February 2015: The Angel's Angle

Astral Facts, February 2015

Astral: (Theosophy) Consisting of, belonging to, or designating, a kind of supersensible substance alleged to be next above the tangible world in refinement; as, astral spirits; astral bodies of persons; astral current.

The Angel’s Angle

This time of the season usually brings the Astral Facts of life into the limelight with the celebration (or at least acknowledgement) of the Lunar New Year (often referred to as the “Chinese” New Year) with one of the significant animal representations.  This year has drawn attention more so than in the past, for it has been designated the Year of the Sheep, which has caused some debate since this animal motif has been referred to as the Year of the Ram and the Year of the Goat in the past.  This issue of translation is rather interesting, for the natures of the sheep, ram, and goat certainly have quite different connotations.

While that might be a combative linguistic issue in some cultures, it does strike a chord in connection with cultural concepts in “Western” culture related to the nature of angels.  In the past, theologians used to argue over how many angels could dance on the head of a pin, which might be relative to the fields of the natural sciences and the nano-technology of using subatomic forces in medicine to scrub the cholesterol out of clogged arteries.

 

However, from a different perspective, I often hear people refer to a departed loved one by mentioning the person is “an angel in heaven now, looking down at us.” 

Is that our human destination?  Will we have wings if we live a good life before we die?   The film It’s A Wonderful Life back in 1946 suggested that this wouldn’t be automatic.  In that one, Clarence, an angel 2nd class, needs to do some kind of “post-graduate” work to earn his wings.  If that doesn’t ring a bell, here’s a 2-minute overview of his situation:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2ZZUu2HUuo

Certainly for most people, “Clarence” did not fit the standard image of what an angel looks like.  The Renaissance painters have offered us a variety of concepts.  Are angels dressed in white with accompanying white wings, playing beautiful soothing music –  on harps or violins?  On the other hand, are they purveyors of justice, striking the evil doers with the laws of the cosmos, with wings not quite so downy soft and white?  Perhaps even they mete justice with a heavenly sword, clad in colors other than white with wings of darker shades?

How can we be sure about the identity and credentials of apparent angels? 

In 1928, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, perhaps because of his first name, pondered this same question, which he posed in a literary medium in his short story “A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings.” 

Essentially, the story begins on the third day of a terrible storm, with thousands of crabs coming ashore and filling the home.  The baby is sick and the father is killing the crabs and tossing them back into the sea.  On the beach he finds the washed up nearly dead body of an old man with enormous wings.  Not sure if this is an angel or just a shipwrecked Norwegian fisherman (for he speaks only a few words of a strange language), the family puts him in the chicken coop.  When the people hear of this, some say he is the angel of death coming for the child, but hundreds line up to see him, so the family charges five cents admission and becomes wealthy.  The priest suspects he is not an angel, for he does not seem to understand either Latin or Aramaic.  People lose interest in the old man when a circus comes with a girl who was hit by lightning and transformed into a giant spider with a female head.  As the old man’s molting wings grow new feathers, the wife is upset by having a home “lousy with angels” getting in her way.  Naturally, I have omitted many details as well as the ending but the full text is here: http://www.ndsu.edu/pubweb/~cinichol/CreativeWriting/323/MarquezManwithWings.htm  Also, a 2-minute YouTube overview is here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bljRZP1QYlg. 

Of course, the question is: was he an angel or not?  If so, the angel of death blown off course or a guardian angel, like Clarence, using unusual methods to protect the child? In my classes, when students have “taught” this story in group presentations, sometimes they have asked their classmates to (1) draw a picture of an angel and then (2) draw a picture of the old man in the story.  Similarities and differences have been a source of lively discussions.

Which opens up another can of worms or perhaps delicious tidbits:  do all angels have wings?  One of the prime sources of content is the Bible.  What does it say?  Often when people refer to angels, the image is of some kind of powerful supernatural winged being.  However, the Bible often presents angels quite differently.   For example, when two angels visit the home of Lot, nephew of Abraham, Lot prepares a feast for them and the angels eat the food.  The people in the town (Sodom) and Lot himself refer to them as “men” and the fiancés of Lot’s daughters do not leave the town when the angels warn it will soon be destroyed.  Even Lot himself hesitates to leave (New Scofield Study Bible, Gen 19.1-16).  In other words, none of the participants in the story recognize that these are two angels.  Since they don’t recognize them, this means they did not have wings or dress in the shiny white clothing most people imagine angels wearing.   In fact, the angels seem to have taken on physical attributes, for they are able to eat the food, and they are able to physically pull Lot and his womenfolk away from the impending disaster.  Earlier the Bible in Genesis 6:4 says, “The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of men, and bore children to them” (New Scofield Study Bible).  According to the notes accompanying this verse, “sons of God” refers to fallen angels.   Thus, this verse also indicates that angels were understood to be similar to humans in structure and appearance enough to mate with the human women.   These angels not only appear in human form, but they have physical substance as well – in fact enough to cause pregnancy in the women.  These two examples indicate that angels can and do have appearances similar to humans and sometimes humans cannot tell if they are angels or not.  Also, the concept that angels are supernatural and only spiritual in essence seems to be contradicted as well.  These angels exhibit carnal behavior and desire not usually associated with the typical concepts people have about angels.

Throughout the Bible, angels are referred to as being “ministering spirits” and “messengers,” as well as fulfilling other roles as servants.  Thus, the concept of people going to heaven to become angels might not fit the general concept of the role of angels or of people who have passed away.

We might ask ourselves if perhaps we have unknowingly encountered angels.  I suspect I had such an experience many years ago when I was an adjunct instructor living on an even tighter budget than now.  My in-laws were getting old, and my wife and I decided she should go to visit them with our children.  Since they live in Austria, the trip would be expensive, and I was hoping to sell my vehicle to pay for the trip.  Unfortunately, my asking price of $1900 for a twenty-year old vehicle with over 300,000 miles wasn’t getting any response. 

I drove the family to the airport, and on the way home, I knew I had a $1200 payment due in a few days, so I decided to reduce the price down to that amount (still about $1000 over the Blue Book listing).  When I got home, I picked up the phone to call to change the ad, but I didn’t hear a dial tone.  I said “Hello? Hello?” and a voice responded, “Do you have the car for sale?”  I affirmed this and gave the caller the address.  In 20 minutes he arrived, a lean, 40ish year old with tattooed arms and wearing dusty jeans and a soiled sweatshirt.  He said he had done a short-term construction job nearby.  He took the car for a five-minute test drive, asked where the nearest bank was, and came back 30 minutes later with 19 $100 bills.  Since I had a free tow from AAA, we arranged for them to come and follow him to his home in Seattle with the car.  My wife had taken our camera with her to Austria, so while we waited we used one of those disposable cameras to take a last picture of me with the car, him by the car, and then I used up the final frames of the car on the truck leaving. 

The next day, the camera disappeared.  I was the only one home and I had left it on my desk, but it was gone the next day when I looked for it to take for developing.  My only conclusion was that he was an angel sent to help us.  Perhaps many of us might reflect to identify such experiences as well.

Another question might relate to the role of animals.  Here is a recent suggestion by a syndicated cartoonist:  http://www.gocomics.com/wumo/2015/02/25.  Or, as Mark Twain has noted:  “Heaven goes by favor.  If it went by merit, you would stay out and the dog would go in.”

  

Walter Lowe
Astral Facts is a somewhat regular presentation of Humanities Science, produced in the bowels of the Humanities Science offices during the academic year.

Copy Cat Tastrophe, Astral Facts January 2015

Astral Facts, January 2015

Astral: (Theosophy) Consisting of, belonging to, or designating, a kind of supersensible substance alleged to be next above the tangible world in refinement; as, astral spirits; astral bodies of persons; astral current.

Copy Cat Tastrophe

We are approaching the middle of the current academic term (winter quarter), when midterms and first major essays start to hit the inboxes.  Frankly, this is raising some anticipatory anxiety for me.  This past fall term in my classes has turned out to be the “worst” ever in terms of blatant plagiarism in student papers.  In fact, I had to dismiss two students for repeated occurrences.  

It is unfortunate that such records will go on those students’ transcripts, but somehow the failing grade on the first paper just made them more desperate. Even though I informed them that I always drop the lowest score, which would wipe that from the record by the end of the term, it didn't temper the temperament.

Of course, this plagiarism thing isn’t new.  As Ralph Waldo Emerson stated about 150 years ago, it seems that once a person has been published, he has the right to copy anything others have written.  More recently, the “art” of plagiarism has come to be celebrated in a sense, as Tom Lehrer noted in his 1963 rendition (available on YouTube):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXlfXirQF3A

As the Internet has contributed to the temptation of easy access to plucking the “forbidden fruit” of the work of others, our campus recently underwent an effort to expand the education regarding the behavior.  As a team of us worked on this project, we found some interesting cultural differences at the root of the behavior. 

In some cultures, the act of identifying sources is regarded as an insult – both to the source and to the audience.  For example, using the phrase, “To be, or not to be: that is the question” and referencing it to Shakespeare would insult the audience’s intelligence.  The implication would be that those in the audience would be quite ignorant not to know the source if they hadn't been told.  Likewise, it would dishonor the reputation of Shakespeare to imply that his works and ideas are so obscure that they need to be identified when used. 

Thus, students and writers from such cultural backgrounds would be avoiding such taboos when they copy but don’t acknowledge the source.  However, “When in Rome ….” (as Shakespeare has noted - not to insult anyone’s intelligence).  Perhaps that was Shakespeare’s thought as well that he didn't need to cite any of his sources for his works (such as St. Ambrose for the “When in Rome…” statement.)

Because plagiarism can appear in many forms and because folks here in the Humanities Sciences like to refer back to the Greek and Latin roots of culture, here is the blooming taxonomy in the original Greek:

Varieties of Plagiarism and Plagiarists.

Greek terminology such as pathos, ethos, logos, etc., is often used in the broad scope of the humanities.  We could view the classification of major types of plagiarism in a similar taxonomy as follows:

Theo-sauros.  (aka T-sauros Rex).  This technique involves substituting a variety of words from the original source in order to disguise the original phrasing.   The Theo-sauros will do this to make the content appear original and more godly or royal.  Thus, phrases such as “common sense” will be changed to “ordinary feeling” or “communal sagacity.”   Of course, someone using “basic intelligence” would recognize that changing so many words and phrases will end up distorting the overall coherence of the writing.

Pseudopigios. This technique aims to lend credibility to the writer’s own unsubstantiated beliefs or opinions.  (This dates back to the ancient practice of pseudepigrapha when people would try to pass off their personal views as coming from Noah, Abraham, and even Adam and Eve themselves.)  The pseudopigio will make up credible sounding sources, usually bogus websites or non-existent online issues of accepted sources like Scientific American, which would not have page numbers for cross referencing.

Downloadios.  This technique involves the use of websites that sell or exchange fully written papers on a wide range of topics.  The websites have a disclaimer that the paper is for review only, but when students are paying as much as $10 per page, chances are that the “review tool” ends up being the actual paper.  Often the Theo-saurus will use this technique as a starting point.

Domestios, Fratios, or Sororios.   In this technique, known by several names, the writer will merely put his or her name on works done by a family member or close associate who has taken the same or similar courses.   Very few if any changes are made by the writer.  A variety of this is the Superidio, where the writers take their own writing done previously and make slight alterations (often not more than changing the date and course name) to submit as new work.

Spectato or Spectreios.  Sometimes Anglicized as “ghost writing,” this technique is an offshoot of the previous technique, but done under contract or by request.  Sometimes this is disguised as “peer editing” when the writer asks for help with a rough draft, outline, or paper topic and the other person produces the bulk of the final content.

Cuspidios.  In this technique, the writer merely expectorates content directly from lecture notes or class discussion, sometimes even from the same class the paper is written for.  Usually the original notes are not taken clearly, so the content may be a bit garbled as the writer merely repeats what has been heard as if it were his or her original thinking.

Oblivio.  This particular practice often includes one or more of the methods mentioned above without the practitioners recognizing that they are violating standards of academic integrity.  Such people often have been doing this as a matter of habit or they are so used to seeing those around them plagiarize that the practices seem “normal” behavior.

Insidios.   In this technique, the writer deliberately restructures sentences, reverses the order of list points or details or even cites a small portion of the original source as a means of deliberately presenting the source commentary, insight, and/or conclusions as his/her own original thinking.

 (Although these are posted on the Green River website, I don’t need to cite myself as the source.)

Returning back to the observations of Ralph Waldo Emerson from the top of the page, it seems fitting to close with another of his observations on bragging:  When we do encounter a braggart, we can acknowledge that, even though it might be done unconsciously, at least he is not guilty of plagiarism!

Walter Lowe
Astral Facts is a somewhat regular presentation of Humanities Science, produced in the bowels of the Humanities Science offices during the academic year.