Soul Notes

Do Angels Have Wings?

Anyone who has done a serious study of aerodynamics is familiar with the physics of flight as set forth by Daniel Bernoulli. His basic theories and their relationship to the laws of motion, as defined by Sir Isaac Newton, form the aerodynamic and physics principles that pretty well define what keeps birds and airplanes in the air. Having spent a great deal of time studying aerodynamics, as a military pilot, I have a significant difficulty understanding why a representative of a spiritual God would have a need for such an earthly, cumbersome attachment as wings.

From an aerodynamic perspective, the idea of spiritual beings with "wings" is nothing short of creative fantasy. Logically, it doesn't make much sense either. Yet, some of the most famous paintings in the world show human-like beings with bird-like feathered wings. Winged angels adorn many places of worship and even mark headstones and tombs of the deceased.

We know for sure now, because we have been there, that space is a vacuum. We know that wings on an aircraft are useless in space, as there is no airflow to cause Bernoulli's differential pressures on the wings that create lift. As such, wings on birds would be totally useless in space for the same reason. It would seem then, that wings on an angel would also be totally useless in space and, therefore, wings on an angel have no purpose other than when being used on Earth, or any planet that has an environment which would allow the aerodynamics necessary for the creation of "lift" to occur.

In simple terms, a wing, whether on a bird, or an airplane, or an angel, is designed to take advantage of differential air pressure. When the wing is at rest, the air pressure all around the wing is basically equal, also known as static.

According to Bernoulli, since the top of the wing, or airfoil, is curved and is therefore, a longer distance from the front to the back than the bottom of the wing, as the wing moves through the air, the molecules of air on the top of the wing must move faster than those on the bottom of the wing in order to arrive at the back of the wing at the same time.

His formula goes on to say that as the speed of the air molecules increases, the static pressure goes down. So, for flight, the static pressure on the top of the wing is decreasing more than the static pressure at the bottom of the wing, and, since there is more pressure on the bottom than there is on the top, the wing moves upward. And that, boys and girls, is how wings create lift. Other factors such as thrust, weight, and drag are necessary to complete the "flight" equation, but as for lift, Bernoulli pretty much figured it out. Of course aerodynamics gets more complex than that when you get try to fly upside down or move into supersonic and hypersonic design but, most birds don't whiz by inverted, at supersonic speeds, with their tail feathers on fire, so this is detailed enough, for this discussion.

"Well, the Space Shuttle has wings and it goes around out in space, so explain that," you say.

OK. The Space Shuttle is thrown into space by a huge rocket, just the same as shooting a rock in the air by using a slingshot. Once it is out of the effective pull of the Earth's gravitational field, it just floats around in a vacuum. Sometimes its upside down (if you consider Earth being "down"), sometimes it is right- side up, sometimes it is going sideways. It could be the shape of the Superdome in New Orleans, a toolbox, or a ham sandwich and it would still zoom along in space at some 18,000 miles per hour. In the vacuum of space, there is no resistance, or drag, to slow it down. There is no air to create differential pressures, so wings and rudders and elevators don't work. The Space Shuttle uses little "thruster" rockets to realign its attitude and maneuver around, or increase and decrease its speed. But, sooner or later, it needs to come home, enter the Earth's atmosphere, leave the dark and cold vacuum of space and go down to where there is air and gravity. So, for the first time since it was blasted off the launching pad, it is now going to have to fly… without power, but fly. It will have to turn, and establish a very precise rate of descent, then continue to correct its flight path, just like the beautiful glide of an eagle maneuvering, ever so gracefully, for a prey. Its rudder, and wings, and even the body of the craft have all been designed to make maximum use of Bernoulli's concepts. And so, we see that, like angels, our Space Shuttle has no need for wings, except when maneuvering close to Earth.

Hopefully, this will help you to see that unless you are in the Earth's atmosphere, or some similar condition on another planet, wings are useless. Surely, we can all agree on that. So, why would a Supreme Being create earthly emissaries that cannot move freely around without such an encumbrance? Jesus Christ did not have wings and he is supposed to reside in the same place as the angels. According to the Bible, Jesus was "... taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight." The revered teacher Buddha did not have wings, nor did the great prophet Muhammad need wings as he traveled and taught his people the Suras of Islam, although the Qur'anic Revelation was reportedly given to Muhammad by the Archangel Gabriel, who is depicted as a large, strong, winged being.

Some angels in the Bible don't have wings, as in the story of Sodom and Gomorrah or the two angels who came to Abraham and foretold that Sarah would become pregnant.

So why? Why do we picture angels with wings? Where did such a concept come from? When you try to answer those questions, remember, and I know it is hard, remember to place yourself back some 3,000-5,000 years ago. Remember that you know nothing of any type of motor powered vehicles in the air, or on land, or on the sea, and consequently there is absolutely nothing of any size in the air, flying over your head, except birds. And how do the birds fly? With their wings, of course.

Now, suppose you "saw" something one day. You saw something that frightened you and amazed you at the same time. You saw something that was so unbelievable and beyond what you could imagine in this world that it had to be a god or come from God. You saw something in the air, moving, and hovering. You saw something that had the "appearance of a man" as described in the Book of Ezekiel, yet it was in the air. How do you tell someone about this? How do you describe what you saw? How do you relate what you saw to your own knowledge of the world? Is it really all that hard for you to imagine someone adding wings to the description in order to explain it to themselves, as well as to others? What ever you saw, had to have wings, whether you actually saw them or not. How else could it fly? You know that everything that flies in your world has wings and, the big things have feathered wings.

If you are a couple of feet away from a honey bee, and see him on a flower for the first time, you can't see his wings, but he is flying and you know other bees have wings, so you guess he has to have wings also. The same is true with a humming bird, seen from a distance. You mentally put wings on him, whether you have ever seen a hummingbird's wings or not. How else could he be in the air?

The mental creation of wings to explain the unexplainable is pretty easy to understand. The real question is "What is it that you really saw in the air?" This same dilemma occurred to American fighter and bomber pilots in 1944 when they first saw the Messerschmitt Me 163B-1, known as the Komet, the first rocket powered aircraft used in air combat.

Actually, this small German built jet was designed to intercept bombers and shoot them down, but it was not very controllable and amounted to nothing more than a manned rocket with wings that could be maneuvered around for about 10 minutes, until the fuel ran out, then it became a glider and landed, or in many cases, crashed. However, as it zoomed around the skies, the American pilots, in their propeller-driven, state of the art aircraft, were amazed that they saw no propeller on this very fast little airplane. How could it possibly fly? They assumed that the propeller was contained internally, after all, all airplanes had to have a propeller, somewhere, right? Well, not exactly. Welcome to the jet age, gentlemen.

The point is, that we attempt to understand new things by analyzing them against our existing knowledge. We love to use the word "like". By comparing known events or things to what we are trying to describe, we add a dimension of familiarity in hopes of adding clarity. "She looked like a little doll"; "He ran like the wind"; "He had eyes like an eagle", and so forth. So, given the limited vocabulary of the day, appropriate to the limited knowledge of things when compared to our present knowledge, it is pretty easy for us to accept that "wings" on angels came about through poetic license of the story teller and have no basis of fact or reason to support their purpose.

This is not to deny the existence of angels, quite the contrary. But rather, it is an effort to dispel certain man-made contrivances that add nothing but confusion to one's understanding of supernatural beings that could exist in the long chain of beings between man and a singular Supreme God. I know of no religions, now or in the past, that do not include claims of spiritual beings that intercede from time to time in defense, or on behalf, of mankind, but none of them need wings to do their job.

According to the Reverend Billy Graham, the Holy Bible refers to angels over 300 times. Three angels in the Holy Bible have names: Michael, Gabriel, and Rafael, all three of which end in "el" which means "like unto God" in the Hebrew language. A fourth angel, Sariel is mentioned in the Dead Sea Scrolls by Enoch, but Sariel was somehow omitted from the Bible (so was the entire book of Enoch!). In the Islamic writings, Gabriel (the messenger of God) is an Archangel and deliverer of divine revelations to the prophet Muhammad.

The Jewish Torah also speaks of angels intervening in man's life, bringing messages and delivering warnings. In the Christian religion, Michael, is the only one identified as an "Archangel", meaning the primary or captain of the angels. Another famous angel is Lucifer, a fallen angel we now call Satan, or the Devil.

As the Christian story goes, Lucifer wanted to be God. He did not like the role of worshipper, but preferred to be the worshipped. He desired to rule Heaven so he instigated a rebellion against God. God threw him and his followers out of Heaven and, just our luck, they all landed on the Earth.

Now wait a minute! We have been taught by all the religions of the world that God is all knowing, all-powerful and is the Creator of all things, right? So, a few questions arise.

Of all of the millions of galaxies and billions of planets, why would Lucifer be allowed to occupy the one with man on it? "To set up a challenge to man, to give him a free will to choose between good and evil", you say. Well, would a parent make pure heroin available to a child to "challenge" him, or to give him a free will to choose? Not any I know. So why would God the Father of mankind do something like that to his children and especially with consequences far worse than the heroin could bring? If you agree with the Adam and Eve story, you believe that those individuals were created in the image of God and sinless, living in Paradise, in a perfect world, all set up that way by God. If Lucifer was an angel, created by God, then he was less than God; had less power; had less knowledge; had less strength. Meaning, God had control. So why did God allow this paragon of evil on the Earth to defile his creations?

The Reverend Billy Graham, a man who has earned the respect of powerful world leaders and common folk like me, alike, makes a very curious statement in his book about angels. He says, "Lucifer became Satan, the devil, the author of sin...". While I quickly acknowledge that Dr. Graham is much more learned than I will ever be on biblical matters, I feel compelled to point out that Lucifer could not have been the "author of sin".

In the book, Angels: God's Secret Agents, Dr. Graham references a passage from the 28th Chapter of Ezekiel in which Ezekiel, describing the Archangel Lucifer, says, "You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created, until unrighteousness was found in you..." If unrighteousness was "found in" Lucifer, it was put there by Lucifer's creator, God. That makes God the "author of sin".

We don't know anything about this angel named Lucifer, until, of course, he got himself crossed with God. It is interesting to note that unlike the three mighty angels of God (4 if we include Sariel), the name Lucifer does not end in "el". Wonder why?

The name Lucifer conjures up images of dark and evil deeds. He is nicknamed the "Prince of Darkness", yet his name actually implies just the opposite. The Latin words "lux ferre" are the roots of the word Lucifer, meaning "bringer of light". It is interesting that the beautiful and brilliant planet Venus, also called the morning star, is known as Lucifer!

Could it be that Lucifer was not an angel at all, but also a god; a god that was in a power struggle from the very beginning with the one we now call the Supreme God; a god that amassed an army of lesser angels to take control of Heaven and was defeated; a god that picked out mankind, God's living creation on which to take out his revenge in order to "get even" for losing the fight; a god that really is destined for a final fight-to-the-death battle for control of all of the universes?

All this is interesting speculation, and gives us a great deal to wonder about, but nothing, absolutely nothing explains or justifies spiritual beings with wings, whether they are on the side of good or on the side of evil --- and, it is wings that we were discussing.

According to religious beliefs, God is a spirit and the angels are also spirit beings. They are the workers of God; the created ones that have never sinned, consequently, they have no soul, but rather are a soul of the highest order of perfection; the emissaries of God which interact with man on Earth. They are below God but, much higher than man in their divinity. They can be visible or invisible. They can display great strength and power and move about freely and rapidly.

So, why do they need wings? They need wings because all religions, both ancient and present, from all over the globe are totally obsessed with flying things --- things that typically don't, and can't, fly. The Egyptians were, in reality, superior craftsmen and constructed some of the most precise structures known to date. Their abilities in mathematics, astronomy, architecture, biology, writing, and culture were far advanced of what they should have been at that time in history. Clearly, the Egyptians were too smart to "imagine" and to revere, humans with wings; or hippopotamus gods; or to sculpture beautiful and highly detailed art pieces which show a young Egyptian woman being lectured to, in a teaching setting, on the art and skill of writing --- lectured to by a baboon, but check out their art, there it is.

The combination of human bodies and animal heads, or vice versus, are continuous in their stories, their paintings, and their statues. And, one of the recurring animal features that was repeatedly assigned to their gods was wings. Their structures and art works are adorned with flying things; flying snakes, flying fish, flying dogs, flying dragons, flying alligators, flying lions, and more. The Egyptians, however, were not the only ones with such creativity. Their Summarian predecessors had started the trend.

Then, thousands of miles and thousands of years away, the Incas, Aztecs, and Mayans were also portraying animal/human combinations in their art and stories. And, it should come as no surprise that they too were obsessed with flying animals that have never been seen or confirmed as having existed, except in their art. Even the Greeks gave us the most famous flying animal of them all --- Pegasus, the winged horse. [If you were thinking of Dumbo, you're on the wrong web site].

Place yourself back in time for a moment, back to 3,000 BC. Erase from your mind all you know about science, technology, biology, medicine, astronomy, astrophysics, and mechanics. You may know about farming and raising animals. You may know about soldiering and fighting hand-to-hand in war. You may know how to play a musical instrument and to dance. You may know how to be a merchant and to trade goods for services or for money. Life is pretty basic and fairly simple, not necessarily easy, just uncomplicated. So why do you create flying things to worship and to adorn your art and the coffins of your dead? Why do you put wings on animals that can never fly? If you were alive in 3,000 BC, you had a simple, basic existence, but that does not imply that you were completely nuts.

Ok, let's come back to the present. Let's restore all of the knowledge available to mankind today. As you sit there reading, pause for a moment and ask yourself why those people did that. We know they did it, that is indisputable, but why? Did they see something that could not be explained any other way than to express it with weird concepts of flying animals? It really stretches the imagination to consider the other option---that they actually saw these animals in flight. If we could keep these strange depictions on temple walls and on artifacts, and on paintings we could just call it "modern art" in BC time, of course. But no, that would be too easy.

But then, we have an account by one of the most acclaimed prophets of the Old Testament describing similar beings that were in his very presence. Most theologians, with whom I have come in contact, don't have an explanation of what Ezekiel saw and just skip over their responsibility to try to explain it. Even Ezekiel described the likenesses of men as having wings. Well, here we go again!

There is one other explanation as to why wings were so prominent in the early religious beliefs of the Summerians, Babylonians, Egyptians, Hebrews, Christians, and into the Inca, and Aztec cultures. Simply, the people of those times actually observed beings with wings.

Well, that's what you believed all along, right? You always believed that angels had wings and now here I am finally getting around to the same conclusion. Not quite. I didn't say anything about angels, I said "beings".

In Robert Temple's Sirius Mystery, we learn of a remote African tribe, known as the Dogons who knew things they should not have known, based on the scientific and astronomical knowledge of the time. They knew about Sirius and its hidden star Sirius B and that Sirius B was a heavy star (later found to be one of the more dense stars in the universe). They knew about orbits of stars that were unknown until years later, when powerful telescopes were developed. And, they believed in life on other "Earths". Robert Temple quotes the anthropological journal of French anthropologists Marcel Griaule and Germaine Dieterlen, as was told by the Dogon:

"There are creatures living on other 'Earths' as well as on our own; this proliferation of life is illustrated by an explanation of the myth, in which it is said: man is on the 4th earth, but on the 3rd there are 'men with horns' inneu gammurugu, on the 5th, 'men with tails' inneau dullogu, on the 6th, men with wings inneau bummo..."

Have 'men' from the 3rd, 5th, and 6th "Earths" been here? Have 'men' with horns (3rd earth), with tails (5th earth), and wings (6th earth), been here and made such an impact that those three characteristics appear prominently in our present day religious stories and paintings?

If we accepted the fact that 'men' from the 6th earth had visited us, it would instantly clear up a lot of questions. Maybe 'men' with wings, not spiritual beings, did show up here. Maybe they did fly their spacecraft from the 6th earth to the place where they were observed by Ezekiel and Daniel. Maybe they interacted with the Sumerians, Babylonians, Egyptians, Incas and Mayans, and others around the globe. Maybe they were the cause of the giant leap that mankind took, not with his first steps on the moon, but in the small 5,000 year old time window beginning around 3,000 BC, until now. Maybe we thought they were gods, or emissaries of God, when they were only other wonderfully intelligent creations of God, out exploring the galaxy.

Maybe we thought they were angels.