One poster's question really engaged Julia. She excitedly told me about it, and sent the exchange to me. I thought it worthy to share here.

Serrate asks: Are these the end times and Satan knows this? Recently I heard a message about the signs that we are in the end times (e.g. natural disasters, wars etc). With all the conflicts at the moment, the rise of Islamic extremists and the mounting hostility towards Christianity - perhaps Satan knows his days are numbered and is working overtime to keep all he can from being saved before being thrown in the lake of fire with his demons. Are we as Christians in Western society being too complacent? Are we ready for Christ's return? We will have the victory - but we must make more of an impact to ensure more of the lost will share in this victory with us! I am interested - do you think we will witness the return of Christ this century? Julia's answer: The early Christians believed that the "End Times" were coming in the same generation, i.e., in what we would call the 1st century AD. Similar sentiments arose during the reign of Justinian, c. 531 AD, at the approach of the year 1000; at 1260 AD owing to the Book of Revelation; in 1666, especially with the Great Plague and London fire; in the 1830s-1840s with Mormons, Millerites, and Adventists; concerning 1999; and doubtless will break out again when the year appoaches 2300 (Book of Daniel). Interestingly, Muslims have something similar in outbreaks of "millennialism" in their own history. This is the kind of thinking that undermined the Roman Empire in its real "last days" when Christians had been ruling it for 150 years. People were more focused on the heavenly life beyond--- that the material existence of society didn't matter. It was "the end times", so who cares whether the institutions of civilization fall to pieces? Right? Who cares about global warming, etc., if God's going to dissolve it all soon anyway? My friend, this is very dangerous thinking, of the same kind that has brought much ruin and suffering to good people --- faithful people --- in the past. Keep your faith in your heart and your eye on heaven as you believe it, but please, while you live and breathe in this world, the life and civilization around you DOES matter very much. Continue to live by your highest and ethical values, whether you call them Christian, Jewish, or Muslim, or just ethics ... and if Jesus comes, he'll surely not find great fault with you! But if the "Millennium" does not come in this decade, century, or next 10,000 years, you still will have lived well and done well by your fellow human beings, and most probably also well by the faith you profess. In other words, let's not make the "End Times" a self-fulfilling prophecy!

Hopefully Julia's wise words will enlighten the readers there.

Saturday, April 14, 2007 C

"The Flame of Consciousness"
12:56pm

The flame of consciousness, with the inward looking eye, and the outward looking eye...

Sunday, April 15, 2007 A

"Connective Communications Egyptian Style"
11:04am

I have done it again:

"The Mind of Egypt: History and Meaning in the Time of the Pharaohs"
Jan Assmann; Hardcover; $18.00

"Religion and Cultural Memory: Ten Studies (Cultural Memory in the Present)"
Jan Assmann; Paperback; $21.95

"The Literature of Ancient Egypt: An Anthology of Stories, Instructions, Stelae, Autobiographies, and Poetry; Third Edition"
William Kelley Simpson; Paperback; $16.87
Order Grand Total: $75.78

Yes, I have done it again, with the Kerényi books SO little touched. But I did so much reading of the Amazon samples that they snapped the covers of their viewer shut and said "No more!" So if I want to read more of "The Mind of Egypt", I had to buy. So I bought. And then because one book by itself seems such a lonely package, I got two more.

Someday I will read these books!

Meanwhile, what I have managed to snag for free is interesting. He presents some interesting ideas, some which I haven't seen before regarding Egyptian thought. However, I wonder about the translations of ancient texts that Assmann uses. He decided to use a rather loaded word, 'salvation', which in today's world has become so attached to Christian concepts, that confusion might occur. He does explain, after sharing one translation:

(a snippet of his translation from a temple in Heliopolis:)
{The king speaks to his counselors:}
See, My Majesty resolved [to put up] an edifice,
and commemmorate a deed
as something salvational for the future.
I will erect monuments and establish stelae for Horakhty...

"In this text a central recurring concept is akh, which I have rendered as 'salvational'. Akh derives from the same root meaning 'blaze, be radiant' from which the words for 'horizon' and 'transfigured spirit of the dead' also stem. In applying a concept like 'salvation' or 'path of salvation' to Egypt, we must orient ourselves primarily to this idea of heavenly radiance. Akh designates the usefulness and efficacy of those human actions that are able to reach out into the sphere of heavenly eternity." (page 61)

But if you did not read that explanation, you could get an entirely different idea from that translation. Nevertheless, there is already quite a bit I've learned from just these free finds.

As I have mentioned earlier, consciousness is the key to all Egyptian thought. Remembering is an aspect of consciousness. Tapio Kotkavuori in his journal ALETHEIA speaks of it thusly, "The nature of Remembering is sacred and it is the source of pure religiousness."

Beginning with consciousness of Self, memory is the glue that holds it all together. Jan Assmann further shows that Ma'at, (as some have defined, truth or cosmic equilibrium, but as he defines it 'connective justice'), could not take place without memory:

"Memory and mutually supportive action belong together; one is the condition for the other. Memory creates the space in which social action can unfold, while forgetting is synonymous with an inability to act, or in the Egyptian language, with "sloth/inertia." Without the past there is no action."(pg 128)

We remember how others have treated us. Those who have dealt kindly with us will, if we are fully conscious, be remembered fondly and dealt kindly in return. Those who are 'slothful/inert' are not fully conscious.

In another application of memory, Assmann speaks of the importance of the tomb so that the individual might be remembered. The tomb is more than casing for the mummy, it serves as art and literature does today. "The monumental tombs of Egypt are not graves in any contempory sense. Their significance in Egyptian civilization is comparable to that which we attach to art and literature. This comparison may seem far-fetched, but it is found, as we know, in Horace, who compared his odes with the pyramids."(page 67)

But the Egyptian's communicative literary efforts weren't just limited to tombs and stelae. Further on, Assmann speaks of "the form of interior dialogue with the appeal to the heart" and explains "...the call to the heart is an opening gambit, comparable to the appeal to the Muse familiar in western literature. But whereas the Greek bard received his inspiration from without, from a long-existing oral tradition, the Egyptian 'author' looked within for his inspiration, for he was expected not to reproduce but to produce, to bring forth new, unprecedented speech: The author of the Lamentation of Khakheperreseneb wishs, 'O that I might find unknown phrases, strange expressions, new speech not yet uttered, free of repetitions, not sayings such as the ancestors used." (page 171)

I would echo that author, not in lamentation, but in hope, "O that I might find unknown phrases, strange expressions, new speech not yet uttered, free of repetitions, not sayings such as the ancestors used."

Sunday, April 15, 2007 B

"Kurt Vonnegut Jr"
10:16pm

I've read in various web places that author Kurt Vonnegut died this past week. I confess I don't know a whole lot about him, I've never even read one of his books. But I found photos of him interesting. See, old people are interesting, because of all the wrinkles that give their faces character. And I can tell by looking at his photo, this man had character:

November 11, 1922 - April 11, 2007
to paraphase Horace 'He created himself books as heirs'
(but he had children, too)

The quote comes from his New York Times obit:

''To Mr. Vonnegut, the only possible redemption for the madness and apparent meaninglessness of existence was human kindness. The title character in his 1965 novel, “God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater, or Pearls Before Swine,” summed up his philosophy:

“Hello, babies. Welcome to Earth. It’s hot in the summer and cold in the winter. It’s round and wet and crowded. At the outside, babies, you’ve got about a hundred years here. There’s only one rule that I know of, babies — ‘God damn it, you’ve got to be kind.’ ”''

Tuesday, April 17, 2007

"Life from Death"
10:58pm

"Osirus with 28 stalks of wheat growing out of his coffin" Gadalla Egyptian Mystics, page 87
- Note the foundation of ankh and was/djam scepters upon which Osirus and the attending Priest stand!

After adding some commentary to my earlier version, I decided my article on October 16th Setian festival needed a massive rewrite, and did so. I feel content that it is much more clear than it used to be. Perhaps in the future I will improve it even more so.

Wednesday, April 17, 2007

"Equilibrium"
9:56pm