Tucked
away in the rolling hills and deep brush of New York’s Central Park there lies
one of man’s greatest early architectural achievements, an ancient Egyptian
obelisk known as Cleopatra’s Needle.
This artifact is neither a needle or related to Cleopatra and its
significance is too easily underestimated as yet another public works effort to
decorate the Upper East Side of the park.
In actuality, the obelisk is representative of archaic religious
practices, international politics, the use of religion as a definition of
culture, and as an accessory to current day religious routines.
Obelisks,
such as the ones found near East 81st street, have been around for
the last 3500 years, but overtime their purpose has gradually changed. Originally, these large stone structures were
placed as landmarks in front of Egyptian temples and gave honor to the sun god
Ra. Upon closer look at this obelisk in
particular, one will notice the large hieroglyphics that run down the
sides. These are details of Rameses the
Great’s military battles that the ruler had carved into the piece a couple of
hundred years after its creation. Now
what’s interesting about this is not the victories as described on the piece,
but the fact that a ruler’s conquests would be incorporated into religious
tradition. The fact that going to temple
would entail being exposed to this grand memorial of a previous king and his
successes is indicative of how centrally linked religion was to the rest of
Egyptian society.
Being
that religion was such a core part of Ancient Egypt; artifacts associated with
it came to be representative of the culture as a whole. Because of this, obelisks such as this one
have been used as political tools to assert friendships and alliances. By the mid-1800s both the cities of Paris and
London had been granted larges obelisks as symbols of partnership in trade and
friendship. As the late 1800s came, US
industrialization had made it clear that America was becoming an ever more
important world power and as a result, New York was granted an “offering” of
its own. Though it may seem wrong to use
religious tradition as a way of promoting economic trade, the gift was more of
a donation celebrating Egyptian culture as a whole as opposed to just the
religion; furthermore it continues to serve a purpose in Central Park.
As
unlikely as it may seem, the obelisk is still an effective tool for
worship. The reason why I’ve chosen to
blog about Cleopatra’s needle is because of my experiences with it. Circling this impressive architecture are a
series of benches that feel secluded from the rest of the park as there are
trees behind them. This all equates to a
very calming and serene environment. I
can honestly say that it is a great place to meditate and collect one’s
thoughts. I know I am not alone in my
beliefs, for when I was walking towards the obelisk yesterday, I saw a young,
lone man sitting on one of the benches and thinking to himself. There was no phone or newspaper out, nor was
he gazing in wonder and awe at the sight before him. Instead, it was apparent that he was using
the environment created by the obelisk to reflect. Meditation, prayer, self-reflection, etc.
(however you want to put it) are key to modern day religious tradition. Be you Christian, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist,
Jew or any other religious follower, your faith encourages you to question your
relationship in the world, whether it be with an almighty God, multiple gods,
an uncertain power, or with an empty universe.
The most incredible thing with this in mind is that obelisk is a place
for personal and spiritual concentration in New York City in 2015 AD, just as
it was (outside of a temple) in Heliopolis, Egypt in (approx.) 1450 BC. Now though the people surrounding the obelisk
live in a very different society and may be thinking about different forms of
worship or concentrating on different things, it essentially serves the same
purpose. The incredible ability to gain
personal and spiritual insight from another culture’s religion is not an unjust
appropriation. If anything, I see using
the obelisk for a serene environment as a way of fulfilling its purpose, by
helping others find their own. This is
relatable to Jack Kerouac’s social commentary on American modernist Buddhism in
the mid twentieth century entitled “The Dharma Bums”. Just as people today reflect nearby
Cleopatra’s Needle on very different thoughts from the people of Ancient Egypt,
so do the protagonists of the aforementioned novel use Buddhism to fit their
lifestyles in a way that’s distinguished from the Asian philosophers that they
read about. In both cases, ancient tools
are being used for an effective reason in modern context. In that way, the park goers and the Dharma
Bums do actually bring justice to the obelisk and Buddhism respectively.
For all of those who have or plan on visiting
the obelisk, enjoy it! The way I see truly fit to enjoy it is
to use with a
purpose. If you’ve got something
troubling your mind or you just need to sit down and
think, this is the place
to go. But if you just want to add an
artsy Instagram photo to show how you
can pose in front of something exotic
looking, then this is not a reason to visit Cleopatra’s Needle.
It’s an amazing bit of living history and
deserves to be treated as such.
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