Article May 7, 2007 Issue

IMPRESSED, BUT NOT TAUGHT, BY TUT

Finding the way out of false education begins with rejecting the premise of life in matter as a demoralizing lie.

BY JEREMY CARPER

Gods in gold, looking like jackals, falcons, or oxen, together with intricate alabaster jars, splendid jewelry, and powerfully executed sculptures surrounded us in the darkened rooms. My family and I were visiting the King Tutankhamen exhibit at Philadelphia's Franklin Institute (http://www2.fi.edu/tut/index.html for more information). It was masterfully displayed.

One thought kept recurring to me, however, as we toured the exhibit, in the form of a phrase familiar to me: "sometimes beautiful, always erroneous." (The full sentence is from Science and Health, and says, "Nothing we can say or believe regarding matter is immortal, for matter is temporal and is therefore a mortal phenomenon, a human concept, sometimes beautiful, always erroneous" p. 277.) While the workmanship of the objects we saw displayed was undoubtedly exquisite, most were apparently designed because of a tenacious belief in the immortality of the physical body, at least for ancient Egypt's ruling class.

When the bodies of the Pharaohs were mummified, their organs were carefully placed in beautifully carved jars; cosmetics for their adornment were collected in alabaster containers; and little statues of the various Egyptian gods were put here and there in the tomb, presumably to guide the individual in a new existence.