Is the spirit world real? Or are we humans just bodies walking around on this ball for a limited amount of time, and after a few short years, our inner spirits die with our bodies?
Do we go on? Or do we end?
I like to believe that we go on. Our energy, our inner spirit, our souls. Scientifically, I feel like I am supported in this view.
If you’ve ever seen someone die, you know the moment it happens. They are there, in that body. And in the next second, they are not. The body can normally be kept “alive” for an indefinite period. But whatever was inside them — their spirit — their soul — has moved on to another place. Quickly. I say it has moved on because, scientifically, there is a law stating that energy cannot be created or destroyed. So with that, their energy has moved to another space.
I recently read an article asking the question, “Are angels real?”
The long and short of it is that it depends on what you mean by real.
If you mean scientifically measurable? Then no. There is no empirical evidence that angels exist as physical beings we can detect. No one has been able to run tests or observe them in controlled settings. Science is very good at explaining matter, energy, and forces. But if angels are real, they don’t live within that framework that our human brains have been able to measure.
My thought is that perhaps we don’t know enough to observe evidence for them.
On the other hand, if you Google “real-life angel encounters” or some such thing, you will find hundreds, if not thousands, of stories in which people give accounts of their time here on Earth with an angel.
And with that said, the question “Are angles real?” Culturally, spiritually, symbolically, or experientially real? Then yes. Angels are profoundly real.
Across thousands of years and nearly every civilization, humans have described beings that serve as messengers, protectors, guides, or intermediaries between the human and the divine. Angels appear in Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Zoroastrianism, and countless mystical traditions. I think that kind of persistence holds some weight. Ideas don’t survive that long unless they touch something deep within us. Unless they hold some kind of truth. On the other hand, Santa Claus is a thing. I know.
Spiritually, many people believe angels are non-physical intelligences. They believe that angels are not made of matter, but of something closer to intention, awareness, or energy. In that view, asking for physical proof may be like asking a thought to sit on a scale. We have thoughts. They are real. But we can’t measure them or “see” them. So in that way, in trying to prove or disprove angels, we are using the wrong tool. We are asking the wrong question.
And then there’s lived experience. People across cultures describe moments of protection, guidance, or presence during crisis. They have had someone who shows up in a situation. They help. And then, as quickly as they came, they completely vanish. Someone mysteriously appears and saves a life. Or perhaps a person experiences a comfort that arrives when everything else is failing.
So maybe angels are not winged figures hovering in the clouds. Or maybe they are.
Perhaps, though, they are an amazing and incredible energy that helps us when all else is hurting. Maybe they are just sheer goodness waiting for us to ask them for help. Maybe they are reminders that we are not as alone as we fear.
And maybe they are real in ways we don’t yet understand.
And perhaps the real question isn’t whether angels are real. But why do humans keep reaching for them?
We look for their help. And that might tell us everything.
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“Angels are not beings of light; they are beings of meaning.” — James Hillman
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“There are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of in your philosophy.” — William Shakespeare
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“The unseen is not the unreal.” — Victor Hugo
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“Faith is not the belief in something impossible, but the trust in something unseen.” — Søren Kierkegaard
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