EGYPT 82'


EGYPTIAN AIR, the plane felt like it was 50 years old, it rattled into the sky from Heathrow Airport, I didn't care, I was so happy to be heading South again, London had to be packed into my past as quickly as possible. On the run again, I sat staring out of the window looking over its grey buildings with a feeling of sadness that my time there was over and yet exhilarated at where I was heading.

Sitting next to me on the plane was a young Egyptian man, he had been in London furthering his education for the last couple of years and was heading home to Cairo to marry his betrothed, a young girl he had known since his childhood.. His eyes where filled with love and joy at what was ahead of him, this marriage to be was part of his destiny and had been arranged by their Grandfathers. It all sounded so simple and so romantic, was it possible that in the decadence of the early 80's that marriages where still being arranged and that the participants were happy about it?

The world I knew was so different my generation had fought so hard for the rights of the individual and while talking to this young man I thought had we become so self obsessed that all we were left with was our own selfishness.

Egypt was in front of me, my next stop, for so long I wanted to visit the land of the Ancients, to walk through their Temples, to feel their Spirits and maybe to remember! To remember my own connection with this place, inside, deep inside I felt I had been there before, inside I knew I was going home.

Cairo Airport was unbelievable, it was more than I could have ever imagined, as I walked from the plane and through Immigration my eyes were bulging, the sight of thousands in Turbans and Caftans, the dust laid like a thick carpet over everything even the people and the heat, it was like breathing into an oven. My heard was swirling, I was dizzy with the scent of the Sahara, the dirt and the perspiration and the sight of what looked like had not changed for hundreds of years.

I found my way to a cab rank and eventually after making a deal with the driver of an old black Mercedes drove to my Hotel in the centre of Cairo. My driver deposited me at the Meridian, a French chain of Hotels, this one was built in the round on a small island on the edge of the Nile. I was so excited to be in Egypt that I hardly noticed that the Bell Boy was propositioning me for baksheesh (money) before I even reached my room, I politely dismissed him with a tip and ventured through the room to a small balcony and there lay this great and ancient City before me. The Mosques and there towers stood as if floating just above the ground and reached high to the stars, I felt inspired and elated, I sat for hours that first night just staring into the beyond. 

The sun shone into my room early the next morning and after a light breakfast and a quick exploration of the Hotel I found myself strolling along the "Cornish El Nil" towards the Cairo Museum.

The doors at the entrance of the Museum stood almost fifteen feet high and as I entered the first rooms my heart pounded at a thousand miles per hour, there in front of me stood the most magnificent collection of Egyptology I could have ever imagined, pieces of granite as large as a small house carved in the image of the Pharaohs in such beauty and detail that caused my senses to reel. Here was the remnants of a culture that reached heights that were inconceivable to modern man, one could only speculate at the sophistication of these people, their knowledge, there beauty and their connection with a past we knew nothing of and their understanding of all that was Divine.

I wandered into the rooms, the halls and discovered artifacts and precious objects that have never been captured in any book, I felt like an archaeologist, I was walking through history, another time, another world and in this world I was almost blinded by its beauty and its feats of artistic expression.

So many mixed feelings, still a little confused emotionally from the sour taste that was still with me, London had been difficult, my time there was over, I had invested so much of my energy with the friendships that I thought had been developed only to find that they were so thin that the slightest disturbance destroyed them.

The Fashion Industry I had been a part of was filled with the fearful, the insecure and the shallow, I contemplated the struggle I had seen and to an extent been a part of, individuals struggling to get to the top and not really caring who had been destroyed in their determination to succeed and as soon as it was reached they were toppled by the next onslaught of those seeking momentarily power. Power over what? Dresses, Hair and Lipstick, ridicules, well as far as I was concerned it was, every medium has the opportunity for creative expression but what I had observed was that most seek the by product.

The money and the recognition are an automatic process that is attached with creative expression and the joy of fulfilment, they are by no means ends in themselves. But that was all behind me for the moment a new world was being unfolded, a new view of what was so old.

There were so many influences lifting my Spirit in Egypt and many Spiritual changes from my recent contact with Elvira, this was without doubt a metamorphic period and the changes that were being experienced both within and without where taking me into a new phase in my life in this time and on this planet. I had no idea where it was leading me, all I sensed was that I had to go with it.

I would be in Cairo for a week before my Australian Friend Evan would arrive, there was much to do and to see but still as one travels alone there is much time spent in contemplation, of course the thoughts and scenarios of possible outcomes but eventually the past must be understood and as it is looked at from a different vantage point it is so often seen more clearly.

The Meridian Hotel sported a round pool and over the next few days I lounged by it in the heart of the Egyptian Summer. I had come to this country in the off season, it was to hot for most tourists, it was well into the 100 degree F. , and the city was bare compared to its Winter season. I made a short trip to the Cairo Markets and wandered these fascinating little streets watching and observing the locals barter and make cheap copies of the Ancient Egyptian Artifacts, beating out copper trays and weaving carpets, I loved these and found much joy in purchasing the cheapest trinkets could I find. On my third day I decided it was time to visit the Pyramids, I thought I would await Evan's arrival from Rome and share their discovery with him but I was to impatient, I wanted to be there alone, to not only see them but to feel them.

So again I hired a car and driver and early the next morning with a small walk-man, some music tapes of Maria Callas and a camera, headed out to one of the worlds most acclaimed wonders. While driving through this dirty City I observed domestic life, the poverty of its people were obvious, still there was a sense of joy emanating from them. They were a beautiful race and you could still observe the lineage of their past, Nefetiti walked past the car as it stopped at an intersection, her skin the colour of the red earth, her blue black hair piled high on her head, supported by a neck much to long for her body and her great and aristocratic nose jutting forward. This is the land where man reached the perfection of the human body as we know it today, this was the cradle of modern man and here was a link with a past we had long forgotten.

Around a corner we came and as far as I could see the road went straight ahead, I saw a sign, "Avenue De Pyramid " moments passed, anticipation mounted and there in front of me were the tops of two of the Pyramids outlined by the date palms in the centre of the road. Tears rose to my eyes, I couldn't believe I was here at last, there in front of me were these gigantic structures, majestically towering over this land and beyond them the famed Sahara Desert.

My insides swelled with emotion as my driver stopped by the Sphinx to let me out of the car and as I stepped onto the sands I was charged as if by electricity, I stood there with my mouth gaping. I was standing at the geographic centre of the planet. The Sphinx towered over me, its age could not be measured by Carbon Dating or any other method, this legacy from our past was proof that there was a culture that had taken tens of thousands of years to reach this point of artistic sophistication and perfection.

It was said that the Ancient Egyptians began there culture less than 6 thousand years ago, but what had brought them to such  understanding of the Planet, Mathematics, Astronomy, the Human Body and of course of their Spiritual Natures and of God.

What information we knew of them and their world was so little, an unreliable interpretation, the Sphinx is there before us, proof of what we know nothing of, proof that people with greater knowledge than we have learnt have lived and prospered before our petty understanding of what History is. I pondered, thoughts of the myths of the Atlanteans, a culture that would have taken millenniums to reach the point of such art.

Where did the Egyptians come from? Were they aliens to this land? Were they a fragment of a once and great race that went before them? I did not know, I did not have any proof beyond what I felt, all I knew was that my inner self was remembering and there was a knowing that the way Scientists and Archaeologists had interpreted the information they had found were wrong and this of course gave my imagination free reign.

I had learnt from my Meditations in Elvira's group that imagination was not a deceiver, that it was not a sense that clothed reality in illusion but that it was a doorway, a doorway into a greater part of ourselves and of knowledge that was available to all who sought it. My doorway was opening and through it I began my ascent up the causeway to the Pyramid of Khephren, it was an ascent, as if I were rising upward on a pillow of air, totally enthralled I reached the Pyramid and began my observations.

I had placed the earphones of my walk-man on my ears, there were many hustlers selling Camel rides and more cheap trinkets, I didn't want the disturbance, the opera Tosca protected me from any invasion other than a nod a smile and the occasional wave of my hand to indicate I wasn't interested in their wares.

My mind was like a flooded dam about to burst, I knew I had walked this way before and became angry at the scientific conclusions that these enormous structures were built as tombs.

In one breath it had been stated that this race of people had reached unbelievable levels in architecture and that the very measurements of these buildings were numbered to coincide with almost the exact distance of the circumference of the Earth itself, that the blocks of stone that fitted together had been cut into within millimetres of the one they were sat upon and that it was a recognised fact that it could not possibly be built today no matter what machines we had available.

We than hear that obvious conclusion and the answer of ignorance is to dismiss what is not understood as a tomb of a primitive non evolved people, how ridiculous, fact is not one man's presumption, fact is what is before our eyes and these Pyramids are a legacy of a superior and cultivated race of people that had reached intelligence and understanding of the laws of nature and the Universe far beyond our own.

We are infants in comparison, ignorant of the natural forces, all we have done is what is expected of us or any child and that is to have a destructive curiosity. The Egyptians (or whoever) built their Pyramids for reasons beyond our understanding, beyond our frail comprehension and within them are forces we will not understand until we have reached a much higher state in our evolutionary process.

It would be foolish to give a child a stick of fire, it would destroy itself. Until we have stepped beyond our destructive natures we will remain oblivious of the forces available to us and I believe this to be true of much more than only the knowledge of these gifts from our ancestors.

I spent my day here until dusk began to bestow its colours upon the Sahara and as I drove back to my Hotel I could hardly speak to my driver, my heart was opened and I wondered why such a remnant had remained to this day?

Was there an understanding that when they were designed that future generations would question there existence, were they built to remind us of a Divine connection that had become so unambiguous in time that it had almost become non existent? I had a lot to learn and much to discover and that potential helped me stay above the depression that could have so easily clouded my mind, to think we had held such understanding and knowledge and than lose it, the reality nearly broke my heart but hope prevails and what has been can again be found.

Evan arrived from Rome, it was good to have some company, I did not speak Arabic and I was very tied of talking to myself. We caught up on his Roman sojourn and I shared with him my experiences in Cairo. We set a plan, another week here and than onto Luxor, the Ancient Egyptian City of Thebes.

Evan had asked me to share his large Sydney apartment on my arrival back to Australia in 1981, we were compatible flat mates and we respected each others privacy while still enjoying each others company. We were very different types of people but he held within a wonderful receptivity and was capable of finding the good in all. I sometimes wished I was more like him.

I was judgmental and I did not suffer those I regarded as fools very well, I discriminated, not in arrogance but with more of a need to direct my energy, rather than like I had for most part of my life - gone along with the crowd for fear of not being liked. I was still suffering the rejection I felt that had been experienced in London and I was becoming very cautious to whom I aligned myself.

We decided to head to Luxor, we looked into the possibility of a boat trip, a luxury cruise was inviting but decided that it was far to expensive as time was of the essence a flight would suit as better. The plan trip was of the usual chaos associated with most Egyptian Authority and was only short. We had booked rooms at the Winter Palace, a beautiful Hotel and one of the Egypt's oldest.

After settling our bags into the hotel we decided to visit the Temple of Thebes which stood almost next to the hotel. It was getting late but we still had a couple of hours before its gates would be closed. As we walked to the entrance of this ancient place of worship I again began to feel electric, everything was larger than life, enormous sculptures carved in granite of the Pharaohs, pillars reaching into the sky shaped in the forms of open and closed lotus flowers, painted colours and designs still vivid after thousands of years. Here I was at a place where God was worshipped long before Christ had visited this small planet, incredible structures devoted to the raising of the Spirit, the prays still echoed in its walls, a purpose long forgotten, a ritual understood only in our deep genetic past, the language left on these walls only hinted at true essence of their contents.

I wandered for awhile after leaving Evan to contemplate a carved design and soon found myself in a small courtyard, here I sat, to rest and to absorb the energy around me.

I closed my eyes for a short moment and as I opened them I was astonished at what I saw; everything had changed, it was new, everything looked fresh, the colours on the columns looked as if they had just been painted, there where garlands of flowers draped from column to column, the courtyard was filled with people, children playing, dark and beautiful African women carrying trays of fruit, their necks extended with rings of gold, a procession of slaves adorned in colours and animal skins carrying a throne where sat a High Priest or official, there was beautiful music that sounded like harps and flutes. I stared with my eyes bulging and my mouth agape, could I believe what I was seeing? I was going mad!

My mind was playing tricks on me, I shook my head in disbelief and as if it had never happened the scene disappeared.

As the red sun sank over the Valley of the Kings we walked the Avenue along the Nile, it was extraordinary, horses pulling buggies, the locals dressed in white blue or black robes, I doubt if it had changed much since Howard Carter's discovery of Tut's Tomb in the late 1800's. I brought some Canopic Jars and this balmy Egyptian evening was a-buzz with the comings and goings of the locals and the few German, American and French tourists that had braved this summer pilgrimage.

The next day Evan and I booked a trip to the Valley of the Kings, Luxor (THEBES) was little more than a tourist Centre these days but still as we roamed the town you could tell by the ancient monuments that this had been a place of celebration, to die and to be buried here was a great honour. After a light breakfast in the tropical gardens of the Winter Palace we headed back to the Temple of Thebes to investigate it in full daylight, we were even more impressed.

Everything was so big, figures towering above us, the Pharaohs were as gods in this forgotten land and everything was built to honour their existence. We walked the road from Thebes to Karnak, the grandest temple in Luxor, the road was lined with Goat Sphinx's and one could feel and almost hear the the whispers of those that walked here in procession from one temple to the other.