Hetep,
My brother, you seem to thrive on a lot of conjecture about historical matters, as well as some emotionalism about the former affiliations of Ra Un Nefer Amen and perhaps have had some brushes with the Ausar Auset Society in the past.
For one, let me start off by saying I'm a serious hip-hop head, and have been since I was 13 years old. My father used to play Tribe, Black Sheep and Digable Planets in the house and the car, and so I got to be very familiar with the "Nubians" of hip-hop. My first Afrocentric book was "Before the Mayflower" by Lerone Bennett, where I learned about the marvelous cities of Nubia, the Kentakes of Kush, the Napatan Dynasty and the Tekhenw of Meroe.
It is a serious insult to at least my sensibilities to generalize the members of the Ausar Auset Society as "older Nationalist heads" without any awareness of the Nubian heritage of the Kamitic people. Furthermore, it's tactless in that you've presented no tangible evidence other than a political schism which, as you claim, resulted in the priority of Amen-Ra over Ptah, in an attempt to consolidate Ra Un Nefer Amen into a "side" of a battle which in truth is happening only in your head.
Let's examine the *actual comments* of Amen on these issues before we even get started.
"Who was considered the "Grand Architect"?
Any resposes that indicate other than "Ptah" prior to the second dynasty I would like exact reference in the Pyramid Texts, Papyrus of Ani or other related SACRED TEXTS.
Sorry...."Metu Neter" volumes 1 and 2 dont meet this criteria..."
The problem with this statement is that Ra Un Nefer Amen never makes Ptah anything other than the Grand Architect of the Universe. His intent, in Metu Neter vol 2 was not to marginalize the philosophic breadth of the Ptahite cosmogony, but rather to contrast its more hoary application against the theology of Memphis, which, as he states on p. 39 of that book, was conceived
"...712-698 B.C....(The Memphite priests) likened the process (of differentiation in the undifferentiated energy/matter) to the fashioning of crafts that comprised the dominant occupation of their city. As a fashioner, the Supreme Being was called Ptah. The cosmogony focuses essentially on the consciousness/omniscience (Saia, Sia) and will (Hu, the tongue, faculty of utterance) of God. We must appreciate the chooice of Hu, the tongue, as opposed to the word. The Kamitic sages were very keen on the fact that at this stage of reality there is absolute silence...The difference between the treatment of Ptah here and in the Theban cosmogony is that while in the Memphite, Ptah represents the Supreme Being itself, in the Theban it is one of the three fundamental attributes of the Supreme BEING. We must make note of the fact that in claiming that Ptah created Atum, the priests of Ptah went a little overboard, as the immaterial consciousness (Atem) is by nature uncreated and eternal."-p. 39
Those of Amen's statements that I emphasized demonstrate that, his critique notwithstanding, he yet sympathizes with a metaphysical concept, and thus at least the milieu in which the Memphite priests posited Ptah in the role of the Supreme Being, if not with their specific arbitration.
Notice that, at no point does Amen outstrip Ptah of the prerogatives of the creator, or specifically of the Fashioner of things, though he had ample opportunity to do so in the opening sentences of this paragraph, specifically in his handling of the "fashioner crafts" whose industry apparently inspired these priests; i.e., had he intended to make their attribution of the creative process to Ptah baseless, he could have easily done so here. He also situates the origin of the Ptahite cosmology with which he has qualms WELL AFTER the period in debate, proving that his arguments have nothing to do with your conspiratorial paradigm.
But, there is more to the "Ptah Problem" than even the misconstruction of these statements, for in fact, Ra Un Nefer Amen incorporates Ptah into his *own* cosmogony, which he regards as original, in Vol. I of Metu Neter:
"The Kamitic term for "destiny" is "Skher," and for plan is "Sekher," which are clearly etymologically related to "Seker." No two things can occupy the same place at the same time. Divine law, therefore, guarantees all things their day in the sun. Our coming into being, and the unfolding of all events in our life are controlled by the spiritual forces (Ptah) at the Seker level for the sake of maintaining order in the world."-p.222
Here, Amen has done something of paramount importance to this discussion. He has positively placed Ptah at the helm of the creation of the world. By attributing to Ptah the spiritual forces which deal with the unfoldment of things in the world, and this, considered along with his earlier exposition on the meaning of the Kamitic term "Hu," as the "faculty of utterance"; in other words, it is novel from the above 3 spheres (Amen, Ausar and Tehuti) in that it is the domain of Words of Power, which I'm sure you realize as the key to the High Initiation of which you made mention in a later post.
In so doing, he has made Ptah a "special consideration" of that specific attribute of the Seker sphere, which in "itself" is not ultimately reducible to mere fashioning of forms, because this faculty is necessarily appended to a sphere of Being that transcends even the need *to* manifest. In Amen's system, all other deities, even those of the Ba, Khu, and Shekhem divisions of the spirit, are agencies of earthly life, and in their case, the proper ordering and administration of earthly life by the metaphysical laws of Amen which, necessarily, transcend the need for Amen's manifestation into the world in the first place. This becomes important when we examine the metaphorein of Orisa-Nla and of Olodumare later in the post.
In other words, he (Amen) is actually considering the No-Thingness which mandates the Creative Faculty.
Now, as to any Pyramid Text which gives Ptah a priority over Atum, my person is unfamiliar with these. Everything I've seen has placed Atum as the progenitor of Shu and Tefnut.
Interesting. Several statements here are the reason for my exact departure from the "Metu Neter" as written specifically concerning the reference or lack thereof concerning the "Aten".
The "Aten" was recognized as supreme deity even going back to Hatshepsut. When "Amen" or "Amun" was merely a LOCAL "God", long before the period of Amenhotep IV's reign.
I suggest reading the exact Liturgical reference's of Amenhotep III's period from which Akhenaten was initiated despiteclaims that he was never an initiate.
I don't recall the Shekhem Ur Shekhem saying that so-called "Atenism" was innovated by Akhenaten, or that he was not "initiated" into the worship of Aten. However, I beg the following question: at what point is Aten the "Supreme Being" in Memphis at the time of Hatshepsut's rule? What specific stele or relief, or hymn makes Aten preside over all the others?
As you stated..."ptah is mentioned briefly"....yet, during tha long period from King Menes until the 18th Dynasty "PTAH" was considered the primary Diety among the "initiated" up until the reign of Hatsheptut and the Temple of Denderah.
For your many demands of evidences from the periods in question, I have not seen you specifically quote any one source which makes PTAH the "Supreme Being" among the Kamitian initiated until the 18th Dynasty. Again, I believe this is an issue of misrepresentation, as Ra Un Nefer Amen has never undermined the importance of Ptah, and in fact, Ptah is mentioned quite frequently: in the form of Ptah proper; as syncretized with the attributes of Seker (an action which has its actual precedence in Kamitian historical religion); and as implied in Amen's exegesis of the spiritual powers of creation and creative unfoldment (the so-called "siddhis" of tantrism) attained at the level of the Seker sphere of initiation, which, again, on p. 222 of Metu Neter vol. I, Amen equates with Ptah.
This was due largely to the fact that what many now refer to as "Khemetic" or "metu neter" as preceeded by the "Memphite Theology" before a power shift into Thebes, leading the the so-called "Thebean Rescension" in which "Amun-Re" became the principal deity among the PRIESTHOOD which rebelled against Akhenaten who actually had sought to reverse THEIR "reforms". This is why he built temples OUTSITE of the proximity of Thebes.
The problem with this theory is that either the Memphite or Theban cosmology may lay claim to the proper representation of the Ptahite concept. Your burden lies in attributing the engendering of Atum to Ptah *outside* the Memphite documents at any point in the history of Kamitic religious document, which you haven't done, thus removing this contention from the discussion.
This is difficult for 'metu neter' proponents to accept because it calls into question other claims concerning the alledged "sole authority" of Ra Un Nefer Amen himself, and the legitimacy of even the reference of ALL AFRICAN PEOPLE as "khemetic" which is why one one hand, "Khemetic" refers to NILE VALLEY High culture centered at Thebes, while "Nubian" actually refers to an EARLIER "Triad" whose root, again, is based in the Congo Basin.
Interesting. Amen has gone to great lengths to argue that the origin of the teachings he propounds is to be found in the interior of Africa. Beyond this, we enter into the mythological and speculative realm, where it is indeed most difficult to get ones' proper footing.
It seems to my person that you are arguing that, in all other African traditions, the idea of God as the Shaper of Things presides over the being, Atum, that Amen has represented as the No-Thingness, or that the Shaper faculty did not emanate from this being.
We have to be surgically careful here, because what you've done is to militate against Amen's "logical structure", and the different meanings with which his system imbues the deities, rather than presenting the raw data for itself, because by estimating his attribution of the pre-eminence of Ptah to the Memphite priesthood as woefully inaccurate, you've effectively considered Ptah *as precisely* what Amen has depicted him, in function if not in chronology, and sought for his cognates in other African societies.
The problem with your method, although hypothetically tenable, is that the scarcity of documentary evidences for the earliest pantheons of Africa outside of the Nile Valley make its pursuance impractical. However, we can easily amend this fault with a cursory examination of an available and highly-documented, though somewhat contemporary religion of the Yorubas; that is, the worship of Orisha-nla:
"ORISA-NLA is the third Yoruba Supreme Being. It is said that at the time of creation, Olodumare---the first Supreme Being-- prepared the materials with which man was created, namely iron and clay. Hence man is called Ako-irin (male-iron), and woman Obi-irin (female-iron)...While Olodumare prepared the materials, Orisa-nla fashioned the mouth, shaped the nose and fixed the eyes and all members of the body...As priests and priestesses, albinoes, the lame and the hunchback form the majority. They keep themselves to Orisa-nla in order to be fed or cured. They believe that having offended in former lives and being adjudged guilty by Orisa-nla, they are punished accordingly for past offenses."-IFA, The Ancient Wisdom by Afolabi A. Epega, pp. 46-47
Thus, we can see that, in a society of indigenous African people, who may be generated randomly from any point of exodus in the Nile Valley (if one so deems that their origin), a Nile Valley cosmology which descends from, as Amen has stated, Olodumare (or Amen) *into* Orisa-Nla (or Ptah-Seker) is genuinely applicable.
In this example, the nearness of the attributes of Seker and of Ptah, which necessitated the subordination of the attributes of Ptah to Seker in the Ausarian system, even elucidates what this conversation has overlooked: placing a premium on the practical application of metaphysical truths to the layperson's life over learned philosophical exposition, the idea of Seker as it relates to submission to the divine plan, rather than the role of Seker as shaper of things, is the major appeal of the dispossessed initiates into Ptah's cult in Nigeria. Reincarnation (and specifically the dangers associated with forgetfulness of it) is also the precise plane of Seker's activity in the religion of Ausar Auset.
To further the above idea, we have in the Orisa-Nla metaphorein that Olodumare had departed from earth and returned to Heaven (i.e., became hidden, Amen) before Orisa-Nla, and that the latter dwelt among men for a long time, teaching them the proper way to live, before returning to Heaven with his regent, Atem. In no way is this compatible with a priority of Ptah over Atem or Amen (which are aspects of God delineated in the chronology of the metaphorein, and thus not nominally separated in this instance) in the faith of the Yorubas.
The foregoing is a faithful first step to address your concerns about the "Kamitic system", and specifically, the concepts of the priesthood of Amen-Ra, as being a genuine continuation of the African system, or as being applicable to all African people. I can't speak categorically for all African people, but it is certainly applicable at least to a large division of the African race, namely those of Niger, Benin, and the Diaspora Santerians. If there are more examples I can think of, I will summarily post them in a follow-up.
In closing, I will say this: there are several points in the opening chapters of Metu Neter where Amen has made it flatly apparent that the Nubians/Ku****es of pre-history were responsible for the clean diffusion of the traditions of Yoga, Pranayama, Qi Gong, the Mahavedyas and Tantrism generally from Nubia into the Tigris and the Indus Kush Valley, and from the Ku****es of India into China via Bodhidharma. That he places these practices at the foundation of the Kamitic way of life is ample evidence of his stance on the commonality of these peoples, so that your concern should not be to place the origin of our doctrine at some 19th Dynasty "usurpation", but rather, to effectively remove the basis for our *religion* (not our cosmology, which is philosophical, not yogic), AS AMEN HAS REPRESENTED IT, from pre-historic Nubia, without upsetting their positions in China, Mesopotamia, India and Palestine from pre-historic times.
At the very least, his centralization of the religion we practice in the remote South at a pre-historic period should quiet your suggestions of his "anti-Nubianism", whatever place that has in this discussion.
Hetep.