2003 NOTE: Kemetic Orthodoxy is a living religion, and the definitions of terms and practices mentioned in this document and their applications in our faith may have changed or evolved since this document's original writing in 1999. Please refer to more recent documents for clarification on any information that is unclear. This letter will be updated to reflect changes in our practice as soon as possible.

We saw another sign in the conference center during New Year's Retreat this year. While the story related to it may not be as humorous or enlightening as that attached to "Come Closer to Bowl," it was something that served as the focal point of several discussions.

For some years now, the House of Netjer has been working, as you know if you've read our website at all, to reintroduce the traditions and forms of Kemetic religion, and not to update, alter or modernize them. This is a challenge and sometimes, it is very difficult, both for scholarly reasons (missing documents, argument over translations, foreign influence, etc.), and also because of cultural reasons. With the exception of our newest brother Dante, every current member of the Kemetic Orthodox Faith is a convert, and each of us carries cultural baggage from our previous secular and religious lives. In the case of those of us from American backgrounds, unlearning and relearning cultural norms has sometimes been a significant challenge.

The sign, found by Imakhu Christina and (then) Imakhu Stephanie while on a quest for soda, had been posted outside one of the hostel offices for foreign students. They found the sign so meaningful that they wrote down its contents and brought them back to our evening discussion, to make a point about how Kemetic Orthodoxy really does present its own cultural forms as well as religious perspectives, and how we could also view this, as the person who had written the sign did, from the outside.

Many Kemetic Orthodox brought up as Americans were surprised at how unconscious their acceptance of these norms is in their own lives, and how such unconscious acceptance sometimes presents conflict when learning to "be Kemetic" in more than theology.

Number One seems very simple thing, and on the surface not something we, or anyone, would disagree with. The key word, I believe, is "insist." Within the Kemetic Orthodox concept of Ma'at, we acknowledge that the universe acts according to its own principles, regardless of our cooperation. While we are free to a certain extent to make our own choices in life, we are never free of responsibility for, or consequences of, those choices. Additionally, we recognize that just because we want to do or be something does not automatically mean we should do or be that thing, or that we are then automatically capable of doing or being so, just because we made a decision.

This may lead into Number Two, pursuit of the impossible. For an American, "impossible just takes a little longer..." As a culture there is tacit refusal to back down, to regroup, to believe that tilting windmills might not work. This "kill them all and let God sort them out" mentality is the source of a great deal of amusement from more mature cultures; America's still the new kid on the block, who hasn't lost enough to realize not everything will always go its way. While cockeyed optimism can serve people to be challenged and rise to those challenges more than cynicism, it sometimes encourages people to waste time and energy pursuing the wrong things. For the Kemetic Orthodox, in contrast to the American belief, Ma'at requires us to be honest with ourselves. If we are not, we will find out — the hard way if necessary. Doing the impossible is truly not possible. If one can do something, it's just difficult, not impossible. If it were truly impossible, there would be no sense in worrying over not being able to do it.

Number Three may seem to be the most important to American culture these days, if you've paid attention to the Internet, the media or the shopping mall. Everything must be newer, bigger, better. "New and Improved" does seem to be the byword under "In God We Trust" some days, doesn't it? The belief that everything can always be bigger and better may relate to the pursuit of the impossible, or perhaps fuel it, since Number Three says nothing is ever good enough as it is....

Are we there yet? Are we done yet? Is that it? These are the mantras of force Number Four. Since Americans must do everything, be first and in charge, and find better and bigger ways of doing things, obviously there is a sense of expediency to it all. It's no good to be working toward something. You've got to be there, now. After all, you've paid for this, or you've decided (Number One) you are going to do or be this, so what's the holdup? For the Kemetic Orthodox perspective on this particular cultural force, you might wish to read a recent Wehem on Patience.

Number Five may seem again like Number One... what's wrong with accepting faults and mistakes? Within reason, nothing. Human beings are far from perfect, and bewailing one's imperfections doesn't improve self-worth. What I think the writer of this sign was getting at was something more than the usual sense of forgiveness and acceptance all humans should have. What is characterized here is a "stuff happens" attitude: acceptance that the world is imperfect and so are the people making it up to the extent that apathy sets in. The belief that "everyone makes mistakes" can be carried to the point that people ignore dangerous situations in their own lives and the lives of others: "boys will be boys" as an excuse for eight-year-olds taking guns to school, or "they deserved it" for victims of abuse, for two examples. Everyone does make mistakes, but this doesn't mean mistakes should be overlooked.

Numbers Five and Six are directly related. Six is what happens when Five takes sway: when mistakes are normal and acceptable, insistence on tradition and quality goes out the window, and "whatever" is the rule of the day. Improvisation is a God-given right to most Americans, probably hearkening back to force Number One, and possibly related to the force of wanting bigger and better and being in charge. If you can't do it right the first time, make it up. Sometimes this turns into "if it's too hard to do it right the first time, make it up" — and then eventually, since according to Number Five, mistakes are just part of life and not anything to worry about, ignorance of quality becomes an ideal: "Things MUST be made up, because it's impossible/too hard/too much work to do it the right way/the way we used to do it."

I think Number Six bothers me the most. Number Six, combined with pursuit of the impossible and the "I can do this because I decided to" of Number One, create a world where no one is accountable to anyone, and no matter what a person does, if it's something (s)he consciously decides to do, it's okay, even if mistakes are made. This force is probably the most opposed to the ancient Kemetic, and the modern Kemetic Orthodox, worldview, as we are concerned with the oldest of the old traditions and actively keeping them alive in the world. We cannot "make it up," even if it's hard to follow the ancestors' lead sometimes. Additionally, we MUST not make it up — with Ma'at comes responsibility. Number Six takes away responsibility and replaces it with an inflated sense of one's importance in the world. What happens when, as we believe is inevitable, the Truth is known?

An additional thing I find distressing with the apathy and acceptance of slapdash methods in Number Six: Whatever happened to the pursuit of the impossible? It seems Number Six has priority over Number Two: Pursuit of the impossible is only done if and only if there isn't a way to make it up or cut corners or accomplish a task easier or faster.

Is Force Number Seven truly separate, or is it just related to the others? I am not sure. I suspect it branches into several others, but it also puts bigger priority on them: bigger and better are good, but something entirely new is best. There doesn't seem to be much room in this worldview for a 6,000+ year old religion; it is perhaps little wonder one can buy priesthood for $5 on the Internet, or can buy training in so-called "Egyptian mysteries," or that the bestselling books on ancient Egypt these days are "forbidden archaeology" theories such as that the ancients weren't ancient but from other planets or dimensions. But this is a culture in which anybody can do and believe anything simply by deciding it's so. What's "forbidden" in this sense except a new and improved word to sell more books?

In saying these things, I hope I am not characterized as anti-progress or even "anti-American." I am not either; in fact I have more optimism for America than the writer of this sign did. However, these seven insights from someone outside American culture do point out that perhaps the culture needs to think about how it presents itself. Does it truly agree with the assessments it is giving others? Is "bigger, better, faster" or "get out of my way" truly the American creed? Is there any place for tradition, family, religion or morality, in a world geared only toward the shiny and the new?

It may do some good to think about these things, and one's place in them, conscious or unconscious, even for those who aren't Kemetic Orthodox. And for those who are Kemetic Orthodox living in the U.S., they are things we must bear in mind as we operate within and alongside American culture, each and every day.