At the head of a tearful throng gathered at Lincon's deathbed, Secretary of War Edwin Stanton reportedly remarked, "now he belongs to the ages." Or did he say "angels"? Witnesses never agreed, and historians have turned handsprings searching evidence for one view or the other. Beyond mere antiquarian interest lies a philosophical problem: was Stanton offering an orthodox and sentimental prayer, or a knowing paean to Lincoln's own deist fatalism? - from Matthew Battles' review of "Angels and Ages: A Short Book about Darwin, Lincoln, and Modern Life", by Adam Gopnik
Which would you choose to be lamented during your eulogy - do you belong to the ages, or the angels? Do we each belong to one, or do we all belong to both?
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Yay! you started your own Blog! This is a thought-provoking question. Too much for a Wed. morning when I'm sick AGAIN! Happy Ash Wednesday. Going to a service? We were going to, but now I'll probably just be in bed. :(
ReplyDeleteSo...this is pretty awesome. I'm sure I'm approaching this from the wrong angle, but that's how I roll.
ReplyDeleteFirst of all I can't answer what we all belong to because I don't feel comfortable speaking for others when it comes to religion.
On to approaching this from the wrong angle: I belong to both, in a sense. I am one of God's creations. God created the corporeal matter that comprises my physical body along with everything else in existence. So in that way all of me belongs to God ("the angels"). But for the purpose of this thought experiment I'll separate myself into two components: my physical self and spiritual self.
My physical self - my body - belongs to the ages. Ashes to ashes, dust to dust. Whenever my life force is extinguished my body will be lost to time in the same way the bodies of the dinosaurs I love so much were. I am part of the same circle they were, and for some reason that is a very comforting and reassuring thought to me.
But even when my life force stops, my existence will not. I will continue to exist in two ways: in the memories and possibly in the bloodline of future generations ("What we do in life echoes in eternity"), and in what we generally refer to as the 'afterlife', which I hope and pray God will judge me worthy to pass in Heaven.
Right now 'I' consist of my body and my soul, but what I truly am is just my soul, which is inhabiting this body in this stage of its existence. I have no idea when my soul came into existence or when it will cease to exist, or what other forms it might inhabit in the future or in what other realms it might exist at some point. But it always has and always will belong to God, and therefore in this thought exercise I 'belong to the angels.'