Material Mastery

I think about the ancient Egyptians often since they have been a central point of study for me for quite some time. This was a culture, as far as we can tell, that was entirely dedicated to the spiritual way of life. However, “spiritual” to them was clearly not what it is to us. They seemingly saw no distinction between the unseen world and the seen world. Material manifestation was just one way reality presented itself, the unseen was as well, and they did not see these two worlds as two worlds at all. They were one and the same.

Obviously, they possessed material mastery, considering the colossal structures that have survived them. Although more than likely the pyramids, for example, predate the conventional ideas about their construction, there was indeed some sort of culture that did create them, as well as many other sites that surpass human understanding of material creation. That being said, there are many structures extant in Egypt that were built when conventional Egyptologists claim they were built[1]—and they are nothing to scoff at. The temple of Dendera, for example, was very likely built in the Ptolemaic Kingdom (305-30 BCE), Cleopatra VII’s time (not built by her, but by her father Ptolemy Auletes). It is a truly amazing structure, something that would be quite a feat to build even in today’s current advanced age of technology.

So, it is not an argument that Ancient Egyptians possessed material mastery. But what else? What did they have that we, today, are missing? Their reality not only consisted of physical materiality, but also of unseen elements of spirit, energies, powers, and meanings. An excerpt of explanation from my own book, Ancient Egypt and Modern Psychotherapy best describes this: