From the thread discussing perfection, I'm branching this out into a separate discussion.

Ancient Egypt did not have philosophical texts in the style of the Greeks, instead they had their own tradition of "sebayt", teaching.
They were mostly concerned with practical ethics: How to live your life in a successful and ethical fashion.
I'd like to present one aspect of these teaching: the concept of moderation and the balance of work and duty on the one hand, and joy and leisure on the other hand.

I'm quoting from the teaching of Ptah-Hotep, one of the oldest and most famous. See here:
https://www.ucl.ac.uk/museums-static/digitalegypt/literature/ptahhotep.html

The idea of "balance" seems simple, but as I think on it, it just grows the more significant. I'm guessing the balance beam was a common and important tool in their lives - perhaps one in every home. One arrives at (for me) a dimly seen concept of balance, juxtaposed against ideas of either/or, neither/nor. Balance, it would seem, is part pragmatic and part nefer. And to be sure, all balance is a matter of moment, and never endures. — tim wood

It was actually more a concept of moderation, of finding a middle way between extremes:
"A man who worries all day long
will never be allowed a good moment.
A man who lazes all day long
will never have a solid house."

This passage uses the expression "At nfrt", the "good moment" or "perfect moment" as a concept of joy in life. But it warns concerning a "wenef ib", the person "leisurely of heart" all day: nn grg n-f pr - literally "not furnished for him a house".

The even more famous passage is this one:
"Follow your heart as long as you live.
Do not make a loss on what is said,
do not subtract time from following the heart.
Harming its time is an offence to the ka."

In Egyptian:
Sms ib.k - follow your heart
tr n wnn.k - time of your existence
m ir HAw Hr mddwt - not do a surplus over what-is-said
m xb tr n Sms ib - not shorten the time of follow-the-heart
bwt kA pw HDt At.f - an abomination of the soul it is, to spoil its moment

Unfortunately the meaning of the phrase "HAw hr" is somewhat unclear: is it a "more than" or a "loss of"? I favour the interpretation that it talks about "working more than that which has been instructed".
As in: do your duty, but don't work overtime.
I see this phrase as the earliest documented concept of a work-life balance. :grin:

To get a deeper understanding, we should also take a look at two more key words: "Ib", the heart, and "Ka".

1. The "heart" may not be taken, in its modern sense, as a symbol of emotion only. The Egyptians saw the heart not only as a center of emotions, but also in a much more comprehensive sense, as the seat of mind, conscience and personality.
"following the heart" can be interpreted to mean "seek pleasure", and later Egyptian citations of this phrase point in this direction. However, I think it's valid to consider a more nuanced interpretation. I believe the phrase also suggests that you should set time aside for yourself, to look inward and meditate, to be true to yourself and follow your hobbies and passions.

It would fit the composition of the text to contrast the "Sms ib" - follow yourself - with the "mddwt", the instructions/orders given from the outside.
@tim wood , once again observe the symmetric composition of key words arranged around "m ir HAw Hr mddwt" as the center:
Sms ib.k tr n wnn.k
m ir HAw Hr mddwt
m xb tr n Sms ib

2. "Ka" is often translated as "soul". But the western concept of soul is much closer to the Egyptian word "Ba": an immortal and transcendent part of the person.
Some Egyptologists leave the word "Ka" untranslated. Like "Maat" it is a complex concept that has no direct analogy in our language.
Each human has a Ka - a Double, an immaterial counterpart of the body. The Ka is fashioned on Khnum's potter wheel together with the body. During life, "Ka" is something like your spirit, your mind, the thing that makes "you" more than a physical body. Fun fact: Egyptian "Cheers!" is "n kA-k", "to your Ka!"
After death, the Ka is what remains. After the body dies, the Ka can still remain on earth and interact with the living if it has an intact mummy or a statue as a "seat", which replaces the body.
This is why all the funeral cult and the offerings to the ancestors are addressed "to the Ka of N.N."

Therefore the last sentence gives a dire warning: If you don't grant your Ka, your spirit, its proper "moments", then you are committing a grave offence against it.


So, what do you think of PtahHotep?
Outdated and superficial?
Timeless and profound?

I know that I'm a freak that way, I love PtahHotep's teaching even though I don't agree with him on all points. (My nickname is also take from a phrase of PtahHotep: wr mAat wAH spdt - "Great is Maat, and of enduring keenness")
But I'd be interested in your opinion. Is this philosophy, or does "real" philosophy start in Greece?
(or technically in Turkey/Asia Minor, if you count the Pre-Socratics)