LSP24: Fox & Sheldrake's "Angels in the New Millennium": A Response

At the end of Fox and Sheldrake's book about angels -- The Physics of Angels:Exploring the Realm Where Science and Spirit Meet -- the two authors provide a neat and tidy summary of "some of the lessons we have learned." These "lessons" are based on Fox and Sheldrake's modern reinterpretation of the mystical writings of Dionysius the Areopagite, Hildegard of Bingen, and St. Thomas Aquinas.  (Please see my last LSP post: Look! Up in the Sky! It's a Bird, It's a Plane, It's . . . Pseudo-Dionysius!)

One thing that's true about angels is that human beings generally see them as beautiful beings with wings. Photo credit Hemera Technologies 2001-2003.

Here is the summary list from pages 193-194 of their book.  Fox and Sheldrake's points about angels are shown in blue.  My responses are shown in black. 

"Angels are very numerous; they exist in astronomical numbers. There are many other kinds of consciousness in the cosmos besides human consciousness." Well, yes, angels are very numerous, and angels do exist in all places in the universe, but the way Fox and Sheldrake discuss consciousness is a red herring. To be an independent being is to have consciousness. All beings in the universe have consciousness. All beings in the universe (except for God the Mother and God the Father themselves) are children of God the Mother and God the Father. All beings in the universe are souls. All beings in the universe are angels. In other words, "having consciousness" has the same meaning as "being a child of God" which has the same meaning as "being a soul" which has the same meaning as "being an angel." These four phrases are synonyms for the same thing. So there is only one "kind of consciousness" in the universe. Having said that, I'd like to emphasize the fact that although there's only one kind of consciousness, there are countless different ways of expressing that consciousness. Angels are all equally important to God, but angels are all quite different from each other in the way they express their unique consciousness.

"Angels have been present from the origin of the universe." No. Angels have not been present from the origin of the universe. This is a very old idea that stems from theological claims for the timelessness and immutability (i.e. permanent lack of change) of God. Certain human beings at certain times in history have claimed that God is immutable and unchangeable and outside time and space because this claim has suited certain human agendas and political motives (especially human agendas involving claims for the divine status and authority of assorted human political and religious leaders). The reality is that God the Mother and God the Father are changing all the time, as are we, their children. Part of this reality is the reality that new angels (or souls) are being born all the time. As we speak, new angels are being born somewhere within God the Mother and God the Father's immense heart. Some of these newborn angels may one day choose to incarnate on one of the planets in our universe where some angels (though not all angels) choose to incarnate for purposes of learning, growth, and change. All angels who are currently incarnated on Planet Earth as "animals" (defined here as multicellular, eukaryotic organisms of the kingdom Animalia (also called Metazoa)) are fairly young angels in the grand scheme of things. Being a young angel doesn't mean you're an inferior angel. It means you're an impatient angel who learns better by "doing" than by "hearing."

"They exist in a hierarchical order of nested levels within levels." No. Angels do not exist within hierarchies of spiritual ascent as described by Pseudo-Dionysius (or by Fox and Sheldrake), with some angels being closer to God than others because of their greater wisdom and purity. All such claims are damaging and hurtful. All angels in the universe -- every single one from youngest to oldest, smallest to biggest, intellectually brilliant to intellectually challenged -- are equally close to God and equally cherished by God the Mother and God the Father. GOD DON'T MAKE NO JUNK.

"They are the governing intelligences of nature." No. God the Mother and God the Father are the governing intelligences of nature, with all God's children being helpers and students in this great task. When you think you're hearing the voice of God in the wisdom of an ancient tree or an ancient rock, guess what . . . you're actually hearing the voice of God. (How cool is that?) Fox and Sheldrake, along with many others over the centuries, have tried to insert angels and nature spirits/devas into the reality of "God-as-Nature-and-God-as-Science" to separate you from God. While you may indeed have an experience of an angel while you're sitting quietly beside an ancient tree or ancient rock, the reason the angel is there is because angels -- like you -- want to hear the stories God the Mother and God the Father are telling us through the mediums of tree and water and wind and rock. Some angels, however, don't have to incarnate in order to hear these stories. They simply "visit" for short times. Sometimes humans and/or animals can see or hear or feel the presence of these "visiting angels." (Another important possibility is that you're sensing the presence of your own guardian angel while you're enjoying Nature, but I'll get to that in a minute.)

"They have a special relationship to light, fire, flames, and photons. There are astonishing parallels between Aquinas and Einstein with regard to the nature of angels and of photons: in their locomotion and mode of movement, their agelessness, and their being massless." Okay, this particular point just makes me want to throw up. First off, I want to remind everybody that Einstein was WRONG about non-locality, so to use Einstein (or the Aristotle-adoring-Aquinas) as a reliable authority to discuss the physics of angels is a stupid way to start. To follow up this form of stupidity with the idea that angels are massless -- when physicists have almost no understanding at all about the nature of dark matter, dark energy, or gravitational fields, and physicists don't know why only about 5% of the known energy of the universe takes the form of baryonic matter (what we call 3D matter) -- is just . . . just arrogant and simplistic and scientifically implausible. Massless? You really think consciousness is massless? Consciousness is full of mass -- it's just not 3D mass, so physicists don't understand it well and have no models at present to explain it. Also, it's wrong to state that angels have "a special relationship to light, fire, flames, and photons" because this denies the equality of angels who have a special relationship to water or to heliospheric energies or to gravitational fields or to the periodic table of elements or to any of the other countless and amazing and breathtaking forms of expression that angelic consciousness takes in God's great Creation. Get over the idea that light=God. Much of God's great Creation thrives within varied forms of "darkness." As far as God is concerned, if an angel is more comfortable in a quiet, private, dark environment (as on the ocean floor), that's a good thing. Divine Love is found in everything -- not just in light, fire, flames, and photons.

"They are musical in nature and work in harmonious relationship with one another." Finally, a point I can agree with! Yes, angels are musical in nature because music is one of God's important languages. But music isn't the only language angels use. Even more surprising, not all angels sing the same songs or even enjoy the same songs. Some angels love country, while others don't resonate with country at all. This is okay with God. Why should all angels like the same music? Why should they all sing the same songs? As long as you share your songs, and sing them joyfully from the heart, God is happy.

"The majority are friendly, but not all. Christ has power over the angels."  What the F@#&!  Please see point above: GOD DON'T MAKE NO JUNK. There are no "bad" or "evil" or "fallen" angels. There are no souls in creation who choose NOT to be part of God the Mother and God the Father's wondrous, loving, harmonious, kooky, surprising, courageous family. Fox and Sheldrake are repeating an ancient idea that's often been used to explain why certain people (people who think they deserve to be treated well by God) have ended up in tragic and difficult situations. This is part of the millennia-old tradition of Wisdom literature that says if you obey all of God's "divinely revealed laws," you'll be rewarded with many blessings (e.g. health, long life, wealth, many children, or whatever your particular culture believes is most desirable). Of course, God and your guardian angels don't necessarily agree with your belief in what's most desirable, and when they don't agree with you, you can be sure they'll express their opinion to you. Directly and often. You'll just have to learn to understand what they're saying to you and why.

"They have a special relationship to human consciousness. We human beings help link the earthly world with cosmic intelligences." This is another idea that's been kicking around for millennia in most major world religions. It's sometimes known by its Judaic name, Tikkun olam. (Tikkun olam   תקון עולם in Hebrew, is a phrase that means "repairing the world" or "healing the world," which suggests humanity's shared responsibility to heal, repair and transform the world). It's also an idea that shows up in some philosophical theories about humanity's relationship to the Dao. Basically, it's a highly anthropocentric idea that says human beings have a special role to play in the great cosmic plan to heal the universe. Of course, this assumes there is a great cosmic plan to heal the universe . . .  So is it at least true that angels have a "special relationship to human consciousness"? Well, yes. But this is only because each angel who incarnates on Planet Earth is sent along with a whole team of guardian angels to guide that one individual, and this team of angels always includes some of the angels who are closest to the incarnated angel when we're Home on the Other Side in non-3D form. So of course it feels as if we have a "special relationship" with our guardian angels!  They're some of our closest friends in the universe!

"Angels may have played a special role in the birth of language." I don't even know what to say to this one. Language is intrinsic to consciousness. Language is, in fact, one of the defining characteristics of consciousness. There are many forms of language in God's Creation (as mentioned above). Human beings don't have a monopoly on language on Planet Earth. In fact, some biologists who study animal culture are finally going on record to describe what most of the rest of us have always known: animals have their own "languages" and forms of specific communication with each other -- and also with us! The most important factor in the development of advanced language skills is relationship. Those who aren't exposed to strong relationships of love and empathy and respect in their early years won't develop strong language skills during their lives on Earth. In so far as relationships of love and empathy and respect are central to the human ability to connect with God and God's angels, I guess one could say angels played -- and CONTINUE to play -- a role in the development of our language skills.

Okay, skipping ahead here on Fox and Sheldrake's list because even I'm starting to get exhausted . . .

"Their primary role is praise" AND "They are present at holy worship." Well, crap. These two short statements show such a profound lack of understanding about who God is and what Divine Love is that if you want to know my full response to these statements, you're going to have to read all 189 posts on my first four blogs. (Doesn't that sound like fun?)

My short answer to these two statements is this: an angel's job is NOT to offer praise and worship to God (although angels are always hugging Mother Father God and saying thank you to show our appreciation). While it's true that angels ARE present at human services of religious worship, it's only because guardian angels never abandon their charges and never leave their sides for a moment. This means that your guardian angel is with you 24/7 from the time you're conceived until the moment you die and are taken Home by God the Mother and God the Father. This has always been true for every incarnated being on Planet Earth, and this will always be true, because God the Mother and God the Father would never ever contemplate leaving you alone for a second. So Fox and Sheldrake's eschatological idea that "the good angels are coming, the good angels are coming" is hogwash. Our angels have never left us and never will.

Your guardian angels are always with you.This means your angels see every little choice you're making. They see you when you're not being loving; they see you when you're going to church or temple or synagogue and repeating awful things about God; they see you when you're buying into religious myths that tell you God favours human beings over all over creatures; and they see you when you're choosing Platonic and Gnostic myths over God's loving and scientific realities.

That's the bad news.  The good news is  . . . your angels forgive you!


For Further Reflection:

It's all about the big picture.

The big picture is the only thing your angels are interested in. The big picture guides the decisions made by your guardian angels. The big picture shapes the events you don't want and didn't ask for. The big picture takes precedence over your human beliefs and prayers.

For angels, the big picture is all about relationships -- knowing God the Mother and God the Father in ways we didn't think possible, and knowing ourselves in ways we didn't think possible. And relationships are the messiest, least logical experiences of our human lives, right? Relationships involve struggle. And confusion. And miscommunication. And healing. And forgiveness. And love. And pain.

Yes, it's painful to be a human being with a Heart. It's painful to know grief. It's painful to wrestle with forgiveness. It's painful to let go of denial and embrace self honesty and personal change. And it's especially painful if you spend your whole life denigrating the Heart and exalting the Mind. Pursuing the Mind's goals (purity, piety, and perfection) at the expense of the Heart's goals  (humbleness, humour, and health) is the worst feeling of all for a human being. That's the whole point as far as your guardian angels are concerned. They want you to have the chance to wrestle with your own free will. They want you to see what it feels like to make really bad choices. It's only when you're faced with the stark reality of your terrible mistakes that you have the chance to dig deep into your own courage, your own love, and your own forgiveness. In doing so, you learn important truths about yourself as a child of God. You learn an eternal lesson about the infinite power of Divine Love to fix the Mind's screw-ups.

So yes, your guardian angels will sometimes let you fall flat on your face. And other times they'll step in to stop you from messing up your whole life. It depends on the situation, though. It depends on the big picture.

If you can manage to remember that you, as a human being, are being asked by your guardian angels to take responsibility for your free will -- to fully "own" your free will and use it wisely -- then some of questions you have about your life will make more sense.

You don't have to be perfect to know God and be close to God. You just have to try each day to balance your Heart and your Mind to the best of your ability. The effort to do this is always going to be gnarly and unpredictable, so don't give yourself too hard a time.

This is where Divine Humour comes in!

LSP23: Look! Up in the Sky! It's a Bird, It's a Plane, It's . . . Pseudo-Dionysius!

A number of years ago, I picked up a remaindered book called The Physics of Angels: Exploring the Realm Where Science and Spirit Meet by theologian Matthew Fox and biologist Rupert Sheldrake (New York: HarperSanFrancisco, 1996). At first glance, it looked fascinating, but I didn't crack the cover until I was writing a term paper about Pseudo-Dionysius for a 2009 church history course.

I was drawn back to Fox and Sheldrake's book yesterday when I discovered it on the list of "Recommended Reading" on Eben Alexander's website (www.ebenalexander.com). My eyebrows shot to the top of my head when I saw The Physics of Angels being touted by a neuroscientist who should know better.

I didn't like The Physics of Angels in 2009, and I like it even less now. It's a perfect example of how NOT to approach the study of mysticism.

You probably think it doesn't matter that Pseudo-Dionysius was an early 6th century Neoplatonic Christian mystic and writer who single-handedly invented Western Christianity's early doctrines of "mystical theology" -- and you'd be right if it weren't for the fact that people today are still gobbling up this fake mystic's writings, putting them on a pedestal, and treating them like gospel truth.

Statue of Archangel Michael, late 13th century, Ile-de-France, on display at the Art Gallery of Ontario. Although much has been written over the centuries in Jewish, Christian, and Islamic sources about Michael (said by many to be the first of the seven archangels and the leader of the Hosts of Heaven), the focus on angelic hierarchies in Pseudo-Dionysius's writings should set off your alarm bells. Divine Love isn't based on ladders of ascension or hierarchies of perfection. Divine Love spreads outwards, not upwards. Once you get used to the idea that there's no evil force opposing God in the universe (an evil entity variously named Satan, the Devil, Lucifer, etc.), you quickly see there's no reason for God to have an angelic army led by a sainted archangelic warrior demi-god. Photo credit JAT 2018.

In their book, Fox and Sheldrake look at the writings of three historical Christian mystics -- Pseudo-Dionysius, Thomas of Aquinas, and Hildegard of Bingen -- to discuss who and what angels are in light of modern findings from physics. 

The problem here is that Fox and Sheldrake haven't done their historical homework, so they seem to think it's okay to use the "teachings" of Pseudo-Dionysius as if they're a reliable source.

Since when is a man reliable when he pretends he's a 1st century disciple of Paul, but really he's a 6th century writer who elaborately constructs a "mystical paradigm" about Heaven, and then presents it as "divine revelation" so the side he's taking in a big theological debate will win? (His side was the side that wanted to bring Plato's "truths" into the Christian fold as "Christian truths." His side won.)

Since when is the man who first coined the word "hierarchy" a reliable source for those who want to feel God's non-hierarchical love in their everyday lives?

Pseudo-Dionysius had a lot to say about angels because he had a lot to say about why human beings should obey their bishops, commanders, and rulers. He understood that if you're using religion to control the populace (a familiar tactic in so many human cultures), it's very helpful if you can "reveal" lots of impenetrable gobbledygook about celestial spheres. Then you can wave it about and tell people that if they want to get closer to God, they should submit to the same hierarchical structure of obedience to human leaders on Earth as angels joyfully abide by in Heaven. As above, so below -- but with a tyrannical twist. 

The methods of Pseudo-Dionysius were both devious and brilliant. And for centuries, his invented stories about angels have made it really difficult for regular people to trust that Heaven is a place where they'll be welcome.

In our culture, we don't take scientific concepts from the 6th century and give them special status just because they're old. Instead, we take historical scientific concepts and carefully reexamine them in light of newer findings. We acquire new data, compare it to older data, ask new questions, and ask whether the older questions were the best questions possible. We don't just take a writer's word for it because he uses lofty words and images. We should approach historical theological claims with the same rigour we apply to historical scientific claims.

Mystics of the past have changed the course of history, but this doesn't mean they were right -- or even very nice. When a person makes super-claims for himself and his side in a theological debate, we should think twice about his motives. And we should ask who was benefiting most from his "revelations": himself or God.

No one who has actually felt the loving presence of God or God's angels could treat God and God's angels the way Pseudo-Dionysius did.

That's why I think he was a fraud.


For Further Reflection:

Everybody who believes in Heaven is incredibly curious about it. We want to know what it looks like, what it feels like, what it sounds like. We want to know what happens when we get to Heaven. We want to know who we'll see and how we'll be received when we arrive. We want to know what will happen to us in the future. We want to know what angels look like and how they behave. We want to know pretty much everything. And this is perfectly normal for all human beings.

But our abundant curiosity about Heaven makes us vulnerable to spiritual and religious charlatans.

By all means, feel free to explore the personal narratives of those who've had near death experiences, or those who've had visions of Heaven and angelic beings. Many reported experiences are legitimate and life-altering, obviously so for the individuals who've found themselves coming face-to-face with God in the most unexpected ways, and sometimes equally so for the people around these individuals.

Bear in mind, though, that every single human description of Heaven and heavenly beings is only a partial picture of the Truth. The human brain can know quite a few things about Heaven, but we can't know everything because our brains have limits. Even mystics such as myself, who voluntarily connect with God's presence each and every day, have limits.

This is normal and healthy, and there's no way around these built-in limitations, so don't try. And don't listen to spiritual gurus who tell you that God has revealed to them everything you'll ever need to know about Heaven -- and MORE!!! God sometimes does speak directly to certain individuals, but when this happens, the words and images and feelings are highly specific, highly end-user-directed. In other words, the way God communicates with you isn't exactly the same way God communicates with your neighbour. And Divine communications aren't usually about Truth with a capital "T" at all -- they're almost always about relationships. So what one person sees and feels about Heaven isn't going to be exactly the same as what his/her neighbour sees and feels, with a small number of exceptions, as follows.

This is a list of things about Heaven that every human being can relate to, even though we don't have all the nitty-gritty details during our human lives:

1. Every single soul who incarnates on Planet Earth will return to the place we call Heaven when the physical body dies. No exceptions, not even for tyrants, pedophiles, and the unshriven.

2. When you return Home to Heaven, you will (as you've heard so often) be reunited with your loved ones, and they'll be crying because they're so happy to see you.

3. You'll feel wrapped in a blanket of Peace and Divine Love that's so warm and blissful it's a bit beyond words. You'll feel safe, happy, sad, proud, and confused all at the same time. But mostly you'll feel loved.

4. You'll feel grateful for all the experiences you had as a human being (even the painful ones).

5. You'll spend some time healing and learning from your experiences, and, when you're ready, you'll help others do the same.

6. You'll understand God's wisdom in ways you never thought possible, and your Heart will feel as if it's going to burst with the wonder of God's Divine Love and Forgiveness.

7. You'll probably decide you don't want to incarnate again, but if you think another incarnation might be right for you, you'll talk it over with your angelic family for many, many years, and then you'll reincarnate several centuries in the future. Physical incarnation is a difficult process for all persons-of-soul, so there are no exceptions to the "wait-and-see" guidelines for future incarnations. God only lets you incarnate if there's something you can't learn through any other angelic learning process.

That's about it.

The rest is all gravy.