What a little trip to the past will do

Today I was rereading some portions of the Egyptian Book of the Dead. Don't ask me why. It's just a mood that comes over me once in a long while, usually while I am waiting for the next big event to happen in my life. I forget how intelligent those people were and how life for them was both glorious and mundane at the same time (exactly like ours today).



I was reading the portion of the commentary on the hieroglyphs used for the translation of God and whether the word really applied at all to a supreme being. The commentator for this section of the book wrote his remarks in 1895, but his arguments are still germane today. As he quoted the hieroglyphic texts (in heirogplyphic script - fascinating!) he followed his argument that the Egyptians, from the very beginning, believed in a single supreme being. His argument showed other words used for a plurality of gods, and how they might have not been gods at all, but some idea of mighty spirits (almost the idea expressed in Genesis 6.3-4).

I think the popular modern belief is that the Egyptians believed in a multiplicity of gods, and truly, even in the Egyptian Book of the Dead some of the passages lend themselves to that interpretation. We weren't there, and since there is some room for interpretation as to the Egyptian's beliefs and values, we might not want to speak so definitely about what those ancient people did or did not believe.

I guess the lesson I learn every time I deal with an ancient text of some sort is that they had a view of the world that was different from mine. While I can appreciate the view they held, I don't try to take something that worked for people thousands of years ago and just plug it into my modern view. So many times, I have heard that we are the end result of the decades and centuries that have preceded us. In some regards, a study of western civilization does help us understand that very generally speaking we have connections to how the world developed in Europe from the Roman empire forward.

The notion of God, the after-life, the human pursuit of finding both helps me to center myself. But, it also liberates me to know that civilizations progress, people move forward in their philosophies. A look back is a good starting place. A look at the present is the genuine reality check. A look ahead helps us to know whether to proceed or not based on where we started and where we are. My real trouble has always been that when I connect those three dots of past, present, and future, I don't see the straight line. The line curves and meanders. I hope that means I am smelling roses rather than being off-track.