"Perfect love casts out fear." It is not be thinking ourselve sright that we cease to fear. It is simply by loving, and abandoning ourselves to the One whom we love without returning to self. That is what makes death sweet and precious. When we are dead to ourselves, the death of the body is only the consummation of the work of grace.
As humans we respond to symbols. We express divine Beauty and insight in our art. If there is a preponderance of art depicting angels with wings, obviously this symbolizes something real within the collective consciousness. Angels appear to humans according to human capacity to accept and understand the appearance. The angels inspire, and that is what is left in our heart after an angel experience.