Jacob (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
nos_servabit) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
caughtinanetwork2012-03-29 10:08 am
nos_servabit) wrote in caughtinanetwork2012-03-29 10:08 am
Entry tags:
septem
In Egyptian times, they used to believe that when a person died, it was not considered the end. Instead, it was the beginning of an everlasting afterlife.
[The camera shows Jacob sitting in his cabin, his unfinished blue and white tapestry hanging in front of him on a loom as he works on it deftly, not even stopping while he speaks. It's hard to see, but it's clear that the tapestry so far has some Egyptian influences as well- black figures can be seen along with several hieroglyphs on it.]
[Jacob himself isn't smiling, though. In fact, he looks incredibly serious- the murder that happened a few days ago was not something he was taking very lightly. So he continues working on his tapestry, a very focused look in his gaze.]
It was a rebirth, really. But even then, when someone died, their soul, or their ka, didn't just immediately get the lush afterlife that they wanted. They had to go through many perilous obstacles, such as creatures that would devour them or kill them if they didn't recite the proper words. Because the fact was that even in the afterlife, you could die. And death was permanent if that ever occurred. There would be no afterlife from the afterlife.
[A pause as he starts on the next row of the tapestry, his mouth still set in a slight frown.]
But the hardest part of the road to the afterlife was the Weighing of the Heart. For after you defeated all the creatures, your soul would be brought before the goddess of justice, Ma'at, and you would tell her that you had not committed any sins. Then your heart would be taken and weighed against a feather. If the scales balanced, you would be brought to the lush lands of the afterlife and live there happily for the rest of your life.
If it didn't balance...then a terrible creature known as Ammit, the Destroyer, would eat your heart whole, and your journey would come to a quick end.
[There's a moment of silence, and he finally turns to the camera, bright blue eyes forever ancient and piercing.]
Even if death here isn't permanent...it does make you think about where the people from other worlds go when they die. Do they go to a sort of afterlife before being revived? Or is there something more to it? Does the place itself keep us alive and resurrects us because it needs us? And...why does it only apply to the ones that have been brought here against their will?
So far, when the natives die...they stay dead. There is no rebirth for them.
[A slight sigh.]
What, exactly, has death become here?
[ooc: Don't forget to fill out Jacob's permission post if you haven't done so already! Thank you. :)]
[The camera shows Jacob sitting in his cabin, his unfinished blue and white tapestry hanging in front of him on a loom as he works on it deftly, not even stopping while he speaks. It's hard to see, but it's clear that the tapestry so far has some Egyptian influences as well- black figures can be seen along with several hieroglyphs on it.]
[Jacob himself isn't smiling, though. In fact, he looks incredibly serious- the murder that happened a few days ago was not something he was taking very lightly. So he continues working on his tapestry, a very focused look in his gaze.]
It was a rebirth, really. But even then, when someone died, their soul, or their ka, didn't just immediately get the lush afterlife that they wanted. They had to go through many perilous obstacles, such as creatures that would devour them or kill them if they didn't recite the proper words. Because the fact was that even in the afterlife, you could die. And death was permanent if that ever occurred. There would be no afterlife from the afterlife.
[A pause as he starts on the next row of the tapestry, his mouth still set in a slight frown.]
But the hardest part of the road to the afterlife was the Weighing of the Heart. For after you defeated all the creatures, your soul would be brought before the goddess of justice, Ma'at, and you would tell her that you had not committed any sins. Then your heart would be taken and weighed against a feather. If the scales balanced, you would be brought to the lush lands of the afterlife and live there happily for the rest of your life.
If it didn't balance...then a terrible creature known as Ammit, the Destroyer, would eat your heart whole, and your journey would come to a quick end.
[There's a moment of silence, and he finally turns to the camera, bright blue eyes forever ancient and piercing.]
Even if death here isn't permanent...it does make you think about where the people from other worlds go when they die. Do they go to a sort of afterlife before being revived? Or is there something more to it? Does the place itself keep us alive and resurrects us because it needs us? And...why does it only apply to the ones that have been brought here against their will?
So far, when the natives die...they stay dead. There is no rebirth for them.
[A slight sigh.]
What, exactly, has death become here?
[ooc: Don't forget to fill out Jacob's permission post if you haven't done so already! Thank you. :)]
no subject
But...I think that no matter how often you come back, death is still death. It hurts whoever dies, and those who care about them. We come back, sure, but that death will stay with us forever.
no subject
[A nod.] Yes, and that's another point that I am curious about. Remembering your own death. It seems odd that we would, considering we should be forgetting the instances of our death, but here, it's merely as if we've taken off the needle from the record and set it down again in the same place. Nothing really changes.
no subject
I don't know, it seems like forgetting would make it harder for those that were stuck waiting for us to come back. I mean, I know I would rather remember dying, instead of forgetting while my friends remembered.
Or maybe...just a choice would be nice.
no subject
[Which is true in his case, because most people who die on the island back home remain there as ghosts, not being able to continue on into the afterlife unless certain guidelines are met.]
Choices are always welcome, I believe. Everyone should have a choice about it. But, unfortunately, we don't. We're forced to remember.
no subject
[ He's honestly curious. An afterlife isn't something he'd ever really thought about. He'd always figured that when you died, that was it. There wasn't anything after.
This is a new concept for him, and he's not exactly sure what to think about it. ]
Yeah...It's not fair. But then again, nothing ever is, especially here. Either way, it's something everyone just...has to deal with, I guess.
no subject
[A nod.]
Isn't that life is, too? Something to deal with?
no subject
[ Haa, it's better that way, he thinks. People who have killed, they should have to go through a bit more. He knows he deserves to, anyway. He should have to go up against everything that afterlife's got. ]
No, life's different. It's precious.