The Egyptian Afterlife & The Feather of Truth

This is one of the better articles about Ancient Egyptian beliefs - the weighing of the heart after death before the journey through the underworld is an elaborate ceremony. Judaism was influenced by Egyptian beliefs. Some might recall that Moses was trained as a priest in that religion - which by that time was rather antiquated and much different than the monotheism at the dawn of time. Perhaps it is interesting to some.

"To reach the eternal paradise of the Field of Reeds, however, one had to pass through the trial by Osiris, Lord of the Underworld and just Judge of the Dead, in the Hall of Truth (also known as The Hall of Two Truths), and this trial involved the weighing of one's heart against the feather of truth."

One of the oldest Egyptian wisdom texts:

"The work known as the Instruction of Ptah-hotep (also given as The Maxims of Ptah-hotep, c. 2375-2350 BCE), one of the oldest of the Wisdom Texts of ancient Egypt, expressly warns against covetousness, citing its dangers and consequences:

If you desire your conduct to be good, to set yourself free from all evil, then beware of covetousness which is an incurable disease. It is impossible to be intimate with it; it makes the good friend bitter, it alienates the trusted employee from his master, it makes bad both the father and the mother, together with the mother's brothers, and it divorces a man's wife...Do not be covetous regarding division [when food or goods are dispensed between you and others] and do not be exacting with regard to what is due to you. Do not be covetous towards your family. (David, 132)

Covetousness made the soul heavy with sin because it encouraged pettiness, jealousy, self-pity and, especially, expressed ingratitude. These sins made impressions on the soul which weighed down the soul's "heart" and made it impossible for one to pass through the Hall of Truth and find paradise. This was a major concern for the ancient Egyptians who understood that their life on earth was only one part of a much longer and grander journey."

It also mentions the nine separate parts of the soul which few article do.

Khat was the physical body
Ka was one's double-form
Ba a human-headed bird aspect which could speed between earth and heaven
Shuyet was the shadow self
Akh the immortal, transformed self
Sahu and Sechem aspects of the Akh
Ab was the heart, the source of good and evil
Ren was one's secret name.

All nine of these aspects were part of one's earthly existence and, at death, the Akh (with the Sahu and Sechem) appeared before Osiris in the Hall of Truth and in the presence of the Forty-Two Judges to have one's heart (Ab) weighed in the balance on a golden scale against the white feather of truth."

Successfully navigating through the underworld is no task for a wooz! The Chapters of Coming Forth by Day (The Egyptian Book of the Dead) is an instructional text for successfully navigating the underworld after death. Passages were found carved on the inside of tombs and collected. Many study this when learning Hieroglyphics. My copy is from the 70s a 1986 reprint of the 1895 publication with a few nibbles on it from Sais, my pet gerbil not long lived.