Issue No. 605
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26 Sept. - 2 October 2002 Issue No. 605 Heritage |
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The American prophet
There are many "psychic" people in the United States who believe Ancient Egypt was once their home. Many of them believe in reincarnation, and many want to meditate inside the Great Pyramid of Khufu.
In 1977 my friend Mark Lehner and I went to a party in Virginia Beach. On the way there Mark said "I no longer believe in [Edgar] Cayce's theories. Now that I've studied Egyptology I can see strong evidence proving the Sphinx was a creation of the fourth dynasty [about 2500 BC] and not 10,000 years old as Cayce said."
The party was at the house of Joe Jahada and his wife Ursula. There we met a famous psychic who could reputedly predict the future. It was fun to watch this man. He covered his face and began to talk in an incomprehensible language. He said the record of the lost continent of Atlantis would be found in the year 2000 when there was peace all over the world, and that it would be found by two people, one American and the other Egyptian. Of course he meant Mark and me. The party continued late into the evening and I kept saying to myself, "It's a strange world."
Later I flew to California to give a talk in Santa Barbara. A young lady met me at the airport and drove me to my destination. In her car I saw a picture of a young man who appeared to be Indian. I asked her if the man was her boyfriend. "No!" she exclaimed. "He's the Maharishi!" She explained that she was one of his followers and that he was like a prophet. She said he could tell the future. His followers attended a convention each year to discuss his teachings. I learned that he was a billionaire and owned his own jet.
I stayed at the home of the conference's organiser, where I saw the shape of a pyramid hanging over his bed. They believe that sleeping under this shape helps them dream and travel into the remote past to learn about their own identity. It was explained to me that if one put a dull razor blade under a pyramid shape it would become sharp, and that a pyramid over an apple would keep it fresh forever. They called it "pyramid power".
An American journalist once asked me, "Why do Americans believe so strongly in 'pyramid power' and Egyptians don't?"
I explained that in Egypt our religious faith is strong and we do not think about that stuff. We also know that it is not true. But in America, I told him, you have a day off and you buy a book that doesn't make any sense. You believe that something miraculous can happen just because you read about it. The pyramid shape has nothing to do with this so-called "pyramid power". If the Egyptians knew about such a power, why would they bother to mummify bodies? The next day, a newspaper ran an article that quoted me by saying "Pyramid inspector Hawass does not believe in 'pyramid power'."
The night before the Santa Barbara conference I went to a party and heard that the Maharishi was present, and everyone could go and meet him. I refused to join the crowd. The following day, my lecture was in the afternoon. It was very crowded with at least 10,000 Americans in attendance. Everywhere I saw pyramid shapes made of glass, and people were sitting with their eyes closed and meditating. Ancient Egyptian figures were everywhere, especially statues of Akhenaten. Being a young man this all came as a huge surprise to me. At one point a lady came over and introduced herself, and told me I was her brother in a previous life. I told her I did not believe in reincarnation.
In my lecture I presented evidence of pyramid building and provided evidence of their development from the early period to the New Kingdom. At the end I answered many questions. One man asked, "What do you think of our Maharishi?" I did not know what to say. It took me all my courage to say, "Later in my career, when I no longer want to be an Egyptologist, I will come to the States and I will call myself the Pyramid Prophet. I will hire a smart American to be my agent and wear a galabiya and a white headdress and I will have more followers than the Maharishi. I will have my own jet and all of you will hearken to my every word." I thought they would be upset, but they just laughed. It's a strange world.
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