DEAR LONGDI | THE PYRAMID AND THE MUSEUM
I wrote this to Longdi, in 2019 while in Egypt. I got the opportunity to visit Egypt for 2 months with some amazing people I was meeting for the first time, it is an experience I can never forget.
Dear Longdi,
Can you see how small I look in that photo? Maybe that’s what we are in the face of history. As we walked through the Egyptian Museum and then the Pyramids of Giza I wondered about many things. We have been very stupid enough to say some strange and unkind things to people of ancient times. We have said many things about them, things that make them appear to be less than us.
What I have seen today is leading me to believe that perhaps we have more to learn from them than they are to learn from us.
First, these ancient Egyptians knew that there will be other generations after theirs, while we today are finding it hard to believe that they lived, to say the more that we think about those who will come after us. We live as though we are the end of history, as though all knowledge, wisdom, and human experience ends with us. How wrong we are! How short-sighted that has made us.
The ancient Egyptians did not want to be forgotten. There are traces of every kingdom from the first unification of upper and lower Egypt. Engravings, statues, writings, paintings, they were all an attempt to display how they lived to those who will come after them. Of course, some of these arts have religious intonations to them e.g. the belief that one can choose the form he or she wants to appear in another life. But in general, they have served as compelling evidence that shows to us today how those men and women lived. The ancient Egyptians will never be forgotten, and that’s primarily because they designed an order that makes it impossible to forget. After thinking a long time, they thought of how they can display their role in this longtime history of the world – and as is evident, they were successful.
Also, the art of building the pyramid has a message for all of us. The materials used for building the pyramids were brought from 500 miles away. The largest of the Giza pyramids, Khufu, is 481 feet in height, comprising of 2.3 million blocks of limestone and granite. For over 3,800 years, this pyramid was the tallest man-made structure until 1311 AD when the Lincoln Cathedral was completed. So much just to bury a Pharaoh! This is waste and this is GREAT! Just GREAT! Absolutely GREAT.
I was mesmerized by the pyramids. Totally overwhelmed, I almost cried. How one could come so close to ancient times!
There is something important I also wanted to tell you. As Christians on this side of the world, our most popular reference to Egypt is from the story of the Israelites. The phrase “The Egyptians you see today you will see them no more” is very popular and widely used for prayers. Except that I have been to Egypt I would still be thinking the same way. Actually, the fact is that the Israelites were not a major part of ancient Egypt’s history. The episode between the Israelites and the Egyptians was almost insignificant. From Egypt’s historical perspective, it is not worth remembering. We need to travel more, to read more, to learn more and to see the world from other’s perspective.
There were many other things I saw and learned; I will tell you when we meet.
Coming so close to ancient times was a privilege and I am grateful to everyone who made it possible. I am praying that you get to visit here someday. Amen!
From the Majestic Pyramids,
Lengdung.