Publisher's Synopsis
This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1898 edition. Excerpt: ... NOTE D. THE NATURE OF THE KA Among the various attempts to understand what the Egyptians described as the Ka, little notice seems to have been taken of the examples afforded us in the Precepts of Ptah-hotep. They are the more valuable as being all of one age, and by one writer, so that they must represent and delimit a single conception, and their date is so early--in the Vth Dynasty--that they probably show the original idea. In precept 7 the guest is enjoined not to pierce his host at table with many glances; "it is an abomination to the ka for them to be directed at him." Here the ka is the consciousness or self-consciousness of the man, annoyed by staring. Then in precept i0, " Diminish not the time of following the heart (enjoying pleasures), for that is an abomination to the ka that its moment should be disregarded." The ka, therefore, is the seat of the intention and desire of enjoyment. In precept 8, "The washing of the heart shall not be repeated (words said in passionate relief of the feelings), it is an abomination to the ka" Here the ka suffers the annoyance of another person's ill-temper. In precept i2 a son who is mentally like his father is said to be "thy own son to whom it belongeth that thy ka begat." Here the ka comprises the mental qualities which were inherited, beyond the merely bodily form. And the ka is the seat of generosity and kindness, for in precept 7 "it is the ka that openeth the hands " of the host; and in precept 27 is mentioned the "master on whose ka depend thy provisions." From all these instances we can fairly delimit the ka as being the inner mental consciousness and powers of thought, as apart from the influence of the senses and the communication with the body. The Egyptian argued, "If I burn...