The thought of today.
Perhaps it's because I now live in the Bible belt, but religion has been on my brain lately. I'm not really sure why. Let me bullet point a few of my key thoughts on religion to give you a little background.
- Through the ages, stories are told and retold. Essentially, things are added and omitted as the stories grow older. Our biblical tales and parables may not be so amazing as they've come to seem.
- The Bible was written by humans. Humans are (unavoidably) stupid, superstitious, and oh-so frequently WRONG. Seriously, we've only really had the Earth completely mapped for less than a hundred years. That's just geography. How the hell are we supposed to correctly scribe a divine manifesto?
- So much that "happened" in the past can be very easily explained by what we know NOW, and we're by no means at the limit of knowledge. In fifty years, what we know will seem pathetic in comparison.
- I typically think of people who are strongly religious as "suckered."
Okay. Now that THAT's out of the way, I've been thinking a lot about the Tower of Babel. I even did a skosh of research. Here's the Bible's version of the Tower of Babel:
Genesis 11:1-9 "And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech. And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and they dwelt there. And they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn them thoroughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for morter. And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth. And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded. And the LORD said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do. Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another's speech. So the LORD scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city. Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the LORD did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the LORD scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth."
Let's start with the name, "Babel." It means, literally, "Gate of God."
Here's where things start warming up to my way of thinking.
Humans typically use ten to fifteen percent of their brains. The remaining bit is just filler, completely unused gray matter that simply takes up space in-between our ears. If that's the case, then why do we have that much brainage? The answer seems obvious to me; like the vestigial legs on a whale, we used to use that much. Our brains had more functionality. But to what end? Perhaps it gave us a universal language, one that all people could understand.
Telepathy.
Go on, roll your eyes. Jerk.
Done? Good.
If everybody could communicate telepathically, what need would there be of spoken language? None whatsoever. Granted, I, at least, think using words. But has it always been that way? Isn't it conceivable to think using pictures? Representations of what you want, what you're trying to convey? I think so.
So ... what the hell happened? Perhaps society hit a point where telepathy was no longer needed. Maybe there was a plague, the end result being a lack of telepathy. I know this sounds strange, but ... there are plenty of debilitating diseases. Polio robs you of your motor skills. Diabetes can make you blind. Maybe something came about that took away the psychics.
I do find it interesting, however, that "Babel" means "Gate of God." If language were no longer a barrier, wouldn't that put us a huge step ahead in the name of progress? Imagine all world leaders instantly understanding the intentions of each other, their wants and wills, their personalities to a fault. Perhaps it means that the universal language was a gateway to godhood.
I'm also intrigued by the idea that God said, "Hey, uh, they're getting kind of powerful. If they can keep on going like this, I won't really be able to stop them ... so ... no more thinkie." I HAVE heard the phrase, "He is a jealous God." If He exists, this would pretty much be proof of that fact.
Anyway. That's my thought of the night. With that, I now sleep.
PS - I apologize to you God-fearing folk. If the day comes when God can be proven to me, I'll wholeheartedly apologize for being the blasphemous bastard I am.
- Through the ages, stories are told and retold. Essentially, things are added and omitted as the stories grow older. Our biblical tales and parables may not be so amazing as they've come to seem.
- The Bible was written by humans. Humans are (unavoidably) stupid, superstitious, and oh-so frequently WRONG. Seriously, we've only really had the Earth completely mapped for less than a hundred years. That's just geography. How the hell are we supposed to correctly scribe a divine manifesto?
- So much that "happened" in the past can be very easily explained by what we know NOW, and we're by no means at the limit of knowledge. In fifty years, what we know will seem pathetic in comparison.
- I typically think of people who are strongly religious as "suckered."
Okay. Now that THAT's out of the way, I've been thinking a lot about the Tower of Babel. I even did a skosh of research. Here's the Bible's version of the Tower of Babel:
Genesis 11:1-9 "And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech. And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and they dwelt there. And they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn them thoroughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for morter. And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth. And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded. And the LORD said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do. Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another's speech. So the LORD scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city. Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the LORD did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the LORD scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth."
Let's start with the name, "Babel." It means, literally, "Gate of God."
Here's where things start warming up to my way of thinking.
Humans typically use ten to fifteen percent of their brains. The remaining bit is just filler, completely unused gray matter that simply takes up space in-between our ears. If that's the case, then why do we have that much brainage? The answer seems obvious to me; like the vestigial legs on a whale, we used to use that much. Our brains had more functionality. But to what end? Perhaps it gave us a universal language, one that all people could understand.
Telepathy.
Go on, roll your eyes. Jerk.
Done? Good.
If everybody could communicate telepathically, what need would there be of spoken language? None whatsoever. Granted, I, at least, think using words. But has it always been that way? Isn't it conceivable to think using pictures? Representations of what you want, what you're trying to convey? I think so.
So ... what the hell happened? Perhaps society hit a point where telepathy was no longer needed. Maybe there was a plague, the end result being a lack of telepathy. I know this sounds strange, but ... there are plenty of debilitating diseases. Polio robs you of your motor skills. Diabetes can make you blind. Maybe something came about that took away the psychics.
I do find it interesting, however, that "Babel" means "Gate of God." If language were no longer a barrier, wouldn't that put us a huge step ahead in the name of progress? Imagine all world leaders instantly understanding the intentions of each other, their wants and wills, their personalities to a fault. Perhaps it means that the universal language was a gateway to godhood.
I'm also intrigued by the idea that God said, "Hey, uh, they're getting kind of powerful. If they can keep on going like this, I won't really be able to stop them ... so ... no more thinkie." I HAVE heard the phrase, "He is a jealous God." If He exists, this would pretty much be proof of that fact.
Anyway. That's my thought of the night. With that, I now sleep.
PS - I apologize to you God-fearing folk. If the day comes when God can be proven to me, I'll wholeheartedly apologize for being the blasphemous bastard I am.