Temple of the Cosmos: The Ancient Egyptian Experience of the Sacred

Ancient Egypt's connection to the Sacred shoots through from the past to the present like lightning. The energy of its ancient structures is absolutely palpable. That ancient people, to my sense of things, is the most connected to the Way Things Are and if you surrender to its treasures and monuments it is obvious. So I came back home after my second and extended trip to Egypt wanting to know what They knew. I have a personal sense of the Sacred that I humbly believe is a fairly complete picture of God and the idea that an Ancient People also were in tune, and harmonizing with, the Universe meant that I had to know more. If nothing else, I needed to know where I was in my personal understanding. I felt a deep connection to this millenia old culture and was desperate for a translation of the Sacred texts and imagery of Egypt. I can tell you that most all of them are terrible. And here I am speaking of the academic, Egyptological cast. Their works have sucked the juice right out of Ancient Egyptian religious belief. The typical scholar has no personal connection to the esoteric and sacred and so they cannot begin to understand what it is that they are claiming to understand. On the other side of things you have ungrounded and unfounded New Age belief that comes across more as wishful thinking than actual connection to what the Ancient Egyptians believed themselves. Frankly, it has been a frustrating search for a work that harmonizes with my encounters with Ancient Egypt. Enter "Temple of the Cosmos" by Jeremy Naydler, which is the 43rd book that I have read about Ancient Egypt since returning home (!). As I said, I have been looking for the appropriate translation of the Sacred Texts so that I could have a fuller understanding of Ancient Egypt's Understanding. Thank you Mr. Naydler for your excellent tome! This book is what I was looking for and had not found. Temple of the Cosmos evolves as it should, beginning with First Principles and then working its way through the Ancient Texts and Images as an aspiring Ancient Egyptian initiate would. This approach provides the underlying logic and unifying themes that help to elucidate and illuminate that which has been lost for so long. That is to say there is a wholly natural progression in Temple of the Cosmos's structure that serves the material and the reader equally well. The book's Contents are as follows: 1 A Metaphysical Landscape 2 Interpenetrating Worlds 3 Myths of Cosmogenesis 4 The Marking of Time 5 The Marriage of Myth and History 6 The Theology of Magic 7 The Practice of Magic 8 The Soul Incarnate 9 The Soul Discarnate 10 Orientating in the Underworld 11 The Travails of the Underworld 12 The End of the Underworld Journey Chapters 1-3 lay the foundations for an understanding of how the Egyptians viewed their world. Naydler does an excellent job of explaining the ancient consciousness as compared to the modern consciousness. He then provides essential language t

Temple of the Cosmos presents the most well-rounded, thorough explication of the ancient Egyptian religious vision currently in print. Jeremy Naydler sees into the deeper significance of this ancient religion, but without diluting it and without oversimplification. This is as it should be for a spiritual tradition that sustained people for well over 3,500 years. He approaches it with respect as well as insight, not allowing modern conceptions to cloud the original distinctly Egyptian vision. The author's style is very readable and yet based on solid research. I highly recommend this book.

Jeremy Naydler beckons us to a distant horizon, somewhere inside our mind. He turns the light on ancient Egypt. We gaze at the world as an Egyptian might have done. The landscape and heavenscape of the ancient mind rushes in with his scholarship which is mesmerizing and illuminating. We have gone far astray of the cosmic temple, but Naydler allows us to recall the ancient majesty of cosmically integrated thinking.

This may be the best book on ancient Egypt ever written. Brilliantly researched and breathtakingly articulate, this book brings ancient Egyptian spirituality back to life. Extraordinary!

The importance of this book cannot be underestimated. The author has gone to great lengths to provide the reader with the conceptual tools necessary to begin to understand the world view of the ancient Egyptian religion. From my own personal research experience, the serious student needs to step away from limitations imposed by contemporary language and the way that we view time, space and the experience of the sacred from our own culture. The author, Jeremy Nadler, has provided the conceptual tools necessary to awaken a valid understanding of Ancient Egyptian religion. For example, the author provides the reader with a very good introduction into "Egyptian magic". Until and unless one has some understanding of the importance and relevance of "magic" (within the ancient Egyptian context), the entire subject of Egyptian religion is completely closed. In another area, the author provides one of the best studies on the psycho-spiritual components associated with one's being: the Ka, the Ba, and the Akh. I was particularly impressed with the attention of the author to describe the experience of space, time, and the expression of the Sacred that are associated with ancient Egyptian worldview. Without an understanding of space, time, the Sacred context (including the ultra-critical aspects of the Temple), the Egyptian system remains incomprehensible, an alien culture that cannot be understood and which therefore can be ignored as having no direct relevancy to modern man. But the problem does not lie within in Pharonic Egypt: the problem lies within our minds. And this book is perhaps the best introduction yet written that provides keys to understanding the true foundation of Western Civilization. The only complaint (and it is minor) is that the author could have provided a more extensive bibliography for serious readers to have access.