MET-itations by Leslie Sewell

 A king's ransom of jewelry and precious artifacts dazzles and brings a sense of the richness of life at least for the rulers and upper levels of the courts.  Impressive is the level of artisanship and artistic expression of four thousand years ago.  some might be turned off by these ostentatious displsys but I am astounded by their beauty.  The charming statue of the hippo who the Met has taken as a mascot is in these galleries looking charming and rakish.

 Death, death, death and yet life, life, life is in this gallery.  There is the sense of preparing for death and the life after but there are also indications of joyous life.  I can see people preparing food, working in a garden, some beautiful women bearing cups.  There is a sense of joyous preparation and even now thousands of years after these were produced there are still vivid colors, carnelian reds and lapis blues.  the many objects displayed show an array of life that was filled with joy. A sense of peace and well being floods this gallery even as school children and tourists swirl around me. I crouch in a corner out of the way and feel calm. T

 The beginning of the Middle Kingdom Were the Egyptians actually as beutiful as they are portraned in the artowkr that survives.  they have strong faces and perfect bodies.  They also adorn themselves with beautiful jewelry.  These were the people who are the backdrop for the Exodus of the Bible.  This is the civilization whose empire ruled th entire area for a millennium or more.  Although there is no archeological evidence that the Jews were ever enslaved in Egypt or that they escaped to freedom there are too many similarities to Egyptian customs and so of the early writing in the Torah to ignore.   According ot the Met the imposing statue of Nebhepetre Mentuhotep in his festival cloak dominates the room. This ruler, whose family came from the southern area of Thebes (modern day Luxor), unified Egypt around 2050 B.C. after a period when the state fragmented into regional leadership. With the country’s reunification, Nebhepetre Mentuhotep’s rule ...

 Gallery 101-103 It is appropriate to begin my mediations at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in the Egyptian galleries.  Egypt is arguably the beginning of western civilization and according to the Torah there is always an Egypt in our life.  This concept which I first heard as a very young child during the Passover seder may have begun my fascination with Egypt and it's many beauties and histories.  The many theologies of Egypt range across all human examples:  many gods, one God, life after death, the weighing of our life on scales to see if our heart and a feather are equal and we will be able to enter the afterlife. There are many beautiful objects in this gallery but I spent the most time with the Hippo goddess referenced as a small statue with a woman's body, a hippo head and a long crocodile tail in back.  This combination of human and animal traits suggested that we all have these many aspects to our life.  According to the Met website  The...

 The Metropolitan Museum of Art is an inspiration and invitation to beauty.  This is an exploration and meditation on it. Some days the world seems such a maelstrom of conflicting storms that the idea of being able to be in a space that invites calm reflection is what I need.  I recently read a short story by W. Somerset Maugham.  In the story he recounts the life of a man who arrives home after a lifetime of wandering.  The narrator says "I looked at him with admiration and respect.  He was a toothless, crippled, penniless old man, but he had made a success of life for he had enjoyed it."  Not the way I would like to end, but a certain satisfaction to finding joy. My plan is to visit every gallery in the museum, spend time meditating there and writing about it.