I've been watching the news from Egypt lately. I'm not sure what will happen today. Will the military take over or will things continue the way they are? I read a book yesterday by Anne Rice (who by the way wrote Interview with the Vampire) called Pandora. Anyway, there were so many references to ancient Egypt and the Goddess Isis. How Isis is viewed in Pandora is pretty complicated. If I told you what I got, I could be really off the mark from that which the author intended. I knew instinctively, though, that Isis was in some ways a kindred spirit. What the book Pandora doesn't tell you is about the myth of Osiris and how he was murdered.This is a sad story of an unsuspecting victim and the devastated wife who searches for his body. I can surely relate to Isis in the depths of her grief for her husband Osiris.
Down through history, it is Plutarch (who I've actually had some occasion to read) who tells us about the really extreme grief of Isis at the death of her dead husband. Plutarch, oh so many years ago, related the belief that the tears of Isis were thought to cause the annual flooding of the Nile. First it makes me think of a joke about "cry me a river," but after having cried now so many tears for so many months, for my lost love, the flooding of Egypt doesn't really amaze me at all.
Since before the time of Isis and Osiris, civilizations and all humans have had to make sense of death. Interestingly enough, the way that Isis' people, the Egyptians, and my people, the North Americans (U.S.) have dealt with death has been, historically, very different. I find the following two societal responses to death quite interesting and accurate:
"Death-defying--refusal to believe that death would take anything away and believe it could be overcome. Example: early Egyptians who built pyramids for the Pharaoh which included their wives, money, and possessions for the world after death with the expectation that the Pharaoh could vanquish death."
"Death-denying--refusal to confront death, belief that death is antithetical to living and that it is not a natural part of human existence. Example: United States, where there are few rituals associated with grieving. Rituals are generally replaced by contrivances for coping with grief."
From Rando, T. A. (1984). Grief, dying and death: Clinical interventions for caregivers (p. 5). Champaign, IL: Research Press. Copyright © 1984 by the author. Adapted with permission.
Blogging--contrivance or ritual? It is a lack of helpful rituals for my grief which in fact led me to this blog.
My sister is planning a trip to Egypt and Pompeii (where the Temple of Isis is found) in the very near future. Today, like so many places in the world, Egypt is staring down the face of real trouble and social unrest. What will happen today? What will the military do and what will the people do? I pray for all those people. I pray that those with power will let everyone stay in this world. The Nile has had enough tears.
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