some changes in my life, my lifestyle, and my general outlook. 

It was a couple of years ago (2013) that I dropped down to part time at my shift-work job, to begin with. Right about then is when some of my artwork also 'went public' for the first time, not an easy choice and fraught with both anxiety and the antithesis of that anxiety (let them think what they will; until they see it they can't think anything at all, right?). It was a good move as it turned out, and gave me the confidence and determination to follow through on a project that came into my mind at just exactly that time.

And so the Mamm Books happened because I had the time and the energy (from dropping to a more reasonable shift-work schedule) and because the art project morphed into the writing of books.

Last summer (2014) brought another change - a too-long-delayed trip HOME home for me, time off from shift-work, and a further drop in hours there in order to at long last achieve a predictable schedule that I could plan an actual LIFE around. 

Yes it was incredibly expensive ... but quite very necessary. The path I had been on, and at the time not having the internal resources with which to walk such a path without paying an enormous internal price, was taking a dangerous toll. I needed the time I took - to heal and to strengthen both physically and emotionally. In my condition, brought on by my own choice to stick with it no matter what, the struggle almost did me in. It was either give myself a break and a chance or spend at least the equivalent (of the income I was giving up) on therapy and pharmaceuticals I have NO desire to put into my systems.

Until I had been HOME home (the CO Rockies and down in the Arkansas River Valley) for a while and started to feel more and more like my own self, I'd had no real idea of the extent of damage I had been doing to myself.

At any rate, those are the 'changes' that have happened in the past couple of years which are now showing up in the MBTI testing process.

Not only have I given myself permission to not be so VERY strait-laced, I've also done a LOT of research.

*laughing*

I've also 'met' some Characters who don't always follow the straight and narrow path I plan for them in plot lines. 

Writing Mamm of Dunnottar, I realized that Mamm needed a husband if the rest of the books (already written and published!) were going to 'happen'. He had to be from her time, he had to be strong enough to handle Mamm, and he had to have the same values as the rest of the Characters. 

Alaric dropped into my lap from out of the clear blue sky when I skeptically took a 'Which Conqueror Are You?' quiz on line. I'm not exactly 'Conqueror' material and wondered what the heck they were going to be able to come up with for me, the most peaceful and non-competitive person I know. What on earth could I have in common with the Conquerors of our world? I didn't WANT to have anything in common with any of them, to be honest.

Then I met Alaric. And said to myself, 'This is Mamm's mate.'

Little did I know what I was getting myself into. It was akin to finally finding Dunnottar, a fleeting vision from years ago that I kind of assumed wasn't really REAL but turned out to be quite very REAL. Same thing with Alaric. He fit EXACTLY into Mamm's lifespan. Research confirmed that he would indeed be a good match for Mamm, who wasn't about to marry just anybody. 

At first I was tickled pink. Then I realized that this was an actual historic figure here, not totally fictional like the rest of them. I would have to follow the real events of his recorded life. 

Oh my. 

Alaric sacked Rome in 410 CE.

How to reconcile that with the peacefulness of our Characters?

Well, they'd already had to fight more than one battle, were formidable Warriors ... it would be okay ...

And so it was.

Alaric did sack Rome, but all things considered he wasn't mean about it. They opened the gates to him for cryin' out loud - how mean does that sound?

Anyway, the combination of having to stick to an actual course of events while at the same time putting said course into an already existing fictional framework had the effect (in retrospect) of making me figure out how to do it.

Yep.

Then, after I had that whole half of the book's dual story line written, I happened across references to Ataulf that I hadn't paid enough attention to before. 

OOPS.

Had to go back and write him into the story line.

Okay, Ataulf's in there, Mamm's brother who picked up where Alaric left off. We're good to go NOW!

No.

No?

No.

Mamm had to have ANOTHER brother, Waleis.

WHAT!?! 

Are you KIDDING me?

She's already got two much older brothers (besides Ataulf) - one in Albann (Scotland) up in Chattan territory and one in Tarnos of Gaul. Her parents have bloody well LEFT FOR THE FAR WESTERN LANDS and aren't going to come back. Where is this younger brother going to come from, the one who has to take over in Aquitaine after Ataulf gets murdered? The one who later spawns legends as Walther in the Germanic lands? What the heck.

So I had to write in Wally of the West and get him from what would come to be recognized as North America back to the UK and Europe. 

Good Lord.

So yeah, it MADE me HAVE to take myself out of what had become my comfort zone and use the more 'organized' part of my brain because I HAD to get the sequences right - I couldn't just use vague references or flat out make stuff up (although as it turns out what I thought I was 'making up' was not exactly as 'made up' as I thought, but I wrote a whole other book about THAT and am NOT going to elaborate here). Alaric, Ataulf, 'Wally', Stilicho, the Emperors East and West, the battles, the 'situation' of the times ... all are real documented history. Being INFJ (at the time) with that INFP starting to come to the fore, I could not, would not, ignore reality completely just because I happened to be writing fiction.

And this whole long spiel is simply to illustrate how in the world one's 'cast in concrete' personality type can 'change'. It's not so hard to 'get' how the J & P blend - they have to. I had to 'go with the flow' to write in unexpected Characters after the fact, not to mention coping with the stuff the different Characters pulled on me when I thought I had their roles all cut and dried. I also, at the same time, had to follow a darned strict timeline - and get the book done and out when it was supposed to be done and out.

Then the Younglings took the bit in their collective mouth.

Then DANANN, in response to the Hogmanay celebration at Stonehaven and the Fireballs, blew *my* book timeline out of the water and dragged the lot of us ahead with him three thousand years.

To top it off, I suspect J and P in collusion with I, N, and F as being behind my total conviction that Science and God are totally compatible and are in fact one and the same. Linear Logic and Mystic Magic are NOT mutually exclusive, folks. The more we learn the more mystified we become about the stuff we don't know yet, and the more determined we become to keep on searching, only to be baffled by what we find - so we search even harder for both the biggest and the smallest ... and 'round and 'round we go - following PHI because the Spiral is what we have to go by.

And BadaBingBadaBoom as Brooklyn Bill would say.

No wonder my head is spinning and it's a relief to be back full time at that shift-work job.

I kid you not. It's kind of like being on vacation, even though it's really hard work and directly related to having specific goals. Again, the J and the P are 'taking turns' - or something ... At least the INF is absolutely stable and unchanging, thank God. Those three aren't going anywhere. They're still riding at or near the 100% markers. And I'm perfectly fine with that.

INFP

Philosopher - Living in your own ideal world.

You are an idealist. You are loyal to your values and the people who are important to you. You hope you can live in a world which could exactly match your own values. You are very curious about the world. You can always find more possibilities and drive yourself and other people to make these ideas come true. You try to understand other people and help them to maximize their potential. When there is nothing threatening your own values, you are quite flexible and good at accepting other people.

Introversion I or Extroversion E - You can get your energy from where you focus your attention.

You are Introverted Tendency, that is concerned about how the changes of the outer environment influence yourself: concentrate your psychological forces and attention on your inner world, and focus on your inner experience, thinking, idea and emotion. You prefer to think independently and read.

 People different from you are Extroverted Tendency, that concerned about how you influence the outer environment: concentrating your psychological forces and attention on the outer world and communication with other people and like meeting, discussion and chatting.

Sensation S or Intuition N - What will you notice more when you receive and perceive the information from the surrounding world.

You are iNtuition Tendency, that likes abstract theories and principles. You are concerned with the entirety of things and the tendency of change and development. You are concerned about inspiration, imagination and creativity. You like implication, analogy, connections, possibility, inference and prediction.

 People different from you are Sensing Tendency, that are concerned about the detailed information gained through sense perception: things that you see, hear, smell, taste and touch. You notice details and descriptions more. You like to use and develop the skills you already have.

Thinking T Or Feeling F - How do you make decisions.

You are Feeling Tendency, that attaches the most importance to the feelings of yourself and other people. The value and harmony will be your standard for evaluation.You are very sympathetic, kind, friendly and considerate. You always think about how your behavior will effect the feelings of other people.

 People different from you are Thinking Tendency, that pay attention on the logic relationships among things. You like to evaluate and make decisions through objective analysis. You are very rational, objective and fair. You think principles are more important than being flexible.

Judging J or Perceiving P - How do you organize and design life.

You are Perceiving Tendency, that needs to collect more information before you make a decision. So you try to understand and adapt. You focus on process and change your goals based on the information changes. You always allow for unforeseen circumstances in your daily life. You like a loose and free life style, which may be bit disordered.

 People different from you are Judging Tendency, that like to make judgements and decision. You like to make plans and would like to manage, control and drive for the results. You focus on accomplishing the task. In your daily life, you hope your life is organized, step by step and respect the timeline.


 Yep.

That's my analysis for the time being.

Grist For The Mill

The mills of the gods grind slowly, but they grind exceeding fine

A guy back in second or third century Greece named Sextus Empiricus, a physician and philosopher, is the first we know of to have used this phrase.

All it means is that things often take a long time to come to pass.

For today's post I'm focusing on a different, although related, phrase.

The meaning of this one is also pretty well understood, although literary connotations are prevalent in its interpretation as a general rule.

This one refers to the fact that everything any of our senses has ever encountered is on the table for use in any way we see fit to use it. 

Every experience of which we have been a participant, in particular. 

Every word spoken to us. 

Every look directed at us and intercepted by our own eyes. 

Every time we have been touched. 

Every step we have taken. 

Every thought in our minds. 

Every feeling we have had.

All of the above and then some ... it all belongs to us ... it is all fair game. We own it and can do as we please with it.

As writers/artists, we can come up with all kinds of ways to present our interpretations. Interpretations always and only. We cannot interpret or present anything that has never touched our lives in any way, shape, or form. So every word that we write, every piece of art we generate, is an interpretation of something that belongs to us by dint of having at one time been in some way a part of our relationship with our world.

We can 'make stuff up' in terms of putting different concepts, experiences, interpretations together into different patterns, but it's all based on what our senses have gathered and stored in our minds over the course of our life.

Having said that, every day provides plenty of grist for the mill of any author or artist. Every person we meet and interact with in any way is a potential character or part of a painting. Everything we witness might turn up in one of our works in some way or other.

I was recently reminded that everything and everyone I've ever known is indeed grist for my mill. 

I own the experiences of my life, all of them.

Not all of those experiences have been perfectly positive.

Those are the ones I hesitate to 'bring to life again' by using them in writing or artwork.

Yet there they are.

They are the balance.

Life is not solely good.

The reminder included a thought which often escapes our attention: 

If they wanted you to write warmly about them they should have behaved better.

That made me smile.

If ever anyone wanted to write bad things about me, they'd have a tough time sifting through them all - there are plenty and plenty, believe me.

Me, I don't have to write any such things. I can be the hero of my life, not the bad guy. 

And wouldn't that make for a boring Character!

At any rate, the current project I'm working on is going to take a good while to get written as it's literally a work in progress.

It's also a project that I'm somewhat ambivalent about.

However, it's only just begun and has a long way to go.

Meanwhile, along this same line, I've been writing some SNARK pieces - to balance out the Mamm Books' generally positive attitude.

Almost exclusively I've tended to focus on the good, and that's fine and dandy, but it leaves a person without the balance that blending in the bad brings. Sad but true, there's plenty of bad that's got to start showing up in the next books of SONG - so I have to begin wrapping my head around the need to be able to write them.

Happy endings are all the more poignant if you go through the nasty stuff in order to get there.

So.

It's going to be SNARK time for a while here I think.

Luckily for me, the Younglings can run into lots of Snarky stuff on their adventures, and prevail, so those little stories might be what gets me through the writing of this other project. The same goes for the rest of our Characters. As I'm writing the SNARK things, the Characters of SONG will have the task of keeping me balanced by winning out over the Snarky things they run into on the Spiral. Thank God for Warriors.

When it comes to Fiction, remember that it is entirely based on Fact. The 'fact' part of the 'fiction' is likely to be woven all but invisibly into the fabric of the piece, but it is the foundation of the whole thing. 

Our senses have provided us with enough material, enough grist for our mills, to write for a very long time, believe me. Fictionalizing people, places, events, experiences, encounters, reactions ... it's only changing bits and pieces of the facts as we know them.

Just sayin'.

The good guys and the bad guys might not exactly be precisely as a person expects. 

If you're looking at my books wondering whether or not you are in them, chances are that if you've interacted with me in the course of my life YES you will be represented in some way. It can hardly be otherwise, can it?

I based the main Characters of SONG loosely on people who are dear to me, and they're good strong Characters on whom I can depend always.

Not everyone with whom I've interacted in my life has that same distinction; that's a fact it would be senseless to deny.

We've got the good guys defined.

Now it's time for some of the bad guys to start showing up. They'll NOT be based on specific individuals as are the SONG Characters. 

Bad guys are bad guys, remember. 

By definition they are not nice. They will bite you if you let them.

There have been more than enough in my experience to not have to be any too specific; their characteristics will blend and morph and reverse to the point that no individual will be identified as such. 

So if you've done me wrong, or anyone I've had contact with, don't worry. You'll most likely be the only one able to recognize yourself in the pages of the books. If by chance you do, GOOD. 

You'll probably be wrong and that character is more likely to be a mix of good old-fashioned historic bad guys, but hey - if you think that's your shoe, go ahead and put it on!

VOICES ARE CALLING - USE YOURS

Scroll down to the Celtic Thunder Song link and listen to them Sing while you read this.


THIS shreds my soul. The link takes you to an article about a young person committing an atrocity while his elders stand by in approval.

And you know what?

I'm not really caring a whole lot about 'political correctness' at the moment. What is portrayed in the photo (couldn't watch the video itself, I just could not) is beyond any word I have at my command.

And yes of course I realize I'm just a little old gramma lady who lives in a tumble down cottage on Main Street of Small Town USA in the middle of nowhere. I realize that what I think or say or do doesn't matter a whit to anyone except me and possibly a handful of others.

Even so, although it is small, I do still have my Voice.

Excuse me folks, but our world is being bullied in the most horrifying way possible - and what are we going to do about it?

Where now all those Voices who have been so strident about 'taking a stand against bullying in our schools'? Where now those Voices that rant and rave about being offended? Where the Voices of those who speak out against Domestic Violence? Where the Voices that rail against injustice in our judicial and incarceration system?

WHERE ARE OUR VOICES?

A child commits murder and we condone it with our silence?

NO.

I tell you:  NO.  

The perpetrators are using religion as a weapon. No it is not the first time but this is happening in OUR time. OURS. Not way back in history somewhere but NOW and HERE.

We are being baited by a bully with a mean streak a mile wide.

Islam denies culpability, guilt by association. Christianity likewise; Judaism likewise; Buddhism the same; and Hinduism. 'We are victims!' Well, and so we are, all of us. And we are letting our own divisions get in our way. Islam cannot control this bullying 'child'; Christianity cannot; Judaism cannot; Buddhism and Hinduism cannot. Together, we could.

I write fiction, yet the times of which I write are not fictional.

Times and weaponry are different now but people are not. Peace too often comes at a price ... a dear price ... 

From Mamm of Dunnottar:

"  ...  Stilicho breaks the silence.

‘We know you, young warriors.’

His words make Ataulf smile.

‘We are healers more than warriors, Stilicho. We would have peace in this land and in all lands.’

‘Ah yes. So would we all. Going to battle for the sake of peace, does this not sit ill with you, Man of Peace?’

‘No. It is too often necessary.’  ... "

And ...

"  ...  Her Voice sounds hollow and the two men turn to look first at one another and then at Joan.

Davidson speaks quietly.

‘Joan, what see you? Can you tell us?’

‘Death. I see death, Davidson. Death and mourning. I see great wrath unleashed, and the Mercy of the Mother. Victory yes but at what price; Davidson my husband, what price are we willing to pay for a Peace that will be long in coming?’

The hollow Voice goes silent and again the three stand looking out over the fires of their people.

Come the dawning all is still and silent in the camps of Alaric.

Even the birds have silenced their Voices.

The Dogs of War, from Chattan and Perth and Tarnos, sit themselves near their masters and do not stir.

No whicker or neigh is heard from the horses.

It seems not a creature moves – neither bird of the air nor beast of the forest, nor even the ever-active insects.

On a high place stand Mamm and Alaric.

Hands clasped together before them, their eyes, one pair so green and the other such a deep blue, have locked once more.

Catan, the Silver Sword, and Glisten stand motionless alongside of them.

Here they have stood in prayer through the night.

Here will they stand in prayer through this day.

The sun rises past the dawning and from a distance at once too near and too far comes the Voice of the Carnyx of Chattan, clear in the morning.

Davidson flinches but a grim smile touches his mouth.

‘The Voice of Chattan is first to Speak,’ he murmurs.

Too near, too near.

Too far, too far.

Hear now the Horns of Iona.

Hear now the Horns of Tara.

There Sounds the Voice of Perth; and again; and again.

Now come the Voices of the Horns of Tarnos, carrying shrill and high in the dawning of this day.

And here the bellow of the Voice of Dunnottar; the Horns of the Fienne have chosen it on this day and send it before them into Battle.

The Bells of Andorra give Voice.

Too far, too far.

Too near, too near.

Ataulf, Davidson, and Joan carrying Sma'David and Mari at her side, come to stand near to Mamm and Alaric.

Silent they are; silent they remain.

And Alaric and Mamm break not their trance.

The Black Wolf approaches to stand silent at the shoulder of Ataulf; here comes also Plusa to side Davidson, and the pretty red mares of Joan and Mari whose names are Gala and Ghia.

Here too come the blood-red War Dogs of Chattan, of Perth, of Tarnos.

Through the air come the Voices of the Horns again and again.

Chattan.

Iona.

Tara.

Perth.

Tarnos.

Dunnottar.

Andorra.

They are now joined by the Voices of more Carnyx, more Horns of many places and peoples.

And the Voices of the Horns flow through the air in a medley, distant but clear, bitter but proud at the dawning of this day.

Too far, too far.

Too near, too near.

The army of Alaric stands silent and still, in prayer, on this day.  ... "

A battle, ostensibly in the name of 'religion', and not even the 'religion' of the army whose Story we are reading - but fight they do, because more is at stake than who believes what. The Freedom to believe, and to live, as they choose - in peace - is what brings this particular army to a war that 'is not really theirs'. It is for this ultimate Freedom they lose fully half of their warriors in the two days of this battle. 

More than fifteen hundred years ago - before there was any such thing as Islam in our world - people were taking their stand and losing their lives on behalf of a principle which maintains that individual Freedom is worth fighting for.  

YouTube Book Trailer

I'm not a natural at much of anything, nor skilled ... 

I did not set out to write a bunch of books, just so you know. They just kind of happened.

And now this stuff going on in our own time, our own world ... it makes me feel the way our Characters had to have felt when the same sorts of things were going on in their time, their world.

They took their stand, they held it against all odds, they protected and preserved what was theirs to protect and preserve.

And they did it for US. For us ... 

Excuse me, but have we not inherited any of their strength along with the Legacy? Have we not got any of their gumption? That army was comprised of many and many an ethnic group, many and many a different belief system - from across Europe they came, not just the one family whose history we happen to be following through the Mamm Books.

And I don't give a darn whether or not you ever in your life read any of those books - what I WANT is for you YOU YOU to give a darn and to pay attention to what's going on in YOUR world.

You know that symbol thing at the end of the book trailer? This one:

It's a warning. If we keep going the way we're going we'll wind up at a dead end and our civilization will have to work its way back to where we got off track. Not in our lifetime probably, maybe not in our children's ... but unless we do something pretty darned soon as human beings (not as Muslims, or Christians, or Jews, or Buddhists, or Hindus, or Atheists, or Futurists, or anything else but as Human Beings) that dead end might well BE a dead end, literally, for us.

Yeah, I'm more than a little upset by the actions of one 'child'. It's triggered the 'preacher' in me.

All this time I've thought that Voices, in person and in print, could turn the tide.

Our silence, mine included, and yours, hasn't been a very effective deterrent.

If I could, I would bring back that army of so very long ago, all those warriors ... men and women alike ... Pagan, Druid, Culdee, Christian  and whoever else ... and sic them on this bully among us. 

Me, a Woman of Peace ... 

Why?

What is it about this child's actions that has me up in arms?

It's because it is a child. A child who is not innocent. A child whose innocence has been sacrificed in the name of 'religion', in the name of WHAT?!?!

I do not give a darn what your personal belief system might happen to be, any more than that army clear back fifteen hundred years ago refused any who were Called to join them.

Here's another bit that I hope will make you think. It's a Song. Celtic Thunder's 'Voices' ... 

Here's the YouTube LINK

The powerful Voices of these men ... 'There's a Voice that is starting to Call us; it's Voice that we just can't ignore. There's a Bell that is Ringing to tell us - we're in a time and a place like never before ... There's a time when we're Called to be ready ... a time when we're Called to be steady ... '

Ach. Just click on the link - their Voices are much more Powerful than my words.

Even so I do give you my Voice - and I do use it to Call you. Listen to what you hear around you. Use your own Voice to answer. 

My words, my Voice, such as they are ... they're all I've got.

And whether or not anyone else Hears, my Voice and my words, and YOURS, need to be saying 'NO.' 

NO it is not okay. NO it cannot continue. NO NO NO

Because, you see, enough Voices saying 'NO' might make a difference. 

China, say 'NO.'

Russia, say 'NO.'

Europe, say 'NO.'

North America, say 'NO.'

South America, say 'NO.'

Australia, say 'NO.'

Africa, say 'NO.'

Asia, say 'NO.'

And mean it.

The Cast of Characters of SONG

THIS LINK is one I thoroughly appreciate.

It's been a while since I've spent a lot of time with the SONG Characters and I kind of miss them.

So it's handy for me to be able to just click on the above link to go back and remember them. It might be handy for you too. Go take a look, read a bit about the individuals who carry the Mamm Books!

The Younglings of Dunnottar are fresh in our minds because they've just started their own set of books - let's not forget the grown-ups! They are younglings too, most of them, in the course of the books that tell the Stories of their lives. LittleMamm comes to mind ... yikes! ... she and David, what a pair!

LittleMamm and David click to find out more about those two!

 

I do believe I'm going to sit myself down and read the whole of the Mamm Books all the way through! It will be good for me to visit with the Characters for a while - I really have been missing them! Well, except for the Younglings of course!

Huh? What?

Before we begin, I must make it clear that my own personal Faith is based on the Holy Trinity: the Father, Jesus the Son, and the Holy Spirit. In no way is the following to be construed as anything except a part of my own journey as I seek Guidance from the One who does the Guiding. My religious education may be searched; my Faith is quite very secure. There is but One God. Each and all of us human beings are Mind, Body, and Spirit, in the likeness of God. On this my Faith stands.

I just read two articles of interest to me. The first is a blog post about a young person deeply affected by thoughts of Hell ...

The other one showed up in a related comment and has something to do with the validity of Hell. 

Both are worth looking at, but I kind of fail to grasp the real connection between the two, to be honest. 

I'm no scholar of any kind, let along a Biblical one. I've read it, and my father was a Southern Baptist Preacher, so I heard plenty about it growing up, but I'm by no means an expert.

Being as I'm an alleged 'grown up' now, and me being me, I went looking for answers in more educated minds than my own.

" Does the word hell appear in the Bible " is the question I wanted an answer to.

And I was shocked out of my Baptist-trained mind at what I found.

Look it up, my friend. That's the best advice I can give you. 

My next question was in reaction to my discoveries.

Me being me, I wanted to know where on earth Hell came from, since it didn't come from the Bible.

Here's another link that I found interesting. I've got thoughts that go along with it and might get to them here, or save them for another post, or both ...

" Development of Hell " didn't come along until Jesus had long since been born, lived, died, lived again, and went on up to Heaven. Hell was not in the vocabulary of Jesus, nor in His teaching, and most certainly not the Hell we've been raised to fear. Jesus never threatened anyone with eternal hell-fire. Ever. Not once. 

Look it up, my friend. That's the best advice I can give you.

And here I will insert an aside.

Here's a quote from the above link:

'... The Jewish Yeshua and those in the Jerusalem church, especially James, Yeshua's brother, held a traditional conception of the Messiah. The Messiah would be a man, perhaps descended from David, who would be anointed by God to rout the occupying army, the Romans, and establish an earthly kingdom ... '

I've only just this moment had the following 'ah-ha!' moment.

As a part of the research for the Mamm Books, the change-over from the Roman Empire to the future Holy Roman Empire demanded some looking into as it is pivotal to the development of the SONG series. And I connected the dots between the survival (and widespread growth) of the early 'Jesus Movement' despite Rome's best efforts to annihilate it, Rome's subsequent toleration, and finally its adoption of this tenacious Faith - which just so happened to 'coincide' with the 'fall' of the Western Roman Empire.

There were plenty of factors at play during that whole time span. It's just my own thought patterns that lead me to say, 'God works in mysterious ways, and it is not for us to know the mind of God.'

Me being me, in the fiction I write, behind the assortment of 'barbarian' peoples who ultimately brought the Western Empire to its knees was indeed a 'conspiracy' of a sort. It was led by those who saw the 'politicizing and militarizing' of their Faith as a threat to its true and original meaning. Our fictional Characters, who historically had no reason to much like what Rome had dished out (tried to) to their people so far, weren't overly trusting of this new interpretation of the Faith they had been celebrating for centuries. 'Rome has replaced her legions with priests and her governors with bishops,' was their take on it and they wanted no part of it.

And what on God's green earth does this stuff have to do with Hell?

Nothing.

There was no such concept in the teachings of Jesus, nor in anything anywhere at the time that the foundations of the Faith of the Characters of the Mamm Books would been laid. What references there were came from belief systems to which our Characters would not have adhered in the first place and so would most surely not have been part of their Faith.

And so I have to conclude that 1) the second of the above links, while no doubt the author sincerely believes what he says, is based on absolutely zilch that makes any sense, and 2) the author of the first of the above links has been, like many generations of us, tormented by something that has no basis in reality, and 3) people need to be taking a closer look at what they 'believe'.

Pointing fingers is a pointless exercise at this point. The fabrication occurred so long ago that the statute of limitations has long expired, along with the fabricators. The effects ... those have lingered ... but there are no living feet of flesh and blood at which we can lay the blame. Just because a hundred or more generations have believed something does not necessarily make it true.

When I was a kid, the grown ups used to ask us, regarding peer pressure, 'If they all jumped off a cliff would you jump too?'

So does this mean that Hell is no longer a cuss word?