The Story of Ra and Isis (Egyptian Spiritual Classics)
ASIN: B003F76LLW Currently available only at Amazon.com.
The Story of Ra and Isis contains one of the great secrets of ancient Egyptian civilization. Although the text has been available in translation for many years, a reader will miss the secret unless he follows the original hieroglyphic text. Dr. White has retranslated the text and provided a detailed commentary that brings out the great secret that passes between Ra and Isis. It is deeply profound, very funny, and of great practical importance for all of mankind. This edition also contains the complete hieroglyphic text and a transliteration.
The cover art is by Taiwanese artist Amy Hsiao and was commissioned by Dr. White as part of a larger corpus of paintings done for his Senet Tarot Oracle Deck of Ancient China. The design is based on the papyrus of Ani and other traditional art of ancient Egypt.
(Cover Painting by Amy Hsiao, Design by Douglass White)
The first book in this set of classic Egyptian books is a short story revealing the deep satire and wisdom behind the whole facade pf Egyptian myths and religion. Ra (the Sun) “God” is a blustering old male chauvinist wielding a huge ego. He is revealed as a Fool who has created a flawed universe. Isis represents an intelligent woman who sees through the farce and stands up for women’s rights. The story is built around an elaborate joke that reveals the True Nature of God. By realizing this Truth, a person is freed from the bonds of suffering and ignorance. And is free to live as he or she prefers. Isis teases this secret out from Ra for all to see and bestows this wisdom on her son, Horus , who is an avatar incarnation of Ra fit to lead a civilization. We realize that Ra, Isis, and Horus have a very close relationship. The Great Secret is that God is invisible as the “Creator” and is not a “Creation”. God is your undefined potential to be whatever you decide to be. You can’t see a creator — you only see his creations. (Even the persona of a “Creator” is a creation.) So each of us is responsible for our own actions, and the source of every creative action is an undefined potential arbitrarily self-imposed by the Creator on himself. The basic rule: Whatever you create you must experience. It is your creation, so relax and enjoy. The story is a deep insight into the source and solution to the problem of suffering in the world, and so it forms a nice humorous framework for all the Egyptian Wisdom Texts.