9

 

Wisdom and Human Relationships

 

Humanity

 

 

God has created Humans with the tears of His eyes.

                                                       Ostracon Cairo 25207

 

God has provided a sanctuary for humans.

When they cry He listens.

                                                                            Merikare

 

Mankind, the flock of God, is well provided for.

He has created Heaven and Earth for their hearts,

He has driven off the dangerous creature that lives in the water,

He has created breath that their noses may breathe,

They are in His image, issuing from His body.

He rises in the heavens for them,

He has created plants, cattle, poultry and fish to feed them,

But He has exterminated His enemies and punished their children

Because they had thought of rebelling against Him.

                                                                            Merikare

 

 

Do not join a crowd that you meet when it has gathered to fight.

Keep away from rebels.

                                                                                     Ani

 

 

May mankind perish so that silence can return to the earth and the clamor cease.

                                                                                Ipu-Or

 

The Ancient Ones

 

Keep to the teaching of the Ancients, t

o those who came before you.

Their words are lost in their books.

Open them,

Read and copy their knowledge,

Since only a being who knows how to learn becomes skilful.

                                                                            Merikare

 

Mothers

 

Words are spoken by the mother, mistress of Heaven, Queen of all the Gods:

She gives life, stability and prosperity as her gifts.

                                       Abu Simbel, Temple of Nefertari

 

Your mother is Heaven.

She stretches out over you.

You enter through her mouth,

You leave between her thighs like the sun every day.

                                      Sarcophagus of Ankh-Nefe-Ib-Re

 

Give back in abundance the bread that your mother gave you.

Support her as she supported you.

She did plenty for you who were a burden to her,

Without saying:

‘Don’t bother me any more.’

For three years she suckled you,

And her heart did not sink at your excrement.

She sent you to school each day so that you could learn to write,

And each day she watched over you.

                                                                Ani

 

Parents and Family

 

Pour out the water of libation for your father and mother

Who rest in the valley of death.

The Gods will bear witness to this just act.

                                                                                     Ani

 

The family of the just will be reunited in the hereafter:

Father, mother, friends, companions, children, wife and servants

And all his wealth and goods.

This has been shown to be true millions of times.

                                       Texts of the Sarcophagi, Ch.146

 

Woman

A woman with a happy heart brings equilibrium.

                                                                        Ptah-Hotep

 

If a woman is at peace with her husband, things will never go wrong.

                                                                  Ankh-Sheshonk

 

The woman who looks after the house well is an irreplaceable treasure.

                                                                Insinger Papyrus

 

Do not exercise control over your wife in her house when well you know how efficient she is.

Do not say to her:

‘Where’s that thing gone? Go and get it!’

When she has put whatever it is in its correct place.

Observe her with admiration and keep quiet,

So that you can make sure of her energy.

When her hand is in yours, that’s happiness.

                                                                                     Ani

 

Love your wife with passion.

Feed her,

Clothe her,

Oil is good for her body.

Ease her heart throughout your long life together.

She is a fertile land, she shines for her master.

                                                                        Ptah-Hotep

 

 

When a man smells pleasantly of myrrh, his wife is like a cat before him.

But when a man is hurt, his wife is there like a lionness to protect him.

                                                                  Ankh-Sheshonk

 

If you want friendship to last in a home where you enter,

Whether as a master, as a brother or as a friend,

Or in any place that you often visit,

Guard against approaching women (in a physical way).

The result is never good.

The sight of he who enters a house is never sharp enough to do this well.

Thousands of men are thus diverted from what is good for them,

Letting themselves fall into the trap of seduction.

A brief instant of pleasure is similar to a dream

And death awaits you if you sleep with seductresses!

As for those who end up continually lusting after women,

None of their plans will succeed.

                                                                        Ptah-Hotep

 

Scorn the woman who has a bad reputation in your town.

Do not look at her as she passes,

Do not try to sleep with her.

A woman whose husband is far away is deep and dangerous water.

‘I am gorgeous,’ she tells herself daily,

When there is nobody around.

And you risk falling into her nets.

                                                                                     Ani

 

Isis, Creator of the univers,

Sovereign of the sky and the stars,

Mistress of life,

Regent of the Gods,

Magician with divine wisdom,

Female sun,

Who stamps everything with her royal seal!

Man lives on your oder,

Nothing happens without your agreement.

                                                                Temple of Philae

 

Great of love,

With a beautiful face,

Ravishing,

Queen of charm,

Who has satisfied the divinity because of her beauty,

She has the voice of the enchantress when she sings,

She fills the palace with the scent of her perfume,

The Queen of all women,

The Mistress of the Two Lands and of all the earth.

                                            Titles of the Queens of Egypt

 

I have created this work with a heart full of love for Amon.

Initiated into his secrets of origin,

Instructed through his beneficial power,

I have not forgotten what he has ordained.

My Majesty recognises his divinity.

I have acted on his orders,

It is he who has guided me,

I have never planned anything contrary to his actions,

It is he who has guided me.

I have never slept,

Because I was preoccupied with his temple.

I have never turned away from what he has commanded.

My heart was intuitively before his father,

I have entered intimately into the plans of his heart.

I have never turned my back on the city of the Master of Totality,

But rather I have turned my face toward Him.

                           Obelisk of Queen Hatshepsut at Karnak

 

All that Queen Nefertari asked for has been done.

All reality exists as a function of her desire for knowledge.

All her words brought joy to people’s faces,

To hear her voice is to live.

                                                                Temple of Luxor

 

You are unique,

The beloved,

The incomparable,

The most beautiful woman in the world,

Like a star shining at New Year,

At the threshold of a beautiful year,

Whose grace shines out,

Whose skin glows,

With a clear look,

With sweet lips,

With a long neck,

With hair like lapis lazuli,

With fingers like the petals of the lotus,

With slim hips,

And noble carriage.

                                                                  A Song of Love

 

His wife, his lover, is the Queen of grace,

sweet in love with a helpful word, agreeable in conversation,

a useful adviser in her writings:

all that passes her lips is worthy of Maat;

a perfect woman with a high reputation in the city,

giving a helping hand to all,

speaking of what is good,

repeating what is loved, giving pleasure to all:

listening to her one never learns evil,

she who is beloved by all, she whose name is Renpet-Neferet,

‘the Perfect Year’.

   Text on the tomb of Petosiris describing the wife of the Sage

    
 

Children

Marry a woman when you are young,

And let her have children while you are young.

                                                                                     Ani

 

How wonderful is a son who obeys his father!

How happy he is of whom it is said:

‘A son is kind-natured when he knows how to listen.’

                                                                        Ptah-Hotep

 

Can you create a spiritual son with the grace of God.

If he is righteous,

If he conforms to your values,

And if he takes care of your goods as well,

Shower him with gifts.

He is indeed your true son.

He carries the seed of your kin, of your soul.

Do not let your hearts be sundered.

But the seed of a man can engender conflict.

If your son goes wrong,

If he ignores your advice,

If he is disobedient and insolent to all that you say,

If he is rude and contemptuous,

Drive him away.

He is not your son.

                                                                        Ptah-Hotep

 

All will go well for the man whose household is numerous.

                                                                                     Ani

 

Do not blame those who are childless,

Do not criticize them for not having any,

And do not boast about having them yourself.

There are plenty of fathers in trouble,

And similarly lots of mothers in trouble,

So a childless woman can be more content than they.

                                                                        Ptah-Hotep

Friendship

 

Distance yourself from the rebel,

Do not make a friend of him.

Make friends with the just and righteous man whose actions you have observed.

                                                                                     Ani

 

You do not know the heart of your brother

so well as when you do not ask him for help in a moment of difficulty.

                                                                Insinger Papyrus

 

The House

 

Build your own home for yourself and do not assume that your parents’ house will come to you by right.

                                                                                     Ani

 

Do not dwell in a house that has been cursed by God.

Its capacity for destruction will turn on you.

                                                                  Ankh-Sheshonk

 

Do not dwell in a house that has been cursed by God.

Its capacity for destruction will turn on you.

                                                                  Ankh-Sheshonk

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