Dave L Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
>
> While he is correct about the analogy of the sky
> as water, he doesn't realise that these ideas were
> part of the other heavenly issues, such as the
> positions of the stars and the passage of time
> through the night and year, and even the passage
> of life.
You are in no position to state what I do and do not realize. I'll thank you for ceasing the attempts at psychic readings.
>
> Because he thinks he needs to destroy every other
> theory before he writes a new 'master plan', he is
> not carrying out proper research on how various
> ideas were layered and related.
The fact that no other idea has merit has nothing to do with my own work. I simply recognized the faults and flaws in the other ideas while researching them. The fact that you have not recognized them, or refuse to acknowledge them, is not my problem and again has no bearing on my work.
>
> Multi-layered lore and ritual is characteristic of
> proto-literate societies - ideas were
> multi-layered and intertwined so that they could
> be remembered and taught. It's not something we
> are familiar with today, in a world where memory
> can be preserved as digital text instantly, and
> its certainly something that complicates the study
> of the past, but there it is.
You are correct. However, I would ask that you take it another layer deeper and realize that it is very difficult for individuals to "house" competing theologies in their individual minds. Since you were arguing recently for the effects of individuals on cultures (rather than armies or states), it is important to consider the limitations of such an individual on his or her ability to comprehend and enforce mass quantities of competing philosophies. Instead, the individual will select one over the other.
A good parallel from today would be the competing worldviews of theism and materialism. Here is a paper written by Sean Carroll at the University of Chicago arguing why the two cannot co-exist in individuals, (although it can obviously happen in large groups). [
pancake.uchicago.edu]
The bottom line is, individuals will conduct themselves with a different set of guidelines and rules than the culture to which they belong. The European Union is made up of tens of millions of Christians (the Vatican IS still located in Europe), approximately 16 million Muslims, a million Jews, and a myriad of others. The current president of the European Commission, however, is José Manuel Barroso. I'm sure you will find neither the Star of David nor the Crescent on display in whatever mortuary structure he builds. Now, I am not comparing the divine Egyptian king to the head of a secular government, but the point is, whatever the "whole" is that makes up the nation, the individuals will
not individually hold all the positions of all the elements of that whole. I think that's called "Fallacy of Composition"
Quote
28)
Fallacy of composition: To argue that the pieces of which a thing is made must have all the properties of the thing itself.
Examples: 'Houses have windows and doors, even houses made entirely of brick. So an individual brick must have windows and doors too.' [
www.astunit.com]
The king as the ultimate "High Priest" of all of Kemet would have selected what he felt, as an individual, would be the best route for his reign and his country, and his immortal spirit. Yes, there would have been political considerations as well (not wanting to disaffect large segments of the population, for example) but in the end, it was an individual choice... small group at best. The king was considered "divinely inspired". In the end, it was about individuals belonging to groups, sects or cults, making decisions that matched their environment and their perception of it.
Why else do you suppose we see such variation in the choices of Pyramid Text spells when they do finally appear in those six pyramids? Why do you suppose they suddenly appeared out of nowhere in Unas' pyramid? Choices, Dave. Individual choices.
Anthony
You can lead a horse to water but you can't make him think.