by Daniel Tooson
I’m going to present a brief overview of the african concept of Ma’at. I will demonstrate how modern day evidence of Ma’at in the world wide African Community is called the diaspora.
Ma’at is the concept of balance and shared values.Its 42 laws of maat that keep balance and determine your fate. Maat believes in self governance, the government ruled by the people.
When a person dies The Goddess Ma’at weighs their heart on a scale across from her feather. The feather represents the 49 laws of governance. If the heart weight equals that of the feather, then your soul goes to the after life. If the heart weighs more than the feather then your soul does not get to the afterlife and is subjected to eternal pain.
The goddess maat with her beautiful face and dark skin. Ma’at holds an ank in her hand. An ankh represents birth because it's the symbol of a womb. Ma’at lives in the underworld. This means when you die your soul goes into the underworld to be weighed. Like a rock seeping into water.
The 42 Laws of Ma’at existed before the ten commandments and heavily influenced the commandments. One law of Ma’at is “I regard all altars with respect” which means not to disrespect graves or churches. Another law of Ma’at is to “live in truth” this means to not lie to anyone unless necessary.
A modern day example of Ma’at is the protest marches to demand a need to contain balance. Another example of modern day Ma’at is when my mom decided to teach us these laws to keep balance in our lives for generations.