- Amy MacKinnon
Angels and Humans: What Do We Know?
Includes:
Introduction
I've heard more than one commentator say that you can't (or shouldn't) teach people how to understand symbols in fiction, or how stories "work."
I've also heard some say that you shouldn't teach people how to understand symbols in fiction or how stories are organized; instead, they should just read more stories and then they'll figure it out on their own.
Obviously I disagree with these ideas, because it's a big part of the reason I started my blog with posts doing exactly that, and I've heard from MANY people from different walks of life about how helpful those posts were.
What these people don't realize is that there are many problems with thinking that these ideas shouldn't be taught, and I'll be addressing them in future blog posts. The main problem is that people who embrace these ideas aren't taking into account (or don't understand) how human beings learn.
The idea behind these claims is that by simply reading and/or hearing something, you'll know and understand it.
If this were true, we wouldn't need teachers because we'd simply have to consider an idea and we'd automatically know it. There is some truth in that, but if that were always true then we wouldn't need teachers of any kind or at any stage in life. We wouldn't need to read, either!
The larger problem with this idea is that it's not how human beings acquire knowledge and come to know and understand things. The idea behind this is actually much closer to angelic knowledge, although it's not exactly the same.
(The future blog posts on this topic will be addressing some of these errors in teaching)
What do Angels Know?
What are angels?
Angels are pure spirits who have an intellect and a will, but since they don't have bodies they have no sense knowledge (additional posts on angels can be found here and here).
The first way that human beings and animals learn is through their senses, but since angels don't have physical bodies they don't learn the same way that we learn.
Since angels don't have bodies that would allow them to learn through their senses, how do they acquire knowledge?
How do angels know what they know?
There are three ways that angels know what they know:
At the moment of their creation they had knowledge
They can be enlightened by other angels who are further up in the hierarchy
Considering ideas
Creation of the Angels
Angels are pure spirits who have both an intellect and a will. They were created directly by God all in the same moment and in that moment in which they were created, they were in a hierarchy based on knowledge. That means that the higher their level in the hierarchy, the more knowledge the angel has (1).
Enlightened by Other Angels
Since their rank or position in the hierarchy is based on their knowledge, angels who are higher up in the angelic hierarchy have more knowledge than angels lower in that hierarchy. can enlighten angels who are lower in that hierarchy. When a higher angel enlightens an angel lower in the hierarchy, that lower-level angel now knows that information in its very essence.
Considering Ideas
Angels don't make mistakes, but they still don't know everything. When they consider an object or idea, they immediately know that object it's nature (or essence) without error, but that doesn't mean that they know everything (only God knows everything).
Since the angels first know things in their essence, they don't necessarily also consider the details of things. For example, they may know the countries of Canada, United States, and Japan, but not know every individual instance of people and places within those countries until they focus their attention on the matter.
If a human being has the attention of an angel, that angel now knows that human being, and that knowledge is never forgotten by that angel.
How angels communicate with humans
Angels can't read our minds; only God can do that, but they're very good at reading our body language. Human beings can do this, too, but not as well as angels can. If you've ever seen a performer who seems to read the minds of some of the people in the audience, you'll see something similar to what angels are able to do.
In the TV series, Lie to Me, the main character was VERY good at reading people's body language and knowing if they were hiding something or just outright lying. What he was not able to do as well is know what the truth was behind the lie, because he could only read the outward physical reactions that people had and not their actual thoughts. People can be very good at reading others to the point where they can make a pretty good guess at what someone else is thinking but it's still not knowledge, it's just a good guess that may or may not end up being true (see my blog post here for more examples).
Since God created us (and because He's God), He has full access to our thoughts and intentions. The only way that it would be possible for an angel to have direct knowledge of our thoughts would be if God allows it.
What Do Humans Know?
How do human beings know things?
Human beings aren't born with any innate knowledge. We do have some automatic reflexes and responses, but very few. Everything we come to know is because we have learned it. There are two ways in which we gain knowledge:
Through our senses
Reasoning
The first way that we learn is through our five senses
When we’re teaching babies and young children, we put lots of things in their environment that will stimulate each of their senses when we:
Gradually introduce food with different tastes and textures (sense of taste)
Provide toys with different colors (sense of sight)
Provide toys that make different sounds (sense of hearing)
Introduce tactile objects that have different textures (sense of touch)
Different types of scents (sense of smell)
Everything we learn in our first few years is learned through our senses. As we grow in experience and start to understand the world around us we begin to "make sense" of the world. As our intellect continues to develop, we incorporate more information and that helps to develop our minds over time.
Children in grades 3 and under are taught how to identify which of their senses they use and what each sense tells us about the world around them. They're still learning how to use their senses to acquire knowledge, and they're still very concrete in their thinking.
The second way we learn is through the process of reasoning
Beginning in 4th grade, kids start to learn how to make distinctions, which is why their curriculum begins by making distinctions based on the subject matter which allows them to focus on specific topics. Around their junior and senior years in high school, they begin learning how to take the different disciplines they're learning and integrate them into a broader scheme. This incorporates finer details of subject matters as well as making distinctions between the subjects they're studying based on the nature of the topic.
For example: In grade school, most students in a given grade are learning the same thing when they learn math:
Learn to recognize numbers
Put numbers in order
Add
Subtract
Multiply
Divide
They start out at a very basic level. As they progress in their knowledge and understanding, they're introduced to more complex ways of using numbers. That gradually includes incorporating some of the foundational principles of logic, especially as they learn algebra.
The higher the level of acquired learning, the more capable the person is of engaging in abstract ideas. However, we can’t engage in abstract thought without first building up a solid foundation of knowledge. That foundation begins with knowledge gained from our senses and includes developing a growing vocabulary which is based on observations using our senses and learning the terms associated with what was observed.
At the beginning level of learning, vocabulary words are directly associated with one concrete thing. We teach very young children this way by holding up objects and naming them, while encouraging the child to repeat the word. As they grow and develop their vocabulary and ability to understand more complex topics, we increase the levels of difficulty and complexity of their studies.
Abstract Thought
The ability to consider abstract ideas and general principles usually starts to develop in adolescence.
Examples:
My Aunt Marguerite (specific) vs. a first name for a woman that comes from the French language, a pearl, or a type of daisy (more general)
My dog Fido (specific) vs. a common name for dogs, animals in the canine species, a symbol of fidelity (more general)
The topic is often introduced a little bit earlier, but the students usually only understand the definition and examples given by their teacher at that point. Their understanding of the concept then grows over time as they begin to see more examples of different ways that it can be used. Developing that ability to engage in abstract thought is required to understand the multivalent nature of symbols.
Understanding that all of that can be true requires the ability to engage in more complex thinking than young children are capable of. It takes a concerted effort by parents, teachers, and students themselves to get to the point where those children are able to understand the abstract ideas within stories and other mediums.
This is why simply exposing children to ideas does not automatically mean that they’ll understand those ideas.
Click the link below to get the Encouraging Critical Thinking Skills Workbook to guide your students through the basic steps of critical thinking, and learn how to come to a sound conclusion:
Additional Posts:
I have planned a series of posts on errors in teaching and education. The links to each post will be listed below as they are published.
Footnote:
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