The first was of ancient Egypt and the pharaoh known as Akhnaton, or the Son of the Sun.  The pharaoh acceded to the throne in 1383 B.C.  Going against all of those in power, particularly the high priest in Thebes, he proclaimed that there was only one God, the Aton.  While symbolized by the Sun, it was not the Sun that he worshipped.  Rather it was a universal force that spread its light equally on all creation, rich or poor, good or bad.  He built the city of his dreams, Tell el-Amarna.  Here the Religion of the Disk took root.  In his temple there were no commandments, no sacrifice, no promise of reward or punishment, no concocted miracles, and no hint of evil.  It was here amidst the glorious garden and open courtyards of light that this renegade king proclaimed a God that was not a person, but rather the power and source of all things.  It was a God that was all things and devoid of good and evil, devoid of the concept of immorality.  This was a religion and a philosophy of Truth, maat.  The religion had no dogma.  Akhnaton’s God was the energy that not only pervaded all of existence, but also was all of existence.  It was the visible and invisible, material and immaterial—a pantheistic monism. Akhnaton had not tried to force his views on others.  He did not destroy the temples or the priests of those who held sway over the masses.  He did not expand his empire nor properly defend it because he lived his life according to his beliefs, of which war was not one of them.  He was the pharaoh who initiated Moses into the mysteries and in brotherhood let his people go.  The Son of the Sun died at the age of twenty-nine.  Some said he had been poisoned; others said that he walked with God.  On his death the beautiful city of light, Armana, was destroyed, and his religion was wiped from the stones, pillars, and tablets. The powerful priests removed from the people’s memory the very existence of this messenger of Truth. Akhnaton worshipping the Aton       http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=wakinggod-20&o=1&p=8&l=as1&asins=B0007G5QVU&fc1=000000&IS2=1<1=_blank&lc1=0000ff&bc1=000000&bg1=ffffff&f=ifr" style="width:120px;height:240px;" scrolling="no" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" frameborder="0">http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=wakinggod-20&o=1&p=8&l=as1&asins=1591430046&fc1=000000&IS2=1<1=_blank&lc1=0000ff&bc1=000000&bg1=ffffff&f=ifr" style="width:120px;height:240px;" scrolling="no" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" frameborder="0">