I am not familiar with GARs who are known for their esoteric insights,
but I would sure like some help on this question from someone who has
a strong grasp of Biblical studies AND and mystical view of all
scriptures (as apposed to a dogmatic view).

Could you offer a short description and explanation of the story of
the Tower of Babel?

In particular: can you place it in the context of this quote, and
explain it's meaning?

"Every name from which the truth proceeds is a name from before the
Tower of Babel.  But it has to circulate in the tower."  - - -  Alain
Badiou, St. Paul; the Foundation of Universalism (a book I have not
read)

GA Holy Rollers, please abstain from using this as a place to expound
your views, thanks.

---

Clarification of Question by timespacette-ga on 25 Nov 2004 08:15 PST

my apologies:

on reflection I realize there are MANY GARs and GAers who are
well-known for their esoteric insights!   On a vast range of subjects!
 Oh, what a faux pas I have committed!

sorry, carry on . . .

ts

If you will excuse a post by one of GA's Holy Rollers ;-)

You'll find a mystical interpretation of the Tower of Babel story here:

http://reluctant-messenger.com/religion.htm

I found this "email based" interview with Alain Badiou quite interesting:

http://www.cabinetmagazine.org/issues/5/alainbadiou.php

This philosopher and the renewed interest in that intersection of
philosophy and theology which is called "the problem of evil" was
unfamiliar to me, so my thanks to timespacette-ga for having brought
him up.

regards, mathtalk-ga

thanks, mathtalk, for that link

I printed it out and will make it part of my bed-time reading for the
next few nights . . .

the Badiou quote came from the preface to the book The Inner Journey
Home; the Soul's Realization of the Unity of Reality by A.H. Almaas. 
It's about three and a half inches thick and quite a read ... it's
been bedtime reading for four months now . . .

ts

A slight variation in this quote is given by essayist Alexander Astrov:

[Lost in translation: an idea of world society and the subject it presupposes]
http://www.sgir.org/conference2004/papers/Astrov%20-%20Lost%20in%20translation.pdf

The author asks not to be quoted from this "rough draft", but his
quote of the passage in Badiou would seem to be fair game (see pg. 8
of 19 in the PDF):

?Every name from which a truth proceeds is a name from before
the Tower of Babel. But it has to circulate in the tower?.
Alain Badiou, Saint Paul: The Foundation of Universalism, pg. 110

Not a brief essay, but Astrov takes several proximate quotes from
Badiou and connects them with Russian poet Aleksandr Blok, philosopher
Immanuel Kant, dramatist T.S. Eliot, and others.  It may help to
supply a bit of the context.

-- mathtalk-ga

thanks again . . . more reading . . .

I also found a good page about the Tower of Babel at:
http://www.ldolphin.org/babel.html

so I think I'll cancel the question

ts