Essay 2a - Knowledge and Immorality

ESSAY #2a
Knowledge and Immortality

QUESTION: Using specific art references and passages from the story in the Bible of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden and specifically their choice to eat of the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil; what similarities do you see, pertaining to immortality and knowledge that is also found in Egyptian art? 

SUMMARY: Like the Biblical story of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, Egyptian culture also provides many examples of the tree of life symbol. For example, the Egyptians depictions of the lotus plant and the papyrus are found on numerous artifacts. For them, the lotus was a symbol of rebirth and was often depicted as life emerging from both the lotus and the papyrus. 

Like Christians, the Egyptians were very concerned about the afterlife. For them to avoid being “damned” in the afterlife, they had to not only worship their gods, but they also had to live by the standard that they would be judged after they died.

Herodotus tells us that the Egyptians "are religious to a higher degree than any other people" Like the members of any other human culture, the ancient Egyptians were driven to find meaning in existence.

I believe the parallels of the tree of life is in making the truths it symbolizes in both the beliefs held by the Egyptians as well as Christianity.

 

REASON: I believe the reason for this question was to help us to see the similarities in religions thoughout the centuries and also the differences in how they were depicted in art. 

PURPOSE:  I believe this question is intended to help us understand how relgion was such an integral part of the lives of the Egyptians and how their beliefs about not the afterlife but how to strive toward and achieve it closely resemble the beliefs of Christianity.

 

DIRECTION: The exercise of researching and answering this topic has taught me to see religious art of a particular period in history differently. Having studied the ancient Egyptians over the years, I never realized the similarities in their beliefs until I began to research this topic and more closely examine their art.

IMPRESSIONS: I was surprised by the fact that, unlike Christian art (depictions of Christ, icons, etc.), the Egyptians did not use relgious art in their worship but rather they used it to depict ones journey into the afterlife.

 

Part Two

QUESTION: Using specific art references and passages from the story in the Bible of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden and specifically their choice to eat of the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil; what similarities do you see, pertaining to immortality and knowledge that is also found in Egyptian art?

In the Biblical story of The Garden of Eden, God told Adam and Eve; "you may eat freely of every tree in the garden; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall die." (Genesis 2: 15-17)

After they ate the forbidden fruit, they did not immediately fall dead therefore the story suggests that upon committing the original sin, God imposed an indirect penalty of death on Adam and Eve. This story tells us that humans were created to live forever in a physical body, but God removed their means to immortality when they sinned against Him.

God also placed a tree in the garden called the Tree of Life which represented physical immortality for humans, and although God had not forbidden Adam and Eve from eating its' fruit, they first ate from the Tree of Good and Evil. Because of this God immediately removed Adam and Eve from the garden, and placed a flaming sword to guard the tree so they could not eat from it. In Genesis 1:22, God is says to them "and now, lest he put forth his hand and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever" therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden", suggesting that Adam was removed from the garden before he would have the chance to eat of the tree of life and become immortal.

On the day Adam and Eve ate of the "Tree of Knowledge" they experienced their immortal death because God removed the "Tree of Life" which had been placed there for them. (Chris Ashcraft, Immorality and the Original Sin, http://www.nwcreation.net/immortality.html)

Of the story of Adam and Eve, C. Wilifred Griggs wrote that “commentators agree that the cypress tree is a tree of life symbol, the spring nearby is a spring of life, and the other spring is a source of forgetfulness and punishment. They also agree that the most likely origin for the mythology is Egypt.” (C. Wilfred Griggs, The Tree of Life in Ancient Cultures)

Until Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit, there was nothing preventing them from eating the fruit of the Tree of Life. But once they had eaten from the Tree of Knowledge, access to the Tree of Life was taken from them.

"I, the Lord God, said unto mine Only Begotten: Behold, the man is become as one of us to know good and evil; and now lest he put forth his hand and partake also of the tree of life, and eat and live forever, "Therefore I, the Lord God, will send him forth from the Garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken.” (Genesis 3: 17-19)

Griggs suggests that if Adam and Eve had only eaten of the fruit of the Tree of Life, there wouldn’t have been the sentence of death on them for eating from the Tree of Knowledge. However, they would have lived forever in a sinful condition, separated from God. Therefore, he took the two away from Eden, away from the Tree of Life.

“We might suppose that Adam and Eve and their posterity, distracted by the labor necessary to support themselves outside the garden, would have eventually forgotten the life-giving tree in paradise. Quite the contrary. The tree of life seems to have continued throughout antiquity as a major religious symbol. In fact, man's quest to return to the tree of life in the paradise of God has never ceased.” (Griggs, http://maxwellinstitute.byu.edu/publications/transcripts/?id=16)

Egyptian culture also provides many examples of the tree of life symbol. For example, the Egyptians depictions of the lotus plant and the papyrus are found on numerous artifacts. For them, the lotus was a symbol of rebirth and was often depicted as life emerging from both the lotus and the papyrus. Another plant the Egyptians considered sacred was the Ished tree. A small statue of Ramses that shows the pharaoh stretched out in a ritual position with his hands extended, making an offering to the gods. Ramses is kneeling on the leaves and branches of an Ished tree inscribed into the base of the statue. The inscription says that Ramses's deeds are written upon the sacred Ished tree.

Ancient Egyptians also believed the Ished which was a persea tree grew in the temples at Heliopolis and Abydos. Ancient Egyptian rituals required the names of each pharaoh to be written on the leaves of this “tree of life” during their coronation ceremonies.

Statue of Ramses making an offering to the gods. Ramses is kneeling on the leaves and branches of an Ished tree.

Egyptian coffin covers often depict the deceased eating and drinking from a tree of life, out of which is growing the goddess Nut. She pours drink from a pitcher and offers food from a tray to a man, who needs nourishment as he wanders through the dark netherworld.

I believe the parallels of the tree of life is in making the truths it symbolizes an integral part of our lives. We continue to eat only the deadening fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. The tree of life, however, is available to all who do not wish to live forever in their sins.

Egyptian art existed only for religious, symbolic, or magical purposes but never as an artistic expression. Works of art documented the events around them and strictly adhered to established religious and symbolic guidelines.

Throughout the centuries, Egyptians worshipped more than 2,000 gods and goddesses however any hope of immortality was upon Osiris, the jackal-god of the underworld who offered eternal life to all however eternal life was not guaranteed. Upon death, people was judged upon the scales of the goddess Ma’at, who weighed their soul against an ostrich feather. (Erik Hornug, The Quest for Immortality: Treasures of Ancient Egypt)

Osiris and his wife, Isis

In “An Overview of the Ancient Eqyptian Relgion” John Watson wrote that “Egyptian religion can be said to encompass their ancient gods, the mythology or accounts of those gods and other aspects of the religion such as creation, death and the afterlife, and the cults who worshipped the gods. However, there are certainly more complexities to the religion, such as how the king played into this structure of religion, and moral dogma concerning what the god's expected of humans.”

Unlike other religions, the Egyptians did not worship statues or paintings of their gods which they considered to be the manifestation or temporary habitats of the gods who they worshipped.

In “Ancient Landmarks – Egyptian Immortality”, the authors, H. P. Blavatsky and William Q. Judge tell us that if nothing remained of the Egyptians but the Book of the Dead, the Judgment Scene alone “furnishes abundant evidence of the Egyptian teaching of Karma -- the universal Law of Balance.” Referenced is the Papyrus of Ani in which the scene is made up of five "acts," with the first three depicting the judgment and the last two completing the journey of the soul by depicting its resurrection and introduction by Horus into the presence of Osiris.

Papyrus of Ani

In the upper left corner sit twelve great gods. Underneath, Ani, leading his wife, enters the Hall of the double Maati which are “Truth and Right.” Next, Ani, separated into his component parts, stands before the scales. These parts are represented by a human-headed bird -- the soul; a tri-colored cubit bearing a human head which symbolizes the "principles", a human figure representing his destiny, two goddesses of birth; and the heart enclosed in a vase balanced against the feather of Truth and Right. “Here are plainly typified the ideas that death involves a separation of the principles; that out of these is to come another body; and that the future birth or destiny, whether into post-mortem states or into a new human form, will be the result of the life just passed.”  (http://www.blavatsky.net/magazine/theosophy/ww/additional/ancientlandmarks/EgyptianImmortality.html)

The Egyptians believed that even though they did good deeds and avoided committing evil, the measure of character was the determining factor for their afterlife. “If it were possible to summarize in a sentence Egypt's contribution to the human race, it might be expressed in the Hermetic teaching that death does not exist, and man never steps outside of universal life; nevertheless, conscious immortality must be gained by each individual for himself." (Ancient Landmarks – Egyptian Immortality”)

In "What is Man?" Keith W. Stump tells us that the idea of an "immortal soul" long predates the founding of today's major religions. The ancient Greek historian Herodotus tells us that the ancient Egyptians were the first to teach that the soul of man is separable from the body, and immortal.

“Nowhere in the ancient world was the afterlife of more concern than in Egypt. The countless tombs unearthed by archaeologists along the Nile provide eloquent testimony to the Egyptian belief that man possessed a spiritual aspect extending beyond his physical life.”

Tombs Along the Nile River

Stump explains that the Egyptians believed that a person consisted of a physical body and not one but two souls that lived on after his death: a ka soul and a ba soul.

The ka was said to be a spirit replica of a man, containing the "vital force" given to him at birth. At death, the ka was believed to take up residence in a statue or picture of the deceased. The statue or picture was placed in the tomb for that very purpose. As the tomb was to be the eternal home of the ka, it was provided with everything the ka would need for a happy afterlife such as food, furniture, games, reading material, grooming aids and the like.

Items Found in the tomb of King Tuthankhamun

The other soul, the ba, was believed to be that part of man that enjoyed an eternal existence in heaven, and was often depicted on tomb paintings as a human-headed hawk hovering over the deceased's body.The soul was believed to fly from the body with the last breath. The ba was often depicted on tomb paintings as a human-headed hawk hovering over the deceased's body. (http://www.british-israel.ca/immortalsoul.htm)

The spiritual world of the ancient Egyptians was a fascinating one that is unique in the history of religion although strangely similar to other religions in many ways. The character of that spiritual world was both accessible and mysterious, hidden under layers of ritual and myth. While there are parallels to the Bible’s story of The Garden of Eden, the overall beliefs are different. The greatest similarity, I believe, is that we are judged by what we do in the here and now. The greatest difference? Well, we all know that you can’t take it with you when you go.