Jeremy C Kester

Ancient wisdom is not to be dismissed. It often appears that those in ancient times understood far more about human nature than we do today. With our modern focus on data and information, thinking that people are simply biological machines, we seem to miss the knowledge that had already been gained centuries upon centuries before.

At one time as an atheist, I had (almost) outright rejected the teachings of the Christian Bible, the Hindu scriptures, and other religious writings. Even still, those stories often stuck with me (I particularly always loved the story of Arjuna and Vishnu before the battle in the Bhagavad Gita – a Hindu scripture).

Then I started listening to Jordan B Peterson. He has a fascination with the ancient texts and their implications, much as did Carl Jung. Jordan’s lecture series on the Book of Genesis from the Jewish Torah and the Christian Bible revived the ancient interest in these stories and how they represent a kindof avatar for many events both in ancient and modern times.

One of the stories that I’ve been thinking a lot about lately of course is the Tower of Babel. In rough terms, it is a story of a society that built a tower as the society grew more and more cohesive and conformed to a greater degree. As the people became more similar, the tower grew taller. God eventually destroyed the tower, but in ways, we could substitute God for human nature, and one can assert that as we grow to a point where a society becomes so similar, it will fracture and tear itself apart.

Let this small post serve as a warning that I will be looking into this concept even more, but I wanted to provide a small taste that fit into my goal of having most posts on this site be small.

Anyway, ignoring overtly totalitarian societies and focusing strictly on the more western countries, particularly here in the US, it seems that those forces have been at work for some time. Between education, corporations, and other factors, this country has started to appear as a cookie-cutter nation. I can go from one side of the country to another and often look around to see largely similar sights. If I don’t see the same stores, they look similar enough. Housing (particularly if the housing has been built in the last few decades) all look the same. Apartment buildings all look the same…

…and people all seem to look and act the same (save which sports team they might follow).
But then, if one follows the news, at the same time it feels like this country is starting to tear itself apart between these forces that in their own rights want everyone to think and act their way.

Right now, these ideas I have been mulling over are still in their infancy within my brain, although I am almost more than certain that there are others who have this far more thought out and eloquently spoken than I do at this moment. I’ll be adding more to this as I come along. But think about it? Are you someone who wants to see that tower go higher? Or do you want to see it torn down?