Evolution of languages
from the perspective of ancient civilisations.

    Before turning to the text of the Tower of Babel, which has come down to us through the Bible, let's look at the origin of the Tower.
    Like most biblical stories inspired by Middle Eastern history, the myth of the Tower of Babel was probably inspired by the great ziggurat of Babylon, built by Nebuchadnezzar II in honour of the god Marduk.

« I set about raising the l’Etemenanki to rival its summit with the heavens. (…) I built its base to a height of 30 cubits. A high temple, a holy chapel, I built for Marduk, my lord, on the top floor, with art ».

                The tower was thus designed as a structure linking the land of men to the divine world.
            
    When the people of the kingdom of Judah were deported to the kingdom of Babylon from 586 BC onwards, they certainly related their exile to the grandeur of this building.
    What's more, at the time the tower was built, the city of Babylon was multilingual : Akkadian and Aramaic were spoken there, as well as the languages of the populations from the conquered territories. By making communication difficult, this multitude of languages may have inspired the causal relationship between this tower rising towards the sky and a divine curse concerning language.

    Today, nothing remains of this mythical building, but its imprint on the ground, a square measuring 90 metres on each side, can still be seen on aerial photographs.

    The iconography of a stone stela, probably from Babylon, confirms these data : it represents a 6-storey ziggurat topped by a temple under Nebuchadnezzar's gaze.

    Now that we understand the circumstances in which the myth arose, let's look at its text and follow its development to understand the thought processes that structured it.

    We have seen that the first system (in french) used by our brain to understand new phenomena is to establish analogies (in french) : the new element, incomprehensible at first, is approached by comparing it with another phenomenon that has already been explained. Thus, the structure of the atom, initially unapproachable by the means of science, could be understood by comparing it to a planetary system [cf : The field of intuition].

    Since we can already see that the Babylonians knew how to manipulate symbols and build a tower expressing their link with the gods, it is by using the same thought process that we will be able to understand how the peoples of this region described human evolution and expressed it through the myth of the Tower of Babel (Genesis. 11, 1- 9).

    Is it justified to draw on such ancient texts in order to understand the language of dreams, especially as the original texts have undergone numerous and inevitable alterations over the course of translations ?
It would obviously be unreasonable if the aim was to understand REM sleep. In this field, scientific rigour is indispensable.

    But the interest of this myth is that, despite the alterations it has undergone, it has been preserved as a major work illustrating the evolution of living beings, their creations and their means of communication.
We have already seen with astonishment how certain human intuitions, preserved for millennia, can be very close to the latest scientific discoveries describing evolution [see: Genesis (in french)].

So let's take another look at the myth of Babel. What does it tell us about the evolution of languages ?

A – The universal language :

    What do the words ‘the whole earth’ mean ?
In this passage, it is immediately clear that the reference is not to man.
If we read this expression literally, is it possible that all living beings are concerned, including matterv ? In fact, within matter, whether mineral or organic, there are binding forces like so many means of ‘communication’ that ensure the reorganisation, assembly and stability of the components.

    The most primitive living species also possess the means to apprehend their environment and interact with it, without even having developed a nervous system capable of imagining other worlds.

    God himself is not yet mentioned. His absence is consistent with an evolution that has not yet led to the appearance of man.






    What might this language be ?
Should we talk about language or, more generally, about means of communication ?

    1 - Exchanges and transformations within matter show that the inanimate world is also evolving.
It becomes more complex, and each new element of matter, by linking with other elements, forms new components, different in their characteristics.
Cohesive forces are established between these different components [cf : matter and consciousness (in french)], and this language could be mathematical language, which expresses universal communication, since it enables us to understand the ‘behaviour’ of the universe around us.


    2 - At the level of living species, as we have seen, the means of communication are varied (chemical, tactile, odorous, etc.) [cf : the edifice of consciousness - in french]. These means, which depend on the characteristics of the molecules, are also based on mathematical language.
However, it is difficult to classify bacteria, insects and evolved species in the same field, because we cannot discern any emotional or reflexive reaction in bacteria or insects, even if the reactions of flight or attraction are identical for all of them.
So while we cannot speak of a ‘common language’ in the sense in which we understand the word ‘language’, we must recognise that there is universal behavioural and gestural communication.

    3 – At the other end of the chain, in the most evolved species, we see the appearance of a primitive language based on vocalisations, which will reach its full development in man.
However, although the verbal language of man appears to be the most accomplished, it remains unique to man and has two weak points : it impoverishes direct sensitive perception [cf : The development of consciousness - in french] and, because of its extreme variety, can limit exchanges. It seems to have to be ruled out as a universal means of communication.

    4 - However, a way forward seems to be opening up : researchers are discovering more and more species capable of expressing emotions [cf : sea bream], and each of us, in contact with familiar animals, has been able to experience emotional communication and grasp the meaning of their expressions and attitudes. The same applies to so-called ‘wild’ animals [cf : reunion].


    Conversely, animals perfectly understand human intentions and are even able to adapt their behaviour to that of their master.


    Among evolved species, there is a special case of reptiles that remain inexpressive, although their attitudes can be perfectly understandable and perceived as a potential danger

    At this stage, we can observe, in all evolved animals, a universal language of attitudes and gestures and, in mammals alone, a common means of communication based on expressions, a sign of emotional experience. The diversity of these expressions also gives them a richness that attitudes and reactions alone do not possess.

    Knowing that the dominant sense in dreams is visual perception, we now have the main elements that contribute to the emergence of situations that occur during REM sleep : vision and images, emotions and reactions. It should be noted that although dream situations are sometimes accompanied by words, a real verbal dialogue remains occasional and is often no more than the translation of an emotional experience into words.

    The scholars who tried to explain the world at that remote time in the history of Mesopotamia certainly knew it more from what they felt than from established evidence.
The universal language they referred to could therefore be likened to the expression of emotions, which are identical whatever the sounds used to express the experience, or whatever the words used to describe it.

Behaviour,

sounds,

    3,000 years before our era, and even before Darwin's discovery of evolution, it already seemed to be an established part of man's intuitive knowledge.








    The first sounds, the beginnings of a language, are those that attract the eye at the same time. A single sound is enough, because it is the sensation produced that is translated into language. The ability to hear is therefore also essential, and any sound perceived has the value of communication.


    The sound produced by an event (the avalanche), like the animal's ‘cry’, draws attention to itself, immediately generating an image in the brain and, in humans, the construction of a sentence : action is required.
This is followed by a succession of images that no longer need to be communicated by language : the action takes hold.


Similarly, during the dream, each situation is equivalent to a ‘sentence’ that can be translated into words.


    The study of the brain has taught us that the right hemisphere manages words, while the left organises them into sentences in the most evolved species [cf : role of the inferior parietal lobule - in french].
Faced with a danger, a living being has no need to name it in order to determine the appropriate reaction.
On the other hand, naming it (« avalanche », « tiger »...) is important in a collective context. The word will then form part of a language that will evolve and become more precise : in the campbell monkey, for example, the sounds emitted vary depending on whether the danger comes from the ground or the sky.

    All species that have hearing and vision can therefore use a modulated sound to gain knowledge of the object designated by the sound. Later, when the object has been defined by a word, it can be evoked even in its absence.

    However, as we have seen, when verbal language appeared, after having completed the sensation, it contributed to reducing it [cf : The development of consciousness - in french].








    The evolution of species has taken its course : humans have now been designated, and it is their history that is now being recounted.
This history is marked by a long migration followed by sedentarisation.

    Apart from the symbolism of the East, the place where the sun, the source of life, rises, it is interesting to note that, 2,500 years after this text was written, palaeontological research is leading to the same conclusion : the first humans gradually migrated from Africa to the East before spreading out across the surface of the earth.









    They then settled down and went from being hunter-gatherers to farmers.
The plain in question is the region in which the myth originated : southern Mesopotamia, a region of plains where irrigation-based agriculture is practised.










    « Let's go ! » indicates a collective decision towards a common goal. Language develops and, thanks to it, society can organise itself.
Here we find one of the characteristics of elaborate language, and no doubt the essential reason for its development : to describe and organise all the possible situations involved in an expanding society.
We can see this development today with the emergence of information technology, which has given rise to hundreds of new words.








    After settling and the development of agriculture, man discovered the riches of the soil and invented ways of transforming these new materials to meet his needs. His habitat also changed.
Increasingly important collective needs necessitated the organisation and distribution of tasks, and encouraged the invention and manufacture of tools.
In this way, social cohesion developed and language was enriched.

    Fire was no longer just used for heating and cooking, but also for transforming materials.








    The construction of the Etemenanki will benefit from this new technology : the basic material, which is not very resistant to the passage of time, will be covered with bricks.






        The growth of the population and the development of technologies enriched language and contributed to the construction of the city, which was now organised as a collective dwelling where everyone could find their place.
The city contributed to the birth of the city-state : people no longer built just for themselves, but put their skills at the service of the community.








    We have seen the importance of the king in ancient civilisations. Invested with the power of the god of whom he is the representative in the earthly world, he is also the one who brings the god to the attention of all and, assisted by the priests, perpetuates his cult.
A tower must be built to unite heaven and earth, with the god's dwelling at the top. It would symbolise the union of the people around their sovereign, under the protection of the god.

    After describing the evolution of life on earth and human migration, the text now turns to the life of the inhabitants of Babylon. Technology has improved living conditions : by making it easier to build the tower, it will help to consolidate the community around a single identity.
Belief in an all-powerful, inaccessible god was established at the same time as the brain's capacity for abstraction developed.

    The construction of this city and this tower had a twofold importance : the community had to organise its efforts and, to do this, verbal language was the only language capable of designating each tool and coordinating each action. Language is essential, but as it develops, the city isolates people from their natural environment.







    Having forged its identity, the community needs to differentiate itself from the surrounding peoples. It does this by giving itself a name.
The name unites the community under the same banner : after being the name of the tribe or its chief, it becomes the name of the kingdom or empire.


    Le nom indique aussi que l’individu accède à la conscience de sa propre identité.


    Religious tradition would have it that by deciding to give themselves a name, the men of Babel were signifying their desire to take on the prerogatives of God.
However, we can adopt the point of view of a believer who does not see God as external to the world he created, but as an entity that is part of everything, inseparable from himself and the Universe. Since the Universe is constantly evolving, this entity represents Creation, Man and Evolution.

We could then say that by giving himself a name, man has just evolved and achieved self-awareness within the Universe.



    Moreover, if we refer to other texts in the Bible, while God names all the creations at the origin of life on Earth [cf : Genesis 1], it is man who is entrusted with the responsibility of giving a name to living beings, as he discovers and develops his knowledge [cf : Genesis 2].
By giving themselves a name, people give themselves their own identity : a collective consciousness has just been born.

    Until now, we have observed the evolution of life on earth with a common mode of communication based on sensitive perception, i.e. emotion. We are now witnessing the verbal language of a human being integrated into an increasingly vast and complex community.







    Under the tutelage of their sovereign and their god, aware of the strength that solidarity gives them, all peoples feel secure, but they could be dispersed and condemned to disappear, assimilated by other peoples. Differentiating themselves through a name can enable them to survive the loss of their sovereign or their territory.
The experiences of the people of the kingdom of Judah leave their mark on the Babel text : exiled to Babylon, they must hold on to what constitutes their identity, their name, if they are not to disappear.
Even today, only those peoples who have forged their identity and stubbornly defend it can resist assimilation and disappearance.

B – The door to evolution :

    This seems to be a pivotal verse : the power evoked is no longer represented by the sovereign, but by the god.
An important event is about to take place : as change cannot take place without an initiator, an « Almighty God », present but inaccessible, becomes indispensable.
The community is no longer evolving under human guidance alone, but under the aegis of an all-powerful force beyond human control.
This power is not unlike that of the reigning sovereign. Indeed, while the text as a whole deals with the influence of the god on his people, the analogy with the sovereign who can temporarily leave his capital to see the achievements of his subjects is very much present.

    Just like the king who is inaccessible in his distant capital, God does not exist with his people; he exists outside them, dominating and watching over them.









    In parallel with temporal power, spiritual power was thus established, in the form of a god different from his predecessors : he was no longer simply present in the world of man through representations that could be destroyed and marked his weaknesses; he supervised the actions of his people.









    Man, born of the clay that gave life to all the inhabitants of the earth, belongs to the past. Now it is his descendants who are being observed, at the end of a long process of transformation. This passage speaks of a new stage in evolution.
The emergence of life, which led up to the advent of man, has now reached a turning point : while living beings initially behaved in ways that were perfectly suited to survival (feeding, protecting, cooperating, reproducing, etc.), the development of their cognitive capacities now enables them to respond to other needs.
What's more, through their god, they have acquired a new skill : the ability to judge their actions and achievements.


    They are not only builders, but also sons of the Earth who have matured over time.
Choices are now possible for them. Man could escape the tutelage of his princes, like his parental gods, and acquire the ability to think and act for himself.


    Man now has a self-centred consciousness, alongside an awareness of his ability to transform the world.
However, after long submission to the judgement of a hierarchical authority, the sovereign, his judgement still needs to pass through an authority, the god, that he has granted himself.







    Verbal language is in place, binding people together in the same community under the guidance of an authority who decides what the common language should be and what they should do.








    Man has become aware of himself and his actions, but how does he now judge himself through his god ? How does he assess his achievements ?
He discovers that he is capable of organisation and cooperation with others, that he can build extraordinary edifices to match his ambitions, but isn't his ‘first work’ a useless work ? Does God exist more in this edifice than in his Creation ?



    What's more, there is a divergence between two tendencies within the living world :
- On the one hand, humanity is aware of its new capacities, but is still too focused on the past,
- On the other, the pressure of Evolution, which is pushing us back onto the path of life and knowledge.





    Evolution is the only way to keep an open mind : every point on the horizon is a path of discovery, learning and transformation.
God now appears as the expression of an Evolution that opens onto a true consciousness, open to oneself and the world.


    But this awareness is not fully acquired : by projecting our judgements onto the world through the intermediary of an external entity, we produce ‘truths’ that are no more than the expression of our own certainties.
Let's not forget this characteristic of the human mind, which is to justify its actions by attributing its own thoughts to God (cf : self-referential thinking).





Is this « God-mind » just a projection of man's thoughts, illustrating the way his mind works ?








    Having acquired an awareness of his capacity for achievement, man has also acquired an awareness of his powers.
This judgement, attributed to God in this sentence, is not arbitrary. It is a fair observation : by possessing both sensitivity and the ability to organise, man possesses all the powers.


    However, the fact that he lends his judgements to a transcendent entity shows that he does not yet possess the capacity to think for himself.
What's more, if he has acquired an awareness of his power, he has not yet realised the danger he poses to life, because he has lost respect for it.
Human evolution is not yet complete.







    This phrase could be seen as marking the appearance of the Hebrews' god. After noticing that men were trying to compete with him by building grandiose structures to the glory of another god, he decided to reveal his omnipotence by punishing them.
Let's not forget that the tower was built in homage to the god Marduk, who cannot judge negatively the monument built to celebrate him. On the other hand, the god of the Hebrews can judge a monument built for a rival.
The god of the Hebrews, who punishes his own people, thus succeeds the previous gods who had a protective role.

    There was another transformation in human thought. Until then, it had been up to the sovereign, invested with divine power, to ensure that the divine will was respected. From now on, the god will impose himself, all the more so as, not being represented by images, he escapes the power of man.

So why does this god attack verbal language ?

To understand this, let's look at the sequence of events.
- If verbal language is blurred, communication between people becomes impossible, and the power of the group is weakened,
- Without power, it becomes impossible to impose one's vision on another community.
- Yet vital needs remain, and exchanges are still essential.
- It is thanks to the return of sensitive perception, the source of empathy, that exchanges will once again become possible.
They will lead us to get to know the other, to appreciate their complementary nature, and to learn from them what we did not know.



    The god's decision, mentioned here, is not an arbitrary one; it simply reflects the way man functions in society. The increase in population amplifies the differences in points of view, at the same time as each person's certainties are reinforced [cf : what is most widely disseminated is necessarily true. »].
But differences generate conflicts that can lead to the dispersion of peoples and the evolution of languages.

    This mechanism can be observed within a nation: parties with different aspirations form and oppose each other within the state and its government, each trying to make its point of view prevail. In the case of a democratic state, the debates usually lead to a consensus that satisfies no one, but in which everyone has an interest.
In the case of a totalitarian state, the oppression suffered often forces the people to take refuge in neighbouring countries where there is freedom of expression.



    It is then that communication can resume, thanks to empathy, despite language differences.
Everyone is enriched by the welcome, the trust and the sharing of knowledge and culture.
Even today, two different worlds live in parallel, one frozen in its past, the other continuing to evolve as best it can thanks to the richness of each.

    In this way, the apparent ‘punishment’ imposed by the « God-Princer » fades away in favour of thought that matures under the guidance of the « God-Evolution ».

In this myth, we find the very unfolding of evolution.
    - Individuals have moved from the emotional language at the origin of their moral sense to the verbal language of adults.
    - For their part, societies have moved from knowledge that is useful to their lives to knowledge that is fixed in written form. In these societies, verbal language no longer reflects universal communication, but rather the multiplicity of cultures and personal opinions.

    So we can see that, over the centuries, people's thoughts and ways of understanding the world have changed. This is how we have been able to observe the progression of beliefs, from the existence of a living world in which everything had a soul (in french), to the multiple gods preceding the appearance of a major god (in french).





    Closer to home, under the impetus of personalities driven by their sensitivity and their desire to share a better world, the evolution of the one god himself has continued. His directives have become closer to human wishes.
Jesus and Muhammad, the two prophets who changed the status of women and children, have left their mark on history.

    But many people did not grasp their message and remained stuck on knowledge, much of which is now outdated (in french).




    In effect, a ruling power enacts its laws both to assemble the people and to establish its authority. Kept in a state of submission, the people remain immature and have difficulty exercising their critical faculties. Even the reality of the facts, the importance of which we have seen in children's development can escape them.

    In the myth of the Tower of Babel, God, previously described as a pure spirit, creator of the universe and the stages of its evolution [Genesis 1], could now appear as the symbol of an Evolution that constantly imposes on man directions other than those he has consciously chosen. If we are to open up to full awareness, we cannot be content to fix our gaze on a single objective and on knowledge that is fixed by our certainties.
As for the diversity of points of view, while it is detrimental to communication, it is also a source of sharing an infinite amount of knowledge.

The god's decision here re-launches man's evolution in the knowledge of what he is and the world in which he lives.


    The theme of this myth enlightens us : it's a question of abandoning our blinkers to open our eyes to an infinite number of different spaces.
Its teaching is similar to that of Paradise on Earth, which teaches us that man must leave behind the reassuring environment of his upbringing and his habits under the aegis of an authority, to resolutely embark on the world of life.
This myth also ties in with that of the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the apostles : having a ‘sound mind’ implies the ability to be open to all encounters, to all ways of thinking and feeling within oneself the breadth of life.

    There is only one language that allows us to do this : that of sensitivity, whose emotions allow us to penetrate the very meaning of the gestures and expressions of our fellow human beings, and of all living beings, without even having to resort to verbal language.








    Evolution resumed because it had reached a dead end, the dead end of objectives that had made us forget what life is all about.


    In so doing, man is entering a new stage in his evolution towards a broader consciousness.
This will involve discovering the world, the diversity of human beliefs and cultures, and humanity beyond skin colour.


    While the first mode of survival was union and cooperation, which favoured efficiency and strength, circumstances can lead new generations to leave the protection of family and society, to discover new horizons, seek new territory or flee conflicts.
No species is immune to this phenomenon.

    Leaving one's country of origin is comparable to weaning, which enables a child to free itself from the influence of its parents to live out its own experiences and acquire its own identity.







    If we look at the course of evolution, we see that the coordination of human activities in society requires the establishment of rules.
The city appears to be the stage of evolution in which the rules, after having been imposed as a means of communication and cohesion, become restrictive because everything has to be organised there : pavements for pedestrians, vehicles and their marked lanes, palaces for the emperor, towers and temples for the gods.
But too many constraints exasperate the instinctive, individualistic side that persists in every human being.

    So why did they stop building the city ?
When the work stops, the eyes can finally rest on the work accomplished and on the existing world.
This could be the last stage : after the structuring of identity, comes the discovery of others and their humanity beyond differences in appearance, beliefs and cultures.









    The name Babel comes from bâb-ili, which refers to the city of Babylon, and means « Gate of the god ».

    We have seen that the act of naming marks an important transformation in the course of human evolution, since emotional communication did not require us to give a name to what was felt.
In this text, giving a name to the change that has just occurred indicates that people are now led by a new consciousness, capable of analysing the present and recognising the mistakes they have made in order to move towards new horizons.

    As we have seen, Babel means « Gate of the god ». Since we have equated this god with evolution, Babel could become the « Gateway to Evolution ».









    To this day, no civilisation has been able to escape its decline, whether through natural disasters, warlike conflicts or the disorganisation of power.
Organised evolution comes to a halt, old motivations and goals fade away, and peoples disperse around the world, leading to a diversification of languages.
A new life opened up into the unknown.

    The chronological analysis of this myth shows that human evolution involved migration and the discovery of the world.
But the establishment of habits of life and the structuring of thought during sedentarisation proved to be a failure.
Evolution therefore had to start again, following the same stages : dispersal, i.e. migration and a new discovery of the world.



    The wealth of peoples is no longer built on monolithic thinking, but on a variety of situations in which each person is able to enrich his neighbours with his own discoveries.

    The Gate of the God, now the Gate of Evolution, indicates this opening towards consciousness.

So what is the true meaning of these texts, preserved in the memory of humanity for millennia ? .................?................. The one retained by the beliefs of a community ?..........?........... .................?.................. Were these texts dictated by a god ?......... ..... ?.... Do they simply reflect the discoveries made by men in those distant times ?............... .......... ?........The meaning given to them today on this page...     ...is it the right one ?................ ........................................Who can say ?.................................... Most certainly, these texts show us that human knowledge can evolve over time............. ................................or that it can freeze in time !......................................

2 - The return of sensitive communication : ( In french)


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