Lesson 2 Temple of Aset
1. Summarize the plot of the Aset and Ra myth
A. In the beginning Aset comes in the form of a woman who has come to the end of her rope with society and its delusions. She has mastered the physical realm and has come to a point where she is left wanting. Her knowledge of the lower mysteries is no longer satisfying and she knows that there is something more to life than the status quo and society’s conventional wisdom. Aset then ponders on how she can attain Ra’s name in a good way. One day as Ra was traversing the skies as Ra Tem a bit of spittle fell from his mouth onto the ground. Aset fashioned a serpent called Taffy Shepsy and placed it in a spot where Ra would cross over it. The serpent bit Ra and Ra fell sick from its’ poison. Time stood still as Ra was in pain, calling on all his children to help him. None could remove the poison except for Aset. Aset began to question Ra for his hidden name in return for removing the poison. Ra tried to dissuade Aset and give her his relative name instead. As Aset unyielding in her pursuit, Ra finally agreed and allowed Aset to merge with him in order to receive his true name. After that Ra was healed and he continued sustaining creation and Aset continued on with her life now as a Goddess with the new wisdom of Ra’s true name and magic healing words of power.
2. B For you what are the important insights you have gained so far from Aset’s saga and her relationship with Ra?
Some of the important aspects between Aset and Ra’s relationship is first that Aset was relentless in her task of discovering Ra’s name and more importantly she went about it in the right way. She approached the divine in the correct way. Secondly Aset doesn’t get dissuaded in her task because of Ra’s explanations of who he is and what he has done. Ra is not upset with Aset and is not becoming impatient at her request to find out his hidden name. Even though creating a sacred serpent to poison the divine might seem like a negative thing it is actually represents having a proper relationship with the world. It means rising about the senses to see the reality behind time and space and it means having a proper relationship with the one who created all of this. One last point on their relationship is that when Aset receives the true name of Ra, Ra goes back to directing the boat of a million years and Aset continues on her journey as well. They don’t switch places, Aset doesn’t all of a sudden have new duties in life. I believe this means that when Nehast is reached the world of time and space doesn’t change. It stays the same waiting on everyone else to figure out the mystery. What changes is how we look at it, how we interact with it, the world no longer holds sway over us and through discovering the divine we realize it was all a dream.
2. What are the main takeaways from the Ra and Aset myth, the important teachings to remember from the audio lecture?
In the saga of Aset and Ra, Aset represents the ideal initiate. She has become dispassionate and disillusioned about the world and its people. She has abandoned the concepts of society and realizes that life should be lived in a way that leads one to peace and happiness, to enlightenment instead of pleasure seeking and abandonment of its higher purpose. One point that was made is that Aset no longer needs the approval of society or its concepts as well as her own limited ego. She is no longer deluded and needs society and the egoistic aspects of herself as a crutch. She doesn’t revel in her knowledge of temporal things. She puts all this aside to seek the highest truth. I saw this as a positive movement for an aspirant. That we should get to a point where we are mature enough to deal with the realities of life and move in a direction of conquering the ego instead of using it to as a crutch to stay at a certain level of spiritual growth. The point was made that the teachings of Aset if practiced correctly grants one power, mental stability, true peace and contentment as one grows old in age. Unlike how it is in modern society where old age is equated with dementia, one going senile or insane and a utter and complete dependence on the younger generations. Another important take away is that we contain the Taffy Shepsy within us and we are to use this to poison the illusion of Ra. Aset sets about to discover the true name of Ra in the right way. Aset doesn’t go to extremes, she doesn’t show disdain for the worldly people but she does recognize the failure in such thinking and re-aligns herself as to be in the company of enlightened personalities, the Sheps. Aset shows determination and focus and doesn’t lose sight of her goal when Ra begins to describe his many attributes. Likewise we as aspirants should not become tricked by the divine and its many manifestations when treading the spiritual path and stay focused on the goal which is Nehast. Another important point was that the name of Ra is an illusion because the name Ra is within the realm of time and space. Ra’s true name is transcendental and must be experienced directly. So Ra and his creation are also illusionary. As was stated in the third or fourth video is that we should begin to look at creation like it is coagulated divinity and not the various objects of creation. We should internally be thinking that the earth and what comes from it is Geb, the air is Shu, the sky is Nut.
I think the most important take away I have gained so far is that Ra knowingly allows his spittle to fall to the ground and everything else that ensues after. Another point is that Ra even when sick chooses to give up his name instead of just allowing the poison to kill him. From my understanding the divine is always waiting to be poisoned by us in order to reveal the truth behind it. Ra acquiesces to whoever has strong enough will, determination, one pointedness of mind to go past the illusions of time and space to discover the ultimate reality. For me this goes hand and hand with the purpose of life which is to discover the divine and from the perspective of the myth the divine is always waiting on you, is always ready for you to remove the veil.
3. Look at least one other posting and feedback note most remarkable teaching you learned from it.
I like this posting from Ab Ra Tem on the symbol of the Tiet or Blood Knot. Which means a spiritual resurrection. It helps me to keep in mind that we are resurrecting the soul. We are abandoning the physical to resurrect the spiritual body as symbolized by Asar becoming Asar Seker upon his rebirth as ruler and king of the Duat. It helps me to keep in mind that physicality has time a period. All created things are fated to dissolve back into the Nu. As stated in the videos, no matter what we can do, no matter where we can go, no matter how many kids we can have and no matter how great the legacy we can leave it will all disappear eventually and really offers us no benefit when it comes to reaching Nehast. The only way we can live for eternity is to resurrect the Asar within us.
