Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.
Hebrews 13:2
I am quoting the Bible as literature, not as gospel. I want to get that out of the way right up front. My intent is not to insult nor encourage any religious group. I hate to have to begin with a disclaimer, but there are people out there who believe even opinions require fineprint and footnotes.
This post was inspired by Madame Butterfly's post about the Torment of the Ocean and Hayden's post about Exterrestrial Intelligence. The posts really had nothing in common. Madame Butterfly wrote of a primal fear of the ocean and a metaphorical angel who embraced her when she arrived at port during a sea voyage as a child. Hayden wrote about people's obsession with finding intelligent life in the universe (presumebly because there isn't much of it here on earth).
For some reason both posts resonated with me. I have always loved angel imagery and I have always been fascinated with the concept of intelligent life both in and outside our "world." After all, what is more exterrestrial than an angel?
Or are they? Exterrestrial I mean. My mother used to tell me that angels were God's thoughts sent down to us. If I merge that definition with some of my dallying in Buddhism, I can kind of theorize that the angels or "God's thoughts" are actually coming from my Buddha nature or simply from me.
Don't get me wrong. I am not saying I am an angel or anybody else's angel. I am just suggesting that angels (and demons for that matter) originate from within us and not from outside us.
Okay I can see the shaking heads and here the "pooh poohing" of this as more of my simplistic "we create our own reality" platitudes. It's not that at all. Just because an angel comes from within us doesn't make it any less powerful of a metaphor. On the contrary, I think it empowers us because the angels are always with us.
Fear comes not from being alone, but from feeling alone. If the angels are always within us, we are never alone. Which brings me back to Hebrews 13:2. If we apply it to my theory, the strangers we are providing hospitality to are our own new thoughts and ideas. Because those thoughts and ideas just might be those angels (or exterrestrials) we are looking for.
But don't take my word for it. I'm just a stranger on the Internet.
13 comments:
Well Tim, I am so chuffed (Aussie for thrilled) that I was partly responsible for inspiring your post and thankyou for understanding exactly what I was trying to convey.
I was feeling particularly alone when I wrote that post and I love your theory about angels. Anything is possible....
I hope the angels will always take care of you....
and here we see illustrated the value of being schitzophrenic. there is no 'one' to be alone...
I am more simpatico with your idea of angels than of most that I hear. Often I hear that all that is necessary is to hold oneself very still inside and ask for help, then let go and soon an angel will be by to do the heavy lifting. I've always had a little trouble swallowing that notion, but in all due respect, others seem to have the experience.
Focusing on what is needed and relaxing, however, is exactly what is needed to alert our inner self (selves? hey, make it a party!) that it's time to make things happen.
(I was having a curmudgenly moment, and was disgruntled with generalized stupidity. I'm not sure why there is the obsession w/ intelligent ET, I just wonder if most would be able to recognize it. The intelligent part anyway. Though there was a recent article in the NY Times about an African Grey Parrot w/ a vocabulary of 600 words (2X that of the average businessman) and a sense of humor. So maybe we're looking too far afield when we scout the heavens.)
Madame Butterfly, I'm glad you defined chuffed because at first glance it didn't sound very good :) And thank you for the inspiration.
As for the angels, well as Blanche DuBois said in Streetcar Named Desire, "I have always depended upon the kindness of strangers."
Hayden,
Curmudgenly moments are part of your charm.
And African Grey's are amazing creatures. Perhaps they are the angels we seek. After all they do have wings.
Tim and Hayden,
Have you two funny people ever met cos you bounce off each other like a double act.....
I enjoyed both of your comments about the African Greys, maybe they take care of both conundrums.
Madame B, you are now one of my favorite people! You flatter my ability to crack the joke by speaking of Tim and I in the same breath.
No, we've not met RT: you just hang around here a while and Tim'll have you quipping away with the rest of us.
Madame Butterfly, Hayden is funny in her own right. I laugh at her all of the time :)
Hayden, I'm sure Madame Butterfly is already e-quipped to banter with the best of them. She is, after all, a friend of Whitesnake.
You know, we alway hear people say that "he/she is fighting their own demons" ...I like your theory, if we can carry around demons, than why can't we carry around angels?
Haven't been hanging around much, but glad I popped over here, been missing reading your thoughts!
Cheers, JP
JP, You must have felt my thoughts. I had read you post and I send my best for you operation. I just had a hard time leaving a "me too" comment on your blog. Here's to your angels.
Thanks Tim and Hayden, You flatter me and I've gotta say bring it on. I love it and don't believe in false modesty. I'm afraid I'm not in your league with your flair for the comedic response but once in a while I might astound you with my wit. Whitesnake has taught me all he knows ....... now you should be worried...hehehehe
Bless you Tim and may the angels continue to watch over you! ;o)
~gina~
Thanks Gina, And the same goes out to you!
I've always thought of angels as just another species. A viewpoint probably established by Sunday School and my grandfather who would feed anyone who came to his door just in case it was an angel. This was especially tricky for him since it was the depression and he had a large family to feed.
Kat,
Your grandfather sounds like good person. Angel or not, feeding a stranger takes character.
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