The Principles & Practice of Maat

Maat

Maat and Sekhmet receive offering on walls at Temple of Khnum at Esna.

Maat was the personificaton of the fundamental order of the universe. The goddess of truth, justice and order, she was worshipped all over Egypt.

Seti I cradles a statue of Maat.

Upholding the order of the universe was the pharaoh's primary responsiblity, and many bore the title Beloved of Maat. Her headress was a single feather. In the underworld, the heart of the deceased was weighed on a balance scale before Osirus against that feather to detect the weight of the deceased's sins.

Maat is a philosophy, a spiritual symbol as well as a cosmic energy or force which pervades the entire universe. She is the symbolic embodiment of world order, justice, righteousness, correctness, harmony and peace. She is also known by her headdress composed of a feather of truth. She is a form of the Goddess Aset, who represents wisdom and spiritual awakening through balance and equanimity.

Ma'at was the goddess of the physical and moral law of Egypt, of order and truth. She said to be the wife of Thoth and had eight children with him. The most important of her children was Amon. These eight were the chief gods of Hermopolis and according to the priests there, they created the earth and all that is in it.

Ma'at is depicted in the form of a woman seated or standing. She holds the sceptre in one hand and the ankh in the other. A symbol of Ma'at was the ostrich feather and she is always shown wearing it in her hair. In some pictures she has a pair of wings attached to her arms. Occasionally she is shown as a woman with an ostrich feather for a head.

Another symbol of Ma'at is the primeval mound ( ) upon which the creator god stood at the beginning of time. It was when the world was created and chaos was eliminated that the principles of Ma'at were set in place.

The Egyptians believed that if the pharaoh ever failed to live by and maintain ma'at that chaos would return to Egypt and the world and all would be destroyed. Thus, the pharoahs of Egypt saw it as their cosmic role to uphold the principles of Ma'at, and was due to Ma'at that the pharaohs had the authority to rule the land. Amenhotep stated that ma'at was placed upon his breast by Amon himself. Akhenaten, the "heretic" king who was accused of deviating from her laws by his successors, repeatedly emphasized his adherence to Ma'at on many of his monuments.

When the dead were judged, it is was the feather of Ma'at that their hearts were weighed against. If hearts of the deceased are as "light as a feather", they were granted eternal life in the Duat. The near-weightlessness of their hearts indicated that their souls were not burdened with sin and evil. If their hearts did not "measure up", the soul of the deceased was consumed by Ammut. This judgement occurred in the "Hall of the Two Truths", Maaty.

The last role of Ma'at was to help guide the Sun-god Re as he made his journey across the skies. It was she that determined the course that his boat took across the sky each day. It was sometimes said that she actually traveled in his boat with him, guiding its direction.

Now does this not seem similar to the bible story…..

For 3500 years of recorded history before the advent of Christianity, 'the Pagan' Egyptians lived by a moral and ethical code that has never been surpassed. Western civilization rejected the laws of the Goddess, made abstenance from sex the touchstone by which morals would be judged and thus chose the christianization of the Mosaic Law which includes the so called, "Ten Commandments"

Simply put Maat is an African Kemetic (Egyptian) word which means and stands for what is known as…

The 7 Principles of MAÁT

Truth

Justice

Harmony

Balance

Order

Reciprocity

Propriety

 

Also there were 42 following principles breaking down the above…


Admonitions of Maát

(Concepts for Living in Balance)

1

I have not committed sin

2

I have not committed robbery with violence

3

I have not stolen

4

I have not slain men and women

5

I have not stolen food

6

I have not swindled offerings

7

I have not stolen from God

8

I have not told lies

9

I have not carried away food

10

I have not cursed

11

I have not closed my ears to truth

12

I have not committed adultery

13

I have not made anyone cry

14

I have not felt sorrow without reason

15

I have not assaulted anyone

16

I am not deceitful

17

I have not stolen anyone's land

18

I have not been an eavesdropper

19

I have not falsely accused anyone

20

I have not been angry without reason

21

I have not seduced anyone's wife

22

I have not polluted myself

23

I have not terrorized anyone

24

I have not disobeyed the law

25

I have not been excessively angry

26

I have not cursed God

27

I have not behaved with violence

28

I have not caused disruption of peace

29

I have not acted hastily or without thought

30

I have not overstepped my boundaries of concern

31

I have not exaggerated my words when speaking

32

I have not worked evil

33

I have not used evil thoughts, words or deeds

34

I have not polluted the water

35

I have not spoken angrily or arrogantly

36

I have not cursed anyone in thought, word or deed

37

I have not placed myself on a pedestal

38

I have not stolen that which belongs to God

39

I have not stolen from or disrespected the deceased

40

I have not taken food from a child

41

I have not acted with insolence

42

I have not destroyed property belonging to God


 

Here is a different translation showing how they correlate with the 10 commandments. Moses was an Egyptian (he was adopted by an Egyptian royal family) and would have been familiar with these principles:

THE 42 COMMANDMENTS OF ANCIENT EGYPT

   

I.

Thou shalt not kill, nor bid anyone kill.

II.

Thou shalt not commit adultery or rape.

III.

Thou shalt not avenge thyself nor burn with rage.

IV.

Thou shalt not cause terror.

V.

Thou shalt not assault anyone nor cause anyone pain.

VI.

Thou shalt not cause misery.

VII.

Thou shalt not do any harm to man or to animals.

VIII.

Thou shalt not cause the shedding of tears.

IX.

Thou shalt not wrong the people nor bear them any evil intent.

X.

Thou shalt not steal nor take that which does not belong to you.

XI.

Thou shalt not take more than thy fair share of food.

XII.

Thou shalt not damage the crops, the fields, or the trees.

XIII.

Thou shalt not deprive anyone of what is rightfully theirs.

XIV.

Thou shalt not bear false witness, nor support false allegations.

XV.

Thou shalt not lie, nor speak falsely to the hurt of another.

XVI.

Thou shalt not use fiery words nor stir up any strife.

XVII.

Thou shalt not speak or act deceitfully to the hurt of another.

XVIII.

Thou shalt not speak scornfully against others.

XIX.

Thou shalt not eavesdrop.

XX.

Thou shalt not ignore the truth or words of righteousness.

XXI.

Thou shalt not judge anyone hastily or harshly.

XXII.

Thou shalt not disrespect sacred places.

XXIII.

Thou shalt cause no wrong to be done to any workers or prisoners.

XXIV.

Thou shalt not be angry without good reason.

XXV.

Thou shalt not hinder the flow of running water.

XXVI.

Thou shalt not waste the running water.

XXVII.

Thou shalt not pollute the water or the land.

XXVIII.

Thou shalt not take God’s name in vain.

XXIX.

Thou shalt not despise nor anger God.

XXX.

Thou shalt not steal from God.

XXXI.

Thou shalt not give excessive offerings nor less than what is due.

XXXII.

Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s goods.

XXXIII.

Thou shalt not steal from nor disrespect the dead.

XXXIV.

Thou shalt remember and observe the appointed holy days.

XXXV.

Thou shalt not hold back the offerings due God.

XXXVI.

Thou shalt not interfere with sacred rites.

XXXVII.

Thou shalt not slaughter with evil intent any sacred animals.

XXXVIII.

Thou shalt not act with guile or insolence.

XXXIX.

Thou shalt not be unduly proud nor act with arrogance.

XL.

Thou shalt not magnify your condition beyond what is appropriate.

XLI.

Thou shalt do no less than your daily obligations require.

XLII.

Thou shalt obey the law and commit no treason.

 

......please appreciate that there are many different versions of the principles BUT all equally state the same thing just in a slightly different way.

Lots more to follow

 

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