From the imposing pyramids of limestone and granite, to the unusual eastward stare of the Sphinx, staring into another time and space within our modern and sophisticated world is a little jarring. One is forced to wonder just how unusual and different their society is from ours, and their ways from our ways. There are certainly a great deal of mysteries - resolved and unresolved. The fascination lies within the differences of their culture.
From the simplicity of their music to the mythological backgrounds of their beliefs, it cannot be underestimated the complexity of their society, even seemingly lacking of sophistication. Even today, new discoveries are found that strike awe in our hearts. Years back, when the tomb of King Tut, with all of it's treasures therein were discovered, we were enthralled in the regal royalty that, like a beacon, told a story without words of the wealth of a society long past.
The reflections on Egypt tell us a lot about culture. What once seemed immortal now, literally, is dust in the wind. We can only reflect on what we see - the experiences of the past are etched only in hieroglyphics. What does this say about our generation? What will people look back and say about this generation?
Will we be regarded as "ancient" as we regard the Egyptians millennia ago? Will they look back at our I-phones as we look back at the Abacus? Will they look back at our televisions as primitive and obsolete? Will electricity itself be as obsolete as an ancient pyramid? How will we be regarded in history over 1,000 years from now?
In my spiritual past, we had our own ideas about how the future would be. Our culture told us that by now, in 2018, we'd be well into a virtual paradise - with our own religious ideas firmly entrenched in world government. Those in ancient Egypt had their own ideas too, about life, death, and the afterlife. We were wrong - our world still goes on. The empire of the Egyptians is only relegated to great stories of eras and dynasties generations ago. It's not hard for this to seem devoid, and empty - in a purely physical sense. Kansas' song "dust in the wind" is an accurate synopsis of the feeling.
Yet, what drives us? What is it that endures? Is it the pyramids and great artifacts of the Egyptians, or the technologies and great achievements of our generation - which will someday be as ancient as the pyramids? Or is it something deeper - something stronger? What is it that will persist, and our generation will be remembered for?
When decades, generations, and millennia pass - when the Earth is reshaped by long-term geological process - when all our physical bodies are dust in the wind - perhaps, it is more than what we have been, and what we have seen, or even what we have made. Perhaps our greatest influence that we will be remembered by is how we shaped what will be by who we are now.
It's been said we write our own history. When we look back at the stories of empires past. When we look back at cultures down through the ages - from the inquisitions to the crusades and all points around the globe - what stories did they write? What stories will we write? What stories are we writing even right now? Are they stories we will be proud of, or drop our heads in shame?
The Egyptians defined their legacy, as did every culture that was. The present is all we have now. It's the only thing that can be fluid before it's set as hard as the stones in the Great Pyramid of Giza.
What will we do with the present - before it becomes a permanent record of the past - a story to be told for generations upon generations? Will our greed and selfishness punish our future generations - or lift our society to a new level? What's our current defense - if we have one? Or should we even honestly care? What is it that will define our present culture when all we are is history?
****
"Throughout history, it has always been the inaction of those who could have acted, the indifference of those who should have known better, the silence of the voice of justice when it mattered most, that has made it possible for evil to triumph." - Haile Salassie
Throughout history, it
has been the inaction of those who could have acted; the indifference of
those who should have known better; the silence of the voice of justice
when it mattered most; that has made it possible for evil to triumph.
Haile Selassie
Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/topics/history
Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/topics/history
Throughout history, it
has been the inaction of those who could have acted; the indifference of
those who should have known better; the silence of the voice of justice
when it mattered most; that has made it possible for evil to triumph.
Haile Selassie
Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/topics/history
Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/topics/history
Throughout history, it
has been the inaction of those who could have acted; the indifference of
those who should have known better; the silence of the voice of justice
when it mattered most; that has made it possible for evil to triumph.
Haile Selassie
Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/topics/history
Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/topics/history
Throughout history, it
has been the inaction of those who could have acted; the indifference of
those who should have known better; the silence of the voice of justice
when it mattered most; that has made it possible for evil to triumph.
Haile Selassie
Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/topics/history
Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/topics/history
Throughout history, it
has been the inaction of those who could have acted; the indifference of
those who should have known better; the silence of the voice of justice
when it mattered most; that has made it possible for evil to triumph.
Haile Selassie
Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/topics/history
Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/topics/history
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