In primal cultures there was a belief in the angelic forces in nature. In the Judeo-Christian tradition these Angels were known as Gabriel, Michael, Raphael, and Azrael. They were the guardians of Creation. They represented the Divine Compassion active in Creation. The Angels would appear to human beings, often as they travelled on the way, and were in difficulties. An Angel appeared to the prophet Elijah when he was feeling defeated, and hopeless. The Angel gave him food and drink, and told him to set out on his journey which was a long way to the Holy Mountain. And so he had the strength to walk for forty days through the wilderness. There are many other stories of these Spirits of the Cosmos coming to help, and encourage human beings on their spiritual search. Recently we had a meeting of young people coming from the Western Ghats in South India. One of the participants painted a picture of an Adivasi couple in the forest, who are spoken to by the ancestral spirit of the tree. It is this Spirit of the Forest that challenges the way in which human development is destroying the natural environment. Can we imagine an Angel of Ecology, who reminds us of the profound inter connectedness between the human being as part of a community, that includes all creatures and binds the individual to the whole Cosmos? We are part of a vast fabric of beings. And it is this web of life, and inter dependence of all living beings on the Wholeness of Reality, that the spiritual energies of the Cosmos remind us of.
In primal cultures there was a belief in the angelic forces in nature. In the Judeo-Christian tradition these Angels were known as Gabriel, Michael, Raphael, and Azrael. They were the guardians of Creation. They represented the Divine Compassion active in Creation. The Angels would appear to human beings, often as they travelled on the way, and were in difficulties. An Angel appeared to the prophet Elijah when he was feeling defeated, and hopeless. The Angel gave him food and drink, and told him to set out on his journey which was a long way to the Holy Mountain. And so he had the strength to walk for forty days through the wilderness. There are many other stories of these Spirits of the Cosmos coming to help, and encourage human beings on their spiritual search. Recently we had a meeting of young people coming from the Western Ghats in South India. One of the participants painted a picture of an Adivasi couple in the forest, who are spoken to by the ancestral spirit of the tree. It is this Spirit of the Forest that challenges the way in which human development is destroying the natural environment. Can we imagine an Angel of Ecology, who reminds us of the profound inter connectedness between the human being as part of a community, that includes all creatures and binds the individual to the whole Cosmos? We are part of a vast fabric of beings. And it is this web of life, and inter dependence of all living beings on the Wholeness of Reality, that the spiritual energies of the Cosmos remind us of.
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