Re: PROOF OF LIFE AFTER DEATH
Steve Whittet (whittet@shore.net)
14 Jul 1996 22:54:16 GMT
In article <DuC9D5.GtA@midway.uchicago.edu>, fjyurco@midway.uchicago.edu
says...
Hi Frank,
>
>Yes, discussions of life after death do belong on this net, as after all
>the ancient Egyptians certainly had a vivid image of the Afterlife, and
>to a large degree they influenced current beliefs on this issue.
>
>Akhet ikeret, hope you have heard this
I don't think the Egyptian concept of an "Afterlife"
was "life after death", so much as a transformation
of an individuals physical existence into something
which would (precisely because it no longer existed)
now Become a part of an infinite and eternal Being.
The Egyptians believed that the pure essence of their Being
was whatever was right and proper, true and accurate.
When they died all the false impressions of purely
physical appearance would be stripped from them no matter
how hard they tried to cling to them, and the Goddess Maat
would measure, weigh and judge their AB or heartcase
symbolizing the essence of their physical existence in
her scales balancing against it her feather of truth.
Whatever didn't measure up was fed to Sebek the Crocodile
and the purified essence which remained was then free to
join the Tu'uat.
This clearly does seem to be the source of many modern
ideas about an afterlife, but was a simpler
and much more coherent philosophy.
>
>
>--
>Frank Joseph Yurco fjyurco@midway.uchicago.edu
steve
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