Egypt and Justice II - Maat
For the Egyptians, justice was represented by the goddess Maat. An ancient saying stated that “Justice (Maat) is Great, Unchanging and Firm, not having been disturbed since the time of Osiris. To oppose obstacles to the Law is to open the door to violence”.
Unfortunately we are experiencing this type of problem. Was Maat a typical goddess, with her own temple where her followers worshipped her? The answer is No. Maat was more of an omnipresent concept: there were small Maat chapels in all the temples, where she received offerings from the priests or the pharaohs. It was more the representation of Universal Order and the Rule, to which everyone, including the gods, had to submit. It was Justice understood above all as Harmony.
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| An offering of Maat made by the Pharaoh |
To understand this necessary sense of Harmony in relation to Justice, we will use an example related to Medicine, which is the science that represents justice in the human body. Thus, we doctors talk about a concept that is “homeostasis”, and that consists of maintaining the basic parameters of our temperature, bodily fluids, pH in the blood, amount of red blood cells, electrolytes, and many other physiological parameters within very specific margins. If the pH of the blood rises or falls too much it can be fatal or, for example, a sudden change in blood pressure, going beyond normal limits, can also irreparably damage the body. That is to say, all the physiological parameters inside us tend towards a state of equilibrium, a kind of compromise between the different systems that we call “homeostasis”; without this state of equilibrium the body would die or we would fall ill.
This is the classic concept of disease: disharmony or imbalance in the human body, which constantly struggles to maintain equilibrium or “homeostasis”, and that is precisely what Justice does in the human body. There is justice as long as this state of harmony is maintained, but when our liver decides to act on its own, or the stomach decides otherwise, or my blood has its own variations without taking the rest of the system into account, then we speak of disorder, that is, disease and imbalance.
Justice is therefore not a concept that is limited to the society in which we live, but is also present in the human body in which we exist. But this concept goes even further, because we can also point out that in man there is a mental and an emotional part in addition to the physical part, and even an energetic and vital part that goes beyond physiological mechanisms.
There is therefore justice in the human being when each of these aspects functions in correlation with the others without invading or mistreating the other factors, that is to say when the mental deals with mental issues, and the physical with its own affairs, while the energetic and vital work at their own pace and with their own cycles without being mistreated by mental or emotional disorders, etc.
But when disorder appears (injustice according to the classical sense) each of these parts goes beyond its limits, impacting and mistreating the other elements, or acting in a “selfish” way, that is, for itself, without any consideration for the other organs, systems or different planes of the human being. So, for example, although rationally we understand that something is not possible or convenient, our emotional state can force us to do things that we really don't want to do, and this is why chaos and disorder appear in our lives, that is, because of injustice.
We all intuitively know that there is such a thing as what we call the Truth. But does anyone possess it? Nobody can claim that, unless they are a fanatic. We also all more or less understand the concept of Beauty, although the beauty we appreciate is relative, nobody has seen something absolutely beautiful, we also all intuitively understand the concept of Perfection, although we have never seen something perfect. The same could be said of Justice. Has anyone ever seen anything perfectly fair? Or a perfectly just society? Nevertheless, we intuitively handle these concepts, and so we talk about the ideals of Truth, Goodness, Beauty and Justice.
These are fundamental ideals that guide and inspire human beings; they are the concepts that classical Platonic philosophy refers to as “archetypes”, that is, the original principles or models; they are the basic and fundamental ideas of divine origin. And one of them is precisely Justice.
Although this world is not fair, as is easily seen, we nevertheless strive for Justice. We also seek Beauty, although this world is sometimes very ugly, and we value Truth as very important in our lives, although it is very difficult to find anything that resembles it, and we all think that we act in search of Good, and that we only cause evil by mistake or ignorance, although in the case of our enemies we always attribute evil intentions to them.
These four archetypes: Truth, Goodness, Beauty and Justice, are what govern Humanity, men are inspired by them and build civilizations under their influence. The history of the human being could be said to consist precisely of the immemorial struggle to achieve the full realization of these four archetypes in our society and within each one of us. Under his inspiration, man tries to build better social forms and to reach a better knowledge of the truth, and to this end he tries to build better political and religious forms.
These archetypes are also a way of understanding God, that is to say the divine in the universe and in man. Thus God is That which is mysterious and indefinable for the human mind, and the origin of these four archetypes that emerged from that divine thought. Therefore, whatever we call God, the truth is that this mystery expresses itself to man as Good, Truth, Beauty and Justice.
And after these principles, inspired by Plato, who in turn took them from the Egyptians, we will continue with our topic in the next issue. Until then
Life, Prosperity and Health!
