17. The Idea of Christ in Egyptian Spiritual Life
This process actually consisted of man allowing the process of re-awakening to take place in the physical world. This is the point to which the Egyptian priests progressed, and this is also what made the deepest impression on their disciples. They put the disciple into a three-day sleep. They completely freed the organism. The spirit should live for itself [during this time] and then take possession of its body anew. And then, when it took possession of the body again, it had the body in a new, spiritualized way. For this reason, those seeking initiation were asked to lie down on a wooden cross or simply to lie on the ground and spread out their arms. He was left in this position for three days. The fact that he regarded himself as a living symbol of resurrection was symbolized by the fact that he was carried towards the rising morning sun. The rising morning sun awakened the one who had been dead for three days to a new existence.