RevCSchaefer Administrator
(Kai-Imakhu)
04/09/01 03:31 PM
Re: Netjer and Natural Forces [re: Leah]

A different ..perspective, but one which I feel to be grossly oversimplified. Boiling down the Names to collections of traits and "energies" (1) may be more accessible and easy to grasp, but it also eradicates (2) the deeper mysteries _behind_ those known traits. Such an approach may be more "empowering"... But it isn't religion's job to empower you. There are better ways of achieving that in your life, and at a much much lower cost. (3)

Ankh Udja Seneb,
Rev. Craig A. Schaefer, Hem Bast
Heri-tep Hem Netjer, House of Netjer







Click here to return to "Setting the tone", or here to return to the discussion of Renee's first post on this thread.

(1) A curious matter: Leah casually speaks of the concepts of "energies" and "forces" having different meanings for Africans than for Westerners, and yet never deals with the fact that these are words in English, which is a Western language, not an African one. How, then, can these words be good translations of the terms for the alleged African concepts?

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(2) This should be taken quite literally, as, according to House doctrine, the netjeru (aspects of God) enjoy only a subjective existence.

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(3) One cost being the spiritual dimensions of man's relationship with the objectively existing, and unknowable God postulated by the doctrine of the House of Netjer, presumably. From an outside point of view, Rev. Schaefer's apparent concerns on this point seem quite reasonable, even if the aspects of a deity exist on more than a subjective level. If all that we ask the gods for is a mechanical relationship, perhaps they will give us less, but why would they give us more? By our own choice, we would not be open to it.

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