Sometimes, we are touched by angels.
When suddenly, out of the silence, the heart fills with gratitude, and tears flow from the soul, and it becomes blissful for a moment, then an angel has placed their hand on our shoulder. They are with us, standing behind us and supporting our backs, which cannot see. That is why we have a back, to preserve how the angels live with us and bear witness to our lives: silently, gently, and almost imperceptibly. The angels keep watch behind us, where we cannot see. They hold our backs and everything that we are turned away from, and so they hold and see all that escapes us.
The angels hold our past, which lies behind us. It is completely entrusted to their hands, because the angels were with us back then, witnessing with us what we saw, heard, and felt. They are eternal witnesses who acknowledge with human beings what is. They are messengers, not from another world, but of the eternal, the original source that dwells above and at the same time within us, and in which we dwell.
The angels do not come from a distant region that is foreign to humans. They come from home and bring solace, inspiration, and gratitude—treasures that are close to their source. This is how angels bring us messages, instilling them into our hearts. They are never far away, and they often keep their distance so that we can experience reality unadulterated, as it corresponds to our perspective. Even when it is dark around and within us, the angels are never far away, and neither is the one who sent them.
Their eyes are His eyes. He looks through the eyes of an angel. It is a gaze so pure and real that it illuminates our entire being in a single glance. The angels look so that He looks. And they see what is. That is why their gaze can sometimes seem so unforgiving. But there is no unforgiveness in their eyes, for they are as pure as children, who are perhaps most akin to them among humans. In purity and absolute blamelessness, the Being that looks at us through the angel can leave us speechless and change our lives from the ground up. All our shortcomings, secret desires, and pretenses are suddenly laid bare before us in total clarity. The angel does not change their gaze, because they always see everything that concerns us most intimately. But we change when we look the angel in the face, because through them, we are laid bare to ourselves. The truth—seeing through the angel’s eyes—is so powerful that it changes our entire life. All at once, we and the world are completely changed—for the better.
The angels are the silent observers who witness reality with us, from our hearts. Their gaze is His gaze, and He only sees reality. That is why the gaze of an angel is so disarming. He is the silent observer, the silent witness who has seen everything, so that nothing is hidden from Him, from the truth. All things are laid bare before the angel’s gaze because He sees through the angel. There is nothing to hide, because we need not fear when our secrets are revealed to the angel. The angel and He who sees through the angel know our secrets even better than we know them ourselves. What frightens us about being seen in the depths is simply that we are under the mistaken impression that there is something that the angel knows nothing about.
Andreas Blaser researched contemplation as part of a scholarship from the Anthroposophical Society of Germany. This has resulted in essays that are themselves contemplative. We will be publishing contributions from his collection from time to time. He currently lives and works in Basel.
Translation Laura Liska
Image Bronze angel sculpture by Rik ten Cate, exhibited at the Goetheanum in 2022. Photo: Xue Li
