October 20 2021
OUR VERY OWN TOWER OF BABEL
The Tower of Babel story in the Bible has become a byword. It now basically stands for human hubris, for trying to surpass God through our technical prowess. The Bible relates how God sowed misunderstanding and brain confusion among the perpetrators, and in their agitation and rancor, like-minded bands left the area and so settled the world, creating multiple civilizations.
Here is my alternative view.
I think the Tower had run stuck on what’s now called EIOER: Energy Invested On Energy Returned. The first building blocks were easily put in place from nearby sources. But the higher the structure rose, and the further away the material was, there simply was not enough muscle power – human. Energy – and transport capacity to complete the project, so, with lebensraum elsewhere aplenty, people emigrated.
A similar occurrence happened with the city of Rome, and their One Million inhabitants. Feeding that many with horse and wagon and human labor, became increasingly difficult, exhausting first the soil nearby, then its neighbouring fields until there too feeding the plebs became impossible, and with no other feasible means available, Rome collapsed.
The first Tower of Babel basically was a local affair, a direct challenge to Yahweh for world domination. But the real outcome was global diversity, evident to all who have studied geography, folklore and regional development: the world became immensely richer, thanks to these cultural differences.
The Second Tower of Babel too had positive results. The Pax Romana, a long period of Pax, Peace, by means of a uniform language, the disappearance of national borders and an excellent road-network made the spread of Christianity possible. Once this was accomplished, the Roman Empire collapsed.
Today again we experience a Tower of Babel situation. What will its positive outcome be?
Now, the world has not one crisis but many: religious, financial, atmospheric, political, social, to name the most obvious. Climate Change alone will rocket Inflationary confusion, with too much water here and too much drought there, fueling food prices. Fighting Climate Change will force us to rely less on carbon-based efficiency by employing more expensive human energy, forcing us to walk, bike, dig: muscle-power rather than gasoline power: the old will be new again. It will come at a price.
Mindset change needed.
Solomon in his Proverbs says, “Out of the heart are all issues of life.” There’s where the start must be made. We need a new mindset. Today we are worshipers at the altars of carbon fuels, truly are ‘carbo-holics’: admit our addiction. Even then, can we change?
The Covid episode has given us time to reflect: yes, there is more to life than money. Take driving a truck. It is a terrible job: away from home, monotonous, unhealthy highway air and food, long hours, lack of sleep, so people are re-thinking their priorities. Result: a sudden shortage of truck drivers is stagnating the entire economy, because we have created a system where one missing link screws up the entire enterprise.
Then there is Climate Change: our mode of moving by car causes trillions of trillions of tiny fires in our billions of engines every minute, heating up the waters that occupy 70 percent of the globe’s surface, now causing very unfavorable weather patterns.
Are we still capable of change? The richer we become, the less religious we are, and the less we care. And we – I – are rich by historic standards. Our addiction to our current way of life is so all-pervasive that change seems impossible. The Bible is entirely correct when it says that ‘the desire for money is the root of all evil”. It now appears that the economic system is starting to break down. Sharp changes appear to be ahead. The world economy is shifting into contraction mode, with more and more parts of the system failing.
OUR VERY OWN TOWER OF BABEL
The fall of the two previous Babel Towers caused major change, ultimately beneficial. Our very own Babel Tower will do that too. The first Babel created immensely rich diversity. The second Babel facilitated the spread of the Gospel of Christ.
And the current one, Babel Three?
Because our Tower dominates the world, its effects too will be global. It will bring about through Climate Change and related issues, what the Apostle Peter writes in 2Peter 3: 10-11: “But the Day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar, the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and its works will be laid bare. Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to conduct yourselves in holiness and godliness”
This text illustrates both the ultimate consequences of Global Heating, and also tells us to live in awe of God’s revelation in creation.