Understanding Babel’s Tower
In ancient times, humans were not so egoistic as to be opposite to nature. They felt nature and their fellow persons reciprocally. This was their language of communication, which, for the most part, was a silent language, similar to telepathy, on a certain spiritual level.
Increased egoism, however, detached humans from nature. Instead of correcting the oppositeness, humans thought they would be able to attain the Creator egoistically, not through correction.
As a result, they stopped perceiving nature and their fellow humans, stopped loving, and started hating one another. This separated us from each other and instead of being one nation, we split into many.
The first level of egoistic development is marked by what we allegorically call “building of the Tower of Babel.” In the story of Babel, you may recall, people, out of increased egoism, aspired to reach the Creator, allegorically described as wanting to build a tower whose head reaches the sky.
Humanity failed to direct its increased egoism toward the attainment of the governing forces because this method of attainment demanded of us to curb egoism, and we failed to do that.
People’s increased egoism made them stop feeling each other and the spiritual connection; the telepathy was broken. Because they knew of the Creator from their previous level of egoism, they now wanted to exploit Him as well. That’s what was meant by building a tower that reaches the sky. As a result of their egoism, they stopped understanding each other, and their oppositeness from nature alienated them from it and from the Creator, and they dispersed.
We may have compensated for it with technological development. But in doing so, we have only increased our detachment from one another and our alienation from nature (the Creator). So now humanity is becoming disillusioned with fulfilling the egoism solely by social or technological development.
We are realizing that egoistic desires cannot be filled in their natural form. The very fulfillment of a desire annuls it. As a result, the desire is no longer felt, just as food reduces the sensation of hunger and, along with it, the pleasure from eating is gradually extinguished.
Particularly today, as we acknowledge the crisis and the dead-end point of our development, it can be said that the confrontation of the egoism with the Creator is the actual destruction of the Tower of Babel.
Formerly, the Tower of Babel was ruined by the Upper Force. Today it is being ruined in our own consciousness. We are at a similar separation point that occurred in the time of Babel, except now we are aware of our situation. According to the wisdom of Kabbalah, the global crisis is the beginning of the reconnection of all humanity into a new and united civilization.
It is time for the members of the single nation of humankind to reunite into a united people. Spiritual fulfillment provides a path and a perhaps unexpected truth.