"Maat was a prescriptive value concerned with how humans might live best; Nwn was the descriptive reality of the most basic, fundamental kind, the medium from which the universe emerged to become what it is now: the immense cosmos, the human population of planet Earth, the primal structure with all its vital, essential interconnections, and the invention of self-knowledge , inseparably linked with the concept of duty.
"Such was the original matrix of Pharaonic philosophy. It was expressed as early as the major pulsations that produced the pyramids, in which Nwn expressed the ideas of operative matter, while Maat, that value expressed in its perfect hieroglyphic image, expressed the sublime concept of moral perfection. Nwn was dynamic living matter, the essence of all things, that on its own accomplished the transition from nonbeing to being, created the airy passage leading from Before to After. It accomplished the passage from dormant consciousness to the awakening of reason. It embedded reason using Word as instrument to name, identify, classify, coordinate, and order reality--in a word, to make possible the conscious life. On the cosmic level, Maat is a kind of pre-established harmony; it is Order, Truth-Justice, and supreme Wellbeing . It calls upon humans as social beings to behave and speak, to think and act, to live and die, in accordance with what is true, what measures up to the optimal standard, what does not violate a just balance , to live a just life as understood by the black Egyptian mind, with its commitment to hieratic, traditional, transcendent , imperative , and absolute norms.
"Viewed in its proper context, the contemplation of death was really of secondary importance in ancient Egyptian thought. What mattered most was the contemplation of ways of living , of acting in accordance with justice and truth. That was the primary, essential, preoccupation , the motivation and the justification of all rituals and codes. The constant ideal was to sustain and support life, here and in the hereafter . For that, purity of heart was an incomparable asset. The tomb may have been decorated and ornamented ; funeral rituals may have been dear to the deceased. But in the country of the Pharaohs the outer show was never more than an incidental prop. What mattered most was a stellar destiny, an afterlife spent among the deathless stars. This glorious destiny was reserved only for just souls, persons of integrity, and its pursuit was inseparable from the moral philosophy of Maat."
P. 603-604, "Addendum, Summation ," AFRICAN PHILOSOPHY THE PHARAONIC PERIOD, 2780-330 BC by Theophile Obenga (2004)
Monday, April 16, 2018
MAAT WAS PRESCRIPTIVE
"Maat was a prescriptive value concerned with how humans might live best; Nwn was the descriptive reality of the most basic, fundamental kind, the medium from which the universe emerged to become what it is now: the immense cosmos, the human population of planet Earth, the primal structure with all its vital, essential interconnections, and the invention of self-knowledge , inseparably linked with the concept of duty.
"Such was the original matrix of Pharaonic philosophy. It was expressed as early as the major pulsations that produced the pyramids, in which Nwn expressed the ideas of operative matter, while Maat, that value expressed in its perfect hieroglyphic image, expressed the sublime concept of moral perfection. Nwn was dynamic living matter, the essence of all things, that on its own accomplished the transition from nonbeing to being, created the airy passage leading from Before to After. It accomplished the passage from dormant consciousness to the awakening of reason. It embedded reason using Word as instrument to name, identify, classify, coordinate, and order reality--in a word, to make possible the conscious life. On the cosmic level, Maat is a kind of pre-established harmony; it is Order, Truth-Justice, and supreme Wellbeing . It calls upon humans as social beings to behave and speak, to think and act, to live and die, in accordance with what is true, what measures up to the optimal standard, what does not violate a just balance , to live a just life as understood by the black Egyptian mind, with its commitment to hieratic, traditional, transcendent , imperative , and absolute norms.
"Viewed in its proper context, the contemplation of death was really of secondary importance in ancient Egyptian thought. What mattered most was the contemplation of ways of living , of acting in accordance with justice and truth. That was the primary, essential, preoccupation , the motivation and the justification of all rituals and codes. The constant ideal was to sustain and support life, here and in the hereafter . For that, purity of heart was an incomparable asset. The tomb may have been decorated and ornamented ; funeral rituals may have been dear to the deceased. But in the country of the Pharaohs the outer show was never more than an incidental prop. What mattered most was a stellar destiny, an afterlife spent among the deathless stars. This glorious destiny was reserved only for just souls, persons of integrity, and its pursuit was inseparable from the moral philosophy of Maat."
P. 603-604, "Addendum, Summation ," AFRICAN PHILOSOPHY THE PHARAONIC PERIOD, 2780-330 BC by Theophile Obenga (2004)
