Observations placeholder
Babylon - The Tower of Babel
Identifier
007950
Type of Spiritual Experience
Background
According to Wikipedia "the form Babylon is the Greek variant of Akkadian Babilu (bāb-ilû, meaning "Gateway of the god(s)". In the Hebrew Bible, the name appears as בבל (Babel), interpreted by Book of Genesis 11:9 to mean "confusion" (of languages), from the verb balbal, "to confuse".
My interpretation of the story:
Originally it would appear the world did indeed have one language one probably universal symbolic language of communication, given to them by the spiritual world. Indigenous tribes often speak of this when they refer to the ‘old people’ or the ‘first race’. Animals still use this ‘first language’ to communicate.
But instead of accepting the language from the spirit world, humans sought power, in effect they decided they wanted to be use the language in other ways
“a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves and not be scattered over the face of the whole earth”
in effect the power to control, to inter communicate one with the other by-passing the spiritual world. Possibly they even sought to use the language of the heavens to change the very processes themselves.
“then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them”
I suppose we might look on it in another way – once you crack the code – the complete code of spiritual language – you have the power to change the way the world works. This plan to exercise their will more strongly, the chance to follow their ego and go against the ‘plan’ the spiritual world had was potentially dangerous for the spiritual world, as the system of the universe is hugely complex and incredibly finely tuned. So the symbolic language [if such it was] would not have been used for the purposes for which it was devised.
So the spirit world made sure the knowledge was lost, protected itself against this ego driven intrusion.
“Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other. So the LORD scattered them from there over all the earth, and they stopped building the city”
A description of the experience
Genesis 11 - The Tower of Babel
1 Now the whole world had one language and a common speech.
2 As men moved eastward, they found a plain in Shinar and settled there.
3 They said to each other, "Come, let's make bricks and bake them thoroughly." They used brick instead of stone, and tar for mortar.
4 Then they said, "Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves and not be scattered over the face of the whole earth."
5 But the LORD came down to see the city and the tower that the men were building.
6 The LORD said, "If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them.
7 Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other."
8 So the LORD scattered them from there over all the earth, and they stopped building the city.
9 That is why it was called Babel —because there the LORD confused the language of the whole world. From there the LORD scattered them over the face of the whole earth.
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