The first scientifically verifiable calendar in the world was in use by 4236bc in ancient African
Kmt. It was a galactic calendar which was synchronized with the 1460 periodical rising of Sirius "B" binary star
system, which means that ancient Africans in African Kmt had initiated this calendar by 5696bc along the Nile River in east-central
Africa. Such a painstaking scientific discovery organized time and organized indigenous African civilization along the Nile.
Time is such an essential element of human life; almost every single scientific conclusion must be methodologically situated
in some time, space, and mass dimension. It has been determined, in fact, by means of astronomical
calculations of mathematical precision, that in 4236 B.C. a calendar was in use in African Kmt (African Kmt) (African Kmt
(African Kmt) ). African Kmt (African Kmt)ites (African Kmt (African Kmt) ians) had acquired enough theoretical and practical
scientific knowledge to invent a calendar whose periodicity was 1,460 years. This is the interval of time separating two heliacal
risings of Sothis or Sirius: every 1,460 years Sirius and the Sun rise simultaneously in the latitude of Memphis. It is probable
that this figure was fixed by calculation rather than by experiment, that is to say, by observation. It is difficult to imagine,
in fact, that forty-eight generations would bequeath their observations of the heavens so that at the end of the stated period,
at a precise dawning the forty-eight generation could prepare itself to witness the heliacal rising of Sothis. This would
also assume the existence of written astronomical archives, of precise chronology at a period considered as prehistoric.
Of Time and the Heavens The greeting ‘happy
day,' has a double meaning: practically it means "to share, to distribute;" theoretically it means "to
divide correctly." Both terms work together, implying that time gets correctly divided and distributed down to its tiniest
moments Eternity is defined here as a given cycle of years and is included in the time destined
to come The year was divided into 12 months of 30 days each; To the annual subtotal of 360
days, 5 epagomenal days were added, making a total of 365 days/year Three seasons were identified
as lasting 4 months, providing the recurring rhythm for the work and lives of the inhabitants of African Kmt. The months included
flood time, the time of appearance (when fields emerged from the floodwaters), and dry summer Seth
cut the eye of Horus into pieces, that then represented fractions Clearly African Kmt philosophy
was deeply concerned with the comprehension and use (and accurate measurement) of time-astronomical skills, construction of
pyramids, mummification of the dead, rituals for the periodic renewal of the Peraa's vital energy In
the unfolding of human destiny this was an extraordinary endeavor, a development possible only in the fullness of time-time
took on a cosmic aspect and global time was conceived of as an eternity constantly flowing into the present, to become the
past. Time is a dynamic process, periodically coming and going, always keeping humanity in
touch with the totality of the cosmos Time reintegrates humanity into the totality of the
universe; all the great rhythmic periodicities of life (years, months, seasons, ritual schedules of work, worship, celebration)
are affirmations of human destiny within the flow of time. Everything happens inside time; conversely time imparts value and
meaning to all that happens. In sum, time maintains all, time stabilizes all There are various
ideas of ‘order' and ‘measure' designed to enable human beings to create a sense of self-based on what
is essential in the universe. in a practical process of independent thinking, such ideas enable humans to forge an ontology,
a philosophy of being attuned to what is real and essential reality, unmediated, is diverse and dispersed To live usefully, we need first to organize this scattered reality through thought. Abstract reflection draws
order out of the primal disorder of unmediated consciousness The unity of nature-stretched
between present time and unfolding time, between time as a practical medium, cut up, measured, apportioned into manageable
pieces to facilitate the business of living, and time as eternal, perennial duration - The
axiom is inescapable: it is hard to reflect on time and its transitive nature, without an affirmation of the reflecting self,
without thinking of one's own freedom. The linkage of humanity and the cosmos, the personal and the general, necessarily
implies a transition to a higher mental level. That accomplishment can only be called thought, philosophy, a reflection on
the world, the cosmic whole, this totality within which humans live and die
All philosophy begins with an initiative
of extraordinary boldness: to think of the organization of time, to speculate about the origin of everything, to state opinions
about what the cosmos was in its beginnings, to become conscious of one's ideas as an independent ideational system, facing
the universal Whole
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Speed of Light and the Astronomical Distances of the Universe This inscription is a hymn to Amon-Ra In this work, poetry, merged with logic
and philosophy, attains a higher dignity The link between poetry and philosophy-the transformation
of ideas into works of art, in a process where ‘only poetry will be left when the other arts and sciences are no more'
Kemites developed a rational mythology, a system of myths in the service of reason, elaborated
under the auspices of poetry Description of the sun is empirical, focused on its apparent
reality as seen by the unaided eye; this disk of the day is eminently dynamic, rising and setting with its own energy, it
is the mother of all divinities and humanity; all life depends on its energy; all cycles of ecological reality are works of
the sun The sun traverses the far off sky, the immense, limitless infinity of space; the hymn
says that in its long-distance voyage, each day the sun speeds across a distance of millions and hundreds of thousands of
leagues. [science later verified the distance that light travels from the sun to the earth, a distance of 150 million kilometers
in 8 minutes, 22 seconds) Kemites calculated the size of the earth, whose shape they knew
to be spherical, by tracking shadows left by sunlight on earth The Great Pyramid is oriented
almost exactly toward true north Ra is the soul and consciousness of the universe, a god-universe,
eternal, infinite, active as a universal force represented more or less felicitously by various images: Amon the solar ram,
Khepri the sacred scarab, Ra the sun, Atum, and so forth The Kemites thought of the universe
as an entity that emerged from Nwn informed with spirit (Atum), and gifted with energy plus a conscious soul (Ra)
A Kmtian Decan List - Decans are regions of the sky
covering 100 of longitude in each sign of the zodiac; within each region, clusters of start are arranged in a distinctive
pattern [p. 148]
- Often the names of the decans are accompanied b those of the deities
- Personifications of
the hours of day and night are preceded by a decan representing dusk, the beginning of night, and another representing dawn
Variations in the length of day and Night at Different Times of
the Year - This document gives, in units of ‘standard hours,' the duration of day and night
on the first and fifteenth days of each month; it is a systematic calendar, from which the epagomenal days are omitted
- Every
three months, two types of days recur-those lasting 12 hours, the longest days, and the shortest (equinoxes and solstices)
- Calendars bequeathed us include-diagonal calendar; the "Louvre" calendar; a time count based on a new type
of water-powered clock; the ‘star tables' of the royal tombs of the 20th dynasty; a calendar listing
lucky and unlucky days
- The equinoxes (longest days) were exactly 6 months apart-the 15th day of the 2nd
month Akhet (spring equinox) to the 15th day of the 4th month of Peret (fall equinox)
- As a
practical rule, African Kmt divided days and nights into 12-hr periods, the actual length of the hour varying according to
the season
- Time was measured in hours and fractions of hours. The standard hour was divided into fractions through
a duodecimal system, making it possible to express all divisions of the hour in twelfths
On the Nature of the Sky This fragment from The Pyramid Texts
sheds some light on astronomical and cosmological ideas about the Sky in African Kmt under the Peraas The Sky was feminine, and it was a composite place with a number of component locations The
nether sky was the region of those in the Other World; the sun spent each night crossing the nether sky The
upper sky was the choice habitation of the stars whose light gave the entire sky its scintillating brilliance. The sky was
a goddess-Nwt. The sky is a beautiful female body; she conceives, gives birth, is a mother; she has limbs, arms, legs, eyes;
she feels, is home to the King as god, who lives in her among the living stars; she is sometimes represented in the shape
of a cow. The sky is a living being, shining with countless lights at night. The Sky was simultaneously divine, human, and
animal The constellations, stars and astral bodies were considered to be deities, and the sky was a divine
body; the highest part of the upper region of the universe
Kmtian
Calendars In African Kmt no less than 3 calendars were used-the lunar, civil,
an the astronomical calendar The text refers to the appearance of Spdt (Sirius), which appeared
on the 28th day of the 3rd month of the season of Shemu (harvest season) The
cyclical appearance of Spdt was observed over thousands of years, and as early as 4236bce. Astronomers
invented the astronomical calendar based precisely on variation-African Kmt scientists monitored variation over a period of
1460 years. They adjusted the calendar once every 1460 years by adding a full year In later
African societies, various calendars were used; they were developed according to observations of certain constellations and
star clusters, including the Pleiades, Orion, Southern Cross and the Swan. Lunar calendars
were developed and used by at least 4 African peoples-African Kmt, Copts, Borana (southern Ethiopia), Vili (of Congo) From the perspective of a connected range of rites, ceremonies, prayers and mummification rituals, death was
a process in which the deceased returned to the sky, to merge again into sunlight, and to live forever among the everlasting
stars
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