Sep 29, 2007

Uncovering the Cherub

Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so: thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire.

Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee.

By the multitude of thy merchandise they have filled the midst of thee with violence, and thou hast sinned: therefore I will cast thee as profane out of the mountain of God: and I will destroy thee, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire. --Ezekiel 28:14-15

In biblical tradition, a city is said to have a guardian angel, or "covering cherub" - e.g. Michael is the guardian of Jerusalem, but all cities have them - or perhaps... ARE them.

Cherubim are not adorable baby angels. They are mighty shape-shifting entities. They take any form - converting energy to matter as easily as we convert oxygen to carbon dioxide - Transformers. What if everything in a city is actually MADE of 'cherub' - consciousness made manifest?

The great cities of the world are all made of the same base elements, yet somehow, they all have unique personalities - spirits - zeitgeists. We can say that cities are simply the product of the people that live within them, but the people come and go, live and die, while the city continues... the soul remains the same. I can't help but think of the Big Apple. The experience of living in NYC is nothing less than a constant trial - yet a New Yorker is fiercely territorial, even loyal. When you ask a New York 'cell' why he chooses to live in what is nearly hell on earth - why he tolerates it - he can't rationally answer. You get vague appeals to "the culture" or "the energy". Maybe the cherub knows.

When we move to a new city, we are said to "put down roots", but maybe its really the other way around. That's why nomads like cowboys, Bedouin and Fremen are admired - people who resist the tendrils of the cherub. When Lucifer and his angels fell to earth - did they land on certain geographic points, which eventually became places known for great spiritual power? Were temples built on these places, and eventually cities and states? Every ancient city had its deity and its 'temple mount', and was that deity its covering cherub?

Were cherubim the ancient Gods?

2 comments:

Jake Kotze said...

Cities are definitely grown not built. Cool post

hoi polloi said...

Holy @#$%! I was reading about Cherubim this weekend in Madeleine L'Engle's book A Wind in the Door. Weird synch 0_o

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