Sebai MAA and Sebai Dja,
Below is the submission of my Level 1 – Lesson 1 Video Assignment
Important themes presented
1) What is Shetaut Neter?
Shetaut Neter means hidden divinity and it is the Religion of Africa practiced by people of ancient Egypt and Kush. It is an indigenous philosophy inspired by internal vision and understanding of people of Africa themselves. It represents the first and foremost in all human spiritual philosophies based on physical evidence provided by the Sphinx, which went as far as 10,000 BC as well as astronomical evidence. Its influences have been proven to manifest in all other main spiritual philosophies including Buddhism, Christianity, Islam and the rest. In essence, Shetaut Neter is the way about discovering the hidden mystery within us.
2) Who are the Neterians? What are they following?
The Neterians are practitioners of the ancient religion of Africa. They are also called Shemsu Neter, meaning followers of Neter, the Supreme Being from which emanates cosmic forces named Neterus or Gods and Goddesses. By following the Neterus to discover about their meaning and consolidating these forces within us, the practitioners acquire deep insight into Neter, as the mind is not strong enough to have direct understanding of the divine force.
3) Purpose of Life
The purpose of life as determined by Shetaut Neter is to become god like through a life of virtue and the cultivation of spirit using spiritual knowledge and practice, and bodily disciplines.
4) Three stages of Religion
Religion includes three main stages: myth, ritual and mysticism. The myth tells a story about a divinity allowing us to learn about the sacred teaching, which is enacted through rituals to develop in us feelings and intuitional understanding that leads us finally to develop the mystical experience. In Shetaut Neter, the most important myth is the myth of ASAR-ASET-Heru or the resurrection of ASAR. Heru represents the spiritual aspirant who strives to liberate himself from the fetters of SET representing the ego character and finally prevail to resurrect ASAR, which is our SOUL.
5) Goal of Shetaut Neter
The essential goal of Shetaut Neter is to provide us with the teaching that guides us to the great awakening or helping us to become enlightened. Enlightenment is a state of consciousness where we are liberated from the fetters of the lower self and become god like, mastering the cosmic forces instead of being their slaves. In other words, we become aware as human of the transcendental essence which binds the universe, that is immutable and eternal. In essence, Shetaut Neter is a mystery system including teaching and practices to help us becoming enlightened.
6) Great Truths
The mystery system of Shetaut Neter is based around four great truths summarizing the essence of the teachings. The first is about Neter, which is the Supreme Being manifesting itself everywhere and in all things in the form of Gods and Goddesses. The second teaches us about the source of our ignorance of the divine from lack of righteousness that brings fetters to the personality. The third one guides us on the way to the liberation from those fetters through devotion to the Divine. The fourth truth guides us on how to reach the ultimate goal of knowing ourselves and the divine, through the practice of shedy disciplines with scientific spiritual knowledge and practice, being in that sense true of SPEECH.
7) Shedy disciplines
The shedy disciplines are the heart of Shetaut Neter and represent the set of practices that aim to purify us integrally during our path towards enlightenment. As an integral system, they provide us with disciplines aiming to purify our actions, our feelings, our heart, our intellect as well as developing our will. They represent the YOGA system of Shetaut Neter also called SEMA Tawi, leading us to harmonizing/uniting our Higher Self and Lower self hence to find enlightenment.
What impresses me the most?
In general, I feel deep passion and devotion for the philosophy. To answer the question, I would say I am most impressed by the systematic approach and universality of the teaching. Shetaut Neter states the ultimate goal and includes the set of practices to lead us toward reaching that goal. Along the path, the teaching includes ways of measuring our progress. In essence, it provides a scientific approach, which if followed properly, will lead us toward enlightenment. The universality of the teaching is evident as attested by its influence among the most important spiritual philosophies including Hinduism, Buddhism, Christianity, and Judaism and so on. In a world with apparent evidence of degradation of human kind, we can’t but feel honored that such teaching exists to show mankind it can elevate himself and rise up to the ultimate goal of Creation.
