"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)