Egyptian Wisdom and a Balanced Life

If you look at the language and imagery of the many religious texts of the Egyptian civilization, you’ll see a wide use of poetic words combined with beautiful artwork. They told their lessons, or stories, with both words and images to make sure we clearly understood the wisdom. We also have proof of their mathematical, astrological, and scientific abilities in the buildings, tombs, and pyramids created over the thousands of years they existed before the birth of Christ. Every year, researchers discover another aspect of architecture that relates and connects to astrology, numerology, and science.

There are many theories about why they were so advanced, from basic breeding all the way to extraterrestrial intervention. No matter how it happened, it did bring advancements in thought and design that are still being used to this day. Medicine and science aside, we also see a system of dealing with life and death issues that is based on the ideals of balance.

Their Goddess Ma’at weighs the heaviness of their heart at the time of death to see the moral balance of how they lived their life. Not that each soul must have lived to an ideal of perfection, but to have lived a balanced life of good or selfish deeds or actions.

If we use this image of our hearts being weighed, does it mean that we must be completely innocent? Not at all. What it suggests is that your heart should not be “heavy” with the actions you have taken. If some action or behavior caused harm, you would, by definition, have need of “lightening” your heart. You would do this by either by making it “right” by those harmed, or by somehow putting energy into something that would alleviate your guilt or “weight” of the transgression.

Many modern therapies use this as the foundation of turning your life around and changing behavior. Twelve step programs offer that it may do more harm than good to do your penance directly to the person you “feel” that you have harmed. Yet, you can still atone for the deed by owning it, learning from the lesson, being responsible in all your choices, and changing how you treat people in the future. Christianity offers forgiveness, while Eastern religions offer that to lead a good life does affect the overall “karma” of the entire lifetime.

You can also find a lot of evidence in the Egyptian Book of the Dead (The Book of Going Forth by Day) to support the basic aspects of the movie and book called The Secret – so I guess it wasn’t exactly a secret – also the “Law of Attraction” (which I myself subscribe to wholeheartedly). They used amulets and talismans to attract energies or protect themselves much as we do with a crucifix, Star of David, pentacle, or Thor’s hammer.

As with much of history, we can learn a lot by the study and examination of the cultures and belief systems. Do you think your life influenced by the Egyptians in any way?