Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Egyptians and the Afterlife

The Egyptians are, by far, the most mysterious culture in history. The Egyptians were very serious about continuity and permanence. Their lives revolved around the survival of the spirit in the afterlife. It seems to me that these people were more focused on the afterlife rather than their daily life. They went to great lengths to build spectacular monuments for the dead, instead of building them for the living. For the Egyptians, dead was not the end, instead it was the beginning or a transformation into a new life. Each human identity was marked by a body, heart, and name. Each person had several elements and at death, each element became separate. In order for the person to have a safe passage into the afterlife they had to treat death very seriously. Building spectacular tombs, such as Khafre's pyramid in Gizeh, in which the king and his every belonging were to be placed was very important. When a king was placed in his tomb, things such as furniture, food, and treasures were kept with him for him to use in his afterlife. The body was preserved and wrapped with the organs removed and placed in jars. They believed that the body had to be in tact for the spirit to recognize it in the afterlife. I believe that the reason for all of this great belief was that these people truly loved their culture and material things. They loved life. They wanted to believe that they would continue to live after death, and they wanted to continue to have everything they had from their previous life. They did everything in their power to make the tombs like recurring every day human activities so that it would insure immortality. Maybe these people were afraid of death and this was their way of attempting to stay around on earth even after death. Their spiritual beliefs were unlike any other culture in history. And their bazare and facinating ways will always be a mystery.

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