Egypt
Extracts from Chapter Eight of "Primitive Materialism".
The Egyptian revolution in consciousness. This is a revolution in Egyptian magic-science and the emergence of a state-religion. The social elite wished to perpetuate their social distinction and power into the afterlife. To this end the afterlife was increasingly conceptualised as a copy of life rather than as a poor shadow of it. The simplest and earliest device for doing this was the custom of burying a larger number of higher quality goods in the grave, which also had their vital force, ka or double; hence the elite had more goods in the afterlife just as they had more in life. But the goods alone are not sufficient, there must also be servants. Kathryn Bard tells us, “All of the other 1st Dynasty royal burials at Abydos have subsidiary burials in wooden coffins, and this is the only period in ancient Egypt when humans were sacrificed for royal burials. … their teeth show evidence of death by strangulation. Perhaps officials, priests, retainers, and women from the royal household were all sacrificed to serve their king in the afterlife.”[1] She also states, “for unknown reasons, the practice seems to have been discontinued after the 1st Dynasty.” The practice of large-scale human sacrifice is socially disruptive. But leaving off the practice presents a paradox, for the god-king as Horus is the representative of the living in life and as Osiris, their representative in death; hence, the god-king must have servants. The Egyptian solution was that the dead inhabit a statue, and the statues of servants provided in the tomb come to life and serve the dead in the afterlife.
[1] Kathryn A. Bard, The Emergence of the Egyptian State in The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt, Ed. Ian Shaw, Oxford University Press, New York. 2000 CE. p. 68.
[1] Kathryn A. Bard, The Emergence of the Egyptian State in The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt, Ed. Ian Shaw, Oxford University Press, New York. 2000 CE. p. 68.
Questions
1. Did the Egyptians really believe that the dead lived? Did they believe that their magic could confer life on the dead?
2. Why did the Egyptians abandon the practice of ritual human sacrifice after the First Dynasty?
3. What evolution in Egyptian metaphysics and their conception of the afterlife can be traced?
4. Can we infer from the burial of grave-goods that Neolithic man believed in the continued existence of the (material) soul in the afterlife?
2. Why did the Egyptians abandon the practice of ritual human sacrifice after the First Dynasty?
3. What evolution in Egyptian metaphysics and their conception of the afterlife can be traced?
4. Can we infer from the burial of grave-goods that Neolithic man believed in the continued existence of the (material) soul in the afterlife?
Second extract
In our contemporary society we are obsessed with death; we are coming to believe in the physical immortality of the body through the promises of science. This is what the rise of cryogenics will mean for us. If among us the material faith continues to advance, more and more people will make the freezing of their body at death into a purpose of life. It may then become the prime goal of life. Being so important, much of their resources will be spent investing for this future state. Not only must the individual be able to pay for the freezing operation, he must ensure that enough resources are provided so that the electricity to preserve his body in a frozen state will not be switched off – and thereby cause the body to rot. The individual will wish to invest in medical treatments for his currently otherwise incurable illness. He will wish to ensure that when he is recovered from death, he will have material resources to live by. Hence, he will take out investments for the future life, if he believes in the literal resurrection of the body. The entire process is without reference to the moral quality of the life of the individual – the most important thing is merely that he can afford to pay for it. Hence, it is resurrection of the body for the rich, and the communal pit of eternal annihilation for the poor. If such a system ever arose, the injustice of it would be so unbearable that it might provoke anger and violent outrage on the part of the poor, who may be led to revolution in the quest for eternal, physical life as a possibility. The State will inevitably respond, as it has done to other revolutionary movements, by adopting the policy of providing cryogenic freezing of all bodies at the expense of the State. Vast necropolises of chambers of frozen bodies will be constructed. Most of the resources of the nation will be spent on preserving the dead. A vast army of specialists – doctors, technicians, financial experts, advisors – shall we call them “priests”? – will arise in life to service the economy of the dead. It is a ghastly spectacle, and one that could not be dreamt of, were it not for the irrefutable fact that it already occurred in the past – in Ancient Egypt.
Questions
1. What does the rise of the respectablity of cryonics (or cryopreservation, being frozen after medically pronounced dead) say about contemporary Western attitudes to life-after-death?
2. Is there a parallel between ancient Egypt and contemporary Western practice? Are we going to build vast necropolises?
3. Has the ethics of cryonics been properly thought through?
4. Is it consistent for a Christian to have his/her body frozen at death?
5. Should a Christian fear death of the body?
2. Is there a parallel between ancient Egypt and contemporary Western practice? Are we going to build vast necropolises?
3. Has the ethics of cryonics been properly thought through?
4. Is it consistent for a Christian to have his/her body frozen at death?
5. Should a Christian fear death of the body?