What's Truth?
I'm writing this essay because of the difficulty I've experienced in trying to verbally define my personal identification of Ma'at. Because she is known as a goddess of truth and justice, I tried to use that as a guideline to describe what is very difficult, if not impossible, to communicate.
I've found that the word "truth" is incredibly loaded and by using it I may have drawn an inaccurate picture of what I'm attempting to convey.
So I'll try again.
Some could say that what remains is a vacuum, a yawning Chaos, a nothingness. Some could call it god with a capital G. Some could equate what remains with what exists when illusion is stripped away. Many an analogy, allegory or metaphor could apply.
All of these things and none of them are true.
The trouble is, putting it into words forces constraints, judgments, and preconceptions. Saying "what remains" is misleading because it implies size and form. Identifying what remains does the same.
For me, Ma'at is this inability to identify. Ma'at is the paradox itself. Ma'at is mystery. And in that sense, she is "truth" because she is unassailable.
As a goddess, she allows me to conjure that mystery in a way that allows me to tap into the same mystery in my own body, my personal universe. As a priestess, I invoke Ma'at before doing any oracular or possessory work, conjuring a state of balance, impartiality, objectivity and lack of attachment and clearing the way for the work ahead.
[ close window ]