Reflections on Angels & Demons

in #esteem6 years ago (edited)

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As Zoltan Kodaly, Hungarian composer, once said There is no complete spiritual life without music, for the human soul has regions which can be illuminated only by music.. The young Turkish musician performing in the video below, I believe, is a case in point — of music as an ecstatic form of prayer...

In my part of the world, as an Egyptian, we are accustomed to sighing outloud, saying Allah ("God"), when we are beside ourselves, in a state of rapture, transported by music -- as though an angel stirred inside of us, released by the music.

American philosopher, Eric Hoffer, said something that echoes this ineffable truth: A man's soul is pierced as it were with holes and as his longings flow through each they are transmuted into something specific.

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Conversely, while musing of angels, my mind turns to demons, and how we can't have one without the other.



In Christianity, for example, the devil targets priests more than the laity because of their spiritual vocation. Which is to say, Truth agrees with itself —irrespective of spiritual tradition, the higher one climbs, the deeper the abysses...

I have an aphorism in my new book of short meditations, Where Epics Fail that also says something to this effect, having realized it, in my own struggles:

Paradoxical as it may sound: the demon honors us by their attentions; our task is to seek to be a worthy foe. The line between an angel and a demon can, at times, even appear to be a mere hairbreadth--since good can come of bad and vice versa.

Hard to communicate such subtle life realities, since it is only experience that grants us intimacy with these slippery truths, and with it the realization of restraint/sublimation of evil inclination. Muslim mystic, Rumi, puts it thus: If you are irritated by every rub, how will your mirror be polished?

At the intersection of the Rumi's quote regarding polishing our heart mirror, is the Christian and Hebrew tradition, of Jacob wrestling with a being that ended up being an angel which he would not let go of until the angel blessed him.

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Jacob Wrestling With The Angel, painting by Alexander Louis Leloir

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Speaking about spiritual value of music, i can recollect this one.

Thank you, for sharing ‘_/|_’

Welcome. There is also this one, evoking similar emotions in me:

I think demons are just in our head. When we call them they come. Our brain is playing games with us and whatever we fear will come for us :D

Wherever they reside—in our head, hearts or souls—we must know them & respect their power, if we hope to overcome them. ‘_/|_’

Thats the most difficult part of the Game :D

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