THE SKY HAD NOT YET COME INTO BEING
THE EARTH HAD NOT YET COME INTO BEING
MANKIND HAD NOT YET COME INTO BEING
THE GOD HAD NOT YET BEEN BORN
DEATH HAD NOT YET COME INTO BEING
– PYRAMID TEXT 1466-
~
THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS DID NOT HAVE ONE SINGLE SYSTEM OF
COSMOGONY, WHICH IS THE THEORY OF THE STRUCTURE OF THE UNIVERSE.
THERE WERE THREE MAJOR SYSTEMS EMANATING FROM THE RELIGIOUS
CENTERS OF HERMOPOLIS, HELIOPOLIS AND MEMPHIS. THERE ARE,
THEREFORE, THE HERMOPOLITAN SYSTEM, THE HELIOPOLITAN AND
THE MEMPHITE SYSTEM (MEMPHITE THEOLOGY). THIS DOES NOT MEAN
THAT THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS HAD THREE DIFFERENT DOCTRINES OR
THEORIES OF CREATION, RATHER IT MEANS THAT THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS
USED THREE DIFFERENT SYSTEMS OF SYMBLOISM TO EXPRESS THE REALITY
OF CREATION. THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS HAD ONE CONCEPT OR DOCTRINE
OF CREATION, AND THIS ONE CONCEPT WAS ARTICULATED DIFFERENTLY
ACCORDING TO THE DIFFERENT RELIGIOUS CENTERS. EACH RELIGIOUS
CENTER STRESSED DIFFERENT DIETIES TO WHOM THEY NATURALLY
ASSIGNED FUNCTIONS IN THE WHOLE WORK OF CREATION. IT WAS NOT
UNTIL PHAROAH AKHENATON THAT MONOTHEISM WAS OFFICIALLY
ADOPTED INTO ANCIENT EGYPTIAN RELIGION, AND THIS WAS LONG BEFORE
YAHWEH OF THE JEWISH BIBLICAL TRADITION.
~
IN THE HERMOPOLITAN SYSTEM, THE GOD AMUN WITH THE OGDOAD WERE
EMPLOYED AS SYMBOLS OF THE DIVINE IN THE CREATION OF THE UNIVERSE.
THE HELIOPOLITAN SYSTEM STRESSED ATUM AND THE ENNEAD. THE
MEMPHITE THEOLOGY ACCENTUATED THE GOD PTAH-RA AND
THE ENNEAD. THESE SYSTEMS
WERE INCORPORATED IN THE EDUCATIONAL CIRRICULUM OF THE MYSTERY
SYSTEM AND TAUGHT ALL INITIATES .
~
THE CONCEPT OF NUN IN EGYPTIAN COSMOGONY
FOR ALL THREE SYSTEMS, NUN, THE PRIMORDIAL ABYSS, WAS THE REGION
OUT OF WHICH LIFE FIRST CAME. FROM THE PRIMORDIAL WATERS
APPEARED THE ACTUAL LOCATION OF CREATION, THE PRIMORDIAL OR
MOUND OR MONAD AND FROM THIS FORMLESS MATTER, ATUM AND PTAH OF
THE HELIOPOLITAN AND MEMPHITE SYSTEMS, DEVELOPED THEMSELVES,
CREATED THEMSELVES; THEN THEY CREATED THE ENNEAD WHO
SUBSEQUENTLY CREATED OR GENERATED THE MATERIAL WORLD. THE
ANCIENT EGYPTIANS BELIEVED THE UNINIVERSE HAD TO HAVE A
BEGINNING, WHICH MEANS THAT NOTHING EXISTED BEFORE IT.
~
The African Origins of Greek Philosophy: An Exercise in Afrocentrism
By: Innocent C. Onyewuenyi
(pgs 178-179)
