Monday, July 23, 2007
Wishing after angels
Jimi Hendrix has a song called "Angel". It was one of the last songs he recorded prior to his untimely demise. In it, he sings about a visit from an angel and her promise to rescue him the following day. She returns the next day and as promised, she takes him home to Heaven. In the song, Jimi's angel is lifted skyward by silver wings and illuminated by a "child's sunrise". Jimi is at peace and welcome's his ascension without fear. He encourages her to "Fly on, my sweet angel, fly on through the sky." The song is peaceful and relaxed. There is no anxiety in passing and the journey is welcomed.
I think, in some way, we're all looking for angels. Now do not misunderstand, I am not saying that we all look forward to death, but I do believe we all end up finding a way to accept and be at peace with our own mortality. To face death in fear and horror seems like such an undignified, or even terrible way to go. Death is inevitable. It is the one thing we are all guaranteed, the moment we begin developing into zygotes. Once the life essence is within us, the one thing we can be absolutely certain of is that it will one day leave. Most of us will neither know when, nor how, but we can all rest easy in the knowledge that one day, our time will be done and the Great Question will finally be answered.
Depending on what you believe, the ramifications of your actions in life may or may not be realized in death, the after life, or whatever lies beyond that final closing of the eyes. There is some comfort to be gained from the fact that it is a sure thing. Of course, the question surrounding when is enough to frighten us, but letting go of that fear is part of transcending our physical self and truly setting ourselves free of the trivialities of our day-to-day dramas. Spirituality doesn't have to be something we just talk about, it can be something we live every day. By embracing our own mortality, we free ourselves to stop worrying about the when, and open up our potential to truly live for now. In so doing, we elevate our understanding, and shed the anxieties that work so hard to smother us. We are free to live our lives according to our principles and ideals, because the only thing that truly matters is our spiritual, physical, and mental health. The opinions of others, the transient troubles of this primitive world, the ebb and flow of our own insecurities, are irrelevant, as the only thing that truly matters is living life until death. What that means will vary from person to person, so the only stress becomes finding others who share your values and ideals with which to spend however much social time your spirit requires. Even this stress can be overcome by finding contentment within yourself, but we are social animals and I believe we all have a certain compulsion to interact with others on some level. I, for one, struggle with the perils and pitfalls of human interaction everyday.
And this is where I wish angels would enter the picture. I wish there was a place where willing people could be taken that was segregated from the general masses. A place where we could be free of the trite, shortsighted, consumer culture that pervades all modern, industrial societies. We are a vacuous, anti-intellectual, spiritually vacant society occupying one of the world's most diverse and beautiful land masses. This place could be something like the Christian concept of Heaven on Earth. We could live in paradise, but will not ever realize that potential because of the inherent failings in the human animal. Unfortunately, people are everywhere worth living, so there is no escape short of living in the woods on privately owned acreage, or moving to an area other humans would deem uninhabitable.
But wouldn’t it be nice if an angel could give us an escape without having to take our lives from us in the process? I just want to live in a beautiful place full of enjoyable, honest, honorable people. Unfortunately, such people are generally the exception, rather than the rule, so we our only reprieve is seeking good people out, and doing our best to surround ourselves with them. In this way we make our own private effort to shield out the selfish, ugly culture all around us. We are Rome and it is slowly burning. With that in mind, I think I might be able to relate to those early Christians who met their ends in the ancient Coliseum. The primary difference being that I would much rather be feeding Romans to the lions. C’mon angels, we need a miracle. ;)
Labels: life, spirituality
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get with the times, bro. free love and an abundance of mind-altering chemicals is paradise on earth. duh!
That shit is so 1960s/1800s/1700s/every damn century humanity has existed on this planet. Once you learn a little history, you realize how BORING and predictable most of the human species really is. People would say that I am boring, or worse, but shit, at least I'm making an effort to be at least a little original. That's the real tragedy, isn't it? Not only do we suffer the effects of rampant bad behavior, but we have to experience the double whammy of being bored by it all! lol