Was Egypt's afterworld a physical place? Or a virtual world created by a civilization’s collective unconscious? THE SMITING TEXTS

An early visit to a tomb that was to feature in my novel THE SMITING TEXTS (paperback and Amazon Kindle)

Was Mereruka’s afterworld a physical place? Or just a different reality, a sort of virtual world created by a civilization’s collective unconscious and sustained by its religion? Mereruka did not question its existence.

‘Do I believe in survival after death?’ archaeologist Anson Hunter asked himself. ‘Perhaps not, when I think about it. But what about when I don’t think about it, but merely feel it, at a deeper level?’

Everyone knew that the Egyptians were preoccupied with the afterlife, but they took it even more seriously than many imagined. Humans, they said, were the only creatures that must live life with the knowledge that one day they’re going to die and our culture was the world of distraction we create around ourselves to shield us from this knowledge. But the Egyptians’ culture did not serve as a mere distraction to the pitiless cruelty of death. Instead their culture came to grips with death in an attempt to overcome its tyranny. This doorway and statue, the glowing underworlds of the tombs, the Books of Coming Forth By Day, or the Book of the Dead as they called these religious texts - were the results of government-funded research into the ‘first mystery’- death and the afterlife. The early pyramids were like nationally financed space-shots designed to launch the god-king pharaoh into the hereafter. The Egyptians even had maps showing the routes to the underworld painted on the bases of coffins.

The unconscious psyche believes in life after death Carl Jung asserted.

Anson recalled that the doctor and founder of analytical psychology had written of a near-death experience after a heart attack and had reported a spiritual existence outside of his body.

The images of the afterlife carved on the tomb walls around him urged Anson to believe.

But the veil of mystery remained.

Perhaps we were not meant to know the truth so that we could endure this life...

Begin reading THE SMITING TEXTS on Amazon Kindle.
First novel in an archaeology adventure series.