Do you bow your head when in the presence of angels? This is good and wholesome to do.

SW-User

Anyone interested, a cut and paste job from a post I made once on another Forum:-

A short excerpt from a book by Jack Kornfield, who is a modern Western meditation master, who learnt his "trade" in Thailand.

He is speaking about learning the art of bowing.......After I had been in the monastery for a week of two, one of the senior monks pulled me aside and said..."In this monastery you must not only bow when entering the meditation hall and receiving teachings from the master, but also when you meet your elders." As a Westerner, and wanting to act correctly, I asked who my elders were. "It is traditional that all who are older in ordination time are your elders," I was told. It took only a moment to realize that meant everybody!

So I began to bow to them. Sometimes it was just fine - there were quite a few wise and worthy elders in the community. But sometimes it felt ridiculous. I would encounter some 21 year old monk, full of hubris, who was there only to please his parents or to eat better food than he could at home, and I had to bow because he had been ordained the week before me. Or I had to bow to a sloppy old rice farmer who had come to the monastery the season before on the farmer's retirement plan, who chewed betel nut constantly and had never meditated a day in his life. It was hard to pay reverence to these fellow forest dwellers as if they were great masters.

Yet there I was bowing, and becasue I was in conflict, I sought to make it work. Finally, as I prepared yet again for a day of bowing to my "elders", I began to look for some worthy aspect of each person I bowed to. I bowed to the wrinkles around the retired farmer's eyes, for all the difficulties he had seen and suffered through and triumphed over. I bowed to the vitality and playfulness in the young monks, the incredible possibilities each of their lives held yet ahead of them.

I began to enjoy bowing. I bowed to my elders. I bowed before I entered the dining hall and as I left. I bowed as I entered my forest hut, and I bowed at the well before taking a bath. After some time bowing became my way - it was just what I did. If it moved, I bowed to it.

Jack Kornfield drew this lesson from his experience.....

To bow to the fact of our life's sorrows and betrayals is to accept them: from this deep gesture we discover that all life is workable. As we learn to bow, we discover that the heart holds more freedom and compassion than we could imagine.

He then quotes the Persian poet Rumi....

This being human is a guest house.
Every morning a new arrival.

A joy, a depression, a meaness,
some momentary awareness comes
as an unexpected visitor.

Welcome and entertain them all
Even if they're a crowd of sorrows,
who violently sweep your house
empty of its furniture.

Still treat each guest honorably,
He may be clearing you out
for some new delight.

The dark thought, the shame, the malice,
meet them at the door laughing,
and invite them in.

Be grateful for whoever comes,
because each has been sent
as a guide from beyond.

As @Kstrong has said, we can entertain angels unawares.

Iwillwait · M

My understanding is The Angels will correct you in doing so, to not bow due to the Divine hierarchy. We are in the image of GOD, Angels are a GOD'S Heavenly Creation for serving and carrying out HIS Will.

Kstrong · 56-60, F

Angels are all around and we can entertain angels unaware. Ive had several experiences with their protective nature, with no natural explanation to the outcome of the incident. The only explanation is angels or the hand of God. The only being that I bow to is God.