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June 2009 
The Tower of Ba'bel ...
Posted on Mar 12th, 2007
by 
Michael
Michael
or Babylon - meaning CONFUSION - as described in Genesis - became known as such because God was so displeased with the people - who wanted honour for themselves (small mind) - rather than populating the earth as GOD wanted (BIG MIND) - that ALL the people were "caused" to speak different languages, to stop building the tower, to split into different language groups and to disperse throughout the earth.
The tower - as part of a big city - had been ordered to be built at the behest of Nimrod - a great grandson of Noah - so that he could take command and control of ALL the people - at a time when ALL the people spoke ONE language .
WE the peoples of the earth, have now developed & built a multitude of diverse technologies which - we are only just beginning to understand - are potentially detrimental to the earth and ALL living things there contained - albeit also the basis of our survival toolkit. These developments have in turn stimulated the creation of diverse "techno-speak" languages of ba'bel - which are used ever increasingly in POLITICS, SCIENCE & RELIGION to confuse and divide the people rather than unite them.
In the context of Don Beck's Spring/Summer 2005 edition of Kosmos Journal's article ...
Windmills, Tulips, and Fundamentalism - The Netherlands in Crisis and his ...
" Welcome to Tower of Babel II "...
it is therefore opportune to re-itterate Helen Titchen Beeth's words -
What the world needs now… is that the WALLS between our separate experiences and bodies of knowledge be removed. That what is known by one can be known by whoever needs to know, when they need to know it.
EVEN Bill Gates has stated the need to - do away with the politics of business by giving everybody the SAME message - but to do ABSOLUTE justice to Helen's statement it is humility which has to be established - across the board - in the context of the dissemination & use of the power of knowledge (science) - if we are to awaken to the potential universal interconnectedness of HOMO SAPIENS - which is LOVE.
In the context of the first broadcast on BBC2 last evening - of Part 1 of 3 - of Adam Curtis' -
The Trap - What Happened to Our Dreams of Freedom - which is a follow on to his earlier series -
The Power of Nightmares - originally broadcast by the BBC - the time has arrived for me to respond more fully to Whitewave's comment to my Don't KILL the Messenger zBlog post - by way of expanding further on my
Opening the Chinese Puzzle Box
- to allay the confusion of Whitewave and no doubt others @zaadz.
2 of 7 can be seen here
3 of 7 can be seen here
the other 4 parts of episode 1
can be found on YouTube
for those interested.
Never forgeting that - we should wake up and SMELL the COFFEE - smell the coffee and awaken - and that for them that understand no explanation is necessary.
Following last evening's 2nd episode of The Trap - What Happened to Our Dreams of Freedom - I can only suggest that ALL @zaadz should regard this as MANDATORY viewing - particularly in the context of your up & coming election.
‘Curtis has an uncanny knack for hovering coolly above recent world history and spotting huge, sweeping, disturbing trends, then recounting them in a way that feels subversive and playful, thoughtful and entertaining, all at once. He has an incredible eye for archive footage, assembling one haunting montage after another, apparently from thin air. His programmes unfold like a series of revelations; watching one is like having all your slumbering suspicions about the world - suspicions so dormant you didn’t even realise they were suspicions - confirmed and explained for the very first time.’
Charlie Brooker
KOYAANISQATSI - ko.yaa.nis.qa.tsi
( from the Hopi language ) noun,
1. crazy life.
2. life in turmoil.
3. life out of balance.
4. life disintegrating.
5. a state of life that calls for another way of living.
I watched Koyaanisqatsi again last evening to remind me of - its unique, profound,
mesmerizing and thought provoking " LIFE out of balance " message in support of our
present day CRISIS in SCIENCE - & the translations of the Hopi prophecies sung in the film ...
" If we dig precious things from the land - we will invite disaster "
" Near the Day of Purification - there will be cobwebs spun back & forth in the sky "
" A container of ashes might one day be thrown from the sky -
which could burn the land and boil the oceans "
Although WE now have diverse and comprehensive evidence to support the concepts of plate tectonics, subduction and the carbon cycle in unison with "gaia" - such that ONE could utilise these perspectives to begin to understand the universe itself - it is still the case that others, including Mystikal can offer alternative perspectives - in no unsimilar way than it has been since HOMO SAPIENS walked on this earth.
POWAQQATSI - po.waq.qa.tsi
( from the Hopi language, powaq sorceror & qatsi life ) noun,
an entity, a way of life, that consumes life forces
of other beings in order to further its own life
Walking the line - so to speak, in synchronicity with Dr. Buzz Aldrin - the second of the qatsi trilogy calls into question everything we think we know about contemporary society. By juxtaposing images of ancient cultures with those of modern life, Powaqqatsi masterfully portrays " LIFE in transformation " and the human cost of progress in the context of our CRISIS in RELIGION. It is a bold and haunting film - epic in scale for its time - which engages the SOUL as well as the MIND - it is truly an absorbing experience.
A classic example of this CRISIS in RELIGION is yesterday's "global launch" in Rome of - The Gospel according to Judas - WRITTEN by Jeffrey Archer & Father Francis Moloney - is this the NEW FACE of conscious capitalism ?
TODAY is Budget day in the UK - and our glorious chancellor of the exchequer - Gordon Brown - with aspirations of Prime Ministerialship, will no doubt yet again TRY to blind us with SCIENCE from his pulpit of RELIGION in the Houses of Parliament - to divert our attention & understanding AWAY from the CRISIS in POLITICS.
NAQOYQATSI - na.qoy.qa.tsi ( nah koy' kahtsee )
( from the Hopi language, eachother - kill many - life ) noun,
1. a life of killing eachother.
2. war as a way of life.
3. ( interpretation ) civilised violence.
I look forward to my viewing this evening of Naqoyqatsi - test-drive the future - " LIFE as war " and its first scene zoom into an image of the tower of Ba'bel - to remind me - how it chronicles the shift from a world organised by the principles of nature to one dominated by technology, the synthetic and the the virtual - & how the extremes of intimacy and spectacle, tragedy and hope fuse in a tidal wave of visuals and music, giving rise to a unique artistic experience that reflects the film-makers' vision of a brave new globalised world.
Last evening's 3rd & final episode of The Trap - What Happened to Our Dreams of Freedom - looked at the rise of terrorism in the 20th century, and how the twaddle of thinkers such as Satre - " violence is good, you see, as it will free us from the bourgeois facade " - inspired Pol Pot to slaughter the entire Cambodian middle class.
Curtis’s vision of a manipulated and controlled society is as unsettling and provocative as ever
Matthew Carr
What price ? our subsequent - WAR on TERROR
"Some believe there is nothing one man or one woman can do against the enormous array of the world's ills -- against misery, against ignorance, or injustice and violence. Yet many of the world's great movements, of thought and action, have flowed from the work of a single man. A young monk began the Protestant reformation, a young general extended an empire from Macedonia to the borders of the earth, and a young woman reclaimed the territory of France. It was a young Italian explorer who discovered the New World, and 32 year old Thomas Jefferson who proclaimed that all men are created equal. ‘Give me a place to stand,’ said Archimedes, ‘and I will move the world.’ These men moved the world, and so can we all."
WHAT kind of World Do YOU Want ?
ALL UNION, FROM DISUNION, TOWARDS REUNION
WATCH this SPACE
MY thanks in gratitude to Willie Nelson who has recently posted ALL three episodes
of the Power of Nightmares @ his Peace Research Institute blog - & posted Adam Curtis' The Century of Self here @zaadz
.
The tower - as part of a big city - had been ordered to be built at the behest of Nimrod - a great grandson of Noah - so that he could take command and control of ALL the people - at a time when ALL the people spoke ONE language .
WE the peoples of the earth, have now developed & built a multitude of diverse technologies which - we are only just beginning to understand - are potentially detrimental to the earth and ALL living things there contained - albeit also the basis of our survival toolkit. These developments have in turn stimulated the creation of diverse "techno-speak" languages of ba'bel - which are used ever increasingly in POLITICS, SCIENCE & RELIGION to confuse and divide the people rather than unite them.
In the context of Don Beck's Spring/Summer 2005 edition of Kosmos Journal's article ...
Windmills, Tulips, and Fundamentalism - The Netherlands in Crisis and his ...
" Welcome to Tower of Babel II "...
it is therefore opportune to re-itterate Helen Titchen Beeth's words -
What the world needs now… is that the WALLS between our separate experiences and bodies of knowledge be removed. That what is known by one can be known by whoever needs to know, when they need to know it.
EVEN Bill Gates has stated the need to - do away with the politics of business by giving everybody the SAME message - but to do ABSOLUTE justice to Helen's statement it is humility which has to be established - across the board - in the context of the dissemination & use of the power of knowledge (science) - if we are to awaken to the potential universal interconnectedness of HOMO SAPIENS - which is LOVE.
The Trap What Happened to Our Dreams of Freedom (1 of 7)
The Trap - What Happened to Our Dreams of Freedom - which is a follow on to his earlier series -
The Power of Nightmares - originally broadcast by the BBC - the time has arrived for me to respond more fully to Whitewave's comment to my Don't KILL the Messenger zBlog post - by way of expanding further on my
Opening the Chinese Puzzle Box
- to allay the confusion of Whitewave and no doubt others @zaadz.
2 of 7 can be seen here
3 of 7 can be seen here
the other 4 parts of episode 1
can be found on YouTube
for those interested.
Never forgeting that - we should wake up and SMELL the COFFEE - smell the coffee and awaken - and that for them that understand no explanation is necessary.
Following last evening's 2nd episode of The Trap - What Happened to Our Dreams of Freedom - I can only suggest that ALL @zaadz should regard this as MANDATORY viewing - particularly in the context of your up & coming election.
‘Curtis has an uncanny knack for hovering coolly above recent world history and spotting huge, sweeping, disturbing trends, then recounting them in a way that feels subversive and playful, thoughtful and entertaining, all at once. He has an incredible eye for archive footage, assembling one haunting montage after another, apparently from thin air. His programmes unfold like a series of revelations; watching one is like having all your slumbering suspicions about the world - suspicions so dormant you didn’t even realise they were suspicions - confirmed and explained for the very first time.’
Charlie Brooker
KOYAANISQATSI - ko.yaa.nis.qa.tsi
( from the Hopi language ) noun,
1. crazy life.
2. life in turmoil.
3. life out of balance.
4. life disintegrating.
5. a state of life that calls for another way of living.
I watched Koyaanisqatsi again last evening to remind me of - its unique, profound,
mesmerizing and thought provoking " LIFE out of balance " message in support of our
present day CRISIS in SCIENCE - & the translations of the Hopi prophecies sung in the film ...
" If we dig precious things from the land - we will invite disaster "
" Near the Day of Purification - there will be cobwebs spun back & forth in the sky "
" A container of ashes might one day be thrown from the sky -
which could burn the land and boil the oceans "
Although WE now have diverse and comprehensive evidence to support the concepts of plate tectonics, subduction and the carbon cycle in unison with "gaia" - such that ONE could utilise these perspectives to begin to understand the universe itself - it is still the case that others, including Mystikal can offer alternative perspectives - in no unsimilar way than it has been since HOMO SAPIENS walked on this earth.
POWAQQATSI - po.waq.qa.tsi
( from the Hopi language, powaq sorceror & qatsi life ) noun,
an entity, a way of life, that consumes life forces
of other beings in order to further its own life
Walking the line - so to speak, in synchronicity with Dr. Buzz Aldrin - the second of the qatsi trilogy calls into question everything we think we know about contemporary society. By juxtaposing images of ancient cultures with those of modern life, Powaqqatsi masterfully portrays " LIFE in transformation " and the human cost of progress in the context of our CRISIS in RELIGION. It is a bold and haunting film - epic in scale for its time - which engages the SOUL as well as the MIND - it is truly an absorbing experience.
A classic example of this CRISIS in RELIGION is yesterday's "global launch" in Rome of - The Gospel according to Judas - WRITTEN by Jeffrey Archer & Father Francis Moloney - is this the NEW FACE of conscious capitalism ?
TODAY is Budget day in the UK - and our glorious chancellor of the exchequer - Gordon Brown - with aspirations of Prime Ministerialship, will no doubt yet again TRY to blind us with SCIENCE from his pulpit of RELIGION in the Houses of Parliament - to divert our attention & understanding AWAY from the CRISIS in POLITICS.
NAQOYQATSI - na.qoy.qa.tsi ( nah koy' kahtsee )
( from the Hopi language, eachother - kill many - life ) noun,
1. a life of killing eachother.
2. war as a way of life.
3. ( interpretation ) civilised violence.
I look forward to my viewing this evening of Naqoyqatsi - test-drive the future - " LIFE as war " and its first scene zoom into an image of the tower of Ba'bel - to remind me - how it chronicles the shift from a world organised by the principles of nature to one dominated by technology, the synthetic and the the virtual - & how the extremes of intimacy and spectacle, tragedy and hope fuse in a tidal wave of visuals and music, giving rise to a unique artistic experience that reflects the film-makers' vision of a brave new globalised world.
Last evening's 3rd & final episode of The Trap - What Happened to Our Dreams of Freedom - looked at the rise of terrorism in the 20th century, and how the twaddle of thinkers such as Satre - " violence is good, you see, as it will free us from the bourgeois facade " - inspired Pol Pot to slaughter the entire Cambodian middle class.
I thought The Trap offered a very good dialectical analysis, involving a thesis, antithesis, and synthesis of ideas and critiques. I thought that some of it was a bit simplistic, and that certain other areas were not covered much, such as how the West has created Islamic Fundamentalism and terrorism, but overall I thought it was a good series and hope it will be repeated.
Comment by Peter Gillis — March 26, 2007An excellent series. Thought provoking. I merely watched and listened intensly. A fascinating documentary that didn’t go over my head too much. Gave me food for thought and left me wanting to know more. This is a world in chaos. Understanding how we got to this state is very important. I would like to see more programmes like this. I am now going to seek explanations for: the words ‘democracy’ and ‘rehetoric’ and why do we have to live in such a ‘postcode’ lottery of existence in our ‘little’ Britain? Every joke has a punchline somewhere? Doesn’t it.
Comment by Jayne — March 26, 2007Adam Curtis’s “The Trap” is a very unsettling piece of work. Brilliant but unsettling. Surely humanity is worth more than this? And yet…. the series points the way to answers that we are all curious about, even if we are unable to ask the right questions. Is that really how it all works??? How sad. We know that people are starving to death on this planet…. so…. why am I not doing something about it right now? Erm… perhaps Nash was right.
Comment by C Sutcliffe — March 26, 2007Curtis’s vision of a manipulated and controlled society is as unsettling and provocative as ever
Matthew Carr
What price ? our subsequent - WAR on TERROR
It is unethical not to know. It is unethical not to think. It is unethical not to love. It is unethical not to live an impassioned life. It is unethical not to attain greatness. It is unethical to succumb to the fear of envy and the conspiracy of mediocrity. It is unethical not to self-bestow genius. It is unethical not to be the first monkey.
"Some believe there is nothing one man or one woman can do against the enormous array of the world's ills -- against misery, against ignorance, or injustice and violence. Yet many of the world's great movements, of thought and action, have flowed from the work of a single man. A young monk began the Protestant reformation, a young general extended an empire from Macedonia to the borders of the earth, and a young woman reclaimed the territory of France. It was a young Italian explorer who discovered the New World, and 32 year old Thomas Jefferson who proclaimed that all men are created equal. ‘Give me a place to stand,’ said Archimedes, ‘and I will move the world.’ These men moved the world, and so can we all."
~ Robert F. Kennedy, 20th century US political leader
WHAT kind of World Do YOU Want ?
ALL UNION, FROM DISUNION, TOWARDS REUNION
WATCH this SPACE
MY thanks in gratitude to Willie Nelson who has recently posted ALL three episodes
of the Power of Nightmares @ his Peace Research Institute blog - & posted Adam Curtis' The Century of Self here @zaadz
.
Access: PublicTagged with: change, consciousness, interpretation, love, meditation, peace, tower of babel, truth, understanding, zaadz
A BBC Press Office release says about The Trap -
Individual freedom is the dream of our age. It's what our leaders promise to give us, it defines how we think of ourselves and, repeatedly, we have gone to war to impose freedom around the world. But if you step back and look at what freedom actually means for us today, it's a strange and limited kind of freedom.
Politicians promised to liberate us from the old dead hand of bureaucracy, but they have created an evermore controlling system of social management, driven by targets and numbers. Governments committed to freedom of choice have presided over a rise in inequality and a dramatic collapse in social mobility. And abroad, in Iraq and Afghanistan, the attempt to enforce freedom has led to bloody mayhem and the rise of an authoritarian anti-democratic Islamism. This, in turn, has helped inspire terrorist attacks in Britain. In response, the Government has dismantled long-standing laws designed to protect our freedom.
The Trap is a series of three films by Bafta-winning producer Adam Curtis that explains the origins of our contemporary, narrow idea of freedom.
It shows how a simplistic model of human beings as self-seeking, almost robotic, creatures led to today's idea of freedom. This model was derived from ideas and techniques developed by nuclear strategists during the Cold War to control the behaviour of the Soviet enemy.
Mathematicians such as John Nash developed paranoid game theories whose equations required people to be seen as selfish and isolated creatures, constantly monitoring each other suspiciously – always intent on their own advantage.
This model was then developed by genetic biologists, anthropologists, radical psychiatrists and free market economists, and has come to dominate both political thinking since the Seventies and the way people think about themselves as human beings.
However, within this simplistic idea lay the seeds of new forms of control. And what people have forgotten is that there are other ideas of freedom. We are, says Curtis, in a trap of our own making that controls us, deprives us of meaning and causes death and chaos abroad.
KR
I love this post.
Lingchao
Dance in a Circle.
science is empire.
technology is neoplasm.
spiritual evolution is healing.
there is no promise of a cure.
NO faith of a cure
NO belief of a cure
NO promise of a cure
THE cure can only be found within …
i'm sorry, Michael.
you know, everyone is telling me the same.
this is compassion, not cruelty.
the bridge between zero and one,
does look back on
infinity between the two.
surefire cure
kills the metaphor,
and healing is worth infinitely more.
in love, surrender
means never admitting defeat.
in Cartesean terms,
B4 and after/math,
[('E)GO]es by(e).
C? i can ALL CAP(itulate), what i c'est 2.
love,
sarva
If left-handed is to THE LEFT and right-handed is to THE RIGHT
Where DOES ambidextrosity FIT ?
your left is my right.
a sound of one hand
to say nothing
of clapping.
just… i.e., right before ambient
(in my WEBster's, i.e.).
” When the nature of things is unknown, or the notion unsettled and indefinite, and various in various minds, the words by which such notions are conveyed, or such things denoted, will be ambiguous and perplexed.”
Johnson's Preface of his great Dictionary of the English Language
I know of love, that is what is most important.
A wonderful compilation, Michael!