UDJA Sebai MAA and Sebai DJA,
Below the assignment for class 1 Level 1 reading assignment.
WHAT IS THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ETHIOPIANS and EGYPTIANS?
The historical record says the Egyptians were a colony sent out from the south of Ethiopia who came to live in North East of Africa. So, Egyptians and Ethiopians are the same people. The Egyptians went on to build a very advanced civilization with the cultural basis of Ethiopia. A lot of cultural traits remained similar between both people including: the beliefs in their King as God, importance of burial ceremony, sculpture, and writings…The other countries in the same area including Kush, Nubia have the same origins and share the same appellation of “land of the blacks “ with different name related to their geographical position.
NOTES:
– Kiji, Nubian modern, Nubia, Kamit Kusch all have the same meaning: Black Lands or land of the blacks.
WHO WHERE THE ANCIENT EGYPTIAN?
Ancient Egypt was a colony of Ethiopia from the SOUTH who came to the NORTH EAST of AFRICA. It said at the beginning, the area where they live by Nile river was only water and that the mud coming from Ethiopia over time, transformed part of this area into a living environment and that is where they first migrated from Ethiopia. The ancient Egyptians were blacks as attested by the name given to their land KMT which means land of the blacks. They developed an indigenous religion called Shetaut NETER with historical evidence found as far as 10,000 BCE. They built strong architectural structure called pyramids that defies most modern way of construction. The level of civilization attained by Ancient Egyptian continues to impress up to these days and it is proven that their religion have influenced all major western and eastern spiritual philosophies including Christianity, Muslim, Buddhism and others, as well as all African religions such as YORUBA, DOGON, FON, etc…
WHAT IS YOGA PHILOSOPHY?
YOGA philosophy in general includes a set of teaching that can lead the practitioner to spiritual enlightenment or UNION with his higher SELF. In Egyptian Religion, the term Yoga is equivalent to SEMA TAUI and is recorded as the first with historical evidence related to such practices aiming at helping the follower to rise from individual SOUL to union with universal SOUL or consciousness. It is an integral teaching for the spiritualizing all aspects of the personality and comprises physical, mental and spiritual practices for SELF discovery through the purification of body, mind and spirit leading to spiritual enlightenment. In kemetic yoga philosophy, the following are part of the integral system that leads to enlightenment:
– Yoga of devotion helping the aspirant to develop awareness and union with the divine and to purify the heart and feelings.
– Yoga of Intuitive wisdom for knowledge of the divine.
– Yoga of virtuous living to purify our actions along MAAT principles
– Yoga of serpent power or tantrism to cultivate the latent life force Energy (Kundalini)
– Yoga of Meditation to develop and purify the mind.
For a balance spiritual development, the aspirant is required to practice all aspects of kemetic Yoga philosophy and the path is not usually a straight one but, can be one of forward and backward steps.
WHAT IS THE initiatic way of Education
The initiatic way of Education involves first and foremost a relationship between a teacher and a spiritual aspirant. That is the main characteristic of this way of instructing as spiritual progress requires hard personal work and guidance. Because of the nature of the teachings being provided, it is easy for the aspirant to become confused and get lost in the path particularly if relying solely on books, videos and related. The spiritual teaching needs to be practiced as it does not have any sense without experience. In that sense, the need for the teacher is extremely important to provide guidance and measure progress. It is only through practice, a spiritual aspirant can properly become the channel for transcendental experience. Therefore, the relationship between teacher and seeker is important to convey the knowledge and experience required for a successful advancement. Such relationship is based on humility toward the SEBAI and honesty.
A second aspect of the initiatic way of Education is to ensure proper continuity along the tradition of the teachings. The teacher has received his teaching from a preceptor and, along the same line, he intends to pass on the teaching and that way, the tradition is conserved. This proximity of the relationship between master and pupil is important for the preservation of the teachings.
A third aspect relates to the characteristic of the teacher. He or she needs to be himself/herself spiritually enlightened with extensive knowledge on methods of teaching as it applies to character of each aspirant. As a consequence, he/she also needs to have practice on different aspects of the philosophy. On his part, the aspirant needs to be humble, trustful and honest to ensure the validity of the relationship. The above characteristics need to ensure the solidity of the relationship. More than that, the teacher offers a living example espousing the character that the aspirant needs to integrate for purification and through the devotion to the master not as a physical person but, as an enlightened being, the aspirant learns to rise his vibration as to enter into higher spiritual reality.
Another important aspect of the initiatic way of education resides in the method itself involving first the listening to the teaching; in a second phase, reflecting on the teaching and finally, the meditation leading to the transcendental experience. It is well to be noted that every step leads to different degree of consciousness along the path.
In summary, an intitatic way of education implies first a relationship between a master and an aspirant. The proximity of the relationship is important to help ensuring not only the aspirant is well guided but, also that the tradition is well transmitted and integrated. It is also required that the teacher possesses strong knowledge and life skills among the path of practice and for the aspirant to be humble and honest. Finally, a typical initiatic education follows usually a period of self-preparatory steps where aspirant prepares himself to meet his master: it is said that when the student is ready, the master will find him.
WHAT IS INITIATION?
Initiation is of more than an embarking on a journey of spiritual living which leads to spiritual enlightenment.
It is a beginning step or a conscious choice to follow a spiritual path. Although the spiritual teachings in reality include several levels of initiation associated each to a level of consciousness, the first step is commonly understood as the Initiation. The initiation usually follows a decision and some preparatory steps in order to lead someone to begin a spiritual path. The process by which the aspirant following a successful period of probation is formally accepted to be given the teaching of the spiritual path and the related commitment to abide by the principles of this teaching, is the initiation.
How does the Kemetic yoga teacher help the seeker.
The seeker is an individual who has been involved in the word having experienced many disappointments resulting in an overall dissatisfaction with the worldly way of life. From that standpoint, he/she is looking for a more meaningful way of living and embarks in a journey to look for a deeper meaning of life. In that path, after many steps and probable disenchantments, he/she finally meets a philosophy that suits him and a teacher or a guide, Sebai in Kemetic terminology, to guide him. The teacher, depending on the philosophy, implements several disciplines to help him find his way.
In kemetic yoga, the disciplines used by the yoga teacher to guide the seeker in his initial steps have been in place for thousands of years and that makes them well established, universal as well as transcending time and space. In practical terms, the Kemetic yoga teacher is looking to change the mental perception of the seeker originating from his disenchantment in life. He progressively helps him/her transforming his/her attachment to the word, which has been objects of many disappointments, into a healthy detachment of worldly affairs. At the same time, he attempts to redirect above energies to help the aspirant to use them instead, to build a personal and strong spiritual life. In other words, the teacher leads a process of mental transformation allowing the seeker ceasing to see the word through his own desires and passions but to develop an understanding that the world is indeed the way it is based on the law of cause and effect. Such mental transformation will help the seeker to look for developing a spiritual understanding of the phenomena. Essentially, in the first stage, the teacher helps the seeker by leading him to the path of knowing there is an order in the phenomena of the word despite the apparent chaos and about his essential role to understand the underlying order behind the apparent chaos as well as the governing laws. This initial mental shift is necessary for the aspirant to reach higher level of spiritual experience.
What should a beginning spiritual aspirant think about the three levels of aspiration?
The three levels of aspiration provide a clear and systematic path on the way to attain the highest goal of the spiritual study. They provide the steps that are required in order for us to successfully attain our goal. So, the aspirant should think of them as the ladders that will help him/her rise gradually to spiritual enlightenment. He should think of them as blueprint and guided measures of progress along the path. More importantly, the beginning spiritual aspirant should meditate on the deep meaning of each level and the underlying characteristic he should integrate into himself. He or she should not think of them intellectually but, develops intuitional understanding of their deeper meaning. This will provide the beginning aspirant with the proper mental attitude to persevere and sustain the hard work required to success on the path. He should think that the path toward spiritual enlightenment implies a mental transformation whereby, we cease to consider ourselves as the doer but, instead as a channel for the higher SELF and this type of surrender will lead to dissolution of the ego and the UNION of individual SOUL to universal consciousness.
HTP
