Monday, September 20, 2021

Every Angel Should spend time here……..walking among Humans to Get to Really Understand Humanity – Amenadiel – Lucifer Season 6

 

One of the great joys I got from the pandemic was to make my friends with Netflix and a series called “Lucifer.” The premise of the series is simple. Lucifer, as in the devil of Christian Theology gets bored and moves to Los Angeles, where he becomes part of a crime fighting duo. The series portrays heaven and the entire cosmos as one large dysfunctional family. The devil is not so the incarnate of all things evil but a very troubled child or the first being to have major “daddy issues.” God the father is literally a distant father who has problems relating to his children.

Whilst the more devout would find the premise of the show offensive, there is a certain amount of charm to it. In a certain way, we end up feeling for the main character, who is trying to solve several millennia’s worth of personal issues. As with many shows, there are gems of wisdom that should be applied to everyday life.

One of the greatest scenes comes from the final season, when Amenadiel, Lucifer’s older brother talks about how he would “reform” the cosmos as the new God. He inadvertently admits that the previous God was a little distant from humanity and proposes that every angel should spend time on earth walking among humans to understand them. Part of the reason comes from a few scenes prior where Amenadiel finds out that the world has been going to the dogs because the various angels have been messing up prayers.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jcGnd14CZco

 


What made this scene so particularly interesting is the fact that it reflects the state of much of the world where there is a disconnect between people in the same society. In places like India, the disconnect is inevitably about wealth. There is Mukesh Ambani who spends on wedding what most people can’t earn in a lifetime and there’s the average Indian who doesn’t know when his or her next meal is coming from. In America, it is increasingly about whether you want a reality TV star as president or whether you would rather chop of your arm than to watch the same reality TV star on TV. Here in Singapore, the disconnect is usually between those who live in spreadsheet land and those who don’t. The good news in this situation is that none of the groups mentioned can claim to be celestial beings (however much they might like to think they are) and so, the disconnect can easily be solved. How can that happen? The answer is as what Amenadiel suggested – the “Angels need to walk among humans.”

In this case, one should always understand that the “angels” are inevitably the people with power and money (or both), in as much as these are the proverbial voices that count in society. Then, there is the question of why should the said angels bother to walk among human beings. How does it affect Mukesh Ambani, for example, if most of his fellow countrymen earn in a lifetime what he earns in a matter of minutes?

The answer is simple Whilst it may not seem like it, the proverbial angels need the mortals as much as the mortals need the angels. India’s billionaire businessmen for example, do need India’s teaming masses to buy their products and services. Singapore’s politicians need the votes of ordinary Singaporeans to get into power and the taxes paid by ordinary Singaporeans in order to claim their salaries.

Take Singapore as an example. On the surface, everything works beautifully. Singapore looks prosperous and is environmentally friendly. Crime remains relatively low and if you look at Covid statistics, our death rate is one of the lowest in the world – or at least low enough for every death to make the news.

Yet, if you troll through cyberspace, you’ll notice that there is obviously a disconnect. Take the issue of “foreign labour” as an example. The locals complain that their being screwed out of the job market. The government inevitably comes up with a load of statistics to show how the “open-door” policies have helped Singaporeans. Both sides are saying something. Both sides are not understanding.

So, what can be done? One might suggest that the answer is for the proverbial celestial beings to walk the ground and listen to their residents. This would require some work but then again, on the amount given to the celestial beings, one should expect this to happen.  In the five-years that I’ve lived in my estate, I’ve seen more posters of my member of parliament (MP) than I’ve seen him in person. Covid has reduced the opportunity to meet with the MP. While I don’t expect my MP to be on Christmas card terms with every resident, I don’t believe its unreasonable of me to expect him to be visible in the estate more than once a week. Why wait should the MP (who is in Singapore speak something of a celestial being) be absent for most of the time, especially when he gets an allowance seven times more than my salary.  

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Maira Gall