The Egyptian Scribe

Journeyman Paul took a human body in what we call Ancient Egypt that was memorable for its prime storyline being that of the ensuing relationship with the Egyptian princess that was serving his Birth Twin, Toril. Toril had chosen a female body within the House of Royalty in the Egyptian world. Paul had chosen the bodymind of a male age-mate of Toril's but had explicitly chosen to incarnate into a family which moved within a different social caste of that very strictly defined society. Paul chose a bodymind that was born into a family of the Scribe caste. Educated and privileged--and, in this case, working quite closely with the Royal family--Paul had access to many of the same comforts and as Princess Toril. He received, however, quite a different conditioning as to his place, purpose, and future. Toril was conditioned for rule, power, self-confidence, will, authority, to be served, to be be revered and even worshipped--and most definitely to be separate and above her "subjects." Paul, in turn, was trained for service, for perfection, to please others, to look to others for approval, to give his power away to his "betters" to authority
     Toril's early education came in the form of private tudors, usually arranged one-on-one, and all experienced in the protective isolation of the cloistered houses of Royalty. Paul was educated on the grounds of the lodgings and offices of the Royal Family but on the fringes, in groups, classrooms, led by a few highly demanding teachers. In Paul's situation he was always conscious of having to seek the approval and praise of teachers for they were the usual means to much preferred and much competed for job placements. The world of the Scribe caste was highly competitive and even dangerously so. The achievement of preference among the small aristocratic class--which was basically made up of the Royal Family and all its relations--meant great benefit to that scribe and his family. It could even mean power and influence. positions of rank and position according to his talents, discipline and hard work.
     The "problem" from which the two learned so much--and which they had both actually planned ahead of time--came in two forms. Paul and Toril are, if you remember, soul mates. They are, in fact Twin Souls. Thus, the mutual attraction they have for one another--no matter where they are--is magnetic. They are polarized charges of Yin and Yang; prime dance partners in the great Dance of Cosmic Creation. But, compound this undeniable attraction with their placement in bodies of age mates of the opposite sex and you are then dealing with quite powerful forces of Nature--of biochemistry, pheromones, and a little thing we call "puberty."
     Allowed occasional contact as small children, the two formed a friendship quite early. But with advances in age, their days became structured in quite different and quite divergent ways. At this time in Egyptian history, royalty were not allowed to mix with their lessors ever and members of the scribe caste were not allowed to interact with Royalty unless it was by the design and behest of the adults of the Royal Family. The rules were clear and time-tested, but the small children did not and could not understand the reasons (if ever any were given) for such rules. All they knew was that they wanted to spend time with the one another. Thus, their mutual attraction caused many tense and uncomfortable situations within their respective families. Both children pestered their parents and elders with a seemingly constant barrage of questions with regards to the rules and regulations of the time. The innocents found it quite difficult to understand rules that virtually prohibited their friendship as well as the reasons for the punishments that followed their occasional and, at first, very innocent and unplanned interactions.
    Paul and Toril spent their childhoods being forced to conform to very different thought and behavior patterns. And yet, beneath it all the acting and toeing of the line, they were each secretly hoping for contact with the other. A smile, a wave, a fleeting glimpse. Anything to satisfy their yearning. I'm not sure if I would call their attraction obsessive. At first it was not, but it may have become so due to the way their families and the times denied their relations. Still, there occurred a few serendipitous encounters that allowed them some actual interaction. However, each time, once found out, they were quickly separated and then lectured.
     Eventually, as will and comprehension of the rules and holes in the systems were figured out, the two began devising clandestine means of communication. Written notes, passed in a variety of exceedingly risky ways. Notes on food trays, in water jugs, in laundry and fabric deliveries, even in chamber pots. Clandestine meetings were also arranged. Some were foiled by external circumstances and had to be aborted. Others were successful and gratifying, despite the high level of risk involved. On two occasions they were found out and punished, repeatedly admonished, and incurred the tightening of surveillance and restrictions that goes with breaches of such forbidden behavior. And then something worse than anything else happened. Puberty arrived and with it a whole new level of attraction, curiosity and desire.
     Toril had long been using human bodies in the four-dimensional worlds to foster growth in confidence and success. More strong-willed than most, Toril's monad is typically quite indomitable and intractable once she gets a goal or motivating idea in her mind. This life as an Egyptian princess did nothing to assuage this force. It may, in fact, have done more to continue the will-building and illusion-bending process that she was fueling. In the end, as you will see, her disdain for rules and restrictions coupled with her affinity to Love prevailed over all other influences. Not family, not duty, not long established and honored social customs or rules, not fear of the unknown nor fear of pain or death had any influence on Toril's decisions to choose Love and loving above all else.
     Paul, on the other hand, was much more under the "spell" of his familial and social conditioning. Remember:  he had had attitudes of service and subservience drummed into his head from the beginning of this lifetime, whereas Toril had only known an environment condoning power and authority. So, for Paul, his single-minded dedication and attraction to Toril was always tempered by the guilt and self-questioning his trusted family and friends had imposed upon him. The presence of fear was much stronger in Paul's Ego/Personality. But Toril's will was indomitable. She was the one that masterminded the further and future trysts and clandestine encounters that the two had in their teen years. Paul willingly, excitedly, happily, participated in their schemings, but he was always more cautious, more fearful of the consequences. Toril seemed to only get bolder, to become more defiant as she met with resistance, restriction, censure and punishment.
     The last time the two were together, when they were about fifteen or sixteen years old, they were caught. It was not a pretty scene. After being publicly beaten, Paul was ceremoniously brought before a Royal audience where it was pronounced that he would be banished from the Kingdom, exiled into the Western Desert, with orders that he was never to return--that he would be "welcomed with orders to be put to death" should he ever be found in the Nile regions again. Princess Toril made quite a scene before having to be restrain and physically removed from the chambers. That was the last time Paul the Scribe ever saw Toril. Or his family. Alone and severely lacking in the skills needed to survive his new circumstances, Paul died of starvation, dehydration and infection from some of the wounds he had received during his beating within a few weeks after being dropped off deep in the Western Desert.
     Toril orchestrated her final act of defiance by leaving her family, leaving the Royal compound, leaving the only world she had ever known, to go out into the world to search for her beloved Paul. The privations of having to fend for herself when all she had ever known was minions of servants acting at her every whim beck and call was challenging. She survived for a few years--her confidence and wiles enabling her to figure out ways to get people to do things for her (while never using or even acknowledging any of her Royal heritage for influencing others). She could, after all, write and paint and weave and sing and found that she was very good with animals---and that she was not afraid--even enjoyed--hard physical labor. And she moved around, from village to village along the edge of the Western Desert, all the while searching for Paul. But, she never found him. And, eventually, she, too, died--partly due to an accident of weather but more out of a lack of desire to keep going. By this time she had figured out that her one true love was no longer on the planet and that her pursuits were futile. This made her significance and the purpose of her life take on quite a hollowness. When the dust storm engulfed her before she could reach proper shelter, she let go of her Egyptian body with very little struggle.          

The lessons taken from these lifetimes come from two opposing directions: that of submission of will to the illusory power of external forces and that of assertion of Will in the face of these "external" forces. There is much to be learned from Toril's example, from her indomitable will and outcome of not giving her power away--of not giving her power to others, to the illusions of rules, power, fear and death. While Paul's education and conditioning did not support these same outcomes, he is able to learn (as always) from his Twin.
     The next lives Paul chooses are intended to help him figure out how to regain some of that Ray 1 (the Cosmic Ray of Will and Power, of Sacrifice) flow. These lifetimes are located in ascetic or monastic conditions where devotion and ritual, religious study, and the anti-materialistic perspective of deprivation are intended as teachers. Paul recognizes the limitations human mental conditioning can place on Spiritual awareness and flow. He plans to do something about it.