Ancient Egyptian text debating suicide (ca. 1900 BC)

[asaṅkhata]

Dialogue of a man with his soul:

"To whom can I speak today?
(One's) fellows are evil;
The friends of today do not love.
To whom can I speak today?
Hearts are rapacious:
Every man seizes his fellow's goods.
(To whom can I speak today?)
The gentle man has perished,
(But) the violent man has access to everybody.
To whom can I speak today?
(Even) the calm of face is wicked;
Goodness is rejected everywhere.
To whom can I speak today?
(Though) a man should arouse wrath by his evil character,
He (only) stirs everyone to laughter, (so) wicked is his sin.
[...]
To whom can I speak today?
Faces have disappeared:
Every man has a downcast face toward his fellows.
To whom can I speak today?
There are no righteous;
The land is left to those who do wrong.
[...]
To whom can I speak today?
I am laden with wretchedness
For lack of an intimate (friend).
To whom can I speak today?
The sin which treads the earth,
It has no end.

Death is in my sight today
(Like) the recovery of a sick man,
Like going out into the open after a confinement.
Death is in my sight today
Like the odor of myrrh
Like sitting under an awning on a breezy day.
Death is in my sight today
Like the odor of lotus blossoms,
Like sitting on the bank of drunkenness.
Death is in my sight today."



Full text: https://ethicsofsuicide.lib.utah.edu/selections/egyptian-didactic-tale/

 

[Forever Sleep]

Thank you for sharing this. It seems so strange to think we are likely different in so many ways to this person and yet, they are going through something so similar. Incredible really that they have been dead so long but their words make them so real.

I heard recently that Ancient Egyptians by and large cared for one another in their communities. In some ways, they seemed very forward thinking. I guess it likely wasn't everyone's experience. I wonder how well off and supported the author to this was. Is it possible to still feel suicidal in an equal and ideal society? If it even was that.

 

[FadingSnowFake]

Seems like a never-ending cycle we find ourselves in, like a constant repeat (birth and death) of whatever all of this is. Humanity failing in every cycle, with a repeat of cruelty, war, poverty, greed, for reasons unknown to mankind.

 

[asaṅkhata]

I heard recently that Ancient Egyptians by and large cared for one another in their communities. In some ways, they seemed very forward thinking. I guess it likely wasn't everyone's experience. I wonder how well off and supported the author to this was. Is it possible to still feel suicidal in an equal and ideal society? If it even was that.

The text was written during a time of great upheaval where Egypt was split into two rivaling kingdoms. Since the Pharaoh was believed to be the incarnation of a god, this caused a wave of existential dread in the population that goes far beyond mere political uncertainty. Here is an excerpt from Mircea Eliade's History of Religious Ideas:

The downfall of all the traditional institutions finds expression at once in agnosticism and pessimism and in an exaltation of joy that cannot hide a profound despair. The syncope of the divine royalty inevitably brings on the religious devalorization of death. If the pharaoh no longer behaves like an incarnate god, everything becomes doubtful again, first of all the meaning of life and hence the reality of a postexistence beyond the grave.

The most moving text is certainly the Dispute of a Man Weary of Life. It is a dialogue between a man overwhelmed by despair and his soul (ba). The man tries to convince his soul of the expedience of suicide. [...] His soul (ba) reminds him that suicide will forbid him burial and funeral services; it then tries to persuade him to forget his troubles by seeking for sensual pleasures. Finally the soul assures him that it will remain with him even if he decides to kill himself.

 

[Pluto]