11 ANGELS IN LITERATURE
Last week we discussed the role of "Soldiers of God" in the ongoing battle between Good and Evil. In that sermon much was said about Satan's minions, whom we fight ceaselessly with a righteous hatred. Seen as "fallen" angels, the powers of these servants of Satan may seem super-human, and supernatural--beyond the scope of our understanding; and yet we defeat these fallen Angels daily, with the aid of righteous angels, the good guys.
I would like to spend several weeks thinking about angels, so I will break the subject down into sub-headings, as I have done with various other large subjects. Today we will simply review the literary perspective on angels, and go on from there. This a good way to begin, because, as I have said many times before, heaven speaks to us through thoughts expressed out of our mouths in words; indeed, inspired words can convey spiritual reality into the physical, no matter if they are in the form of holy scripture, or in the form of a poem written by a six-year-old. Thus, the poet may speak as effectively about angelic reality as the priest.
[Sidebar: In this presentation we will be speaking primarily of angels represented in literary works, because words are easier to read than pieces of music or paintings; but the main premise that art transmits Divine Truth to the physical applies equally to all the arts.]
In fact, it is my opinion that artists are able to reveal spiritual truths in ways or in intensities that are uniquely available to them, at the exclusion of other modes of communication, including Holy scripture. All articulate expressions contain kernels of the ultimate truth, but the way this truth is packaged is different from one idiom to another; it is therefore not outrageous to suggest that the artist may make divine truth accessible to men in a way that is often more immediate and potent than the medium of so-called "divinely inspired" writing.
On this subject, Evelyn Underhill has this to say:
"Artists, aware of a more vivid and more beautiful world than other men, are always driven by their love and enthusiasm to try and express, bring into direct manifestation, those deeper significances of form, sound, rhythm, which they have been able to apprehend: and, doing this, they taste deeper and deeper truths, make ever closer unions with the Real.
For them the duty of creation is tightly bound up with the gift of love."
In all humility, I have always thought of myself, my artist self, as a kind of secular priest, and my music as a kind of sacred ministry. I can only hope that I am not kidding myself.
As we begin our examination of angels as they appear in literary works, it will come as no surprise to hear that the angelic identity which has, historically, been most attractive to artists, as a character in their fictions, is Satan. Something about Satan excites the imagination--his color, his depth, and his vividness weave an other-worldly illusion, while providing materials for the type of carnal excitation that is a fundamental component of art. Carnal is the word: as the Christ Consciousness incarnated in the body of Jesus, so does the voice of God descend upon us through the physical. Satan, as the ultimate paradigm of self-obsessed carnality, must therefore necessarily play a part in any honestly human expression. We have heard William Blake repeatedly attest that the personality of Man is comprised of both the white and the dark, in a divine balance, in order to experience the wholeness of life. Also, if art actually does imitate life, and life is a balance between good and evil, then it should be no surprise that, in addition to the good in life, the artist will tend to represent, in firry colors and desperate conflict, his primary spiritual opponent; indeed, Satan, bedecked in archetypal regalia, dominates the foreground of many a dramatic proscenium, as the artist, in his effort to bring the truth of the Christ consciousness into the world, portrays the paradox of life in the articulate language of his chosen medium.
So here is some preliminary background taken from the Angelsreading.com website:
Angels in Literature
"The angel has been an almost indispensable literary symbol for many poets and writers. In particular, one class of them, the Devil and his legions, has provided a vast source of inspiration. Of all Christian characters, Satan has appealed most strongly to the poets of all ages and languages, and it may be said that the Devil, from his minor place in the Holy Scriptures, has dominated most literary forms to the present day. Although writers such as Pedro Calderon, John Milton, Johann Goethe, and Lord Byron were fascinated by this character, the most distinguished poet to dedicate a considerable part of his body of work to the court of Satan was no doubt Dante Alighieri. At the core of Dante’s Divina Commedia is Satan, who dwells in the apex of hell and a multitude of angels who reside in his Paradiso."
[Sidebar: in the Paradiso Dante Alighieri speaks of the spiritual blessings we receive for our portion on the Earth as "bread of angels."
"O you, who in some pretty boat,
Eager to listen, have been following
Behind my ship, that singing sails along
Turn back to look again upon your own shores;
Tempt not the deep, lest unawares,
In losing me, you yourselves might be lost.
The sea I sail has never yet been passed;
Minerva breathes, and pilots me
Apollo, And Muses nine point out to me the Bears.
You other few who have neck uplifted
Betimes to the bread of angels upon
Which one lives and does not grow sated,
Well may you launch your vessel
Upon the deep sea."
We will come back to this idea of "the bread of angels upon Which one lives and does not grow sated" when we get to the subject of angelic language. But, essentially, it seems to me, the whole thing is about packaging--how does divine energy enter the physical? How do we ingest spiritual food? There are so many ways. The bread of life appears on the cosmic grocery shelf in diverse containers.
Back to Angelsreading.com:]
"Belief in the Devil was traditionally accompanied by belief in witchcraft, widely considered a manifestation of diabolical activity, especially during the Middle Ages. Many allusions to good angels assisting in human warfare against demonic powers can be found in the secular literature of the period. An example appears in scene IV of William Shakespeare’s Hamlet when the young prince of Denmark, upon seeing his father’s ghost, exclaims, “Angels and ministers of grace defend us!” Angels are again called upon in the final scene of Hamlet when Horatio, holding the dead prince, offers this farewell: “Good night, sweet prince, / And flights of angels sing thee to thy rest!”
Angels all but disappeared from literature with the passing of the Middle Ages, but one can witness their resurrection from the humanistic Renaissance, and their persistence from the sixteenth century down to the present day. However, Satan is not a character that dominates the literature of the Renaissance, in part due to the period’s reaction against medieval thought."
[Sidebar: It is interesting to note that, even as the church has struggled to defeat the mobs of superstitious thoughts that teem in the heads of their congregations, the way the Gospel of Thomas presents demonology is much more in conformity with what most people think, than the doctrine professed by the church fathers. Furthermore, since all mythological expressions require stereotypes, it is interesting that the most popular angelic AND demonic stereotypes were originated by the Church Scholastics of the 1200s.
Back to Angelsreading.com:]
"One of the most significant post-medieval angelologies can be found in the writings of Emanuel Swedenborg (1688-1772), who devoted himself to studies arising out of what he claimed to be persistent communications from angels and other agencies in a spiritual world. He used the concept of angels to make the nature and vitalities of the spiritual world come alive to a society that had lost sight of the reality of the spiritual realm. According to Swedenborg, angels are realities far superior to humankind, and are able to communicate wisdom because they are capable of receiving it. In his writings about the angelic world, he asserts that angelic writing is very different from human writing. They express affections with vowels, whereas with consonants they express the ideas springing from the affections. In angelic language a few words can express what it takes pages of human writing to say. He also asserts that angels have no personal power since they are only agents of God, and if an angel doubted the source of his power he would instantly become so weak that he could not resist a single evil spirit."
I would like to emphasize this idea that
"In angelic language a few words can express what it takes pages of human writing to say".Again, referring back to the previous sentence,
". . .it is my opinion that artists are able to reveal spiritual truths in ways or in intensities that are uniquely available to them, at the exclusion of other modes of communication,"
is it not clear that the angelic truths manifested in art are of a denser, more intense, resolution than other forms of expression, and might this be a key identifier of spiritual truth? Communications from Heaven are constantly manifesting in the physical, but the depth of impression these communications leave on the soul is determined by the unique character of the expression's language. The idea puts me in mind of the famous Mendelssohn quote concerning the SPECIFICITY of musical expressions:
"People often complain that music is too ambiguous, that what they should think when they hear it is so unclear, whereas everyone understands words. With me, it is exactly the opposite, and not only with regard to an entire speech but also with individual words."
This statement clearly makes a case for musical expression as compressed spiritual truth, saying in a flash what words must take pages to say. I think angels must talk faster than we do. (Perhaps thought conveys information at the speed of light?) This reminds me of a central concept in my doctoral thesis: that the moment of intuitive re-centering is preceded by an acceleration of conceptual material in search of a resolved end condition; acceleration always plays a part in spiritual experience. Therefore, the truths expressed in art surely may be thought of as angelic truths, as they feature the same rhythmic and proportional characteristics of angelic language.
As you can see, this discussion has wended its way toward the subject of angelic language. We admit that the expression “spiritual language” is almost an oxymoron, since the truth veiled in the Cloud of Unknowing defies verbal expression; and yet if spiritual language can be transformed and elevated, just as any other spiritual state can be, it may be proper to speak of an angelic language; it is therefore just as proper to speak of angelic language manifested in art. As we know, Swedenborg had regularly recurring conversations with angels, and was therefore familiar with angelic language. Swedenborg encouraged others to enjoy such conversations. However, according to Swedenborg, we in the natural world can only see angels here when our spiritual eyes are opened. Swedenborg received his revelation by the same process of his spiritual eyes being opened by God. This idea suggests that angelic messages may only be received through super-human dimensions of human intelligence.
On this subject, I found a couple of interesting Swedenborg quotes:
"The angels taken collectively are called heaven, for they constitute heaven; and yet that which makes heaven in general and in particular is the Divine that goes forth from the Lord and flows into the angels and is received by them."
"Man was so created by the Lord as to be able while living in the body to speak with spirits and angels, as in fact was done in the most ancient times; for, being a spirit clothed with a body, he is one with them."
Back to Angelsreading.com:]
"The works of Swedenborg had a significant impact on the mystical poet William Blake (1757-1827). Angels literally abound in Blake’s writings and drawings. Blake, who was probably more familiar with reincarnation and the karmic principal than most Englishmen of his day, regarded angels as the real forces behind the lives of mortal men and women. He was preoccupied with angels, both celestial and infernal, and the struggle between spirits of light and dark took on a vivid reality."
Here is one of the many pictures of angels by Blake; it represents two Guardian Angels hovering over the Baby Jesus.
I also found this charming 3-line poem by Blake:
"The Angel that presided o'er my birth
Said, 'Little creature, formed of joy and mirth,
Go love without the help of any thing on earth."
Back to Angelsreading.com:]
"Other poets similarly regarded angels as very real forces and called upon them frequently in a number of literary works. Robert Browning, for example, in the poem The Guardian Angel, implores his angel to take charge of the creative process;Henry Wadsworth Longfellow often espoused on the language spoken by the angels. This is from the poem Footsteps of Angels:"I would not look up thither past thy head
Because the door opes, like that child, I know,
For I should have thy gracious face instead,
Thou bird of God! And wilt thou bend me low
Like him, and lay, like his, my hands together,
And lift them up to pray, and gently tether
Me, as thy lamb there, with thy garment’s spread?"
"With a slow and noiseless footstep
Comes that messenger divine,
Takes the vacant chair beside me,
Lays her gentle hand in mine.
And she sits and gazes at me
With those deep and tender eyes,
Like the stars, so still and saint-like,
Looking downward from the skies.
Uttered not, yet comprehended,
Is the spirit's voiceless prayer,
Soft rebukes, in blessings ended,
Breathing from her lips of air."
Back to Angelsreading.com:]
"In Victorian literature it was very common to find the use of angels as intermediaries between God and man. An example is a poem by Leigh Hunt called Abou ben Adhem, in which the main character wakens one night to find an angel writing in a book of gold the names of all those who love God."
Another Hunt poem places the angel in the bedroom:
An Angel in the House
"How sweet it were, if without feeble fright,
Or dying of the dreadful beauteous sight,
An angel came to us, and we could bear
To see him issue from the silent air
At evening in our room, and bend on ours
His divine eyes, and bring us from his bowers
News of dear friends, and children who have never
Been dead indeed,--as we shall know forever.
Alas! we think not what we daily see
About our hearths,--angels that are to be,
Or may be if they will, and we prepare
Their souls and ours to meet in happy air;
-- A child, a friend, a wife whose soft heart sings
In unison with ours, breeding its future wings."
This reminds me of something my son Emlyn said when he was about two years old:
"I fly with the angels at night in my bed."From the Ascension Research Center:]
"Angels are close to humanity, yet unseen by most. The word "angel" is derived from the Greek word "angelos" and the Latin word "angelus", both meaning "messenger." Angels appear to have wings due to the Light that radiates out in rays or waves that take on an appearance similar to feathers."
Here are some suggested "real" photographs:
"Angels are entrusted with the role of serving the Sons and Daughters of God through the release of powerfully positive feelings and vibrations. The feeling nature of Angels enables them to infuse matter with the constructive aspects of Divine Qualities and Consciousness. . .
Artistic and Literary Depictions of Angels in Christianity
In art angels are frequently depicted as human in appearance, though many theologians have argued that they have no physical substance. (Hence the frequently recounted tale of Scholastics arguing about how many angels could fit on a pinhead; if angels possess physical bodies, the answer is "a finite number", if they do not, the answer is "an infinite number".) Seraphim are often depicted as six wings radiating from a center — either concealing a body, or without a body.
Beginning in the end of the 4th century, angels were depicted with wings, presumably to convey the idea of swift movement and traveling to and from heaven, or to depict them as spirits. Scholastic theologians teach that angels are able to reason instantly, and to move instantly. They also teach that angels are intermediaries to some forces that would otherwise be natural forces of the universe, such as the rotation of planets and the motion of stars. Angels possess the beatific vision, or the unencumbered understanding of God (the essence of the pleasure of heaven). Furthermore, there are more angels than there are anything else in the universe (although when first written this would have probably not included atoms since atomic structure was not known)."
The image of a universe filled will angels, as benevolent omnipresent agents of good, is very often encountered in literature, as it is in mythology; indeed, the Greek gods, goddesses, nymphs and dryads may be easily identified as angels. Here is a lovely poem by Emily Dickinson about the presence of angels in nature:
"Angels, in the early morning
May be seen the Dews among,
Stooping -- plucking -- smiling -- flying --
Do the Buds to them belong?
Angels, when the sun is hottest
May be seen the sands among,
Stooping -- plucking -- sighing -- flying --
Parched the flowers they bear along."
This poem by Stephen Crane extends the analogy, distinguishing between human activity and angel activity:
"It was wrong to do this," said the angel. "
You should live like a flower,
Holding malice like a puppy,
Waging war like a lambkin."
"Not so," quoth the man
Who had no fear of spirits;
"It is only wrong for angels
Who can live like the flowers,
Holding malice like the puppies,
Waging war like the lambkins."
Rabindranath Tagore takes the human/angel comparison even further, emphasizing the NEED for angels in human activity:
The Child-Angel
by Rabindranath Tagore
"They clamour and fight, they doubt and despair,
they know no end to their wrangling. Let your life come amongst them like a flame of light, my child, unflickering and pure, and delight them into silence. They are cruel in their greed and their envy, their words are like hidden knives thirsting for blood.
Go and stand amidst their scowling hearts, my child, and let your gentle eyes fall upon them like the forgiving peace of the evening over the strife of the day.
Let them see your face, my child,
and thus know the meaning of all things;
let them love you and thus love each other. Come and take your seat in the bosom of the limitless,
my child.
At sunrise open and raise your heart
like a blossoming flower,
and at sunset bend your head and in silence
complete the worship of the day."
In conclusion, let me remind you of the main premise of this sermon: that literary expressions may contain divine intelligence of equal significance to the "divinely inspired" scriptures, and that the language of angels is well suited to the language of art--a language that features compression of ideas and acceleration of experience, not unlike the language of angels as represented by Swedenborg, i.e., "In angelic language a few words can express what it takes pages of human writing to say".
A further thought in Swedenborg calls to me--it is this:
"The angels taken collectively are called heaven, for they constitute heaven; and yet that which makes heaven in general and in particular is the Divine that goes forth from the Lord and flows into the angels and is received by them."
"The Divine that goes forth from the Lord and flows into the angels. . ."
I'm thinking of that mind-boggling idea that the Christ Consciousness can be in a million places at once. Accepting as doctrine, this omnipresent attribute of the Christ Consciousness, we therefore affirm that Jesus watches over all of us and helps us all, all the time. If we accept the idea, as Swedenborg says, that the divine flows down into the angels, then it is easy to accept the idea that there is a Guardian Angel assigned to every human being in the world, continuing the flow on through them down to us. This extravagance of Love flowing from the Father seems natural to us because it is true. My point here is that the omniscient Christ Consciousness transmits its message of mystery to Men through a vast population of conduits called ANGELS.
And, to reprise this point one more time: the language of art reveals Divine Truth in a language that is structured by rhythmic and proportional parameters characteristic of angelic language.
Let us pray: Jesus, thank you for making available to us access to Divine Truths, embedded in the physical, which we extract with Divine Intelligence and Enlightenment. Thank you for the medium of art which represents these Truths in language, and duplicates these living Truths in our hearts. Amen.
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