The Tower

And the fragility of words

I recall Donald Trump’s tasteless, showy descent down the escalator at Trump Tower on June 16, 2015, to announce his candidacy for President. The spectacle was the warp of an ancient myth that has seldom worked well — the pretense of a purportedly chosen one descending from his great height bearing for the people his gift of wisdom. In this case, it came cloaked in the ostentatious, gaudy trappings of wealth, a would-be Moses descending Mount Sinai, bringing his wisdom.

This vision of height reminds me of the ancient ziggurats made of sun-baked bricks, pyramids that enabled men to ascend to that high point where heaven touched earth, and mortals were touched by the divine. I’m reminded, too, of the so-called “Tower of Babel,” of God’s disgust with humanity’s pride that would dare build a structure reaching into his heavens, or worse, come to challenge him. And his punishment for man’s hubris? Making each to speak in a different tongue, obliterating understanding.

The myth warns us of the fragility of our most powerful tool, our words.

Even now, as in Biblical times, we overreach. We all watched it on TV, the hubris, our new Moses, torturing and obliterating the very meaning of the words we use, proclaiming alternative truth.

We’re as guilty of pride as the ancients. And for that sin, we too will be punished, as humanity always is, when our language, perhaps more fragile even than sun-dried bricks, the very words of our knowing, lose meaning. The warning in the Tower of Babel is clear: we’re not as clever as we think we are.

The Tower of Babel, by Pieter Bruegel the Elder, 1563

Some profound intuition can be discerned from our ancestors’ stories. Besides the Towel of Babel, man’s aspirations to reach transcendent heights have been told in different ways, to diverse effects, and with varying metaphors: e.g., the great tree of life, of knowledge; the four pillars of the world; and the world axis connecting the four pillars of the earth. Then there’s young Icarus, who, for his daring to fly too near to the sun, the beeswax holding his wings of birds’ molted feathers, threads from blankets, and the leather sandal straps, melted.¹

But the intuition inherent in the Tower of Babel story is the one that sticks with me the most, in part because it fascinated me as a child being warned not “to take on airs” or “don’t read so much.” Later, I learned (read) how opportunists manipulate language and story for their own gain, how eventually the towers they build collapse. I learned the hubris of quick answers and fixed thinking, and how even those speaking the language of their tower eventually understand each other no longer. Our ancestors knew the fragility of language and story to human consciousness. And they understood hubris.

The ancient stories were not considered “stories.” They were believed to be factual accounts. They were explanations of reality that we have since learned do not explain it at all on a factual level, but very much reveal the human psyche.

And true to form, enough humans seem always on the lookout for the One who will explain it all for us. And in 2015, he descended on his escalator, reawakening the longing of some of us for the One who will set all things right, arriving with a vision they found attractive. And they hoped to catch one of the fine flakes of manna he sprinkled upon them like faux golden-white snow. The recalcitrant were coerced by the force of his growing crowd. But sycophants seized the opportunity. And soon we no longer spoke the same language. We only thought we’d agreed on words like truth. Because the truth became what he said it was, for he was the myth made manifest.

Demagogues manipulate language and myth. In Orwell’s 1984, Big Brother brings “Newspeak” to mankind, where words have become their opposite, and the stories of history are buried or “corrected.” Even in its name, Truth Social is an example of newspeak. Reality is what the leader says it is.

Big Brother looking at you, as portrayed in the 1984 film

Joseph Stalin, leader of the Soviet Union (1924-1953), manipulated language. He created a cult of personality, another father figure. He controlled media; appropriated words (e.g., his many deadly purges were cleansing); established powerful censorship, as well as messaging (propaganda) to control all information disseminated; altered historical accounts to suit his purposes; and controlled education, starting with the children, based on loyalty and ideological conformity. Today, of course, Russians have their Pravda (truth), which everyone knows is anything but.

Adolf Hitler used similar techniques. Those deported or transferred to labor camps were cargo. Transportation to camps for extermination in showers (gas chambers) was for the purpose of resettlement. These euphemisms were to avoid mass rebellion among Jewish victims, many of whom were still in denial, and to gloss over any moral qualms among the general populace, if they even knew what was going on.

When language collapses, confusion reigns. When a powerful figure arrives to reveal what’s true, it’s best to follow him. Let him define what’s true. It’s best not to think about unpleasant matters very much. We don’t like thinking anyway. Who has time for it these days?

And then on Sunday, the flock is reminded: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” (John 1:1)

Our language is ever ready to serve. But we must decide the world we want. I chose that verb carefully: we humans language our future into being.

From the Oxford English Dictionary: To decide (verb): originally from classical Latin dēcīdere, derived from “de-” meaning “down” or “away from” and “caedere” meaning “to cut.”

May we cut away all lies — both the ones they’re telling and the ones we’re telling ourselves. They never work. While it is our destiny to ascend the tower, may we ascend thoughtfully, with open eyes and hearts of grace and humility. For as we ascend, our future will be made or unmade, in no small part from symbols and words.

1. These symbolic myths in all their various versions are documented and cross-referenced in searchable sources — e.g., the Mythology & Folklore Database.