{"id":230,"date":"2011-02-18T10:18:36","date_gmt":"2011-02-18T10:18:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/dreamgates\/2011\/02\/an-everyday-mantra-from-the-egyptian-book-of-the-dead.html"},"modified":"2011-02-18T10:18:36","modified_gmt":"2011-02-18T10:18:36","slug":"an-everyday-mantra-from-the-egyptian-book-of-the-dead","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/2011\/02\/an-everyday-mantra-from-the-egyptian-book-of-the-dead.html","title":{"rendered":"An everyday mantra from the Egyptian Book of the Dead"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Egypt<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

I have not obstructed
\nwater when it should flow.<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n

Today, I find inspiration in the Egyptian Book of the Dead. <\/font><\/p>\n


<\/font><\/div>\n
The statement above is one a soul traveling beyond this world was expected to be able to make when it reached the Hall of Truth. In this ancient guide to afterlife transits, recorded in the Papyrus of Ani, the soul was actually expected to make no fewer than 42 similar statements, affirming its innocence in relation to a long list of crimes and moral lapses. This procedure was called the Negative Confession, and it was the preliminary to the Weighing of the Heart that would decide whether the soul would be given a pass to the happy hereafter, or consigned to a devouring monster.<\/font><\/div>\n

<\/font><\/div>\n
To contemporary Western minds, it is a puzzle why it would be so important to be able to state, “I have not obstructed water when it should flow.”<\/font><\/div>\n

<\/font><\/div>\n
In the ancient context, the words are easy to understand. <\/font><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/font>The life of ancient Egypt depended on the gifts and the channeling of water. In Lower Egypt, farmers opened the dikes to let the swollen Nile release its waters into their walled fields – and when the river subsided and the captured water turned brackish, they opened the conduits again to empty their fields. One of the oldest images of an Egyptian king is the “Scorpion” stela showing a king opening a dike.<\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n
\n

I do not live in a dry land, but I would like, at the end of this life – and on any day within it – to be able to affirm, without hesitation, that in the fullest, creative sense:<\/font><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

<\/span>I have not obstructed water when it should flow.<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n


<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I have not obstructed water when it should flow. Today, I find inspiration in the Egyptian Book of the Dead.  The statement above is one a soul traveling beyond this world was expected to be able to make when it reached the Hall of Truth. In this ancient guide to afterlife transits, recorded in the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":224,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25,26,27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-230","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-conscious-living","category-life-direction","category-self-help"],"yoast_head":"\nAn everyday mantra from the Egyptian Book of the Dead - Dream Gates<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/2011\/02\/an-everyday-mantra-from-the-egyptian-book-of-the-dead.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"An everyday mantra from the Egyptian Book of the Dead - Dream Gates\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I have not obstructed water when it should flow. 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He is the creator of Active Dreaming, an original synthesis of dreamwork and shamanism. Born in Australia, he survived three near-death experiences in childhood. He leads popular seminars all over the world, including a three-year training for teachers of Active Dreaming. A former lecturer in ancient history at the Australian National University, he is a best-selling novelist, journalist and independent scholar. His nine books on dreaming, shamanism and imagination include Conscious Dreaming, Dreamways of the Iroquois, The Dreamer's Book of the Dead, The Three \"\"Only\"\" Things, The Secret History of Dreaming, Dreamgates, Active Dreaming and Dreaming the Soul Back Home: Shamanic Dreaming for Healing and Becoming Whole. His most recent book is The Boy Who Died and Came Back: Adventures of a Dream Archaeologist in the Multiverse. Over the past 20 years, he has led seminars at the Esalen Institute, Kripalu, the Omega Institute, the New York Open Center, Bastyr University, John F. Kennedy University, Meriter Hospital, and many other centers and institutions. He has taught depth workshops in Active Dreaming in the UK, Australia, Canada, Costa Rica, France, the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Romania, Brazil and Austria and leads a three-year training for teachers of Active Dreaming. He hosts the \"\"Way of the Dreamer\"\" radio show at www.healthylife.net. He has appeared on many TV and radio shows, ranging from Charlie Rose and the Today show to Coast to Coast and the Diane Rehm show on NPR. His articles on dreaming have been published in media ranging from Parade to Shaman's Drum.","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.mossdreams.com"],"url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/author\/rmoss"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/230","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/224"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=230"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/230\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=230"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=230"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=230"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}