REPLY TO SHEMS ARIT’S VIDEO ASSIGNMENT, LESSON 1 – TTOA
After reading all four of the postings in your video assignment, namely #8654, #8675, #8676, and #8678 I have some responses to your inspired body of works. Clearly you have given a great deal of thought and reflection to the assignment as it relates to the teachings presented in the Scriptures of Ra and Aset. Your first posting had the feeling of being bemused and free flowing, while the latter postings seemed a bit more disquieting, moving between the Wisdom of the teachings, contrasted by worldly conflicts of a more personal nature.
My comments will be addressed to the quotes and segments that particularly stood out to me according to the posting number in which they appear. Each Temple in Ancient Kemet came with its own teachings in the form of a Myth surrounding the Neter to which it was dedicated. Though the characters may differ from Temple to Temple and Myth to Myth, the components were the same in the way of a transformation. This course focuses on the teachings of the Temple of Aset and the Myth of Ra and Aset, therefore, with that in mind I will offer feedback.
QUOTES FROM POSTINGS #8654
The first series of quotes that caught my attention:
“What is the Best, Most advantageous Thing to Do in Life?”
“What is the Goal of Life?”
“That which will lead One to Nehast. Nehast is the Goal of Life.”
“This is all that there is to know. If it doesn’t lead to Nehast, in some way, then it is here to distract from the true purpose of Life.” “To know this, is all there is to know.”
While I feel there is some truth to that statement, the idea of an appointed end goal to Nehast is the problem. Just how does one reach a goal for something that is alien to one’s own experience—that really can’t be defined with detailed certainty any more than to define what it is like to die? We all accept that we are going to die, but we don’t know how or what hour or what it will feel like to die we just know that death is part of the human experience. As human beings Nehast is not a goal but a birthright. What stands in the way is ignorance (khemn). The better approach is to remove the ignorance that fetters us to the world with a one-pointed focus. Do this, and Nehast will follow.
Enter Lady Aset in her human form—a woman of vast accomplishment in matters of time and space—yet, through her Devotion, came to be disillusioned with the world. In her repudiation (khak-ab) of the world, Lady Aset knew she was ignorant of Ra’s true name and politely asked Him to tell her. When Ra refused to tell her His true name, Lady Aset set out in relentless pursuit (antet begag) with one-pointed focus and, thus, formed the Taffy Shepsy serpent to poison Ra.
In this Scripture Ra is a paraclete, an ego expression of the Divine, who seeks to keep Aset ignorant of His true name, just as the ego self tries to keep us ignorant of our true Divine nature. But the formula of Lady Aset is clear: Repudiating the world of time and space with khak-ab (repudiating heart) and relentlessly pursuing (antet begag) Ra’s true name, then forming the Taffy Shepsy (Arat-Sekhem), thus poisoning Ra to remove all worldly illusions (ignorance).
You said in your statement:
“The poison is in the unconscious mind
it is opaque and blocks once vision
the antidote is devotion and wisdom”
In this case the “poison” is in the form of the Taffy Shepsy and is used to unblock the “opaque,” illusory ignorance that keeps one from knowing the true name of Ra. It is Devotion and Wisdom that make it possible.
In your statement of prose:
“One with Divine and oh so sublime
as in
Sublimation of the ego, sublimation of lower sexual drive.
Desty 2 Headnesesess (?)
of Heru and Set
Defeating Apep
Healing the Eye in a Blink
means no more women cry
instead we choose to live and never die,
cuz when the ego dies, we truly live.”
A few comments and questions on these points. First it is unclear what you mean by “Desty 2 Headnesesess of Heru and Set.” Could you be referring to “Herufy,” the image of Heru with Set’s head attached? Second, when you say “instead we choose to live and never die, cuz when the ego dies, we truly live,” it seems to be in conflict with your previous assertion; “Desty 2 Headnesesess of Heru and Set Defeating Apep,” which suggests Set (ego) and Heru (Higher self) in cooperation to defeat Apep (entropy and chaos).
In actuality, the idea is not for the ego to die but, through purification, to become transparent, rather than opaque with ignorance as you suggested in an earlier statement. We are getting into a different Myth, but in the battle between Heru and Set, over rightful ruler ship, one never kills the other. Rather, Set eventually accepts Heru as the rightful ruler and steps down, accepting his service to protect the boat of Ra against Apep. The Battle of Heru and Set is, of course, the battle within each of us. In the case of the Myth of Ra and Aset, Ra—a representation of ego—does not die from the poison of the Taffy Shepsy once He reveals His true name to Aset. Aset provides the antidote—Ra lives and the poison dies. The take-away is not annihilation of the ego, but purification of the ego to put it in the service of the Divine where it rightfully belongs.
Htp,
Shems Heryt
