Friday, 4 June 2021

What We See

Poul Anderson, Operation Chaos (New York, 1995).

Marmiadon tries to summon an angel and thinks that he has succeeded:

"'The angel, the angel!'" (XXVII, p. 205)

"'The crowned head, the shining wings,' he crooned." (ibid.)

- whereas Steve Matuchek's experience has been, frankly, the opposite.

We all see different things. Alan Watts told a story of a woman who had a vision of Christ every time she received Communion but didn't tell anyone because she thought that everyone else had it. When a guru, Sri Chinmoy, spoke at University, most of us just saw this Indian guy but a few saw bright colors and a canopy above his head. In Susan Howatch's Mystical Paths, Nick Darrow sees a demon but his companion thinks that he has gone mad and Darrow reminded me of Marmiadon. Mainstream meets fantasy yet again.

1 comment:

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

But the fictional Darrow thought he had seen a FALLEN angel. And Marmiadon, a well meaning Johannine priest, was deceived by the Adversary into thinking he saw a good angel.

As a Catholic I believe in the reality of the angels, good and bad, and hence the possibility of some of us actually seeing such spirits.

I find most mainstream fiction boring, seeming to be obsessed with kinky sex and middle class angst. Howatch seems to be an exception to that!

Ad astra! Sean