These ancient Egyptian texts are starting to fascinate me more and more. This one here perfectly illustrates that even the earliest humans were already confronted with existential issues. This short text (less than 10 pages) shows a weary man in conversation with his soul. The man paints a very sad picture of his life and of the world in general; he longs for death. But his soul (‘ba’ only covers a certain aspect of what we understand by soul) urges him again and again to choose life, "be happy and forget all cares!", because it is uncertain what awaits after death’ . This text, probably from about 1800 bce, is apparently not easy to translate and interpret, but it does indicate how ancient Egyptian people of almost 4,000 years ago already struggled with life. More about the different interpretations of this text, in my History account on Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5566637635 ( )