"The ancient Egyptians were convinced there was a higher order, living and eternal . They conceived of this deified cosmic order as a combination of justice and truth, and called it 'Maat.' Given that premise, the process of living the inner life, deepening and perfecting it, became synonymous with the exercise of intelligence. Whoever aspired to live forever the life of gods, in the company of the Blessed, has to make a conscious effort to live according to a set of 'rules' designed for the purpose of dominating death, transcending mortality and affirming life.
"The straight path to eternal life was morality...all this panoply was imagined, invented and deployed in order to help the dead to attain eternity, that is to say, to merge self and cosmic order, thanks to the achievement of bodily and spiritual purity. For only under conditions of absolute purity could the deceased take on the name of Osiris, ruler of the kingdom of the Blessed....
"The ancient Egyptians, whether they were Kings or ordinary persons, lived under the imprint of Maat, Justice-Truth, the one-way to true happiness, peace, beauty and intelligible life. Hence the use of solar light as a symbol of Maat.
"What, after all, is true knowledge but that which leads to wisdom? Pharaonic Egypt made an enormous contribution to human progress when it defined an ethical ideal..."
P. 219-221, AFRICAN PHILOSOPHY: THE PHARAONIC PERIOD, 2780-330 BC by Theophile Obenga (2004)
Monday, December 19, 2016
AFRICAN PHILOSOPHY: THE PHARAONIC PERIOD
"The ancient Egyptians were convinced there was a higher order, living and eternal . They conceived of this deified cosmic order as a combination of justice and truth, and called it 'Maat.' Given that premise, the process of living the inner life, deepening and perfecting it, became synonymous with the exercise of intelligence. Whoever aspired to live forever the life of gods, in the company of the Blessed, has to make a conscious effort to live according to a set of 'rules' designed for the purpose of dominating death, transcending mortality and affirming life.
"The straight path to eternal life was morality...all this panoply was imagined, invented and deployed in order to help the dead to attain eternity, that is to say, to merge self and cosmic order, thanks to the achievement of bodily and spiritual purity. For only under conditions of absolute purity could the deceased take on the name of Osiris, ruler of the kingdom of the Blessed....
"The ancient Egyptians, whether they were Kings or ordinary persons, lived under the imprint of Maat, Justice-Truth, the one-way to true happiness, peace, beauty and intelligible life. Hence the use of solar light as a symbol of Maat.
"What, after all, is true knowledge but that which leads to wisdom? Pharaonic Egypt made an enormous contribution to human progress when it defined an ethical ideal..."
P. 219-221, AFRICAN PHILOSOPHY: THE PHARAONIC PERIOD, 2780-330 BC by Theophile Obenga (2004)