The translation of experiences to beliefs: Sumerian and Egyptian Histories

Introduction
One wonders how beliefs are formed in the psyche of human individuals or a collectivity of people. Different explanations are advanced to give light to this phenomenon. My experience in teaching Asian Civilization gives me an opportunity to explore and prove that this phenomenon really happens. Marvin Harris, in his Cultural Materialism approach to understanding cultural development suggests that the physical environment plays a very significant role in this process. But to limit the formation of beliefs from the influence of physical experience is to postulate that no other factor or factors impact the emergence of the same. In political science, the concept of political geography connotes that geography plays a unique role in the formation of political ideas and thoughts in managing the society. Although the first correlation is crucial in understanding, say the food preference of a group of people, it is also equally logical to consider other factors, such as the collective social experience, to logically understand why people act or think the way they do. Although the logicality of Harris’ theoretical explanation of the emergence and formation of cultural patterns and practices cannot be discounted, there is still a need to consider other avenues of explanation to strengthen one’s understanding of the phenomenon.
The interplay of gamut of factors to fully grasp the relations between the mundane experiences of people and their conceptualization of these experiences to become significant aspects of their psychological and religious mind set must be taken into consideration also. Not to mention the impact of these to their behavioral patterns and tendencies as well as the nature of their social relations and interactions.
Focused civilizations are the Egyptian and Sumerian Civilizations. Both are found in the SWANA (Southwest Asia and North Africa) region of the world and both provided significant legacies to the entire world, so much so, that Cultural Diffusionism theory posited that Egypt is one of the few cultural centers where other civilizations and cultures in the world borrowed cultural items and practices from.
This is a modest and naïve attempt to understand how people’s beliefs, which are in the domain of psychological, are formed and transformed into psychological realities in their minds, so that cultural patterns and practices are maneuvered to reinforce these beliefs.
The primary theoretical postulate of this paper is that “the geographical and social experiences of a collectivity of people translate into beliefs in the passage of time.” In attempting to explain its process, geography, and social and cultural experiences will be called into the picture to provide enlightenment to this phenomenon.

EXPERIENCES TO BELIEFS
The Role of Geography and other contributory factors in the Egyptian experience.
Both civilizations are found in the SWANA region, as mentioned above. It is a known fact that the region is characterized by arid climate and low precipitation. It is not wrong to assume that rainfall in this region is truly lacking and if not for the presence of major and important bodies of water, such as the Nile River in Egypt and the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers in Mesopotamia (present day – Iraq), the whole region is literally dry and may be uninhabitable. And while oases are welcome topographical variations in desert areas, rivers like the three mentioned above, are a welcome refuge in this all too harsh and dry region. Surrounding land forms and other geographic formations also significantly affect the overall condition of the regions. Locations of ancient civilizations also greatly contributed to the nature of their interactions with other civilizations. Interactions may be very dynamic, which includes warfare and battles or simply economic where trade is the usual reason for contact. In all of these, geography plays a pivotal role. In the ancient times, geography dictates the rhythm of interactions and the dynamic of interrelations. When civilizations are located in the crossroads of other civilizations, once should expect that the interactions among peoples will be significantly dynamic and even volatile. By simply looking at either a political or geographical map one maybe oriented into the nature and realities of the region. See the map below:


Ancient Egypt, from The Atlas of Ancient and Classical Geography by Samuel Butler, Ernest Rhys, editor (Suffolk, 1907, repr. 1908).

The map above shows Ancient Egypt. Notice that Nile river runs the whole length of the country from south to north (the Nile flowing from the south to the north where the Nile River Delta can be seen). It is eye opening to know that unlike other civilizations who shared the water system with others, Egypt and the Egyptians in the ancient period singularly experience the bounty and generosity of this body of water. Considering that it was Ancient times, Egypt having its geographical characteristics, seemed to look quite isolated. The map above shows that it is bounded in the North by the Mediterranean Sea (the biggest inland sea) serving as a barrier to any attempt to subdue the kingdom from this direction. On the south, as per simple analysis, it can be said that southern or Upper Egypt’s elevation is high (notifying that “water seeks its own level”). While the Nile travels the stretch from present-day Nubia, it is featured by some cataracts. Cataracts of the Nile are sections of the Nile River characterized by extreme shallowness and a number of obstacles which make them difficult to navigate. Historically, six sections of cataracts along the Nile have been particularly notable, and there are a number of smaller cataracts which have come and gone with the Nile's changing terrain. (http://www.wisegeek.com/what-are-the-cataracts-of-the-nile.htm.) The presence of these cataracts makes it difficult, especially for ancient people, to navigate the whole length of the river. At least five (5) of these major cataracts are located in Nubia while the sixth is found in Egypt proper. The western boundary of Egypt is with Libyan Desert. The Libyan Desert is located in the northern and eastern part of the Sahara Desert. It occupies Egypt west of the Nile (hence the term 'Western to describe its Egyptian portion), eastern Libya and northwestern Sudan alongside the Nubian Desert. Covering an area of approximately 1,100,000 square kilometers, it extends approximately 1100 km from east to west, and 1,000 km from north to south, in about the shape of a rectangle. Like most of the Sahara, this desert is primarily sand and hamada or stony plain (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Libyan_Desert).

The Libyan Desert
Side by side with Libyan Desert is the Sahara desert (as large as Europe itself). The Sahara is one of the hottest regions in the world, with mean annual temperatures exceeding 30°C. In the hottest months, temperatures can rise over 50°C, and temperatures can fall below freezing in the winter. A single daily variation of -0.5°C to 37.5°C has been recorded. The Sahara is also extremely windy. Hot, dust-filled winds create dust devils which can make the temperatures seem even hotter. The extreme aridity of this area is a relatively recent feature. Much larger areas of the Sahara had adequate water only 5000 to 6000 years ago. It is not clear how much of this ecoregion was covered with vegetation, but in other parts of the Sahara the vegetation was closer to the savanna woodlands of eastern and southern Africa. Currently the ecoregion is in a "hyper arid" phase, with high summer temperatures, lower winter temperatures and rainfall between 0 and 25 mm per annum. (http://www.eoearth.org/article/Sahara_desert)

The Sahara Desert
These two formidable deserts bordering Egypt in the west are a great challenge to aspiring invaders of Ancient Egypt. Its vastness and unforgiving climate is enough to kill initiatives, more so, the desire to subjugate Egypt from this direction. The East is bounded by the Red Sea and a mountain range where the Ancient Egyptians cut the boulders they used to build the pyramids on the west bank of the Nile. The only inviting ingress to this highly secured ancient culture is through the Gaza Strip which presently borders Egypt and Israel.
The geographical features of Egypt contribute to its relative isolation. Experiencing the fertility of the Nile, which the Egyptians called Black River because probably of the black silt that it deposits on the valley surface whenever it inundates the whole area, its length that run across the whole of the country, its relative tameness as compared to other rivers and the presence of the teeming life forms that benefits from it, ancient Egyptians had the best of life. In spite of the regular bearable flooding that erased and buried canals and dikes, the Nile is still the reason for Egypt’s existence. No wonder Egypt is called “The gift of the Nile.”
Historically, due to the relative absence of outside disturbances from other emerging civilizations in the region as well as the affluence of life both economically and politically, Ancient Egypt worked on its unification. Upper and Lower Egypt were united under one government and ruled by one ruler. This remarkable historical development resulted into peace and stability with the help of technological advances and efficient governmental administration. The Egyptian society embarked on its initial building projects, the pyramids. The emergence of pyramids, which are gargantuan government projects, projected the relative peacefulness and stability of the society. This period of peace and stability cascaded down to the lowliest sectors of the society who shared in building the monuments for the gods and the kings. The pyramids themselves are an epitome of the affluence of life in the area, since no civilization would be able to erect structures as large and as expensive as the pyramids in the absence of good funding and efficient administration, Egypt was on its way to providing its people with a long period of good life. It is, in the modern context believed, that economic growth is related to social stability.
The pharaohs were considered as benefactors of the people, that though they are more or less isolated due to their assumed nature of godness, they are also revered by the people and considered as the source of all material and social benefits. Although ancient Egyptian period, before and after the unification and re-unification, was disturbed by intermittent internal disturbances such as civil wars, in its long history of existence, from 3000 BC to about 1500 BC, only once was it successfully invaded and ruled by foreign power, the Hyksos, who were already living within its ingress corridor and were for a long time interacting with the Egyptians.
The presence of a singular government and benevolent rulers, almost absence of outside invaders, the fertility of land and the life provided by the Nile River, as well as the unification of the two Egypts, not to mention the security brought about by the geographical consistency, all interplayed to elevate the sense of peace and affluence Ancient Egyptians experienced.

The Sumerian version of existence
Sumeria is one of the known civilizations that thrived in the Mesopotamian Region of South West Asia. It is located in southern Mesopotamia. Mesopotamia is found within the larger area known as the Fertile Crescent (the quarter moon shape green area in the map below.

Known as the present day Iraq, Mesopotamia is located in a region that is known as the center of dynamic interactions among diverse civilizations. The place being dubbed as the “Crosssroad of the Worlds” was where the conglomeration of multifarious groups of people belonging to different cultural orientations transpired.
Geographically, Mesopotamia is bounded on the north by the Anatolian Peninsula, more specifically, it is bordering with the Armenian Knot, a mountainous region where mountain ranges collide with each other in their eternal game of squeeze, push and adumbrations. This is the source of the two major rivers that dominate the whole area - Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. These rivers are like dancing partners in the music of tectonic and plate movements and like twin lightning that strike the same plain of field characterized by electrical intensity. Sometimes, due to the thawing of snow in mountain caps, the rivers swell into very unmanageable size and overflow its own banks, subjugating and destroying everything in its path, so that whenever flooding is over, the whole area is a picture of devastation and destruction. Structures were destroyed, crops were devastated leaving a psychologically disturbed people, whose lives are at the mercy of the rivers’ moods and tendencies. Though, the place is bounded in the East by the Zagros Mountains, in the West by the Taurus Mountain and Arabian Desert, and in the south by the Persian Gulf and Arabian Sea, it was nevertheless one of the most disturbed regions in the globe. Located at the cross road of the worlds, Mesopotamia experienced the dynamism of interactions expressed most of the time in warfare and battles. Unlike Egypt, where invaders were put at bay by the mere geographical security, Mesopotamia is the favorite meeting place of various groups of people whose primary objective is survival. The interactions between and among civilizations which compete for supremacy in the region is unparalleled in history, never was a place where actors became so engrossed to claiming their individual niches in a relatively small area and forced others to accept, if not imbibe their political, economic and social supremacy.
Sumeria, one of those civilizations which found and successfully established their niche in the region, is located in the southern portion of Mesopotamia, a place compared to the north, is more fertile but also more socially dynamic and disturbed. Sumeria itself is divided between some thirty city-states each with a patron deity and a ruler generally called Ensi (http://ancientneareast.tripod.com/Sumer.html). This set up must have contributed to the already volatile relations amongst the city-states. Notice that one of the most compelling forces that drive people to action is their fanatical belief in their gods. Fueled by the role of Ensi, whose function is a mix of political and religious responsibilities, the cultural ethnocentrism of the people belonging to a particular city-state is enhanced. Drives for expansion, not to mention the pride brought about by having their own separate and distinct god or gods, fueled them to push beyond their own borders, which are very small considering their number in relation to the available space, and collided with other city-states with the same tendency and aspiration. Add to it the suffering and insecurities brought about by the constant influx of new groups to the region, is a bowl of life full of traumatic ingredients and spillover emotions.
In this light, the lives of the Sumerians are a constant enslaving service to appease the gods, whom the Ensi or priests class taught them to be the source of their sufferings and continuous failures. Famine and hunger is a familiar experience to the Sumerians. Their familiarity to it is epitomized by the constant vigilant attempt to survive the times and probably fear of dying.

A comparative view
The Egyptians view of the afterlife is good. Mirrored by their natural experience and nurtured by the security brought about by different circumstances mostly sprung from geographical conditions. Afterlife is a continuation of this life, and thus whatever expectations and experiences they have in this life, to their psyche, will continue into the afterlife. The interplay of factors that made the ancient Egyptian lives more bearable and even enjoyable, in spite of constantly building temples and pyramids, was extended to the psychological domain and stretch to the imagination related to the life after.
The Sumerians with their not so bearable experience, forced to protect and guard themselves against the constant threat of being eliminated even by their own kind, developed a very gloomy outlook in the after life. Life after death is not desirable, unlike the belief of the Egyptians, Sumerians feared, fought and defied death. Their constant preoccupation to serving their gods, conveyed the belief that the gods were the reasons and causes of their sufferings. In their psyche, life after death is as grave as the present life. To the Sumerians, after life is not a refuge and, like the Egyptians, a continuation of present life, only - worse. It seems, everything in Sumeria (Mesopotamia) during those times were against humanity. Geography, topography, social conditions, economic life and even the gods who belong to the domain of the spiritual, are construed as against life in this unforgiving region. This was not a place for feeble hearted men, but of hardy, selfish, brutal and warlike individuals, who were constantly ready and equipped to defend themselves against anybody who would attempt to deprive them of their miserable and hardy life.
The dynamism of the place, which was regularly expressed in warfare and battles, so much so, that Mesopotamia is constantly in the state of siege from emerging powers and cultural groups, aiming to subdue all oppositions to their desire and aspiration of monopolizing and accumulating power in the region. Nights, I would say, are not a time to sleep and rest but a time for high vigilance. Rest is a mistake and would lead to destruction both due to human elements and nature itself.
These two civilizations located on a similar geographic region, but are separated by geographical and social collective experience develop an opposite belief in life after. The Ancient Egyptians believed that the afterlife is good. Owing to their pleasant experience in the mundane life, they conceptualized, considered and believed that the afterlife is the continuation of this earthly life, its affluence, its joys, its victories, its peace, its blessing. This belief was manifested in their material cultural expressions. The expensive and elaborate preparation of the dead such as mummification, the presence of material (life size) objects needed to live in the tombs of the dead, the names inscripted in the walls of the tombs. All of these suggested that there is something good to expect in the life after. What else is its meaning if not an anticipation of something good if not better.

BELIEFS TO MATERIAL AND BEHAVIORAL MANIFESTATIONS
It is astonishing to know that human societies after developing beliefs out of their own experiences reinforce these beliefs with material cultural productions and even behavioral patterns to psychologically translate these mental images to symbolic material reality. Since the process that took place was the translation of experiences to beliefs, these beliefs must have their own manifestations in the material world to fully satisfy the need of the psyche’ to grasp the perspectives that relate to the spiritual (if not mental or psychological) world. Religion and cultural practices anchored in religious teachings and patterns strongly reinforce these mental translations of experiences by teaching and even enforcing cultural patterns that would mould the human mental condition to accept the reality of psychological perspectives. Material manifestations of these beliefs must be created to add some more ingredients of reality to these mental images. More so, patterns of behavior strengthen these beliefs as they are imposed by religious precepts and practices.
In Ancient Egypt, the manifestations of these beliefs found its way in pyramids and other death related activities such as mummification and the inclusions of material possessions in the burial place of the dead.
The Egyptian Pyramid
Although gargantuan pyramids are monuments for the greatness of a particular pharaoh, it is nevertheless a manifestation of the Egyptian belief in life after death – a happy life after death. The elaborate and expensive pyramids that contained the mummified body of the dead ruler summarize everything that the Egyptians believed in the afterlife. It is a physical manifestation of the immortalization of the pharaoh, a material evidence that there is life after death and such needs to be reinforced. The pyramids are mundane evidences of the afterlife – a life that existed clearly in the domain of the psyche’ of Egyptian people. This is one way of materializing the immaterial, of allowing the finite human mind to grasp the reality of a world that exist not apart but beyond this mundane life. A world that cannot be seen but can be imagined, a certain world that preoccupies the psyche’ of Egyptians, so much so, that its symbolism must be seen and a part of it must be experienced by the living. This is not only the dead’s living witness to beyondness and immortality but also a manifestation of the reality of the life after.
Mummification is another way of immortalizing the dead. The elaborate preparation that the Egyptians did to mummify a dead body is a manifestation of their belief that the preserved body will again rise from the dead and start its journey to join the gods. A brief description of the process is presented below for purposes of emphasizing the vital role it played in Egyptian belief in life after death. Mummification Process in Ancient Egypt
Mummification was reserved for the richest and most powerful in Egyptian society. The process was long and expensive. There were three main people who took part in this process; the scribe, the cutter, and the embalmer. It was the scribe’s role to oversee the cutting of the body. The incision was made by the cutter. This procedure was considered unclean, which limited the cutters position in society. The embalmer was a class of priest which would then prepare to remove the internal organs and prepare the body. The mummification would take place in a workshop often near the site of the tomb. The process of mummification would last often over two months. The body would be stripped and placed on a board. The brain was extracted though the nose. The empty brain cavity would be later filled with resin or a combination of linen and resin. The chest would be cut open and the main organs would be removed with exception of the heart. The organs, after being removed, would be stored in Canopic jars with a drying agent. These jars were normally in a set of four, representing the four sons of Horus. These organs may also be wrapped in four packages and placed back in the abdominal cavity or be wrapped in one package and placed on the mummy's legs. Slightly different procedures would be used depending on the time period in
Egyptian history.
The body cavity would be washed and packed with natron, a natural occurring drying agent in Egypt. The body would dry for up to 40 days. After the body is dried, it is sewn back together and the cut is sealed with wax or metal. At times, the body may be filled with linens, saw dust, salt, or ash to keep the body firm. Their eye sockets would be filled with linen or fake eyeballs depending on the time. The body would be cleaned and wrapped in a very thick layer of linen. When this was completed, the body was ready to be transported to the tomb prepared for it.
Before the body is laid to rest, a burial mast would be placed over the mummified body. The most famous burial mask was found in the tomb of King Tut (shown on the left). The body would then be placed into a sarcophagus, or type of coffin to protect the body. The more wealthy and powerful they were, the more elaborately decorated these were. There also may have been several layers of caskets into which the body would be placed.
(http://www.historylink101.net/egypt_1/religion_mummification_process.htm)
What else is the reason for this expensively elaborate process of preserving the human cadaver? Our modern way of preserving the dead is dwarfed by the technology appropriated by the Ancient Egyptians to prepare the dead for his journey to the land of the dead and to the gods. It is therefore safe to say that in the psyche’ of the Egyptians, afterlife is so real that human actions and behavior contributed to its further realization in the material world. There are many similar manifestations that cascaded among the classes of the Ancient Egyptian society. They are shared both by the wealthy and the lower classes. The process or procedure maybe different or slightly different but the purpose and the psychological peace experienced by the relatives and love ones must have been the same. The Egyptian’s experience of good life on earth cannot be stopped by death – it must continue to its full realization in the land of the dead. Never was it so vivid to a people’s psyche’, that death is not the end but a continuation of what is – a happy and good life.
Sumerians on the other hand manifested their belief in after life in an entirely different manner. It is true that all civilizations possess a set of beliefs regarding the afterlife – but the Sumerians had it so gloomy. It seems nobody wants to die and experience it. Like the Egyptians, the Sumerians believed in the afterlife. But their mundane experiences shaped an entirely different understanding and psychological picture of the life after. Although the dead were buried in Mesopotamia, no attempts were made to preserve their bodies. (http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/154412/death/22185/Mesopotamia) For the Sumerians, the sole purpose of life was to serve the gods, to carry the yoke and labor for them. Offended gods withdrew their support, thereby opening the door to demons, whose activities the malevolent could invoke.
(http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/154412/death/22185/Mesopotamia).
It is no wonder that the mundane life of the Sumerians is spent in serving the gods. They believed that the causes of their sufferings are the gods, and thus appeasing them is their primary consideration and preoccupation. Coupled this with the human collective interactions in the Mesopotamian region, resulting to constant battles and invasions, life became miserable and unbearable. On the other hand, death does not offer a better alternative. To die is to continue experiencing the wretched life. Is it therefore safe to say that in the Sumerian psyche’ “they don’t want to die”. At least in this earthly existence, they can fight and defend their lives against different aggressors, in death they are at the mercy of the gods. No elaborate preservation of the dead, no elaborate tombs and sarcophagus to contain the dead body, they were buried and that’s it. Death was conceived in terms of appalling grimness, unrelieved by any hope of salvation through human effort or divine compassion. The dead were, in fact, among the most dreaded beings in early Mesopotamian demonology. In death, the dead “live in darkness, eat clay, and are clothed like birds with wings.” (http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/154412/death/22185/Mesopotamia) If these were the conditions or realities of life after, who wants to celebrate the departure of a loved one if his destiny is a worse place than what he experienced in this life, more so, prepare an elaborate funeral and perform elaborate burial rituals. Earthly life maybe harsh and brutal for the Sumerians, but they would rather prefer to endure this life than spend eternal damnation in the abode of the gods who will let them eat dust and dress up in bird’s feathers. Sumerians’ psychological perception of the reality of the afterlife must have been unnerving that it figuratively would repel the dead back to life due to its harshness and griminess.

Everything that man experiences leaves an imprint in his memory and are formed into beliefs which are manifested either in material cultural productions or in the mode of social interactions he would have with other humans.