"All conduct should be so straight that you can measure it with a plumb-line." (p. 27)
"Injustice exists in abundance, but evil can never succeed in the long run." (p. 32)
"Punish with principle, teach meaningfully. The act of stopping evil leads to the lasting establishment of virtue." (p. 32)
"The human race never accomplishes anything. It's what God commands that gets done." (p. 41)
"Those whom God guides do not go wrong. Those whose boat He takes away cannot cross." (p. 43)
"Follow your heart all your life, do not commit excess with respect to what has been ordained." (p. 66)
"If you work hard, and if growth takes place as it should in the fields, it is because God has placed abundance in your hands." (p. 74)
"Do not gossip in your neighbourhood, because people respect the silent." (p. 74)
"Listening benefits the listener." (p. 74)
"If he who listens listens fully, then he who listens becomes he who understands." (p. 76)
"He who listens becomes the master of what is profitable." (p. 76)
"To listen is better than anything, thus is born perfect love." (p. 76)
"God loves him who listens. He hates those who do not listen." (p. 76)
"As for the ignorant man who does not listen, he accomplishes nothing. He equates knowledge with ignorance, the useless with the harmful. He does everything which is detestable, so people get angry with him each day." (p. 77)
"A perfect word is hidden more deeply than precious stones. It is to be found near the servants working at the mill-stone." (p. 78)
"Only speak when you have something worth saying." (p. 79)
"As for you, teach your disciple the words of tradition. May he act as a model for the children of the great, that they may find in him the understanding and justice of every heart that speaks to him, since man is not born wise." (p. 85)
"A woman with happy heart brings equilibrium." (p. 107)
"Love your wife with passion." (p. 107)
"As for those who end up continually lusting after women, none of their plans will succeed." (p. 108)
"How wonderful is a son who obeys his father!" (p. 112)
"How happy he is of whom it is said: 'A son is kind-natured when he knows how to listen.'" (p. 112)
"Do not blame those who are childless, do not criticise them for not having any, and do not boast about having them yourself." (p. 113)
"May your heart never be vain because of what you know. Take counsel from the ignorant as well as the wise..." (p. 119)
"So do not place any confidence in your heart in the accumulation of riches, since everything that you have is a gift from God." (p. 126)
"Think of living in peace with what you possess, and whatever the Gods choose to give will come of its own accord." (p. 127)
"Do not repeat a slanderous rumour, do not listen to it." (p. 139)
"He who has a great heart has a gift from God. He who obeys his stomach obeys the enemy." (p. 140)
"Those who[m] the Gods guide cannot get lost. Those they forbid passage will not be able to cross the river of life." (p. 143)
Ptahhotep's work is among the earliest known philosophical treatise on ethics in the world and the oldest in Africa.
His core teaching of listening to one's heart seemingly contradicts Biblical teaching that one should not follow his heart since the heart as source of desire only leads to sin and wickedness. However, in the Egyptian context the heart is the seat of conscience and that conscience is nurtured by moral teaching.
Posted by Tukuler (Member # 19944) on :
A biblical "teaching" may not be an Israelite one.
Be careful not to conflate Hebrew with Greek.
DJ you gave a Christian Greek Scripture notion that's incorrect for the Hebrew's Bible (Tanakh).
You have mistakenly attributed a Common Era Greek notion to a Before Common Era Hebrew way of life. Israel rejects the Holy Greek Scriptures as anything of theirs and do not use it at all.
But Christians needed the Holy Hebrew Scriptures.
Christian Mediterraneans needed their version (Old Testament) of Tanakh with certain key words divorced from their Hebrew meanings to vouch for their non-Israelite new religion and so put both 'under one cover'. A prime example is `almah which in ancient Hebrew denotes a girl new to her menses. B*thulah is a female with hymen virgin. The Wiki is accurate on this one https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Almah
There are many Hebrew terms for heart. The most common one is lebh/lebhabh.
The SHEMA is Israel's watchword. Besides 2 times a day in prayer an Israel is to recite it on the approach of death.
Israel's deity demands "heart" Hear O'Israel, Yah is our god, Yah alone/is one
quote: וְאָ֣הַבְתָּ֔ אֵ֖ת יְהוָ֣ה אֱלֹהֶ֑יךָ בְּכָל־לְבָבְךָ֥ You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart.
.
Adonai Eloheynu requires all Israel love him with all their "sin and wickedness"?
The last prophet in Israel gives us his message directly from HaShem
quote: The burden of the word of the LORD to Israel by Malachi/My messenger.
. . .
Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and terrible day of the LORD.
And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers; lest I come and smite the land with utter destruction.
. Israel's concept of good and evil is not the non-Jewish concept of good and evil. The world could not exist without the Yesser haTob and the Yesser haRa both in operation. The GOOD and the EVIL IMPULSES.
Might be akin to Asian philosophy of Yin Yang.
One should be careful in summarizing words and concepts of a people whose language one does not know, nor whose philosophies ones have not diligently STUDIED, nor is a member of said people.
That is, if one wants to avoid spreading misinformation.
Like the OK Egyptians (whom the Israelites borrowed elements of Wisdom Literature and Psalms in Tanakh) contemporaneous Hebrew speaking Israelites leveled some functions Westerners (you all know what that euphemism actually means) attribute to the brain, instead to the heart.
^ Yes, I appreciate the clarification as always. By 'heart' do we mean desire only or conscious? What is the ancient Hebrew connotation versus the Egyptian one?
Posted by alTakruri (Member # 10195) on :
Na worry dawg brother.
U n me r about precision and authenticity, each ready to revist and when necessary revise personal views in light of new or unknown data.
We aren't ego first die hards who must always be right and imagine they know more than everybody and resort to ridicule instead of requesting clarification when obviously unable to rationally refute what they can't understand, or flabbergasted by concepts free of their mental limitations.
Rabbinic aphorism: Q. Who are my teachers? A. All of them!
Meaning any and everybody can teach us something we don't know if our pride subsides.
BTW the print edition Strong's Exhaustive Concordance showed me, that even if wary of heart, the Holy Greek Scriptures also sees some good dabs in it.
quote:By 'heart' do we mean desire only or conscious? What is the ancient Hebrew connotation versus the Egyptian one?
Is that a midterm paper there primo? Maybe we do on MANSION, so to leave this thread on track?
Lioness Ptah Hotep wisdom literature is new to me. Apparently outside the books I often posted showing Israel's borrowings from Egypt. Thx.
Posted by the lioness, (Member # 17353) on :
Kagemni, a vizier of the Pyramid City of Teti.
The "Instructions to Kagemni"
The respectful man prospers, Praised is the modest one, The tent is open to the silent, The seat of the quiet is spacious. Do not chatter! Knives are sharp against the blunderer. Without hurry except when he faults.
When you sit with company, Shun the food you love; Restraint is a brief moment, Gluttony is base and is reproved. A cup of water quenches thirst, A mouthful of herbs strengthens the heart; One good thing stands for goodness, A little something stands for much. Vile is he whose belly covets when (meal)-time has passed, He forgets those in whose house his belly roams.
When you sit with a glutton, Eat when his greed has passed; When you drink with a drunkard, Take when his heart is content. Don't fall upon meat by the side of a glutton, Take when he gives you, don't refuse it, Then it will soothe. He who is blameless in matters of food, No word can prevail against him; rHe who is gentle, even timid, The harsh is kinder to him than to his mother, All people are his servants.
Let your name go forth While your mouth is silent. When you are summoned, don't boast of strength Among those your age, lest you be opposed. One knows not what may happen,
_______________________________________________
Kagemni was a vizier from the early part of the reign of King Teti of the Sixth Dynasty of Egypt. Kagemni's wife Nebtynubkhet Sesheshet was a King's Daughter and likely the daughter of Teti
detailed notes on "Instructions to Kagemni" incl. glyphs
Introduction Know how to refute an accusation and to send back a reply.
Be set straight on the paths of life, and prosper.
Steer clear of evil, and mark boundaries. Be saved from foolish talk of others.
Spend your life with these guiding words in your heart.
It pays to be respected in the art of speaking and experienced in one's office.
An initiate of the mysteries should work to give land grants to the people and supply the storerooms, and inspect very well.
Chapter 1 Listen carefully, and delve into interpreting what is communicated.
Try to put profitable expressions and ideas in your heart, and let them rest there. When a storm of words comes, your heart stores will be a mooring post on your tongue.
If you spend a lifetime with these things in your heart, you may find good fortune in it, and you may flourish.
Chapter 2 Beware of stealing from a miserable man and of raging against the cripple.
Don't get involved in a fraudulent business or desire that it is carried out.
Throw an evildoer in the canal, and he will bring back its slime.
The crocodiles are nasty. Hot-headed man, what are you like?
Row and ferry the evil man away. Do not act according to his evil nature. Alternatively, fill his gut with your own food that he may be sated and ashamed.
Stop and think before speaking. It is to God's liking.
Chapter 3 Do not get into a quarrel with the argumentative man or incite him with words. Proceed cautiously before an opponent.
Sleep on a matter before speaking, and may you be restrained.
You can leave the garrulous one to himself.
Chapter 4 The temperate man sets himself apart. He is like a tree grown in a sunlit field: It flourishes, it doubles its yield, its fruit is sweet, its shade is pleasant, and it reaches its end in time.
Chapter 5 When tomorrow comes, today is past.
Fill yourself with silence, and you should find life, and flourish.
Chapter 6 Do not be greedy for a plot of land, nor overturn the boundaries of a widow.
Who takes common goods by might, and traps by deceptive attestations, will be lassoed by the moon, by Luna.
Such a one is an enemy overturned inside himself; his household is hostile, and his property taken from his children. To someone else his possessions are eventually given.
Desire to make yourself prosper. Take care.
Better is the bushel which God gives you than five thousand deceitfully got.
Better is bread when the mind is at ease than riches with anxiety.
Chapter 7 A thief, the earth swallows him up and drowns him in the deep - a great hole. They have sunk themselves in a tomb like that.
Do not be pleased with yourself (because of) riches acquired through robbery.
The boat of the covetous is abandoned in the mud.
God will give you your necessities for life.
Chapter 8 Set your good deeds so that you may rejoice for the Uraeus*, and spit against the [demon] Apophis.
Uraeus: a stylized upright serpent used as a symbol of deity and divine authority. Compare the kundalini serpent symbol of awakening.
Chapter 9 Do not allow your superior to cast words only to entrap you, and be not too free in your reply. Discuss the reply with a man of your own station, and take care of speaking thoughtlessly.
When a man's heart is upset, words travel faster than wind and rain.
The wolf cub in the farmyard sets families to argue. He curls himself up to inflict harm. Fire burns inside him. Do not fly up to join him.
Chapter 10 Do not destroy your own mind.
Avoid saying to someone, "May you be praised", without meaning it.
To converse falsely with another is an abomination of God.
Chapter 11 Steer away from the poor man on the road, that you may keep clear of his property.
Chapter 12 If a man is detected in a dishonest transaction, never again will he be employed.
Chapter 13 Neither lead a man astray with pen or document, nor attest a false statement. Let not your pen be false.
Better is bread when the mind is at ease than riches with all sorts of troubles.
Chapter 15 Do well; you are then on the way of gaining influence.
Chapter 16 Do not unbalance the scale nor make the weights false, nor diminish the fractions of the grain measure.
Do not wish for the grain measures of the fields and then cast aside those of the treasury. [cf. A fish in the hand is more worth than ten in the open sea.]
What good is one cloaked in fine linen when he cheats before God?
Chapter 17 Do not act wrongfully through force.
Measure exactly and with precision.
More important is the threshing floor for barley than swearing by the Great Throne.
Chapter 18 When day breaks, man knows not what tomorrow is!
Strong in your heart, make your mind firm.
The Lord of All is the true pilot of the boat of life.
Chapter 19 Do not falsify your speech. Tell the truth.
Do not overstate a thing by solid oaths.
Chapter 20 Do not put aside the just man.
Do not repress the weak for the strong.
Justice is a wonderful gift of God.
Do not falsify the oracles.
Hand property over to its (rightful) owners.
Chapter 21 Sound tranquillity will cause God's plans to open.
Empty not your soul to everybody and do not diminish thereby your importance.
Do not fraternize with one who is too candid.
Better is a man whose knowledge is inside him than one who talks to disadvantage.
Chapter 22 Do not let your companion tell his innermost thoughts.
Chapter 23 If you are satisfied with false words, enjoy yourself with your spittle.
Chapter 24 Do not act so that your heart will be grieved. Take care not to slight the heart of man.
Chapter 25 Man is clay and straw, and God is his potter; he overthrows and he builds daily. [Jeremiah uses the same metaphor]
How fortunate is the one who is safe in the hand of God.
Chapter 26 Take as a friend for yourself someone compatible.
Give a hand to an old man filled with beer; respect him as his children would.
Better is the poor man who speaks sweet words than the rich man who speaks harshly.
Chapter 27 Do not let yourself be reported to God with the words, "Here is another very sick young man who has reproached an elder."
Chapter 28 God loves him who cares for the poor, more than him who respects the wealthy.
Chapter 29 Do not turn people away from crossing the river when you have room in your ferryboat.
If a steering oar is given you in the midst of the deep waters, take it up.
Chapter 30 Put these teachings in your mind, and have sound men interpret them, explaining as good teachers.
Amenemope (also Amen-em-ope),[1] the son of Kanakht, is the ostensible author of the Instruction of Amenemope, an Egyptian wisdom text written in the Ramesside Period. He is portrayed as a scribe and sage who lived in Egypt during the 20th Dynasty of the New Kingdom and resided in Akhmim (ancient Egyptian Ipu, Greek Panopolis), the capital of the ninth nome of Upper Egypt. His discourses are presented in the traditional form of instructions from father to son on how to live a good and moral life, but (unlike most such texts) they are explicitly organized into 30 numbered chapters.[citation needed]
Although once thought to be unique, the Instruction is now seen to share common themes with the wisdom literature of other ancient Near Eastern cultures including Babylonia and Israel, most notably the biblical books of Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Sirach, for which a Hebrew translation of the Instruction served as a source. Within the Book of Proverbs, verses Proverbs 22:17–23:11 closely parallel Amenemope's Instruction.[2] The date of 1100 BCE places the authorship of the Instruction earlier than any part of the Bible, and egyptologists such as James Henry Breasted credit Amenemope with having a profound influence on Western ethical and religious development due to his Instruction being read by the Hebrews and portions of it being included, sometimes verbatim, in various books of the Bible. "It is likewise obvious that in numerous other places in the Old Testament, not only in the Book of Proverbs, but also in the Hebrew law, in Job, ... in Samuel and Jeremiah, Amenemope's wisdom is the source of ideas, figures, moral standards, and especially of a certain warm and humane spirit of kindness."[3] Amenemope, in turn, was drawing on a much older text, The Maxims of Ptahhotep
relief of Pharaoh Senusret I embracing Ptah Pharaoh is also embraced by Amun, Atum and Horus, each god placed at the cardinal points of the Earth XIIth Dynasty - White Chapel at Karnak
The Instruction of Amenemhat early XIIth Dynasty - ca.1909 BCE
Prologue
01 Beginning of the instruction made by the Majesty of King Sehetepibre, son of Re, Amenemhat, the justified, as he spoke in a mission of truth,1 to his son the AlI-Lord.
address to Senusret
03 "Risen as god,2 hear what I teIl You, (so)
beware of nobodies
07 of whose plotting3 one is not aware.
by doing good one does not avoid an attack
16 he whom I gave my hands, used them to assail me,4 17 wearers of my fine linen looked at me as if they were needy,5 18 those perfumed with my myrrh {poured water while wearing it.}6
remember what has happened
the narrative of the assassination
24 It was after supper, night had come. I was taking an hour of rest, lying on my bed, for I was weary. As my heart began to follow sleep, weapons for my protection were turned against me, while I was like a snake of the desert. I awoke at the fighting, {came to myself}, 7 and found it was a combat of the guard. Had I quickly seized weapons in my hand, I would have made the cowards retreat. But no one is strong at night ; no one can fight alone ; no success is achieved without a helper.
25 Thus bloodshed occurred while I was without You ; before the courtiers had heard I would hand over to You ; before I had sat with You so as to advise You.8 For I had not prepared for it, had not expected it, had not foreseen the failing of the servants ...
the exceptional nature of this murder
28 {Or did destroyers break into the place ?}9 29 {(It is) a bad memory because of what these miserable people did.}10
the confession of excellence
32 I journeyed to Yebu,11 I returned to the Delta.
36 I was grain-maker, beloved of Nepri.12 37 Hapy 13 honored me on every field.
43 I repressed those of Wawat,14 44 I captured the Medjay,15 45 I made the Asiatics16 do the dog walk.
preparing his son
55 he has not understood it, (as) his face is lacking (eyes),17
