nov-dec-2014-awareness-e-mag

Introduction to the Physics of Angels
By Rupert Sheldrake and Matthew Fox
Rupert Sheldrake
It may seem unlikely for a
scientist and a theologian to
discuss angels in the twentyfirst
century, as both disciplines
at the end of the modern era,
appear equally embarrassed
by this subject. Nevertheless,
although the scientific and
theological establishments
have ignored angels, recent
surveys have shown that many
people still believe in them.
In the United States, for example,
over two-thirds believe in
their existence, and one-third
state that they have personally
felt an angelic presence in their
lives. Half believe in the existence
of devils. Angels persist.
We are entering a new phase
of both science and theology,
and the subject of angels becomes
surprisingly relevant
again. Both the new cosmology
and the old angelology
raise significant questions
about the existence and role
of consciousness at levels beyond
the human. When we
held our first discussions on
this subject, we were fascinated
by the parallels between
Thomas Aquinas speaking of
angels in the Middle Ages and
All plants are our
brothers and sisters.
They talk to us and if
we listen, we can hear
them.
— Arapaho Proverb
Albert Einstein speaking of
photons in this century.
The grassroots revival of interest
in angels is timely. Much
of the present interest centers
on experiences of help and assistance
at times of need. It is
intensely personal in nature,
and individualistic in spirit. Angels
are not labeled Buddhist,
Muslim, Hindu, Lutheran, Anglican,
and Roman Catholic;
they are beyond denominationalism.
All cultures, including our
own, acknowledge the existence
of spirits at levels beyond
the human. We call them angels,
but they go under different
names in other traditions
(Native Americans call them
“spirits”). Angels constitute
one of the most fundamental
themes in human spiritual and
religious experience. It is difficult
to imagine deep ecumenism
or interfaith advancing
among the world’s cultures and
religions without acknowledging
angels in our midst and
angels in our own traditions.
I also think we should extend
deep ecumenism to science itself.
What are the implications
of today’s science for rediscovering
the rich, deep, and broad
appreciation of angels that we
get from the Western tradition
as represented by Dionysius,
Hildegard, and Aquinas?
Why are the angels
returning today?
In recent years they have
been the subject of many magazine
articles and TV shows,
and there is a flood of books,
including several bestsellers,
about angels.
Is this a fad? Are angels just
the latest consumer object for
hungry souls? Or might it be
that the return of the angels
can inspire our moral imagination?
Can they give us the
courage to deal more effectively
and imaginatively with
these issues as we move into
the third millennium?
In the machine cosmology
of the last few centuries, there
was no room for angels. There
was no room for mystics. For
theologians it became an embarrassment
for three hundred
years even to mention angels.
As we move beyond this machine
cosmology, no doubt
the mystics are going to come
back, and angels are returning
because a living cosmology is
returning. St. Thomas Aquinas,
the thirteenth-century theologian,
said, “The universe
would not be complete without
angels. ... The entire corporeal
world is governed by
God through the angels.” The
ancient, traditional teaching is
that when you live in the universe,
and not just in a manmade
machine, there is room
for angels.
What is an angel?
And what do they do?
First, angels are powerful.
Do not be deceived by the barebottomed
cherubs with which
the Baroque era has filled our
imaginations. When an angel
appears in the Scriptures,
the first words are, “Don’t be
afraid.” Now would those be
their first words if they came
as bare-bottomed cherubs?
“Pin my diaper on,” would be
more likely. But the angels are
awesome. The poet Rilke says
that every angel is terrifying.
What are they powerful at?
They are experts at intuition,
and they can assist our
intuition. This is one reason
that angels and artists befriend
one another so profoundly.
When we look at the wonderful,
amazing images of angels
that artists have given us, we
are dealing not with just a rich
subject of painting but a relationship
going on between angels
and artists. Intuition is the
highway in which angels roam.
Matthew Fox
Both Hildegard and Aquinas
teach that the devil does not
praise, and that’s what makes
the devil different from the angels
— a refusal to praise.
How much of our culture in
the last few centuries has indeed
been a refusal to praise?
What is praise, except the noise
that joy makes, the noise that
awe makes? And if we are bereft
of praise, it is because we
have been bereft of awe and
joy in the machine, cage-like
world we have been living in.
The new cosmology awakens
us again to awe and wonder,
and therefore elicits praise.
The angels are agents and
co-workers with us human beings.
Sometimes they guard
and defend us and sometimes
they inspire us and announce
big news to us — they get us
to move. Sometimes they heal
us, and sometimes they usher
us into different realms, from
which we are to take back mysteries
to this particular realm.
Adapted and reprinted from
The Physics of Angels: Exploring
the Real Where Science and Spirit
Meet, by Matthew Fox and Rupert
Sheldrake, published by Monkfish
Book Publishing Company, www.
monkfishpublishing.com
Matthew Fox is an internationally-acclaimed
spiritual theologian, an
Episcopal priest, author of 30 books,
and an activist who was a member of
the Dominican Order for 34 years.
Rupert Sheldrake is a biologist,
author of more than 80 scientific
papers and ten books, and is most
known for his theory of morphic
resonance and its vision of a living,
developing universe with its own inherent
memory.
12 / AWARENESS MAGAZINE NOVEMBER / DECEMBER 2014