NobleSouls.Net

I like to think that God, in who, in case it has escaped your attention I have absolute faith in, encourages diversity in thought just as he does in nature.

With that in mind, do you recall the biblical story of the “Tower of Babel”.

“No. What’s it about.”

“It’s an Old Testament story, interestingly one that is shared by many diverse cultures such as in India, Mexico, Greece etc. Even our friends the Choctaw Indians in America have a legend of a similar tale.

Supposedly, shortly after the arrival of humans on the Earth, all of mankind spoke the same language and, as a result could share information and ideas. Mankind could communicate and co-operate completely.

Unfortunately mankind, having tired of living on the Earth, decided that they wished to return to their original home in heaven. So, they began to build a great tower, at a place called Babel.

Through building this tower they believed they would effect their escape from the earth, because if they built it high enough they could return to heaven directly. At least, that was the plan.

But God, who tends to be a little dark-natured in the Old Testament, looked down upon this and was displeased. Destroying the tower, he scattered the people, who had previously co-operated wonderfully and in harmony, across the face of the Earth.

To ensure that they would never again try such a thing, he gave them all different languages so that they could never communicate with each other to the same extent again.

Perhaps this is where the saying a Bab(b)le of tongues comes from? So that’s the story of how strife, trouble and different languages came to the Earth. But let’s look at it slightly differently.

What if the story was actually a metaphor for all the world’s people once sharing a common spiritual understanding, instead of a common tongue, at some point in the early history of Mankind.

Through this spiritual understanding they found a way to return to the world of the spirit, heaven if you like, instead of having to go through life in the world of matter. They could avoid this “vale of tears” as it’s sometimes known.

Now we have a situation where perhaps the purpose of the creation of man himself is in jeopardy. God’s plan for mankind was in danger. So, God destroyed this spiritual pathway or tower by destroying the understanding that came from this common spiritual faith.

Instead of creating different tongues, he created different religious faiths, different spiritual beliefs, giving a piece of the jigsaw of the truth to every new faith and it’s successors.

Now Mankind’s spiritual task became first to find that common faith again through journeying through life, or perhaps lifetimes, until enlightenment was found and humankind passed into the world of the spirit forever.

It’s just a thought but worth thinking on.

The last thing I’ll say about religion is this. I want you to imagine God as the centre of a wheel - the ‘hub’ of the wheel if you like.

Now all the people in Creation are the rim of the wheel. But without the spokes of the wheel, or religious faith, the hub and the rim are unconnected and so there can be no wheel. It would collapse.

Equally, if there were only one spoke, the wheel would also collapse. But the more wheel spokes, or different religions, thtat here are, the stronger the whole wheel becomes

Thus, diversity and tolerance, helped by forgiveness make the world even more whole - not less.’