The Egyptian Mysteries

This is a very interesting, if at times complicated, book on Egyptian spirituality including the initiation of individuals into various spiritual mysteries. It seems to hold that there was also some influence of Buddhism and some kinds of ties between the two major religious systems.

The introduction discusses the possibility that the Egyptian civilization came from some much older civilization. A good part of this had to do with astronomy. (There is no mention of Atlantis, though, so the older civilization could have been almost anywhere.)

The author also talks a lot about symbology, noting that the Egyptian hieroglyphic system of writing was composed of numerous symbols rather than written words. There is obviously a lot about specific Egyptian gods and goddesses.

This use of symbology also meant that the way Egyptians of the time thought about things was mentally different than how we approach things in today's world. The book also spends time discussing the Egyptian focus on death and the burial procedures that were used.

It's interesting to think about what's in the book and just how ancient Egyptian was different from the present times. There seems to have been one major religious system versus today's multitude of religious systems which are often spending more time dissing each other than actually trying to help people. This seems to possibly have given the ancient Egyptians a spiritual unity in addition to a country-based unity. That would be an interesting topic, I think, for psychologists and historians both to examine.