“I cannot pretend prochoice vs. prolife is about women versus babies. It isn't. It is about society versus families.
Abortion doesn't save women. It doesn't stop or fix rape. It doesn't end poverty. It doesn't stop domestic violence. It doesn't do anything except undo women's healthy biology, kill her child, and send her right back to whatever circumstances she came from.
Sure, if she just doesn't want to be pregnant, it ends pregnancy. Why doesn't she want to be pregnant though? The replies are along the lines of, "Fuck you. It doesn't matter. It is her choice and right." Ok. Thank you for telling me you care about abortion, not women.
This is what is being offered as the savior for women? This is our freedom? This is our equality? This is the answer we are being offered for children living in poverty, abuse, or neglect? Just pre-emptively guess their fate and kill them? This is what we are being offered as a way to address maternal mortality? Don't attempt to make advancements that address complications that arise in pregnancy, just blame women's biology and kill her kid?
I do not accept that this is the best we can do for women, children, or families. I do not accept that to be free, equal, and safe women have to turn against their biology and their children.”
Kemeticism Under the Advice of Ptah-Hotep: Maxim 1
In my first post I discussed the importance of listening, and the value of Ptah-Hotep's lessons. While this is a paramount lesson, it is also just a precursor to understanding and comprehending the actual maxims of Ptah-Hotep, which we will now read.
Translation of Maxim 1
Don’t be conceited about your own knowledge. Take advice from the ignorant as well as from the wise, since there is no single person who embodies perfection nor any craftsman who has reached the limits of excellence. The perfect word is as rare as an emerald yet it may be found among the maidservants working at the millstone.
Breakdown:
Lesson
Jacq’s translation
Direct translation
Do not be prideful over your knowledge and it’s sources.
“Don’t be conceited about your own knowledge… take advice from the ignorant as well as from the wise.”
“May your heart not be filled with vanity* because of what you know… take counsel with both the ignorant and the sage.”
There is not one person who can be perfect
“… there is no single person who embodies perfection nor any craftsman who has reached the limits of excellence.”
“No one attains perfection in the art**…”
Good advice (the perfect word) and wisdom is rare yet can be found among the common workers and strange places
“The perfect word is as rare as an emerald yet it may be found among the maidservants working at the millstone.”
“A perfect word is more hidden than the green stone*** yet one can find it with the serving women who work the millstone****.”
* - Vanity here means large, or great of heart. Ptah-Hotep has two variants of this expression which both translate literally as large or great of heart; one in a negative sense, i.e a self-inflated ego or sense of importance, and the other in a positive sense meaning generous and magnanimous. Here he is using the negative term, âa-ib.
** - Art is something which goes beyond the reaches of simply craftsmanship in Egyptian culture. It indicates the ability to make matter beautiful and harmonious in its’ symbology. It allows celestial energy to manifest itself in physical matter; to incarnate itself through a craftsman’s work.
*** - Green stone could refer to either emeralds, turquoises, or amazonites. Either way, the word used here, oudjat, had a root meaning of growth and blossoming.
**** - Millstone here is referred to as a benout in the original Egyptian. The root of the word, ben, can also be translated as the primordial stone on which creation was first manifested. On this first stone the benou bird first took flight.
This maxim, while uncomplicated, does deal with a couple subjects, the most pertinent of which is pride. Pride is the centerpiece of discussion for this lesson, and just the same, pride is a centerpiece of suffering and failure within one’s life. Pride about our knowledge — both individually and as a species — is something very ingrained in our society, but it has not benefited us in any way. In fact, it has closed our minds to the possibility of gaining knowledge from sources we deem inappropriate.
Our minds are shaped by our society and our surrounding culture, and that culture decides where it is appropriate to learn and where it is not. For example, in many cultures, school is an appropriate place to learn; spending time with homeless people or drug addicts is not. However, as Ptah-Hotep says, the perfect word — and thus the perfect wisdom — can be found in very strange places, even among common workers, servants, and slaves. And in fact there are many people who are homeless or are/were drug users who have a great deal of wisdom to give to the world; they are part of the undesirables class, but this does not make them different from other humans as a whole. Even the pride or joy you may have that you are different or more fortunate than these people is misplaced; what one thinks of as guaranteed can be taken away in an instant. The goal of realizing this is not to be constantly vigilant in making sure nothing is taken from you, but to instead accept the natural order, and not to judge others based on preconceived notions about whether or not they are valuable as a person.
In the end, it is not so hard for someone who is very rich and assured of their position in the world to suddenly lose everything and become part of the undesirables class that they once discriminated against. All of us are prone to change, not just in our souls but in our position in life. As Ptah-Hotep says, no one attains perfection in the art, and one person’s ignorance is another person’s realization, as everyone’s experiences in life are different.
There is a sort of equality that Ptah-Hotep preaches here; in the first note, concerning pride about knowledge, there is another translation that instead states this as, “Do not be proud on account of your knowledge, but discuss with the ignorant as with the wise”. Sometimes there is nothing to gain from conversing with the ignorant, but it is good to do it nonetheless. In this way, you can share your own knowledge, as simply keeping company with the wise can help one grow and learn.
Overall, the main lesson to take away from this maxim is to not be prideful about your knowledge and do not be overly selective over where you attain this knowledge. The second lesson is more simple, which is that no one person is perfect, and the ignorance or failing that a wise person has may be knowledge and wisdom that an ignorant person has. Wisdom and knowledge can come from all places, even from nature and from within the soul. It is good to accept wisdom from all people, as someone’s social standing does not indicate the openness of their heart, nor their closeness to divinity and the perfect word and art.
1,1 Sound is the cautious, blessed is the moderate, open is the tent to the quiet man. 1,2–3 Broad is the place of the one calm in speech, sharp are knives against him who oversteps the path. There should be no haste except at its proper time. -The Maxims of Kagemni pertaining to moderation in behavior. Text from Middle Egyptian Literature by James P Allen
“People conceive of virtuous women as being sexless. But virtue implies both restraint and mastery, and by this metric, a virtuous woman is in fact highly sexual. Existing in a state of constant tension and hyper-arousal. Rightfully recognizing sex as a life-threatening exercise, insofar as it commands total vulnerability, complete surrender of the self and a telepathic merging of souls, which irrevocably alters her existence when performed as a religious exercise - intended to honour God, and by proxy, her man, who remains the closest thing in this physical realm, the center of her corporeal existence. Sex is worship, and sexuality commands virtue. The virtuous woman understands this above all else.”
It is up to us to sow this mustard seed in our minds and let it grow within us into a great tree of understanding reaching up to heaven and elevating all our faculties; then it will spread out branches of knowledge, the pungent savor of its fruit will make our mouths burn, its fiery kernel will kindle a blaze within us inflaming our hearts, and the taste of it will dispel our unenlightened repugnance. Yes, it is true: a mustard seed is indeed an image of the kingdom of God. Christ is the kingdom of heaven. Sown like a mustard seed in the garden of the virgin's womb, he grew up into the tree of the cross whose branches stretch across the world. Crushed in the mortar of the passion, its fruit has produced seasoning enough for the flavoring and preservation of every living creature with which it comes in contact. As long as a mustard seed remains intact, its properties lie dormant; but when it is crushed they are exceedingly evident. So it was with Christ; he chose to have his body crushed, because he would not have his power concealed.... Christ became all things in order to restore all of us in himself. The man Christ received the mustard seed which represents the kingdom of God; as man he received it, though as God he had always possessed it. He sowed it in his garden, that is in his bride, the Church. The Church is a garden extending over the whole world, tilled by the plough of the gospel, fenced in by stakes of doctrine and discipline, cleared of every harmful weed by the labor of the apostles, fragrant and lovely with perennial flowers: virgins' lilies and martyrs' roses set amid the pleasant verdure of all who bear witness to Christ and the tender plants of all who have faith in him. Such then is the mustard seed which Christ sowed in his garden. When he promised a kingdom to the patriarchs, the seed took root in them; with the prophets it sprang up; with the apostles it grew tall; in the Church it became a great tree putting forth innumerable branches laden with gifts. And now you too must take the wings of the psalmist's dove, gleaming gold in the rays of divine sunlight, and fly to rest for ever among those sturdy, fruitful branches. No snares are set to trap you there; fly off, then, with confidence and dwell securely in its shelter.
“Every Holy Mass, heard with devotion, produces in our soul marvelous effects, abundant spiritual and material graces which we cannot fathom. It is easier for the earth to exist without the sun than the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass!”
