In Egyptian
hieroglyphics, one can distinguish an affection for coordination
of effort, expressed in the depiction of rowers on boats,
builders of pyramids, warriors. The written word of the Hebrews
was inspired by the experience of hieroglyphics, taking the
notion of coordination to a more abstract level. This level
provided a framework for synchronizing activity that brought
ritual closer to religion. This added a new dimension to
ceremonies based on natural cycles, gradually severing the link
to the practical experience of interaction with nature.
Notation evolving into the written word was still the domain of
the very few. Accordingly, religious reminders were strongly
visual, as well as aural, a state of affairs that continued in
the religions that sprouted from Judaism and established
themselves after the fall of the Roman Empire. The populations
adhering to these religions were largely illiterate, but derived
important characteristics from religions based on the written
word-the Word that was equated with God. Nailed to the doorways
or inscribed over portals, converted into many types of charms,
the words of a religious creed became elements of the
synchronizing mechanism that religion embodied in the pragmatic
framework of its constitution. Prayer punctuated the daily
routine, as it continues to do in our day. The seasons and the
cycles of nature, embodied in the mytho-magical, were
reinterpreted in religious celebrations, which referenced the
natural cycle, and appropriated pre-religious rituals.
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