THE BIRTH OF RA

In the Egyptian tradition, the sun that shines in the sky was identified with Ra, the creator sun god. According to a prominent Egyptian creation myth, Ra—born of Nun, the unbounded watery abyss, the unbounded cosmic womb that exists on the scale of the half measure—was the first celestial god to be born at the beginning of creation.

The myth describing the birth of Ra uses two potent symbols corresponding to the luminous body of the sun and the sonic soul of the sun: the luminous mound or island that emerged from the watery abyss and the bennu bird (the Egyptian phoenix), which, prior to the emergence of the luminous mound, hovered over the watery abyss with no place to land.

When the luminous mound appeared, the bennu bird perched upon it, and then uttered a cry that gave rise to all that exists. This represents the union of heaven and earth, the union of the sonic layers above, which are endowed with nonlocal synthesizing power, and the luminous layers below, which are endowed with local analyzing power. Their union created a conscious material being—Ra, the celestial sun god.