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Level 8 - Vociferous
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: south africa
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Re: aenima- problem 8
In the Egyptian mysteries, contrary to Greek initiation, initiate knowledge involved regeneration & ascension, combining the two two-tiered spiritual economy developed in the five schools of Ancient Egyptian theology : Ptah of Memphis (creative mind), Osiris of Abydos (creative flesh), Re-Atum of Heliopolis (creative energy), Thoth of Hermopolis (creative word & writing) & Amun-Re of Thebes (creative kingship) :
IN MEDIO LUNA : the (lower) sky of Osiris : Field of Reeds : the ultimate state of common human blessedness is to live the life of an "Osiris NN" in the vast, silent darkness of the Duat. Eternal sameness, "djet" or "djedet", represented by a goddess, is associated with the Lunar Osiris, because (a) his nocturnal jurisdiction is separated from the diurnal cycle of Re, (b) in the depths of the Duat, the everlasting waters of Nun flow and (c) Osiris exists in continuous darkness (he never leaves the Duat). This is the path of all commoners, doomed to remain the everlasting slaves of Osiris ;
IN TERMINIS SOLIS : the (upper) sky of Re : Field of Peace : the sky of Osiris and the sky of Re are proximate but ontologically separate (as darkness is always separated from clarity). After the highest spirituality of human servitude has been fulfilled in the kingdom of Osiris, the human "Ba" of the deceased is transformed, in the horizon, into a divine "Akh" of Re, sailing, among the other pure beings of light, on the Bark of Re, illuminating day and night. This path of Re is eternal, cyclical and discontinuous, for light and darkness are recurrent. This cycle of birth (in the East), full power (in the South), death (in the West) and rebirth at midnight (in the North), is represented by the god Neheh. This is the path of the divine king, his family and the spiritual elite (the high priests, senior priests and those specially selected by the divine king).
The New Kingdom "Books of the Netherworld" were the nec plus ultra of initiate knowledge, kept secret by a very small priestly elite. Because of their ultimate magical efficiency, realized by integrating new insights into the Duat, they were written around the sarcophagus of the divine kings. New avenues to a correct & efficient integration of Lunar & Solar energies (regeneration & ascension) had been found. As of old, regeneration (burial-chamber) remained the necessary prelude to ascension (antechamber). The separate jurisdiction given to Osiris made the Duat-voyage inevitable ! But who, besides the Wailers, wants to stay with Osiris ? Gods & blessed (justified) humans escape the Duat. Peace is companionship with Re, being on his bark or in his retinue. To be with this "great god" is the main soteriological purpose of the Amduat.
When these Books were edited, the Pyramid Texts, Coffin Texts and early versions of the Book of the Dead had already been widely used. Since the Book of the Two Ways (Coffin Texts, Spells 1029 to 1185 - before ca. 1759 BCE), the priesthood had been doing their more systematic study of the afterlife, aided by trance, ritual & magic. The tradition of these "Books of the Afterlife" is the result of this study. An interesting one, pointing to neurotheology, depth-psychology and spiritual practice. Although we cannot know for sure what this "research" precisely involved, and despite the fact the text we have today is only vaguely comprehensible -meaning all of this work is speculative- we may be sure the Egyptians were very serious about it.
More than a millennium before these texts, the physical tomb and its spatial semantics was canonized (cf. the Pyramid Age). King Unas (ca. 2378 - 2348 BCE), due to interiorization and maturation, was first to let the magic of hieroglyphs take over. Their precise, delicate, colorful and artistic rendering in the dark, underground chambers of his tomb points to the importance of form. De opere operato, these beautiful glyphs would execute their allotted tasks. In pre-rational thought, working with pre-concepts, psychomorphism endows the object with subjective features. In the Middle Kingdom (ca. 1938 - 1759 BCE) the canon of Imhotep became "classical" and Egypt realized, again as a nation, a fundamental mental "closure" by establishing a proto-rational system of concrete concepts. The impact of this "Egyptian Classicism" can be measured by the continuous reaffirmation of national unity under divine kingship, ending in the expulsion of the Hyksos and the founding of the "Age of Empire". The New Kingdom (ca. 1539 - 1075 BCE) made this proto-rationality widespread & popular, perfecting the completion. How hieroglyphs were executed, or their physical endurance were less the matter, but contents was. Emphasis lay on the actual instantaneous merging of "textual" & "visual" layers. This was needed to actually comprehend the hours and their interrelatedness in the process of Solar regeneration (1th - 6th Hour) & Solar ascension (7th - 12th Hour). This knowledge had proven to be valid and efficient, "a million times".
The Books of the Underworld are a "strip-like" literary genre, telling the story of the regeneration of the subtle bodies and the illumination of consciousness, represented by the "Ba of Re" in his barque. Of these, the Amduat is exemplar. The important novelty they share is the "fusion" of Osirian and Heliopolitan material : at dusk (West), the principle of movement (Ba) of the old Re is exhausted and needs to be replenished by merging with the body of Osiris in the Duat. The Ba of Re is "swallowed" by Nut, the star-goddess who's body appears at Sunset. The "unseen" path of Re is associated with the Duat, the "underworld", starting at 6 pm and ending at 6 am.
To renew, the "Ba of Re", the dynamic principle of consciousness, travels in darkness. During this Midnight Mystery (at 12 pm), Re moves to the "first moment", the "zep tepy". In this first occurrence, Atum emerges out of Nun. From there, Re-Atum returns with increased strength, emerging -out of the vulva of the sky-goddess Nut- as the new Solar child of dawn (cf. Harpocrates). Passing through the hours as a Ba-soul, the principle of Solar dynamism seeks rejuvenation by seeing & fusing with the "corpse of Osiris", merging with the first occurrence of creation and returning regenerated by it.
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