In Egypt 20-27 December 2006

It was a wonderful opportunity to be able to visit Egypt. I had watched enough programs in the cable television as to perceive Egypt as a magic place, with a highly developed ancient civilization and with several ritual systems that though conflicting with each other remained unified around the belief in the creativity and power of Ra – the sun and of the pharaohs as recipients of that power and a monarchical given possibility of redeeming people and securing the stability of the cosmos and Egyptian society.
I flew to Luxor together with my family and then directly transferred from the airport to a boat where I spent seven days until it was time to return to Luxor International Airport. The routine was marked by an early start leaving the boat at 7:00am and visiting certain sites led by an Egyptian PhD student that gave more wonderful lectures that I could ever imagine. The highlight of the visit was the time spent at the Valley of the Kings. It was a spiritual experience of tranquillity and communion with the living and the dead that is difficult to explain. The enormous valley contains many tombs of pharaohs and despite the large numbers of tourists there was a peaceful atmosphere in which the deep tombs provided a clear connection between the living and the dead, those in the past and those in the present.
Despite the fact that the course of the pharaohs meant that my family had to call a medical doctor in order to assess my high fever and general deterioration with the welcome possibility of a subsequent rest for the second half of the tour it was a spiritual experience inscribed in 139 photographs and on the soul. On return to St. Andrews I promised myself that I would write a long description of my visit but I have not been able to do so. The Valley of the Kings dominates my memories and the desire to connect the living and the dead, as the Egyptians did, remains a refreshed call strengthen by the wonderful Egyptian hospitality and the solidarity with the rubbish scavengers, those who lost their homes due to the building of a large dam, and the general division between those privileged to sail over the Nile and those who are privileged to live in the footsteps of the early Christian hermits, the Egyptian gods and the Muslim call to prayer and to submission to the One god of all. I can only say that the CSRP seminars would be deeper experiences if we could have one or two in the Valley of the Kings.