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The Egyptian Book of the Dead (Papyrus of Ani) · 285 of 357 · tr. E.A. Wallis Budge

Chapter 43 (part 46)

per-f em aabt t'eba-tha em sah-k pen am baiu he cometh from the cast, [when] thou art endued with this thy sah among the souls. 3. ahau pa neheh t'er-f pa t'etta em sah-f [His] duration of life is eternity, his limit of life is everlastingness in his sah . 4. nuk sah em ba-f I am a sah with his soul. In the late edition of the Book of the Dead published by Lepsius the deceased is said to " look upon his body and to rest upon his sahu ," and souls are said "to enter into their sahu "; and a passage extant both in this and the older Theban edition makes the deceased to receive the sahu of the god Osiris. But that Egyptian writers at times confused the khat with the sahu is clear from a passage in the Book of Respirations, where it is said, "Hail Osiris, thy name endureth, thy body is stablished, thy sahu germinateth"; in other texts the word "germinate" is applied only to the natural body. The ab or heart. In close connection with the natural and spiritual bodies stood the heart, or rather that part of it which was the seat of the power of life and the fountain of good and evil thoughts. And in addition to the natural and spiritual bodies, man also bad an abstract individuality or personality endowed with all his characteristic attributes. This abstract personality had an absolutely independent existence. It could move freely from place to place, separating itself from, or uniting itself to, [1. Recueil de Travaux , t. v., p. 59 (l. 384). 2. Ibid., t. iv., p. 61 (1. 521). 3. Book of the Dead, Chapter I.XXVIII., 1. 14. 4. ###. Chapter LXXXIX., 1. 6. 5. Ibid., 1. 5. 6. ###. Chapter CXXX., 1. 38 (ed. Naville). 7. ###. See Brugsch, Liber Metempsychosis , p. 15.] The ka or double. the body at will, and also enjoying life with the gods in heaven.This was the ka , a word which at times conveys the meanings of its Coptic equivalent {Coptic kw }, and of {Greek ei?'dwlon }, image, genius, double, character, disposition, and mental attributes. The funeral offerings of meat, cakes, ale, wine, unguents, etc. , were intended for the ka ; the scent of the burnt incense was grateful to it. The ka dwelt in the man's statue just as the ka of a god inhabited the statue of the god. In this respect the ka seems to be identical with the sekhem or image. In the remotest times the tombs had special chambers wherein the ka was worshipped and received offerings. The priesthood numbered among its body an order of men who bore the name of "priests of the ka and who performed services in honour of the ka in the " ka chapel". In the text of Unas the deceased is said to be "happy with his ka" in the next world, and his ka is joined unto his body in "the great dwelling"; his body [1. The first scholar who seriously examined the meaning of the word was Dr. Birch, who collected several examples of the use and discussed them in his Mèmoire sur une Patère Égyptienne du Musée du Louvre , Paris, 1858, p. 59 ff.
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Themes
Anthropomorphismtheology

Attributing human characteristics, emotions, or form to the divine; embodied divine imagery.

[auto] Divine figures are described with human characteristics, such as Osiris having flesh and being addressed as 'father.'

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Funerary Navigationpraxis

Texts and rituals guiding the soul through death.

[auto] The passage is from the Book of the Dead and explicitly details the rituals and transformations required for the body to survive death and function in the afterlife.

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Living Godtheology

The divine conceived as active, present, and dynamic—not an abstract principle but a personal responsive reality.

Deities like Ra are depicted as active agents whose commands cause the body to germinate and live.

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Mystical Unionsoteriology

The merging of the individual soul or self with the divine, transcending personal identity.

[auto] The speaker declares direct identity with a deity, stating 'I myself am Khepera,' indicating a merging of self with the divine.

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Psychopomp Journeycosmology

Guided passage of the soul through afterlife realms.

The text describes the soul's passage through death, ascending into heaven to dwell with gods and standing before Ra.

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Sacred Namestheology

Divine names or formulas that carry ontological power, used in prayer, liturgy, or magical practice.

[auto] The text invokes specific divine names (Osiris, Khepera, Ra) as essential components of the ritual efficacy and identity transformation.

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Theosis Deificationsoteriology

The doctrine — central to Eastern Orthodox and Maximian theology — that the human person is progressively transformed into a partaker of the divine nature by grace, not merely justified or united in passing ecstasy.

[auto] The text explicitly claims identification with divine beings ('I myself am Khepera', 'like unto Ra'), indicating a transformation into a partaker of the divine nature.

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Tripartite Soulanthropology

Division of the human being into three principles: spirit (pneuma), soul (psyche), and body/matter (hyle or soma).

The text distinguishes between the physical flesh in the tomb and the 'sahu' or spiritual body, implying a complex structure of human existence.

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