Toward the end of the lesson, the teacher reminded us to listen to that part of ourselves that wants to do good and the phrase "Better Angels" popped into my mind. I naturally did what I always do--and right there and then, while listening to the lesson, mostly, I googled "Better Angels." (I hope none of my former students read this and remember my preaching about not multi-tasking within the language centers of our brain, because you can't read and listen simultaneously!) I read a few things and then decided to research it more later. So I did! I love the internet when I don't hate it.
In 1841, Charles Dickens (!)wrote, "So do the shadows of our own desires stand between us and our better angels, and thus their brightness is eclipsed." It was in his book, Barnaby Rudge. (entire quote listed below--amazing)
In Abraham Lincoln's (!!) first Inaugural Address given in 1861, William Seward suggested edits to the speech. According to an article on NPR.org, Ronald C. White Jr., an author of A. Lincoln: A Biography, Lincoln accepted some suggestions, but not all.
"It is Lincoln's final sentence that has found its place as American scripture: "The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battlefield and patriot grave, to every heart and hearth-stone, all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature."
Seward had written, "the guardian angel of the nation" impersonal. But Lincoln invoked "the better angels of our nature" — deeply personal."
I love this phrase even more knowing Charles Dickens and Abraham Lincoln used it so long ago. Apparently Shakespeare used it in Othello as well. It really is as close to scripture as it can get! It may trouble some people that the term implies that there are less than good angels, but if you apply the natural man concept and realize that the term refers to our natures, I think it is completely acceptable to realize that within us is a complex set of character traits--good and bad--and that we have the choice as to which ones we choose to employ.
I find great comfort and courage in knowing that within myself there is a force, a light, an angel if you will, that will help me be better. If I choose to love, not hate, I will love. If I choose tolerance over judgment, I will be a better friend and citizen. If I expect a better and higher aspect of myself to go forward, I truly believe it will.
There is an organization named after this quote as Lincoln used it at better-angels.org that is a bipartisan network of leaders and organizations that wants to re-unite our country in the way Abraham Lincoln pled with us to do so often. I wish them God's speed and best wishes.
For myself, I will concentrate on daily choices, calling upon my own better angels to help me as a mother, grandmother and friend, and ultimately a better disciple of the Good Shepherd.
The complete quote from Dickens:
The complete quote from Dickens:
"The thoughts of worldly men are for ever regulated by a moral law of gravitation, which, like the physical one, holds them down to earth. The bright glory of day, and the silent wonders of a starlit night, appeal to their minds in vain. There are no signs in the sun, or in the moon, or in the stars, for their reading. They are like some wise men, who, learning to know each planet by its Latin name, have quite forgotten such small heavenly constellations as Charity, Forbearance, Universal Love, and Mercy, although they shine by night and day so brightly that the blind may see them; and who, looking upward at the spangled sky, see nothing there book-learning…
“It is curious to imagine these people of the world, busy in thought, turning their eyes towards the countless spheres that shine above us, and making them reflect the only images their minds contain…So do the shadows of our own desires stand between us and our better angels, and thus their brightness is eclipsed.
