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“We keep on searching for something unchangeable in a world that’s constantly changing. We are always in a quest for absolute truth to hold on to. How can we look for a thing that’s permanent in a temporary world? Is there anything that can stand the test of time no matter what?” I pondered. I stepped out of my felucca onto the land of the temple built by my ancestors thousands of years ago, under the hot sun and warm weather of Aswan in January. A beautiful paradox it may seem. The temple from afar looks like a perfectly painted canvas being reflected on water. The colors of the whole scene have a soothing effect on the eyes. The green foliage surrounding the yellowish temple walls add a flawless contrast to the Blue Nile. As beautiful as it looks on the outside, Philae temple has an exquisite, affectionate and heartwarming soul that’s not there in any other Egyptian temple. Feluccas sailing on the Nile, Nubian songs of Mohamed Mounir playing in the background, boatmen shouting to each other and chaotic voices of people talking in diverse languages, all of these slowly faded away as my thoughts were getting louder. Listening to my archeologist friend, Wassim, explaining the name of Philae and how it originated from the Greek word meaning (mutual love) “and what can be greater than this: to love and be loved in return, with no complications or conditions?” I thought. Wassim proceeded on with how this temple was dedicated to Isis’s love and tears after the death of her husband Osiris. For a long time, Egyptians thought those tears of Isis were the main source of the Nile which was the foundation of life as they believed back then. Isis is one of the most important goddesses in Egyptian history; she symbolizes love, motherhood, and healing. We then came across this weird drawing carved on the wall of the temple; a Coptic cross engraved on the same drawing of Isis hundreds of years later. Knowing that Christians believe the cross is the greatest sign for unconditional love and sacrifice, love was again demonstrated in the same place, with another shape in a different era, and a different generation with completely different beliefs. Wassim continued that later, during the 17th century, there was a girl named “Anas ELwogod”, the daughter of a king, who fell in love with a middle-class guy, a love story that her father didn’t really approve of. When she insisted on loving the same person refusing the idea of marrying a prince, she got exiled in Philae temple where she died. Going there I thought I would see a temple like any other, made of stones and some hieroglyphic drawings. I was surprised to find a temple made of love. Amidst my processing for all of this information about Philae Temple, in Aswan, the temple of mutual love that has preserved itself for thousands and thousands of years, surviving its drowning, its transmission to another place and all of the attacks and wars, it’s here and now standing still on this island of amour surrounded by water from all sides in the most beautiful scene. The temple stood the test of time just like Isis’s love for Osiris did. At that exact moment, I thought to myself “in this soon-to-end-world, love is the only permanent universal truth. It’s the thing that never dies no matter how many eras pass by or how many generations come and go. It was the reason God made us and it’s the reason why we live now. Philae is pretty much the reason for us being able to survive our daily struggles. And I do believe that if it once disappeared we would have no motivation to get out of bed in the morning.” And there I was standing after hundreds of decades in the same place and while everything altered with time, the only truth that never did was the existence of Love.