THE HUMAN CONDITION
Growing up, whenever I would get into trouble, I always wondered why? Why do I keep making the same mistakes? Why can’t I seem to get it right? Why don’t I just naturally choose the right thing? Why am I a “bad” person?
Maybe you have had similar thoughts as a child or even as an adult. Wondering and contemplating why you just can’t seem to be the person you want to be. What is it about being a human on this earth that keeps us striving for “goodness” and “righteousness?” And what does “goodness” even mean?
In Kemetic traditions, we understand that human beings were just byproducts of the creations of the NTRU, also known as Gods. When you think about a God, what do you think of? Perhaps you think of perfection, cleanliness, authority, rulership, etc.
Human beings are byproducts of what the Gods created- meaning our nature and condition is very different from the Gods. We have human weakness and fallibility. We get sick, we grow old, we die. Even if we go a day without cleaning ourselves we start to smell. And that’s just talking about physical corruption- what we have and hold on the inside is a whole nother story. The Gods provide us with everything that we need, but according to Kemetic teachings, the things that we will always need to work hard for is intelligence and wisdom. If we think about the ways that we can begin to acquire intelligence and wisdom, it requires us to have experiences and to go through things in life.
There is a principle that was introduced to me within the initiation called Heru/Seth that gave me an avenue to grapple with some of my questions. Heru/Seth represents the principle of harmonization, which is required for the existence of life. Heru is the principle of construction, and Seth is the principle of destruction. When the two come together, life occurs, along with a level of chaos. So with that understanding, it makes more sense that intelligence and wisdom will require us to experience things and go through life, with the chaos that comes with both construction and destruction.
What does that really mean for us as human beings? Within us, we have the forces of construction, as well as the forces of destruction. Modern societies teach us to hide the destructive force within us or cover it. We try to hide its face in the things that we aren’t a part of. We try to place it on the things that we don’t do. Rather than seeing the destructive tendencies and realities around us as an avenue for change, growth and harmonization, we become a victim to it and allow it to consume us silently or to stop us in our tracks while we embrace only the constructive force as something positive and worthwhile. We see chaos within or our own self-destructive tendencies and we run in the other direction, working hard to avoid looking at the face of our realities.
Through my initiation, I have learned more about the innate condition of human beings. We are more inclined to follow our emotions rather than our logic. The way that we feel about things is what drives us, like animals. But, unlike animals, we have the option to use logic and to go against that part of ourselves. We have the choice to overcome our animalistic wants and desires and embrace chaos and change.
I have found within my own life that the biggest struggle is actively going against the urge to take the easier, more pleasurable route and challenging myself to think and dissect situations that life throws at me. I see that wisdom can only be gained through the situations I find myself in where I wrestle with my own animalistic tendencies and begin to choose logic instead of emotion, or sometimes falling in a hole and learning from it.
Next time you find yourself frustrated at the state of your life or even at the state of others and this world, begin to look inward at what you are running from. What is standing in the way of you gaining more wisdom and intelligence? What experiences are you avoiding, and instead face it head on. Running towards the chaos and wrestling with yourself is the only way to gain something and walk away with true answers.
Been avoiding initiation? Seems too hard, challenging, far away, too long, etc, etc.? There’s no time like the present to challenge yourself, and step out of your comfort zone to gain the wisdom and intelligence you have been seeking.
Join us for more information on the 6th generation of M’TAM initiates opening up in NJ: Registration Event & Open House, Sunday Sept. 3rd @ 1 PM, Kebtah NJ, 1506 Anderson Avenue, Fort Lee, NJ
