The whole 'Tankhem' project is predicated on the hypothesis that there some sort of synthesis is possible between Egyptian & Hindu religious concepts. How that's going to be, is still to be discovered - it's an intuition that they share something but not yet fully articulated.
Yesterday, in the House of Life, I was reading Jan Assmann's 'Search for God in Ancient Egypt' - which I really recommend, even if some of his theories are very controversial - he does also talk about comparative religion and how it might apply to the Egyptian quest.
Many people talk about different _forms_ of deity or contrast for example Tantrik ‘ideas’. Seems like many people are in their personal religious quest, seeking a common religious experience rather than a narrow cultural expression. Personally I am very drawn to the project of reconstructing this common ground between traditions - including the 'international' language of magick.
Jan Assmann talks about three types of religious experience:
1. Ecstatic/shamanic
2. Mystical / personal piety
3. Historic or religion of personal destiny
Corresponding examples would be -
1. Neolithic 'shamanism' (having no real geographical domain)
2. Hindu mysticism & yoga
3. e.g.: Judaism
Incidentally Assmann says none of these models quite fits the Egyptian material 'as a whole' but there are notable exceptions - which is where we all come in. For example, the cult of Hathor is very ecstatic - involving crazy dancing and consumption of beer - laced with red ochre - (Guinness might work here ;) is very apposite in this context). Another important exception occurs in the Cult of Seth - which probably has all the aspects of ecstatic/shamanic religion, a mystical or path of personal piety and perhaps (as in the case of the King Ramesses) - an notion of personal destiny.
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