When Light Takes Form: Angels in the Laboratory

“Angels are older than all religions – and they continue to reach even those humans who no longer wish to know about religion.”

With these words by Claus Westermann, we can approach the mystery of angels, present in countless forms across nearly every human culture.

The invisible cherubim, called Kettu by the Sumerians, endure through time and reach us still. In Christianity, they were considered the “engines of intelligence,” beings of light, adorned with symbolic wings that signify freedom from time and space and the ability to traverse dimensions. If angels can move through time and space and are made of light, it becomes possible to reconcile reason and transcendence: modern humanity need not choose between rationality and spirituality, for the imagination of the metaphysical can unite these two realms. Russian icon painting has created visions of angels of otherworldly transcendence, figures of supernatural power, which according to legend were not painted by human hands. In Christian traditions, angels are messengers of divinity and intermediaries of celestial strength, bridging the earthly and the divine.

Angels and Their Analogues Across the World

Figures akin to angels appear in many religions and spiritual traditions, even if they take different forms and names. In Christianity, angels are servants and messengers of God: they protect humans, convey divine messages, and fulfill God’s will, often organized into hierarchies such as archangels, cherubim, and seraphim. In Judaism, angels, called mal’akhim, play similar roles, acting as invisible intermediaries between God and humans without ever becoming objects of worship. In Zoroastrianism, the Amesha Spentas mediate between Ahura Mazda and the world, guiding humanity toward goodness.

In Hinduism, there are no angels as understood in the West, yet celestial beings such as Deva, Gandharva, and Apsara protect, inspire, and transmit wisdom or cosmic energy. In Buddhism, supernatural figures like Deva and Bodhisattva provide protection, guidance, and the manifestation of spiritual virtues. Even in African and Native American traditions, intermediary spirits connect humans with deities or natural forces, serving as messengers, guardians, and protectors of clans or communities.

Among the Yezidis, angels appear primarily in the figure of Melek Taus, the Peacock Angel, who mediates between God and humans, guides spiritually, and protects the Yezidi people. In Greek mythology, figures such as heroes, Daimon, or divine messengers like Hermes safeguard humans and transmit the will of the gods.

Light, Science, and Metaphysics

In Islam, the vision of angels is deeply metaphysical. The malāʾikah are beings created from light, entirely obedient to God, and devoid of free will. Their existence is purely spiritual and unaffected by physical limitations; they act only according to divine will, serving as messengers between the divine and human realms. Jibrīl (Gabriel) transmitted the Qur’an to Muhammad, while other angels preserve cosmic and moral laws, recording human deeds. Their perfection and obedience embody pure metaphysical order, a harmony between divine will and spiritual reality.

A surprising bridge between metaphysics and modern science emerges in the work of Italian scientists like Daniele Sanvitto, who conducted experiments transforming light into a unique form of matter known as a supersolid. In this state, light is no longer “merely energy in motion” but merges with matter to form lattice-like structures while retaining quantum flow properties. This phenomenon offers a striking scientific metaphor: light, becoming tangible while remaining energy, recalls the Qur’anic depictions of divine light. In the Qur’an, light often symbolizes God, guidance, and knowledge, as in the pivotal verse of Sūra An-Nūr (24:35), where God is described as “the Light of the heavens and the earth.” Light is not merely a physical phenomenon but a principle of reality and cosmic order.

The supersolid of light embodies, in scientific terms, an invisible principle made manifest—just as divine light permeates the world. Polaritons, “half-light, half-matter,” create stable structures while preserving their energetic nature, revealing that matter and spirituality are profoundly interconnected, two faces of the same divine order. Light follows precise laws to generate stable forms, echoing the Qur’anic assertion: “We have built the heaven with [our] might, and We are expanding it” (51:47). The universe, like photons transforming into supersolids, manifests divine order and law in both matter and energy.

Conclusion

Modern humanity, accustomed to seeing light as energy and matter as solid, discovers that these distinctions are far more fluid than they once seemed. The supersolid of light becomes a “scientific parable” of creation: that which appears immaterial can become tangible, guided by orderly laws, echoing the Qur’anic metaphor of divine light suffusing all things. From Christian theology and art to Islamic angels, from Hindu Deva to Buddhist Bodhisattva, many cultures have expressed the idea of beings who mediate between the divine and humanity. Today, through the lens of modern science, the supersolid of light demonstrates that the boundaries between energy and matter, invisible and visible, spiritual and material, are far more permeable than we imagined. Angels, therefore, are no longer only religious figures—they are emblems of light, traversing time, space, and matter, forming a luminous bridge between rationality and transcendence.