Day 1175 – My Last Day in Egypt

Friday, April 5, 2024

I was “tombed out” three days ago.  I could have done more. Gone somewhere. Done something. But I didn’t. I hung out at the hotel. Rested and began the process of unloading my cameras to a disk drive.

I am beginning to understand the flow of this place. The morning light, the air – cool – giving way to hot, the quiet interrupted by the clarion call of the loud speakers of the mosques.

There is much to study and learn. I am now at the point where I recognize most of the scenes in a tomb. Like the Stations of the Cross or an artist’s painting of The Annunciation, these scenes are stylized and one can look for the same elements in each. There’s “The Weighing of the Heart.” “There’s the dead as Osiris,” “Anubis overlooking the mummy”, “The Opening of the Mouth ceremony,” etc.

What I keep asking myself, Did anyone ever question these ideas?

The short answer I have gotten is, “No.”

There’s also the problem that it all doesn’t make logical sense, but that doesn’t seem to be an issue.

But isn’t that true of most, if not all, religions? Isn’t there something in every religion that says, “you gotta believe!” even if every sense in your body says, “What? No.”?

How many religions have their savior rising from the dead or returning? Last count I had was five.

And what’s with The Lamb of God business? I never understood why his dying forgave my sins. I understand the extrapolation from sacrificing an animal to your god, but your own son? How does that work? Well, it doesn’t. And there’s the raising of the dead. A story from Egyptian times, but it was the pharaoh doing the raising. Just a quick substitution.

Then I get to the more scientific questions, which basically ask for evidence. Where’s the winged horse, the magic underpants, the golden: tablets, scrolls, calf etc.? Somehow they always get lost.

Like UFOs – never in focus.

I think what makes a nonsensical belief become believed is grandmothers and maybe parents. Kids ask, “Why?” Constantly, and in frustration a parent will say anything. Grandparents will say something with more conviction. It sticks. I remember hearing of an old woman from West Africa talking about guneroos (maybe my spelling is off. Yeah. Most probably.) They are ghosts that can be anywhere instantly and can be very dangerous. They can cut off your head. Imagine a kid listening to that? Terrified, huddling under their blankets at night.

Or what of the oft-repeated story of “Why did grandma cut the end off the ham?” (We don’t know, but she did, so we do it. Finally, we ask Grandma and she said her oven was small and that’s the only way to make it fit.)

Belief systems can be dangerous things. Look at our world. Three major religions, all descended from the same god; all fighting with each other. It’s the same god!

As I sit on this hotel balcony I see a tranquil world. Outside these walls it is not. The pharaohs’ main job was to bring order to the world. To combat chaos. We haven’t made much progress. There are glimpses of a better world. How many people want to come to America because of what they see on television? Green lawns, big houses, two cars, a clean house, wide streets, and most of all not being under the thumb of some corrupt authority?

Henry Kissinger went to South America and reported back to Nixon. He said that in order to prevent a huge wave of immigrants coming to the United States we needed to help those countries develop systems that ensured people’s freedom, their peace of mind. It would be costly, but cheaper than the alternative. We needed to build democracies in other countries. Did we? Not too much.

But as I travel the world I find people who love the U.S. Who admire what we have. They want the same thing. Can we help them? Yes. Will we? that question remains unanswered.