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From: Don Latham
Date: 25 Apr 2003
Time: 20:03:20 -0400
Remote Name: 66.109.135.158
Fellow Galactic Travelers: Many of you have no doubt wondered at the incredibly enigmatic answer to God, the universe, and everything as revealed by Douglas Adams through the Great Computer. Bantock's Conti has 42 statues. Coincidence? I believe I have discovered the source of this enigmatic utterance in the Egyptian Book of the Dead. The Book of the Dead (I have the translation by E. Wallis Budge ), delineates the process a soul must undergo to enter the underworld. During the journey, the soul as traveler must pass through several rituals. The soul passes through seven halls (arits), each with three gods, then through 21 gates (pylons) each with its own god (that's 42 total for the arithmetically challenged). Upon successfully passing these portals, the soul then enters the Hall of Double Right and Truth. In this hall, there are 42 gods, who judge the traveler on his answers to 42 negative confessions. The negative confessions, by the way, if boiled down to ten, might be called commandments, but that's another story from Mt. Ararat. I have not seen anywhere the obvious connection between the Book of the Deads negative confessions and the Ten Commandments. I suppose each religion needs to have sprung from its own Diana. And there you have it. Don Latham [email protected]