angelic stuff: a sum up of everything i can work out so far

This is based off a post on my blog which was a sum-up of stuff i'd written about before. As a result, there's some things that likely need clarification that weren't on the original post- I don't remember a language, per say, since it appears to me that the main race i'm referring to communicated via empathy to a large extent- most of the names used are what seem the most correct to me- Sophie for example being a diminuitive form of sophia, which would be the name that seemed the most correct for the past life self i remember. Other than empathy, and some ability to 'cross over' to this level of existance, the 'angelic' species i remember seems rather 'mundane' and using technology that might be quite at home in the iron age, or the middle ages. I'd also note i'm still trying to work out fragments, and that a lot of what i write about might be coloured by human culture

I've been getting more insights in my possible past life. Part of me thinks getting information of the cultural and social backdrop of a culture with apparently no underpinnings in our culture, and more importantly trying to interpret this through a 'human' (well technically human + cultural) lens is interesting, part of me wonders, other than the war, how much of it seems to be a fair amount of rose lensed utopianism. It seems in some sense sophie is who i'd want to be, but do i long for those things- freedom, being close to nature and not in this urban sprawl and such, cause they were something i had before.

religion/culture: There seem to be the mention of two deities- a 'creator' god who is best described as having mild megalomania and ADD- he creates things, expects them to listen unquestioningly and tends to throw tantrums- tending to create (i donno the best word for this- world or universes) and then leaving them. The other is 'the lady' though the name seems to appear in two contexts. Primarily she seems to be a kind of 'mother goddess', who to paraphrase 'loved her children no matter what', and seems to ask some 'races' to look after others (which to my sort of angel, is the explaination for guardian angels).

The two of them seem to be part of an epic myth which seems to be the 'creator' whining about people, and the lady correcting him <!-- s --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_e_wink.gif" alt=";)" title="Wink" /><!-- s -->.

The other seems to be that she turned up suddenly on one of the ships that brought the ancestors of sophie to where they are now.Apparently she was a winged human type entity but somehow, i suppose how an angel would be to someone here, to an angel- she practically glowed with an inner light. Apparently she vanished before they reached their destination, but promised to return, and most of the images of the lady were based off how she looked at that time.

I have a recollection of seeing the latter aspect of the lady, though not in a context i recognise, in part since she tended to dominate a scene in a sense- you really didn't pay attention to much else- maybe this is something sophie saw when she was 'dying'?It was someone beautiful and almost too bright to look at reaching out.

We also seemed to be for most part pacifistic, though there must have been some degree of a military or police force considering there was an organised defence during the war (granted not a very effective one, but we probably won, eventually).

Technology wise, it seems to be a roughly iron age culture- there didn't seem to be that much agriculture, but that was likely the combination of the small size of the village i remember, and the availability of food in the area (the staple seems to be a kinda pomme type vegitable that grew on trees- was rather crunchy cooked, which was often in a fairly think sauce that covered it- i somehow think water chestnuts might approximate the texture. Sophie had also pelted some kids with em >_> sitting on a tree). Housing was small single family houses, with tatched roofs and smooth walls, and at least some of the furniture was made from the remains of ships - whether this was cause it was a one way trip on exile, or if the ships had crashed, or some other reason was unknown.Sophie at one point had managed to get an image by touching a bed, of people on a voyage from the perspective of the ship itself. no idea if this is a racial trait or one unique to her.

The war: Well, something happened, lots of people died- sophie had been captured herself, and saw nasty things, maybe died. Its something i rather not talk about despite the memories of being captive being amongst the strongest i have from that life
Thats all i can think up for now, and apologies if i repeated myself <!-- s --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_e_wink.gif" alt=";)" title="Wink" /><!-- s -->

Just curious why you refer to the race as angelic. Do they all "serve" one of the gods of the society in some way? I can't say I've ever really come across a physical species being referred to as angels. I have heard of angels appearing physical and being physical in nature on certain planes, but have never heard of a culture reminiscent of humanity being referred to as angels. Afterall angel means messenger, so is angel really the best term for this race? Or does winged humanoid fit much better.

I have heard of races of winged elves, does that fit at all? There have been some serious elven wars.

Last i checked, elves wasn't a 'lump everything that dosen't meet my personal definition' category.I've tried not to make guesses not based on memories to the best of my abilities, and many of the terms and names i use are what feel the most correct to me, translated from the ideas/emotions associated with them

Well, true, it dosen't quite meet the miltonian definition of 'angel' (and obviously not yours, since you assume the ALL have to be energetic) . Of course, there's a few things that wouldn't fit anyway with what most people assume- such as the creator god being a total crankypants, and the 'goddess' we have not very much giving a shit about being worshipped- she was more 'could you keep an eye on them please' (possibly referring to another race, maybe even us) - as far as i can tell anyway, and us not wearing white robes and playing harps. hell, i doubt we could even fly unassisted.

The war wasn't with another similar species, but rather with ... a bunch of things, including mutated offspring of captive beings of the same sort i was and the 'enemy'. No names come to mind, but from what i remember, they were an ugly bunch.

Service to me would tend to indicate willing or unwilling surrender of free will. We didn't quite serve the lady, as much as *like* her, and its more like helping a favourite old person carry her bags up to her flat rather than being 'servants'. We could always say no, or focus on other things, rather than waiting on her every whim like a bunch of lapdogs.Its possible the other guy may have made us, but by the time sophie was born, both the lady and the crank creator god were beings of myth.

I don't assume all angels are energetic period. I have spoken to many angelkin who describe themselves as physical on various planes, but energetic on others. Describing your race as having a culture, strikes me as having to do with evolution, which would imply that the race was not created but evolved. Angels are created. There's a thread in this section on angels and free will. Serving a higher power, doesn't mean you don't choose to, or don't want to, and it doesn't mean that you cannot choose how you serve.

Many angels are created for different functions, but have free will as to how those functions are carried out. Since many are created for something, that is their role, they wouldn't want to anything else.

Take me for example. I was created for a purpose. I do not do it because I have to, I do it because that's what I exist for. I have complete free will over what I do and how I do whatever.

It's like working. You have a boss, the boss tells you what he/she would like done and then you go about doing it how you see fit. If one day you are unhappy and want to change departments or quit you can request it and/or quit.

I wonder if any intelligent race could manage without a culture, even a 'created' species.Without a culture, you'd have no language, no communication. Even primitive creatures such as ants have a culture, so how would an intelligent species, one least on par with humans- and when you have say a half dozen living in a place, naturally some degree of society is needed.

Culture is music, tools, design of abodes (unless your god/goddess is a pissed off mean red vorlon)- the things that to me are what are interesting. Hypothetically, assuming what i speak of is a constructed species -Why SHOULDN'T a race created for a purpose (which in any case we might have been superseded for/stopped doing) with free will HAVE a culture?. Its silly to expect them to live in a sterile monofaceted dreary existance (unless maybe it was hell, and hell was boredom) focused solely around a task. I'd kinda doubt any species without the semblence of one myself.

Seraphyna Wrote:Describing your race as having a culture, strikes me as having to do with evolution, which would imply that the race was not created but evolved.

This is very much at odds with the Miltonkin who recall cities, architecture, music etc.

They may call themselves "energetic" but when their memories consist of a city that in all ways seems physical, and acts that seem as near as indistinguishable from physical acts, then they are to all intents and purposes physical.

I do remember a city, but it was created for "us," exists on its own plane, and is not physical, but condensed energy. Appearing physical and being physical are two different things.

As for culture, yes any group of beings will have some semblance of one. However, energetic races have no need to develop tools. Angels often talk about language being mostly empathic, not spoken.

Basically every angel/celestial I have spoken with, myself included, agrees upon language not being primarily spoken, not having a need to build things, to grow things, etc. Societies and cultures are really a human concept that we see mirrored in the animal kingdom and spoken about from the standpoint of other kin, mainly humanoid races such as elves. Culture as we know it here and culture among other beings may be two completely separate things.

The Miltonkin bug me, mainly because they take what they read and assume it applies to them. It's pretty hard to take human concepts and understandings and apply them to beings that are not human and that we cannot study here on earth.

Regarding cities - if it has buildings, walkways, gardens, plazas . . . call it anything you like but it is essentially physical, and the "energy" contained therein is something organised suspiciously similarly to bog standard matter.

Doesn't change the fact that it's not physical. It contains energetic beings, not physical ones and it isn't made of the same "stuff" of physical objects. It's on a different frequency so to speak. It is condensed energy, but still non-physical. If you condense energy into particles, molecules, atoms, etc. you get physical stuffs like humans, trees, plastic, etc. If you condense energy to a certain frequency for it to appear "real" and physical, it only appears that way, it isnt so.

Take ghosts, they can condense themselves to appear as apparitions, they can affect the physical. They might look real, but they aren't physical.

Why wouldn't a race of energetic beings who inhabit a physical environment take on the attributes of physical beings? Just sounds like common sense to me, adaptation to the environment. I mean, that's exactly what we're doing now, isn't it?

And it still amazes me that so many angelkin are dead set against the idea of service. Like it's a dirty word. I think it has something to do with living in a democratic country and is a completely modern phenomenon. But that's just me I guess...