The Soul's Journey Through the Duat

Preparation Outline for Informative Speech

July 20th, 2011

Planning Statements

Topic/Title: The soul's journey through the duat (underworld) after death.

General Purpose: To Inform

Thesis: Ancient Egyptians spent much of their entire lives preparing for the afterlife.

Organizational Pattern: Topical

Visual Aids: PowerPoint presentation

Introduction

I. Death; It has been known since the dawn of time that death is an inevitable part of life. However what happens after death is one of the great mysteries of the universe. With each religion there are varying theories but none so complex, perilous and demanding of the soul and body than that of the Ancient Egyptians.

II. In fact, Ancient Egyptians spent a very large portion of their lives preparing for the trials and tribulations that they believed would be set before them in their journey through what they called the Duat, or "underworld".

III. As college students, most of us crave knowledge and enjoy learning new things as is obvious by our choices to continue our educations after high school and I am excited to be able to share all the interesting facts I've learned while organizing this speech.

IV. During my research on this topic, I was astonished by all I learned and intrigued at how much more there really is to things we all heard about as children such as the process of mummification. For example, it is one of many things that holds religious purpose and was considered necessary for a soul's successful journey through the Duat.

V. Today we are going to explore some of the beliefs of Ancient Egyptians concerning what happened to one after death and learn about the trying journey of the body and soul to reach the ultimate desired destination, Aaru, the Egyptian Heaven.

Transition: Let's begin by talking about how Ancient Egyptians prepared for death during life.

Body

I. Most Ancient Egyptians who could afford one made it a priority to spend several hours a week during their lifetimes studying The Book of the Dead.

A. This was sometimes also referred to as The Pyramid Texts.

1. The definition of The Book of the Dead as stated in the Fourth Edition of the American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language is "n. A collection of ancient Egyptian funerary texts from various periods containing prayers, magic formulas, and hymns to be used by the soul of the deceased for guidance and protection on its journey to the afterlife."

2. After a loved one died their family members would spend weeks writing out the most important scriptures from the Book of the Dead on papyrus scrolls to put in the sarcophagi with the deceased so they could have them at their disposal should they forget any.

3. They also spent considerable amounts of time carving many of the scriptures on the insides of their sarcophagi.

Transition: Now that we know about how seriously ancient Egyptians took preparation for the afterlife before death, let's talk about some of the religious significance of the process of mummification.

II. Ancient Egyptians believed that when one died they were split into three forces.

A. The Ka, which was the life-force, remained in the tomb with the dead body and required similar sustenance as a living being required.

B. For this reason, loved ones were sure to include food and drink in the sarcophagus with the remains of their loved ones. If they were not provided sustenance it was believed the deceased would be forced to result to eating their own excrement out of desperation.