Reality of the demonic and the angelic by comparison with secular understanding of existence

Engaging with Hyperreality through Demonique and Angelique? (Part #3)

Belief: Clearly extreme importance continues to be associated with faith-based perspectives in relation to global governance -- exemplified by the conflicts that they inspire, inform and are held to justify (Future Challenge of Faith-based Governance, 2003).

This emphasis is despite extreme deprecation of any such framing from a scientific perspective by a number of authors (Richard Dawkins, The God Delusion, 2006; Christopher Hitchens, God is Not Great: how religion poisons everything, 2009). Belief in the reality of angels and demons is variously associated with such religions, however their existence may be understood. How these beliefs are promoted (or overlooked) by religions and ideology may well be irrelevant to popular belief.

With respect to the Abrahamic religions, as noted by Erran Bar Shushan (The Angels of God), belief in angels is one of the six pillars of the Islamic faith, without which there is no faith ( Islamic view of angels). Angels have been embraced by Christianity, like no religion before it (see Wikipedia: Christian angelic hierarchy). Forbidden as they are to create any image of any such entities, Judaism makes use of Hebrew letters in order to represent deity and the aspects of deity (see Wikipedia: Angels in Judaism). This is evident from the value variously attached to angels. Equivalent entities, termed otherwise, are recognized by other major religions of the world, notably as the devas of Buddhism and the devas of Hinduism.

However, clearly more controversial for those deprecating religion, is the sense in which science and atheism can themselves be understood as belief systems -- and held to be functioning as such for their adherents (Top 10 Reasons Science Is Another Religion, Listverse, 15 December 2012; Paul Bloom, Scientific Faith Is Different From Religious Faith, The Atlantic, 24 November 2015; Bill Meacham, Is Science a Religion? Philosophy for Real Life, 16 January 2012; Mike Dobbins, Atheism as a Religion: an introduction to the world's least understood faith, 2014). What are the entities which evoke such belief? In what space might they be represented, especially if they are primarily to be characterized by processes?

Image: Although the secular world endeavours to distance itself from such matters, it is curiously embroiled in the cultivation of image -- whether individually or collectively (Kenneth Boulding, The Image: knowledge in life and society, 1956). Image may be everything in the promotion of individual careers and the success of collective initiatives. Considerable resources may be devoted to such cultivation -- and to reframing the image of opponents negatively, most obviously through negative campaigning (Wendy L. Patrick, Why Bad Looks Good -- The Optics of Politics: appearances are not always reality, Psychology Today, Ben Zimmer, Optics, The New York Times Magazine, 4 March 2010).

In what manner does any such image "exist" -- especially in the light of understanding of its existence at the focus of optical systems?

Divine surrogate: As indicated with respect to the increasingly surreal perceptions of processes of governance, and the sense of the absurd, to what extent do the collective processes and entities exist -- most notably when many are defined as "nobodies", or experience themselves to be such? A striking example of this is provided by the so-called international community to which appeals are now frequently made, and whose inaction is frequently deplored. Separately it has been argued that this is increasingly functioned as a divine surrogate (International Community as God or Sorcerer's Apprentice? 2015). To what extent can it be said to "exist"?

Nonsense: Much is made of the international rule of law as the foundation of global civilization (What is the International Rule of Law? Brandeis Institute for International Judges, 2010). Increasingly it is only too evident that its rules are set aside and judicial interpretations in those terms are declared to be "nonsense", "ridiculous" or "absurd". To what extent can its rules be said to "exist"?

Values and goals : Much is also made of human values, especially as enshrined in international declarations. As intangibles, how is their existence to be recognized -- especially when they are beyond any recognition by science? Their nature is a theme of discussion within the Club of Rome (Martin Palmer and Karl Wagner, "Valuesquest": the search for values that will make a world of difference, 2013). Embodied in goals, values were an early focus of the Club of Rome (Ervin Laszlo et al,, Goals for Mankind: a report on the new horizons of the global community, 1977). As noted above they are a feature of UN Millennium Goals and UN Sustainable Development Goals.

In an effort to clarify the nature of the inherent ambiguity of their articulation (at least in English), values were the focus of a Human Values Project, which notably focused on the paradoxical nature of value polarities.

Models and hypotheses: There is clearly a fundamental issue as to the nature of the "existence" of the many conceptual models and hypotheses, whether engendered by science or to frame and facilitate social organization. They are a feature of the psychosocial construction of reality. They could well be understood to be "creatures of hyperreality", readily declared as creations of the imagination -- especially in the course of the speculative processes during which they are engendered

Attribution of real existence to intangibles: An obvious response to such questions is that reality is attributed to such intangibles and action is taken on the basis of their existence. This is especially evident in the case of political campaigns and commercial marketing. A form of existence may also be engendered by fear as in concerns about a culture of fear framed to justify allocation of vast resources in response to terrorism. There is then the strange dilemma of existence presented in the classic tales of The Emperor's New Clothes and of the Boy Who Cried Wolf., as discussed separately (Entangled Tales of Memetic Disaster: mutual implication of the Emperor and the Little Boy, 2009; "Big Brother" Crying "Wolf"? But them "wolves" are a-changin' -- them's becomin' "werewolves"! 2013).

Considerable significance is clearly attached to the intangible in relation to jihadist suicide bombing and the promise that the perpetrator will go immediately to heaven -- whatever further attraction is offered to males by the prospect of 72 virgins. With respect to the latter, it is noteworthy that it has been argued that "virgin" is a mistranslation of "angel" (Ibn Warraq, Virgins? What virgins? The Guardian, 12 January 2002). The understanding of virgin has however been otherwise confused with houri and even with raisin (Rebecca Sato, The Great Koran Controversy: will Muslim martyrs get 72 raisins instead of virgins, and other speculations, The Daily Galaxy, 16 January 2008)

Fiat realities: The extraordinary degree of economic reliance on fiat money -- now framed as quantitative easing -- offers a striking case of questionable existence, especially since its use was previously condemned as evidence of incompetent governance. More generally this can be understood as an instance of fiat reality, as framed by the formulation of edicts by authorities, most notably religious authorities (Papal bull, fatwa, Posek, etc). Especially striking is the sense in which

Myth: Despite their deprecation by a secular society, such arguments are consistent with recognition of the fundamental role of myth (Joseph Campbell and Bill Moyers, The Power of Myth, 1988; Karen Armstrong, A Short History of Myth, 2005). There remains the possibility that cultures of the past, in the absence of science, may have had other modes of sensitivity to the challenges of comprehension and representation of the subtle. There is clearly a sense in which it is perceptions, however cultivated, which frame reality in terms of which action may be taken -- irrespective of how such perceptions are related to evidential reality and requirements for concrete proof, themselves questionable (10 Demands for Concrete Proof by We the Peoples of the World, 2012).

Possession? Frequent reference to "having a problem" or to "being a problem", whether in the case of an individual or a collective, frames the question of how this may be further associated with demonisation, even possession by a demon. References to "having an inspiration" or to "being an inspiration" recall the references by the creative to the influence of a benevolent daimon -- notably amongst the Greeks of antiquity. Related reference is however also made to "being an angel", whether as a benefactor or in romantic situations. Bother extremes raise the question of how such qualities are imbued or embodied.

Collective perceptions: It was in terms of the perceptions of international constituencies that extensive efforts were made to profile the problems of the world in the Encyclopedia of World Problems and Human Potential. Fundamental to the methodology was recognition that the existence of any one problem, as claimed by one constituency, might well be called into question by another as misleading or a delusion. A similar situation obtained in the case of the remedial strategies advocated by one constituency -- readily perceived and deprecated as problematic by another.

The dynamics of global civilization could well be understood as determined by subtle perceptions -- however much these may be claimed to be factual and evidence-based by constituencies promoting belief in their reality.

Of particular interest in relation to any sense of angels "falling" into a demonic condition (or "rising" from one) is the sense of time with respect to the appreciation of particular subtleties, namely their period of credibility to some constituency. This can be usefully framed in terms of the so-called half-life of knowledge , as variously explored (Samuel Arbesman, The Half-life of Facts: why everything we know has an expiration date, 2012; John Ioannides, Why Most Published Research Findings Are False, PLOS, 30 August 2005).

With respect to deities engendering belief over the history of human civilization, many could now be considered "dead" (Michael Jordan (Encyclopedia of Gods: over 2,500 deities of the world, 1993; Patricia Turner and Charles Russell Coulter, Dictionary of Ancient Deities, 2001). Similar consideration consideration could be given to the theories, hypotheses and models of science, now considered obsolete. Wikipedia offers a checklist of superseded scientific theories.

Collective entities -- de facto or de jure: The extent to which any such entities can be held to "exist" remains a matter of debate -- despite the reality attributed to them in practice. Especially significant at this time is the frequency of appeals to the international community, raising the question as to whether it has become a divine surrogate or an act of deception, as argued separately (International Community as God or Sorcerer's Apprentice? 2015)