The Religions of Ancient Egypt and Babylonia

54 The Religions of Ancient Egypt and Babylonia

the necklace of the god Ra, which is given unto them that are
on the horizon. They flourish, I flourish, my Ka flourishes even
as they, my duration of life flourishes even as they, my Ka has
abundance of food even as they. The scale of the balance rises,
Truth rises high unto the nose of the god Ra on the day on which
my Ka is where I am (?). My head and my arm are restored to
me where I am (?). I am he whose eye seeth, whose ears hear; I
am not a beast of sacrifice. The sacrificial formulæ for the higher
ones of heaven are recited where I am.”
As might be expected, the Ka is often represented with the
symbol of life in its hands. At the same time, it is important to
remember that, though under one aspect the Ka was identical with
the principle of life, in the mind of the Egyptian it was separate
from the latter, just as it was separate from consciousness and
from the divine essence. These were each of them independent
entities which were possessed by the Ka just as they were
possessed by its human counterpart. Life, consciousness, and
relationship to the gods were all attributes of the Ka, but they
were attributes, each of which had a concrete and independent
existence of its own.
At the outset, doubtless, the Ka was practically identical with
the vital principle. Primitive man does not distinguish as we do
between the animate and the inanimate. He projects his own
personality into the things he sees about him, and ascribes to
them the same motive forces as those which move himself. He
knows of only one source of movement and activity, and that
[057] source is life. The stars which travel through the firmament,
the arrow that flies through the air, are either alive or else are
directed and animated by some living power. Movement, in fact,
implies life, and the moving object, whatever it may be, is a
living thing.
The old belief or instinct is still strong in the child. He
revenges himself upon the ball or stone that has struck him
as though it too were a living being. In the Mosaic law it is