Tuesday, August 3, 2010

Angels & Demons: Duality & Paranormal Phenomena

"This world of Imagination is the world of Eternity; it is the divine bosom into which we shall all go after the death of the Vegetated body. This World of Imagination is Infinite, and Eternal, whereas the world of Generation, or Vegetation, is Finite and Temporal. There Exist in that Eternal World the Permanent Realities of Every Thing which we see reflected in this Vegetable Glass of Nature. All Things are comprehended in their Eternal Forms in the divine body of the Saviour, the True Vine of Eternity. The Human Imagination..." William Blake A Vision of the Last Judgment

Consider: An encounter with a man whom my friend Terry Robinson wonders if he was actually an angel saves him from drowning. Another poet, and friend of mine, Stephen Morrissey has an excellent blog and series of poems, Dream Journeys that would fit right into this new series I am going to do here! There are also other poems of Stephen and Terry that these gentlemen kindly let me post here at My Favorite Monsters under the "poetry" label-and also by their names.

A young mother notices her 3 year old daughter has run off from the garden where she was playing. The mother looks around frantically and to her horror sees the young girl sitting on the nearby railroad tracks-a train is coming. "As she raced from the house screaming her daughter's name, she suddenly saw a striking figure, clothed in pure white, lifting Lisa off the tracks. While the train roared past, the glorious being stood by the track with an arm around the child...When the mother reached the daughter's side, Lisa was standing alone." Daimonic Reality by Patrick Harpur, pages 37-38.

And what of these incidents: "Or the Petropolis, Brazil, report of October 25, 1957, in which we are told that a girl dying from cancer was saved by a fantastic operation performed by two men who came from the sky. Or the case of "Dr X," the French doctor who observed two strange objects near his house in October 1968 and was subsequently cured of a large hematoma and of a form of paralysis." Dimensions, page 154 by Dr. Jacques Vallee.

And what on Earth are we to make of these encounters/incidents?: "Driving home in a company van the evening of March 17, 1978, Englishman Ken Edwards saw a strange figure on top of an embankment...It descended the steep hill at an impossible right angle to the ground, and before walking across the road and straight through a chain link fence as if it wasn't there, turned to face the van and shot narrow beams of light from its eyes into the cab. A power surge burned out all of the major components, Edwards' watch stopped, and he showed Hough [Peter Hough-a respected UFO researcher] marks on his hands that had been clutching the steering wheel which resembled sunburns. He soon began complaining of stomach pains, and was found to be riddled with cancer, and died at 42. Maybe he would have anyway, if he and something unknowable hadn't crossed paths, but like Barbara, his widow, told Hough, "A thing that can burn skin, stop watches and destroy an expensive radio might well be capable of harming a human being." Rigorous Intuition by Jeff Wells pages xiv and xv.

And this?: "Last July 20, Vince Weiguang Li delivered an Edmonton newspaper that carried a lengthy feature on the Wendigo, "a terrifying creature in native mythology that has a ravenous appetite for human flesh. It could take possession of people and turn them into cannabalistic monsters."

"Li abruptly quit his job and took a bus across the Canadian prarie, where he beheaded and cannabalized 20-year-old Tim McLean. "I just don't know what to think of it, quite frankly," says the pieces author, and Windigo expert, Nathan Carlson. He'd documented numerous cases of people believing they were "turning Windigo" who would beg to be killed "before they started eating people." At Li's first courthouse appearance, the only words he spoke was a soft, "Please kill me." also from Rigorous Intuition pg. xv

And this?: "On 16 November 1963 four young people were walking along a country road near Sandling Park, Hythe, Kent. Seventeen-year-old John Flaxton was the first to draw attention to a bright "star" which seemed to be moving over the woods at Slaybrook corner. The group grew alarmed when the "star" started to drop towards them. As they ran for safety they became aware of an oval-shaped golden light floating above an adjoining field. They stopped running-and the light stopped moving. They felt they were being watched."

"Up until now. the encounter is typical: the anomalous light heralds the advent of some visitation-a ring of fairies perhaps or a blond "spaceman" with a stirring message for mankind. Instead, "the glowing disappeared behind the trees, and the next thing the young people knew was that a dark figure was stumbling across the field towards them. It seemed to be completely black, human-sized but with no head [and]...to have wings of the kind associated with bats...The youngsters are convinced they saw a ghost. Mervyn Hutchinson, eighteen, said it was like a bat with webbed feet and no head." Daimonic Reality: A Field Guide to the Otherworld by Patrick Harpur, page 44.

The 1963 sighting in England, that Patrick Harpur talks about, gave me a bit more of a pause than its very creepy nature would already suggest. It happened 6 days before the Kennedy assassination in Dallas, Texas (or the 1963 coup d' etat for some of us conspiracy researchers!) "over the woods at Slaybrook corner," and involved an entity very reminiscent of Mothman . Now many people who believe in, and investigate such things believe the Mothman is an apparition that presages death, similar to the Black Dog or the White Lady. Maybe my ponderings on this case are "out of left field." However, I do believe in the reality of these (and thousands upon thousands) of other paranormal/Fortean phenomena. I also believe that human consciousness (at all of the levels of existence it can access) interacts like it is a web -spun within and without the threads and skeins of gross physical matter, and other, more subtler forms of matter which I definitely think exist too.

So I ask myself, "WTF is going on?" The first image is William Blake's The Ghost of a Flea, painted circa 1815-1820. The second image is one I saw on a discussion forum so I don't know who did it- another mystery! To be continued...

6 comments:

X. Dell said...

Perhaps we see angels and demons as projections of our light and dark sides--so real psychologically, that they appear to be real physically.

I always wonder, when hearing such stories, why they aren't more universal, or have some type of internal logic. For example, one can understand an angel rescuing a child from an oncoming train, but I've yet to hear of a claim of angels invading the inner-city to rescue the young children there from poverty and its effects: violence, poor education, pitiful job prospects, and for all too many, early death (visiting my grandmother's grave, I realized that all the surrounding graves were of people who were much younger than I).

Seems to me a just heavenly host wouldn't judge one child as less worthy of intervention than another based on ethnicity, race, or economics. But society would. Hence, the nature of these stories intrigue me as redemption tales.

On the other hand, the demon strikes seem particularly interesting as well, since they occur to people who don't (at least according to the stories) merit negative karma. What that reminds me of is the nature of theological discussion around the time of the Reformation. How does one get into heaven? Why is one worthy? How do we know who is saved?

The resultant fear was that one could lead a just, moral and pious life, and still be condemned to hell (Doctrine of Elect). The random victim of evil, to me, speaks of the fears of pleasing an inscrutable, implaccable judge.

Of course, many in power have named themselves as either God, or God's representative.

Devin said...

Thanks so much for your thoughtful comments (as always) Xdell!!
I am almost positive - 100 percent that some of this could be psychological projections- what interests me is the ones that aren't which I also believe in -

I think you had an excellent thought -or thoughts with the inner city example- and take that thinking worldwide and then one can see and wonder why such a great portion of humanity has been totally forgotten -
I also cannot believe that in a moral universe one set of innocent children would be deemed more worthy than another -

I am not at all sure that many of these cases are coming from what we would think of as "Heaven" or "Hell"
and I was thinking as I was trying to get my thoughts ready for this series- why some events and not others -why crop circles and not some other type of phenomenon?
why are so many aliens of the "gray" type? (some researchers think they have 'answered' this one but I am not so sure - but I will put their thoughts in this series.
I was also reminded of how some people who thought they were destined for Hell have had wonderful Near Death Experiences and some who had always tried to do good have had horrifying NDEs --
many think that negative NDEs don't exist- but they do- they are just not talked about as much-and of course I can imagine someone who experinces them - would be a little less likely to report "Hey I died and boy I went straight to effin Hell" (bad example haha)
thanks as always for your great comments my friend - you always give me and I am sure many others to think about!!!!
all the best to you!!!!

X. Dell said...

I can think of other explanations that are perhaps sensational, but nevertheless a possibility in terms of scientific principles. I just read a 1976 paper written by a Lt. Colonel for the Naval War College, in which he posits that these manifestations of angels, demons, even UFOs, might originate in the two dimensional intersection of multi-dimensional universes, one of them ours.

I've been thinking about posting on that. Maybe.

Devin said...

Xdell-I think you should do an article -or series?- on that when you get time- it sounds like a fascinating theory!!!!
thanks also for your comment and the comment of yours above- you gave me the idea of where this series here should head next as far as what to post about --so thanks much for that - I hope it is halfway decent - this is one article I have had a great deal of trouble writing (don't know why) and actually the article that I hope to have up today at some point will be a re-write more or less!!
all the best in the world to you my friend!!!!

Unknown said...

Devin I'm just hoping a Victoria's secret angle rescues me from the current woman I'm involved with. think that can happen?

Devin said...

Hi Ricardo!!!!
I will try to psychically send you a Victoria's Secret angel who is completely and madly in love with you --if you will try to psychically send me the "male" version of same --
all the best to you my friend--and no worries about the "whacky relationship" aspect of things --haha can't believe my own latest-uhm "achievement" in this area -LOL!!!!