I've been away too long from Egypt (I hesitate to use the word Home) to, actually, know whatever happened to the Egyptians. Pre-revolution, and the revolution-fatigue that ensued (and a coarsening of their light-hearted spirit that accompanied that) I could account for the people I was born and raised among. What's more, I could relate.
Growing up in Cairo, Egypt I was surrounded by a love of language. So, it came as no surprise to me, for example, when our Revolution erupted in 2011 that masses of peaceful protesters chose to express their dissent and dreams in poetry, chanted jubilantly from Tahrir Square. Wit and verse were always sport, and a kind of national pastime, during the three decades I lived in Egypt.
Never mind that around 50 percent of the population were actually illiterate; it wasn’t about being book-smart.
'Knowledge is what’s in your head, not in your notebooks' an Egyptian saying shrewdly justified (in Arabic, it rhymes, too: el 3elm fil rass mish fil korras).
Which is to say, proverbs were always our street poetry as well as philosophy. They were our oral tradition and inherited wisdom, rescuing keen psychological insights from the past, and passing it onto future generations, as shortcuts to hard-won experience or observations. Proverbs can be like coral reef, that way, fossils of ancient philosophies merging with living truths.
I don't know that I'd have gone on to write aphorisms myself, one day, if I'd not first been exposed to Egyptian wit and wisdom. Of course, being half-Lebanese (on my father's side), also meant that Gibran Khalil Gibran, popular poet and philosopher, was an early and inescapable influence.
At any rate, here are light-hearted, contemporary Egyptian sayings as a window into our culture and national psyche:
If you're going to steal, steal a camel and if you're going to love, love the moon. (The origin of Go big or go home?)
If you marry the monkey for their money, the money will go away yet the monkey will stay. (Don't marry for money.)
If your sweetheart is made of honey, don't lick them all up. (Don't take advantage of others or take them for granted.)
The belly dancer dies while her waist is still twitching. (Our picturesque take on old habits die hard.)
Overturn the jar and the girl becomes like her mother. (Widely-used, bizarre way of saying girls become their mothers.)
If you get between an onion and its skin you won't get anything except its stink. (Our colorful way of saying mind your own business/keep out of the affairs of others.)
If the dog has something of yours, call him Master. (When you need to deal with someone, but would prefer not to...)
If you trust men, you trust water in a sieve. (All men are dogs.)
As it turns out, Ancient Egyptians were big on proverbs and sayings, too. Below, are some that can be found in the outer and inner temples of Luxor, on the walls as well as monuments:
The kingdom of heaven is within you, and whosoever shall know himself shall find it.
While searching the laws of harmony, we will discover knowledge.
Nature is the best and the shortest route towards knowledge.
A price should be paid for every joy.
The inner light glows in peace and meditation.
True sages are those who give all they have without cruelty.
Every man is rich in excuses to safeguard his prejudices, his instincts, and his opinions.
Not the greatest Master can take even one step for his disciple.
The disciple must experience each stage of developing consciousness.
Therefore he will know nothing for which he is not ripe.
Understanding develops by degrees.
All seeds reply to the light, but the color is diverse.
An answer brings no illumination unless the question has matured to a point where it gives rise to this answer which thus becomes its fruit. Therefore learn how to put a question.
Hi Yahia,
I love this analogy
and the way that you frame the spirit of creative expression that courses through the blood of the Egyptian people.
I feel like if all revolution could be framed with poetry, if change could be instigated through consensus of thought and word, maybe lasting positive change could be reached. I was in Cairo in May 2011 not long after the revolution and the people I spoke to seemed fiercely passionate about what had happened.
Anyway, I am running a regular curation segment on the Whaleshares discord server called literature corner. I wondered if you would be available to chat on a live curation discussion on Monday 14th May. Any post of yours that you choose would be awarded a 30 Whaleshares vote on the night. It would be great if you have a microphone maybe to perform one of your poems and perhaps to answer some questions about your influences/inspirations etc. It would be great to hear more about the oral history of poetry and proverbs in Egypt.
The event will be held in The Curation Lounge on the Whaleshares server.
This was a beautiful post, thank you. You are my favorite find on Steemit /\
How old were you when you left Cairo? William Durant (you may know his Story of Civilization books) said something in his first in the series about how the warriors of the north always came to overtake the poets and artists of the south. I think about that so much in every 'battle' I've had to get in. MLk Jr said that "Those who love peace need to organize as effectively as those who love war", but I think that is precisely what we won't ever do, simply because the act of organizing and hyper focusing on winning some thing or dominance of space is really a characteristic of the linear thinking that separates warriors from the more fluid poets by nature. We don't care to organize, or as you noted, fatigue of it very easily. Fighting is no way to spend your present and when you know you are infinite (whether, you have the literacy or command of intellect to describe it as such), you just don't have the desire to spend it fighting. That's why the poets always end up 'turning the other cheek' because we hope to show the linear warriors what we know is true by our non attachment to life/ land etc.
Proverbs can be like coral reef, that way, fossils of ancient philosophies merging with living truths.
I loved this line, they are merged because they are one organism.
So, love the moon, lose the monkey and recognize your masters with humility- a great take away that is eternally relevant haha
What a deeply satisfying answer--I consider myself lucky to be heard, on this level:
Yes, to turning the other cheek, yes, to non attachment. Let them have this world. But, I'm also insanely idealistic to believe, with Shelley, that poets are the unacknowledged legislators of the world. Furthermore, paraphrasing MLK, that the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice.
Eventually, the materialists, fighters, "linear warriors" come to a dead end, and recognize the futility in their ways, and that's when they are ready to listen to the ever-present, unwavering message of the poets: Love and Peace. But, it takes time to 'change the value of the currency' as Diogenes called for and, unfortunately, people only change when they absolutely must... Never lose hope, friend.
Thanks again, for your profound and wonderful affirmation. Beam on
_/|\_PS - I was 32 when I left Cairo, so 12 years ago...
Perhaps the arc that bends towards justice is similar to those arcs in calculus where it gets infinitely closer to a point but can never get there, so we bend and the poets keep their eye on the 'x' , yet we have to learn to not suffer from frustration of where we are. To somehow be discontent enough to continue the move forward, yet not so discontent that we are suffering into infinity. And maybe that's our lesson, or the lessons of the poets that still suffer, not specifically you or I. Just thinking out loud.
If we Trust, and are invested in Elsewhere, we do not suffer... Sweet dreams, friend 🙏🏼
PS - Here’s Beckett thinking outloud:
What is demanded of the artist is that, as an individual, he vanish from his work...
◊
Yes, you must be here, and also, millions of light-years away. All at the same time…
◊
Writing has led me to Silence
◊
[The mystics] I like… I like their… their illogicality… their burning illogicality – the flame… the flame… which consumes all our filthy logic.
◊
Ever Tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again.
Fail again. Fail better.
◊
You're on earth. There's no cure for that.
I love the monkey one.
In America we have a similar saying, "marry a monkey for money, then divorce it and take half of everything it owns and pretend like you earned it."
Haha, yer a funny guy 🤣 I think I’m familiar with that American saying ;)
Glad Egyptian proverb tickled ya!
I really like these aphorisms but this one i like the most
It is similar to a proverb from Nigeria that says
if you want to eat a frog, be sure to eat a frog pregnant with eggs(depicting go big or go home)
Egypt is somewhere i will like to spend time someday
I'm always grateful to hear proverbs from other cultures, thanks, for sharing that wonderful one from Nigeria! It put a smile on my face :) We are one, brother, but have (slightly) different ways of expressing ourselves.
If you visit Egypt, try to go in the winter, as summers can be tough.
Even before the Tao Te Ching, there was the Tao. A very illuminating post ... you have just given me more reason to admire Egypt:) Thank you, Yahia:)
Yes, that's exactly it, Pryde! (Incidentally, that's also what the Sufis believe. ) What's in a name?
Thank you, for your kind words about Egypt; our ancient wisdom is not dead, it only slumbers :)
The very first verse of the Tao Te Ching warns against naming the divine. I think like all things the wisdom of Egypt is alive and awake but it has evolved:) I always tell people I am a 'philosophical Taoist' and also a philosophical Christian ... I can go on ... but now might I say I am philosophical Egyptian ... perhaps that is pushing my luck ...lol:)
Yes, to define is to limit. And, that's why the naming game does not help much. Once, I was enamored by Existentialist philosophy--this was a phase that, mercifully, is over. The Tao te Ching means a great deal to me, as well, and I accompany my wife to church, some Sundays. There's truth, everywhere, honorary Egyptian :)
Cool ... feels like I accomplished a life goal:)
Thank you @yahialababidi for sharing this.
I love this aphorism spectacularly. All this are words of wisdom. It takes a calm and collected mind to grasp them.
Egypt is historical and hone of knowledge. Different schools of thought claim their knowledge descended from very ancient times, and most believed that Egypt was it source.
I will get familiar with these statements of truth and principles and used them in cases of concise discussions.
There is a Latin proverb: mortui vivos docent "The dead teach the living" ...
Glad you enjoyed these words of wisdom & will give them life by using them :)
So true. The dead have had earlier experiences.
Gracias my friend.
I loved the Egyptian sayings!
Thank you :) I see you are in the UAE -- I just posted a video, yesterday, of when I was invited to read my poetry in Sharjah :) https://steemit.com/video/@yahialababidi/overcoming-my-fear-of-public-speaking-kind-of
you are great, i saw you on @d-pend
you take class on d-pend?
pocketsend:11@yahialababidi, play around with the token of fun - POCKET!
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Beautiful
realy love this words
Upvoted from the whaleshares curation show!
That's the ankh... It holds life