Themes and Images in ​The Mind of God is Perfect Knowing

The Egyptian civilization was a fervently polytheistic society, meaning they worshipped

many, many gods. The Egyptians had over two thousand gods, some of which were major and

others minor. There was a god for the sun, the Nile, the trees, and the frogs. There was a god for

chaos, for darkness, for the underworld, and even a god of justice. To appease the multitude of

gods, the Egyptians would make sacrifices, build temples, serve Pharaohs. The Egyptians were

also one of the first civilizations to develop a written language, which was called hieroglyphics,

and they used this skill to worship the gods. They wrote hymns and prayers to the gods; one such

hymn is ​The Mind of God is Perfect Knowing​. In this particular hymn, there are many insightful

and beautiful images which help develop the theme by giving the reader a picture to view the

theme of Ra being the creator of the world, and also caring for his creations.

The first of the three images that tremendously develop the theme is found in lines one

through four. “The mind of God is perfect knowing, his lips its flawless expression, all that exists

is his spirit, by his tongue named into being.” The poem is most likely about the sun god, Ra,

seeing as how he is the one of the most prominent, powerful gods. He also was attributed with

the creation of the universe and everything in it. The theme of this poem is the all-mighty,

all-knowing, omnipotent, nature of Ra and giving thanks to him for helping his creations. In lines

one through four, the author praises the god and worships him.

The author raises his hymn to the heavens on the wings of papyrus and ink. He says that

the god is “perfect knowing” (1). This means that the god’s knowledge of the universe and
everything in it is perfect and infallible. In the poet’s eyes, the god can do no wrong. Ra and the

other Egyptian gods were far from perfect and they were extremely fallible. They quarreled like

humans, were jealous, petty, immature, and irresponsible. However, in the eyes of the poet, they

were perfect. These eyes were probably looking through the filter of fear of eternal suffering and

wrath, but nonetheless the poet believed Ra was flawless. Lines three through four mention Ra’s

omnipotence and power; the poet writes “all that exists is his spirit, by his tongue named into

being….” (3-4). These passages mean that Ra’s spirit is in everything, and line four goes on to

say that he named all into being. This word picture develops the theme of Ra’s omnipotent

nature and how he guides his people by describing how he is perfect, and how he created all

things.

The second beautiful, and delightful, image that helps the reader understand the theme of

Ra’s creativity and omnipotence is found in lines seven through ten. “His soul is all space, his

heart the lifegiving moisture, he is falcon of twin horizons, sky god skimming heaven.” (7-10).

These passages add on to the picture given in lines one through four. Like the first lines of the

poem, these words are again praising Ra’s omnipresence, which means that he is everywhere.

The poet describes the god’s ability to give lifegiving moisture through his heart.

The poet goes on to say that Ra is the “falcon of the twin horizons,” (9) and the “sky god

skimming heaven,” (10). In the eyes of the Egyptian poets and people, the gods were worthy of

worship and praise. They needed to worship them to appease their wrath. The gods were the

reason that the sun rose and set, and that the Nile flooded each and every year. Without the gods

the people would be be left with nothing. The poet recognizes this, and goes on to write in other

passages in the poem that Ra controls the breeze, and guides humans along every way. The poet
again uses these literary images to develop the theme of how Ra is an all powerful god who not

only created humans, but helps guide them.

The third, and final, image that the poet writes that develops the theme of this poem, can

be found in lines fourteen through seventeen. “His body is Nun, the swirling original waters;

within it the Nile shaping, bringing to birth, fostering all creation.” (14-17). This is the third time

in this classic poem that the unknown poet has mentioned Ra creating the world. The poet says

that Ra was the source of the original waters of the Nile. The Nile was the Egyptian’s source for

everything. They relied on it for life, and without it they could not have flourished into such a

successful civilization. It appears to the Egyptians that Ra created the Nile for them so that they

could not only survive, but thrive. Ra is continuing to take care of his people and to guide them.

In the last lines of the image the writer mentions how Ra fostered all of creation into existence.

He created them, and continued to provide for them and cared for them. This mental picture

tremendously helps develop the theme of Ra being an all powerful, omnipotent god who takes

care of his creations. The poet wants to appease the gods, especially Ra. To do this he wrote this

poem that exaggerates a false myth to try to save his soul from what they would believe to be

eternal damnation.

The Egyptians did not have a loving relationship with their gods. They believed that the

gods were watching their every move; they were terrified of the gods and what they would do if

they failed them. They lived in a life of fear because of their gods. This is the opposite of a

Christian’s relationship with our Father God. Christians have a reverence, or healthy fear for

God. However, they are not terrified of being stricken with lighting from the heavens if they sin.

The Egyptians viewed Ra and the other multitude of gods as all powerful, angry punishers who
were waiting to inflict punishment upon them for the slightest indiscretion. They did everything

to try to appease them, including write hymns and poems in worship of them. The poet made ​The

Mind of God is Perfect Knowing​ as a form of appeasement to Ra. The theme of this poem was

how Ra created everything and everyone, and how he continued to take care of his creations. The

poet instilled many images into the poem that developed this theme by giving a word picture in

which we can look at the theme in a tangible way.

Lawall, Sarah ​The Norton Anthology of World Literature, ​Second Edition, W. W. Norton &

Company, Inc. 2002, pp. 48-49.