When we are visited by an angelic presence, we become attentive for a long while after. Our attention turns towards that wonderment which opens before us in the wake of angels. A new strength and faith is ours. A softness comes into us, as when one receives unexpected generosity or affection. The effect lingers. We become a missile of subtlety, streaking in silent beauty towards the molten center of the universal heart.
But I want to say that angelic presences are not different than us; they are, in fact, aspects of us. They are not separate or different. We imagine them to be so, because we have defined ourselves in a narrow and limited way. It is easier for this definition to allow the miraculous to occur if it doesn't disturb who we think we are: the miraculous happens to me. But this is not actually the way it is. Nothing happens to any of us: everything happens within us.
The power of the miraculous is you, and you need not imagine this power resides in another realm of fantastic beings. This power is you.
What we call the angelic presence is the subtlety of existence that we don't pay attention to. When we let our guard down, this subtlety is revealed. Suddenly, serendipity is as common as a nickel, the miraculous as prevalent as freeways. We can become the angel we are by allowing this subtlety into our life. The lingering effect of wonderment is meant to disrupt the habitual reappearance of our limited self-definitions.
We can develop this subtlety of being and perception by seeing precisely the geography of our self-definition, its contours and topography. Come to know this, and then become free of it. There is no finality to us except that we exist in all places at all times as all things. Angelic presences are parts of ourself from which we have disconnected. The subtle essence of being we attribute to angels, to spirit guides, to "higher" selves, is in fact our own Self. Their attributes and qualities are ours. There is no point in continuing to live in a hardheaded, stubborn, and willful manner, when the angel of wonderment is our own Self.
We can move into the silvered lifestyle of angelic ease by letting go of the rigid self-definition in which we normally live. We are amazed at how the immaterial acts in the world of the material. We are amazed, because we are amazing, when we see ourselves in the mirror of these celestial skyscrapers. To know this, to be this, understand that the material world is an insufficient resource form which to create any self-definition. We don't need to invent apparitions invested with the sly wit and competence of eternity. Eternity is our own essence.
We are arrogant, in a funny/sad way. This arrogance is a fence, a security system, that keeps angelic forces outside and away from of us. So, to get around this, angels, as our own eternity, bestow revelations of beatitude, for which we are immensely grateful and appreciative. In this gratitude, our arrogance diminishes. We take down the fence and turn off the security system, if only for a moment. Still, that is good, because when we know that the angel is us, our arrogance will eventually give way to constant appreciation and gratitude. Then comes generosity and compassion. Then comes love, and then one begins to serve the miraculous presence of angelic apparitions in others. This is how we will become free from the negative force of limited self-definition and return to our eternal home of gratitude, compassion, and love. It is an effortless and inescapable equation.
We have come to believe that angels and immaterial spiritual beings act with a prescience that is unerring. They act without excessive regard to the laws of time and space and causation. We call their wisdom and good works miraculous because they exist outside the framework of our definition of self. Don't keep holding the key to your own freedom. Put it in the door and unlock the subtle forces within your own Self.
Then we will become capable of this wisdom and working in this wonderful way.
May everyone be at peace, in love, and know their most perfect Self.
Robert Rabbin is an author, speaker, and advisor. He can be reached via e-mail at [email protected], or by writing: 2629 Manhattan Ave., Ste. 192, Hermosa Beach, CA 90254. His new book, The Sacred Hub (The Crossing Press, ISBN: 0-89594-837-0), is available in bookstores or from the publisher at (800) 777-1048.
"Echoes in Silence" is a bi-weekly column by Robert Rabbin--author, speaker, and advisor--who has spend thirty years using self-inquiry as a means to explore the true nature of self, mind, reality, and consciousness.
His new book, The Sacred Hub (The Crossing Press, ISBN: 0-89594-837-0), is available through the bookstores nationwide.