Was Egypt's King Ikhnaton (1375 B.C.) a Deist?

A Dream Based on Historical Studies

written by Raymond Fontaine, PhD - July 2004

    Last evening, as I glanced through Time's Almanac 2004, one entry caught my eye: "Ikhnaton develops monotheistic religion in Egypt (c.1375 B.C.)". Never having heard of this ancient king before, I searched the Internet for information. I landed on two historical studies, one at: http://ragz-international.com/ikhnaton.htm and the other at: http://www.tektonics.org/tekton_04_02_04_AK.html. Those articles provided information for what follows.

   As usual, my bedtime readings later induced a related dream. Tonight I dreamed about God conversing with the ancient king of Egypt. "Good morning, sire," said God. "I believe this is our first face-to-face meeting, isn't it?"

   "Yes, my Lord," Ikhnaton replied, "and it's a great honor for me."

    "Between 1375 and 1362 B.C.", God said, "when you were King of Egypt, I watched you with great interest. What I noticed and liked most was your love of the Truth. You emphasized and appreciated truth everywhere and from everyone." 

    "Yes," Ikhnaton said, "to remind my subjects that I valued truth first and foremost, I always attached to my name the phrase 'living in truth'."

    "You evidently did not believe in the many deities proposed by the priests," said God. "Why?"

    " For personal gain," Ikhnaton said, "the priests encouraged the people to bring food and other valuables to the temples as offerings to the gods. Since no god claimed the offerings, they were confiscated by the priests."

   "The priests were not teaching the truth," said God "and you didn't like that. So what did you do?"

   "To avoid opposition and trouble from the priests," Ikhnaton said, "I subsidized the clergy for their silence. Then I told the people the truth about the non-existing gods.  I erased all reminders of the deities. I expunged their names from all tablets and monuments. Everywhere the singular word 'God' replaced the ancient plural form 'gods'."

   "Where did you get the idea of only one god?" asked God.

   "From the sun," Ikhnaton explained. "Wherever I went in my expanding kingdom, the same sun shined and warmed the flowers and the trees, the birds and the fish, the animals and humans. If one sun is enough for the world, why can't one God suffice?"

   "What else did the sun suggest about me?" God asked the King.

   "The sun beams the same rays universally," said Ikhnaton, "without preference for any one place and without prejudice against others. Likewise you, my Lord, do not favor one race above the others, giving it certain privileges and special protection."

   "That's not what your neighbor, Abraham, believes and teaches," said God. "He says that his followers and descendants are my Chosen People, favored above all others. What do you call that?"

   "I call it self-delusion and self-aggrandizement," Ikhnaton replied.

   "Right-on," said God, "and by the way, what did you call me? What was my name?

   "My ancestors called you 'Amon'," Ikhnaton replied, "but since Amon was associated with dozens of deities, I changed your name to 'Aton', an ancient name for the sun. At the same time, I changed my name to Ikhnaton which means 'Aton is satisfied'. I hope that was not presumptuous on my part."

   "Not at all," God agreed, "because it's the truth.  Before I forget, let me share with you what the scholars in the year 2004 A.D. are writing about you. Interested?"

    "Of course I am," replied Ikhnaton. "Please tell me."

    "Some have suggested," God said, "that your belief in one God influenced Abraham's doctrine about me." 

   "That's not possible," Ikhnaton said, "his idea of God was very different from mine. He claimed that you, yourself, revealed your existence and many other things. For me the knowledge of your existence came from what you created, especially the sun." 

    "Why didn't your true concept of me catch on as Abraham's did?" asked God. "Do you know?"

    "Yes," answered Ikhnaton. "One reason is that Abraham lived a lot longer than I did. He died at 175 years old. I passed away at 30 years of age as did Jesus."

    "Is there another reason for your short-lived concept of me?" asked God.

    "I believe so," replied Ikhnaton. "I died without any sons but Abraham left two famous sons: Isaac and Ishmael. Isaac passed on his view of God to his progeny, the Jews. Ishmael handed down his ideas of God to the Arabs. When I died, my vision of You, my Lord, died with me. I had no sons to pass it down to others."

    "During the following centuries," said God, "both traditions lost their pristine purity. Jesus, a Jew, reformed Isaac's version which his followers elaborated into a new religion, Christianity.  A few centuries later, an Arab, Muhammad, transformed Ishmael's version into a separate religion, called Islamism. Both versions flourished and today there are 1.9 billion Christians and 1.1 billion Muslims."

    "What happened to my monotheistic view of You, my Lord?" asked Ikhnaton. Does anyone conceive you as I did - the beneficent Creator of the world?" 

    "A scattered group of people," God replied, "who are called Deists, don't believe that I revealed myself to certain prophets to enlighten all humans. They profess, however, that the structures and laws of nature presuppose an intelligent Creator. The genius Einstein believed that, so did Thomas Jefferson and Thomas Paine."

    "So did I," Ikhnaton said. "Does that make me a Deist?"

    "If you like," said God, "but the Deists don't consider you the original author of their worldview. They didn't get the idea from you, they say, but from their personal observation of nature's laws."

    "That's OK by me," said Ikhnaton. "I'm honored to be associated with them even though my concept of you was not at all sophisticated and scientific. My vision of you was very primitive, in the sense of ancient."

    "Just like me and the sun and Truth itself." God said. "Welcome into our prestigious company." 

    At this moment, I was awaken by the sun beaming its rays of glorious light. A thought struck me: this was the same sun that woke King Ikhnaton in the morning and enlightened him about God. While drinking my coffee, I reread the articles that had inspired my dream.

   What the King valued most was the truth. It drove him away from the deities peddled by the priests. There was only one God. He revealed himself not only to a small group of Prophets but to everyone. He manifested himself in the wonders of nature, notably the sun. This magnificent creation beamed its rays everywhere, benefiting everyone equally.

   I realized that King Ikhnaton believed like me that nature reveals God's existence, his intelligence and beneficence. I am a Deist and, in my book, so was King Ikhnaton. Bravo, your majesty. For the index of my Dialogues, click here.