REPLICATING ANCIENT ASSIDUITY

REPLICATING THE ANCIENT PRIESTS-SAGES' ASSIDUITY Anciently, philosophy was studied by learned hereditary priests-sages who were trained assiduously (40 years just to become a neophyte) in Ethiopia and Egypt to observe stars' relational movements relative to each other and relative to fixed points relative to earth's seasonal episodes. Observations were then recorded over thousands of years in pictorial and symbolic language. By inquiring into the wiles, "wills" of celestial eternity through exacting astronomy, and by reconciling their findings with the natural history in earth's recurring episodes, these priests-sages delineated the stellar seasons, very well. Thereby, they deduced what we know as "time"; the 365 day calendar was another. The philosophy of "MAAT" meaning beauty, order, balance , law, ethics, deities, symbolism, architecture, geometry, engineering, agriculture, mathematics, distilling , writing, reading, education, mythology, temples, navigation, literature , art , music, fishing, in short, civilization, were their philosophical bequests to the earth from the Gods of old. Central, indispensable to their cosmic understanding was God. All things flowed from God, back to God. Earth, life, was an ephemeral recycling "stop," manifold in matter. The wonderful book AFRICAN AMERICAN PHILOSOPHERS AND PHILOSOPHY (2019) by John H. McClendon III and Stephen C. Ferguson II, states about matter: "D. J. Jordan brought to our attention that while matter remains lawfully subject to 'inertia,' nonetheless, it does not emerge as 'inert.' He argued, 'No matter in all creation is inert; every particle and atom are acting upon every other.'... "Jordan correctly argues that matter is internally dynamic. Today, we know that subatomic processes are vital to the composition of matter . With the contemporary advancement of quantum theory, the subatomic structure and active (inner) processes of matter is a well-established scientific notion. Indeed, quantum physics later confirms Jordan's philosophical hypothesis, which remarkably he pronounced in 1893. The exploration into subatomic physics did not advance until Max Planck's treatment of the black body radium problem (1900), Albert Einstein's published research on photoelectric effect (1905) and Neil Bohr's atomic model (1913).... "Ideas in relationship to matter, as [James B.] Carter reveals have significant epistemological implications. He pronounces, "'Man's correct ideas, even his original ones are deductions and inferences from environment even when higher inspiration helps to define, elucidate and fix them. But let this be ever remembered, that new ideas when useful and progressive , come more readily to him who has the more correct knowledge of the relationships, influences and effects upon each other of the different forms, shapes and conditions of matter.'... "Consequently, innovative thought is not whimsical considerations devoid of an anchor in 'the different forms, shapes and conditions of matter'. This epistemological thesis is decidedly materialist in its substance." P.73, 76-77 Therefore the rigorous assiduity of the early African priest-sages with respect to the heavens and the earth laid down the impregnable foundation in the arts, sciences, mathematics, philosophy that we enjoy today. The African American and African peoples would do well to replicate the excellence of their ancient ancestors to move forward!