The Golden Section

The angel of death stands between heaven and earth,

holding a poison-dripping sword. Identified with Satan,

he is full of powers, a diligent reaper, an old

fugitive and wanderer like Cain, a beggar, a pedlar, an

Arab nomad, a skeleton, capering with sinners and

misers in a jugglers' dance.

But the nightmarish angel presents a different face to

the one who has died before death, who has attained

some measure of the apathea of a saint.

We are told that Azrael, Death, appears to our spirit

in a form determined by our beliefs, actions, and

dispositions during life. He may even manifest

invisibly so the man may die of a rose, a rheumatic

pain, or of a rotting stench.

When the soul sees Azrael, it falls in love, and its

gaze is thus withdrawn from the body as if by a

seduction. Great prophets and saints may even be

politely invited by Death, who appears to them in

corporeal form. Thus it was with Moses and with

Mohammed.

When the Persian poet Rumi lay on his deathbed, Azrael

appeared as a beautiful youth and said, "I am come by

divine command to enquire what commission the Master

may have to entrust in you."

In fact, a strange connection becomes apparent between

mors and amor, love and death. The moment of extinction

in the pleasure of love resembles that of death, and

thus, that of the mystical. In mythic terms, Eros and

Thanatos are almost twins, for in some cases Death

appears as a lovely youth and Eros as a withered

starveling.

Both love and death are gateways, hence their eternal

adolescence and their fixation in the midst of the rite

of passage.